July 2006 Archives

Aside from the massive coverage of Mel Gibson and Lindsay Lohan woes, I was struck by how much attention Lance Bass' coming out continues to receive. Bass' boyfriend, "Amazing Race" winner Reichen Lehmkuhl, has mostly been sem-famous for being semi-famous since his reality show victory. The Bass relationship puts him back in the national spotlight in a big way.

Known simply as Reichen, he would appear to be an excellent role model for Bass as far as being upfront about your sexuality publicly. He and his former partner were billed as being "married" during "Amazing Race" and even though they split up after the show, they will forever deserve kudos for being open and unapologetic about who they are.

Anyway, that's my two or three cents. Now here are some excerpts from an interview Reichen gave to "Entertainiment Tonight" that will air later today:

"I support Lance wholeheartedly," he says. "I couldn't be more proud of what he's doing."

Tthe two had to go to great lengths to maintain their privacy: "The more intense the secret has to be in the beginning, the tougher it's going to be in the end. There's definitely a lot more scrutiny when you come out in the public eye."

Reichen is a former U.S. Air Force captain who has penned the forthcoming book "Here's What We'll Say" which is about being gay in the military. During his years in the military, Reichen kept his relationships a secret.

"I can speak for myself and others in the gay community about 'beards,'" he told ET. "We have girls by our sides that we call 'beards,' that can be difficult. It's a fact of life for a lot of gay people who are in the closet to have a girl around."

Reichen says he understands how it is easier for Bass to come out now than it would have been during the heyday of NSYNC.

"You worry about how it's going to affect things in your own life, not just to protect yourself but everyone around you," he says. "Anytime someone comes out of the closet, they have their own personal journey."

Now that their relationship is out in the open, Reichen feels that the hardest part is over.

"Lance is going to have amazing support," he says. "The most positive thing about all of this is that the truth has been told. Life is going to be easier now...There's nothing better than the weight of secrecy being off your shoulders."

Since I had only seen a few episodes on LOGO, was happy to get the entire box set of "Noah's Arc" on DVD the other day. It reminded me of "Sex in the City" which always seemed to be about four single gay men anyway, especially the sexually prolific Samantha. But "Noah's" is REALLY about four gay men, all African American, living in LA. We follow the daily lives of Noah, Alex, Ricky, and Chance through their relationships with their friends and lovers.

The title character of Noah (Darryl Stephens) is a struggling screenwriter who is in a new relationship with hunky Wade (Jensen Altwood), also a screenwriter. Ricky (Christian Vincent) owner a trendy clothing store on Melrose, is the Samantha of the group and Vincent is utterly terrific in the part. College professor Chance (Doug Spearman), recently married to a man with a young daughter, is the most straight-laced character which makes some of his attempts at being cool. Alex (Rodney Chester) is a campy HIV counselor who provides much of the comic relief. He is bold and sassy compared to Altwood's Noah who, quite frankly, was kinda dull at times. The character was not as flighty nor as fond of a series of unnattactive hairstyles in the original pilot which is also included in this DVD set.

BTW, a year ago, I bumped into a guy working the valet at an Outfest after-party on Melrose who looked just like Altwood. I said, "Hey! You look just like a guy on 'Noah's Arc!" He smiled and said, "That IS me." He was still making ends meet but I think the success of the show has probably changed that by now. Altwood told me he is straight but is comfortable playing a gay man on screen. No, he doesn't secretly enjoy the onscreen kisses with other men but he does do it convincingly. Hey, it's a living.

Anyway, I'm happy to see "Noah's Arc" about to begin its second season. Just a few summers ago, it was a show made on a shoestring that could only be seen online and the producers were hoping to gain enough attention to keep the show going. Looks like they have succeeded.

Being gay AND Latino, I'm really looking forward to catching "Quinceanera" when it opens in LA next week. It won the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year and was one of the highlights of the recent Los Angeles Film Festival. On Friday (Aug. 4.) "Quinceanera" opens in Los Angeles and New York.

Set in Echo Park, the storyline involves 15-year-old Magdalena (Emily Rios) who is kicked out of her house when she gets pregnant but is welcomed into the home of her great-uncle Thomas, who has also taken in gay nephew Carlos (Jesse Garcia), a tough young cholo who got the boot from his parents' home because of his sexuality.

