Hello all, Manuel here with a number of LGBT-related news to kick off your Monday.
- Let’s start with the pretty. Love these images of the Looking boys for their OUT100 spread. The magazine named the HBO series TV show of the year. HBO's been busy hosting their Artists Series where they invited some select lucky few to visit the set, keeping social media abreast of what the boys are up to. Check it out: #LookingForPatrick #LookingForAgustin #LookingForDom
Oh and look, a teaser trailer for season 2!
- Speaking of HBO (1), they’re going ahead on the provocatively titled series Bros Before Hos which centers on a queer black man and well, his brothers. The show is from the team behind Red Tails and, more recently, Dear White People. The show, they state, aims to "reflect the growing diversity of the American experience." You can check out a rough cut of the pitch of the show at the link.
- Speaking of HBO (2), did anyone catch Olive Kitteridge last week with the wonderful Frances McDormand? I’ll have to wait a bit since I don’t have that premium channel, but you can catch up with out director Lisa Cholodenko over at Interview in their newest podcast.
- Kiss Me, Kill Me - an Alfred Hitchcock/Agatha Christie-style "Who-done-it" set in a little town called West Hollywood - successfully fulfilled its Kickstarter campaign this past week. This should be great news for those of us who want more Gale Harold, Tom Lenk & RuPaul’s Drag Race's Willam in our lives.
- In more horrific news, screenings of Switzerland’s official submission for the Best Foreign Language Film, The Circle in Kiev’s Cinema Zhovten theater ended in flames after the theater was set on fire. Proof that while we've come a long way, there's plenty more work to be done.
- And lastly, in case you missed it, here's the first official photo of Zachary Quinto and James Franco as a gay couple in Michael. I say "official" because if you've been following those two on Instagram, they've been giving us plenty of behind-the-scenes looks at the film adaptation of the New York Times Magazine article, “My Ex-Gay Best Friend.” Here's how the couple they portray are described in the piece:
“Many young gay men looked up to [Michael]. He and his boyfriend at the time, Ben, who also worked at the magazine [XY], made a handsome pair — but their appeal went deeper. On weekends we would go to raves together, and I would watch as gay boys gravitated toward the couple. Michael and Ben seemed unburdened (by shame, by self-doubt) and unapologetically pursued what the writer Paul Monette called the uniquely gay experience of “flagrant joy.” But unlike some of our friends who rode the flagrant joy train all the way to rehab, Michael and Ben rarely seemed out of control. There was a balance — a wisdom — to their quest for intense, authentic experience. Together they seemed to have figured out how to be young, gay and happy.”
Do Franco & Quinto fit the bill? Are you counting the days until we see Patrick and Dom again? Are you as excited that even as 2014 is shaping up to be a strong and diverse year for LGBT cinema (what with Pride, The Skeleton Twins, 52 Tuesdays, The Normal Heart, Love is Strange, The Circle, Yves Saint-Laurent, and Lilting among others) we already have three fascinating LGBT projects (Michael, Carol, and Freeheld) to look forward to in 2015?