The back house rental where Uncle Tomas rents a house on property recently purchased by an affluent white gay couple (David Ross and Jason L. Wood) who led the gentrification in the neighborhood. From there, twists and complications arise in this critically acclaimed movie directed by Wash Westmoreland and Richard Glatzer.

Garcia is the subject of a profile in The Advocate, the national gay and lesbian magazine. Here are some excerpts from the piece:

Although many sexy straight actors have played gay on-screen over the years -- Jake , Heath, Colin, Jude -- it's hard to imagine any of them being man enough to do what newcomer Jesse Garcia did to boost morale on a particularly tense day on the set of the acclaimed new film "Quinceañera." "I went to wardrobe and said, 'It's crazy out there, give me some clothes!' " recalls the Rawlins, Wyo. -born actor who, in his 2-plus years in Hollywood, has turned up in a slew of commercials as well as on "The Shield," "Unfabulous," and in the HBO movie "Walkout." "Then I walked, like, a block and a half down the street and onto the set in high heels, a miniskirt, and this black top that was 10 sizes too small for me." So what got into him exactly? "During my sketch comedy days, there was this character I used to play named Meringue who was really over-the-top," he explains, "so I brought Meringue back to life on set, and everyone just died laughing."

"It was like somehow Carmen Miranda had taken over Jesse's soul," recalls Wash Westmoreland, who cowrote and codirected "Quinceañera" with his real-life partner of 11 years, "Grief" director Richard Glatzer. (Their previous film collaboration was the gay cult fave "The Fluffer .") "Jesse knows how to work it," confirms Glatzer. "I've worked with people who are straight but playing gay, and in subtle ways they always want to let you know they're straight. Jesse never had to say anything about his sexuality. I don't think the crew knew what he was, and he didn't care. Then he threw Meringue in there, and it was, like, 'Wow, this is a very liberated, fun guy.'"

"Carlos's story line is the nexus of looking at homophobia in the Latino community and racism in the white gay community," explains Westmoreland, who moved with Glatzer into the same Echo Park neighborhood five years ago. "When we first auditioned Jesse, we immediately saw this incredible vulnerability that was perfect for the part." They just had to rough him up a little. "We kind of created a veneer over the sensitive Jesse," says Westmoreland, "and made Carlos from that, with the gang clothes and tattoos and the shaved head."

The end result is a tender and indelible portrait of a young man trying to find himself in a rapidly changing world -- and a career-launching performance for Garcia. "Jesse, as an actor, has so many emotional layers, and he's so ready to go to places and try things," says Glatzer. "He's almost a return to that kind of '50s innocence, like Brando and Dean, where you don't need to think of what you are sexually, you just go with it."

You know him as a nerdy, but endearing, 40 year old virgin. Or as the boss on NBC's "The Office" for which is was recently nominated for an Emmy. In this week's new Fox Searchlight film "Little Miss Sunshine," Steve Carell plays Uncle Frank, a gay man on a road trip from hell with his family as he recovers from attempting suicide.

I saw the movie in a sold-out theater at The Grove recently and it is a GEM! It was laugh out loud funny plenty of the time but also moving. It is one of the best movies I have seen this year.

"Sunshine" is enough good that I won't quibble about another film with a suicidal man recently dumped by his lover. In "Poseidon," Richard Dreyfuss was preparing to take leap off the boat (still upright at that point) until he saw the giant tidal wave in the distance. Suddenly, he didn't want to die so much. In "Sunshine," Carell is fired from his university job and his pain is made worse by the fact that his ex his left him to hook up with his academic arch-rival who is also riding atop the best sellers list. Ouch!

Carell is terrific in a role that is a departure for him. When he runs into the young boyfriend who jilted him at a convenience store (and hides his still bandaged wrists), your heart goes out to him. Then you root for him to get over the little jerk. What's nice is that by film's end, you know he has regained his spirit.

Directed by Valerie Faris and Jonathan Dayton, "Little Miss Sunshine" also stars Greg Kinnear and Toni Collette. It primarily tells the story of young Olive (the adorable Abigail Breslin) whose dream is to be a beauty pageant winner. When she's invited to the Little Miss Sunshine pageant in California, her eclectic family embarks on a road trip filled with revelations, realizations, and quirky adventures.

Check out a lengthy review in the AfterElton.com Web site.

The stylish dudes on "Queer Eye" will be doing something that I think is really cool on the newest episode of their makeover show airing Tuesday, Aug. 1: they will have as their subject a transgender male named Miles who is beginning a new life in NYC as a man.

Born a female named "Amelia," Miles grew uyp in Vermont as part of an extended born again Christian family. First she came out as a lesbian at the age of 15 then during her sophomore year at an all-girl college, she had the courage to begin calling herself Miles.

After two years taking testosterone, Miles is now able to pass as a man but needs some style tips! Not only does he need to learn the basic skills of being a male, he also needs some serious lessons in style and panache. With careful guidance from the Fab Five, Miles will become the most stylish " trans-man" the city has ever seen!

The Fab Five will help Miles host a gathering of family and friends to celebrate his coming of age as a man. Many of the guests have not seen Miles since he has been on the hormone therapy, and it is important for him to reintroduce himself to everyone as Miles and show off his new look for his new life. If done right, this party is an important step for everyone in his life.

The episode airs at 10 p.m. and I hope people will check it out. Anything that helps to educate people and puts a human face on for what, to most people is largely the unknown, I'm all for.

After several weeks of buzz, Lance Bass comes out publicly as a gay man in Friday's issue of People Magazine. Good for him!

Here are some excerpts from the exclusive People interview:

"I knew that I was in this popular band and I had four other guys' careers in my hand, and I knew that if I ever acted on it or even said (that I was gay), it would overpower everything," says Bass, referring to bandmates Joey Fatone, Chris Kirkpatrick, JC Chasez and Justin Timberlake.

"I didn’t know: Could that be the end of ’N Sync? So I had that weight on me of like, ‘Wow, if I ever let anyone know, it's bad.' So I just never did," he says speaking about his sexual orientation for the first time with PEOPLE.

Now, after years of keeping his personal life private, the Mississippi-bred, Southern Baptist-reared Bass, 27, is publicly revealing what he first shared with his friends, then his shocked family.

"He took years to really think about how he was going to tell everyone," says his close buddy Fatone, 29, who was the first 'N Sync bandmate to find out Bass is gay. "I back him up 100 percent." Adds Bass’s longtime pal, actress Christina Applegate: "I've always accepted him as who he is. It's about his own serenity at this point."

Having pursued acting, producing and – most memorably – space flight after ’N Sync went on hiatus in 2002, Bass now is looking ahead to new beginnings. He is in a "very stable" relationship with model-actor-Amazing Race winner Reichen Lehmkuhl, 32, and is developing an Odd Couple-inspired sitcom pilot with Fatone in which his character will be gay
.
Mostly, though, he’s just enjoying the relief that comes with the culmination of a long, at times emotionally fraught journey.

"The thing is, I’m not ashamed – that’s the one thing I want to say," he explains of his decision to come out. "I don't think it's wrong, I'm not devastated going through this. I'm more liberated and happy than I’ve been my whole life. I'm just happy."

As for why he's talking about this now Bass says, "The main reason I wanted to speak my mind was that (the rumors) really were starting to affect my daily life. Now it feels like it's on my terms. I'm at peace with my family, my friends, myself and God so there's really nothing else that I worry about."

That juicy LA gossip site Defamer has unearthed some video of axed-Disney production head Nina Jacobson discussing some of her early firings in Tinseltown. Nina, an openly-gay executive who headed Disney production for six years through some boffo box office periods and some lean ones too, learned of her firing last week on the same day her partner gave birth to their third child.

While it can't be much consolation after losing a job you loved, Jacobson is looking awfully smart this week after M. Night Shyamalan's "Lady in the Water" tanked so spectacularly its opening weekend and suffered from particularly brutal reviews from critics. Jacobson had helped establish Shyamalan with "The Sixth Sense" and through three more hit films for Disney. But when she bluntly told him she didn't like "Lady," he took it to a rival studio.

And the rest is history.

This is something I planned to take to my grave. But after seeing "Clerks II" over the weekend, I feel compelled to come clean. I have something...I have to tell you. Now, it's not like I'm straight or anything or inning myself. But true confession time: I have developed a huge crush on...Rosario Dawson!

I think it's allowed. I have plenty of straight male friends who have admited their guy crushes to me, the one guy they'd switch teams for, or who they just think is hot. Brad Pitt gets the most mentions, Richard Gere used to and I have one friend with a longstanding crush on Harry Connick Jr. (good taste all!)..

But enough about those silly boy crushes. This is about the ravishing Rosario. She cast me under her spell last year when I went to see the big-screen version of "Rent." She was one of only a two cast members who did not originate their role in the movie on Broadway. Among this supremely talented group, Dawson more than held her own with the sexy duet "Light My Candle" followed a short time later by my favorite number in the entire movie: "Out Tonight."

And so, the crush began. It grew after seeing Rosario in "Clerks II," which I thought was a fine follow-up to the original movie that I had seen at least five times. In this comedy, Rosario doesn't get to sing but she does dance a little on a rooftop and she has such a radiant smile. She gives the slacker comedy some real heart.

Not that there's anything wrong with it, but Oprah Winfrey and Gayle King use the August issue of O Magazine (the theme of which is 'Best Friends') to proclaim, once and for all, that they are NOT GAY!

Says Oprah: "I've told everything there is to tell. All my stuff is out there. People think I'd be so ashamed of being gay that I wouldn't admit it? Oh, please."

Says Gayle:"...I used to say, 'Oprah, you have to do something. It's hard enough for me to get a date on a Saturday night. You've got to go on the air and stop it!" And then you realize you can't really stop it."

Adds Gayle: "I have to admit, if Oprah were a man, I would marry her."

I've read the entire Q&A and it is clear that these two terrific ladies are amazing friends, closer than most sisters probably. It is a beautiful thing, it's just not a gay thing.

Ready to hate it, I watched an advance screener copy of "Another Gay Movie" on Satuday. Turns out I didn't hate it one bit. It was funny, raunchy, outrageous and even kinda sweet. But I REALLY coulda done without the brief full frontal nude shot of "Survivor" winner Richard Hatch who has a cameo. The comedy is about four high school seniors, best friends who happen to be gay, who make a pact to lose their virginity before heading off to college. I loved that their sexuality is never made an issue of. The movie has only one coming out scene and it's a hoot as the gender-bender guy in the group comes out to his mother amid much trepidation. She just looks at him and says, "Duh!!!"

Lots of physical comedy too with the "American Pie" Jason Biggs-like character (played by Michael Carbonaro) being caught by his parents in some embarassing situations. SPOILER ALERT: A quiche is used in the same way an apple pie was used in the Biggs movie. Carbonaro by the way, won the best actor prize last week at Outfest.

The movie, shot in 16 days last year for $500,000, opens in limited release in Los Angeles, New York and Philadelphia on Friday and will expand in the weeks following.

I chatted with the movie's writer-director Todd Stephens the other day and he decribes his film as being "in line with 'Porky's' and 'Revenge of the Nerds' and even crazy movies like 'Scary Movie.'"

"A lot of us gay filmmakers are bored with coming out movies," says Stephens, who wrote "Edge of Seventeen," one of the best movies of that genre. "We are ready for something different and I wanted to push people's buttons a little bit. There's some edgy stuff in there."

With homosesuality no longer being swept under the rug as in decades past, Stephens said more of today's younger gays want to see some lighter fare reflecting their own lives.

"We all still grow up with straight parents so I'm sure it is still hard but I think it might be easier," Stephens said. "I purposely set this movie in a workd where being gay wasn't an issue whatsoever, nobody agonizes, nobody is being persecuted or being teased. I think the younger generation will appreciate that."

Stephens said Internet buzz has helped increase awareness of the film with more than 100,000 people having watched the trailer on the YouTube Web site.

The ridiculously good looking John Stamos, who will be a regular on "ER" this fall as a womanizing paramedic, plays a gay wedding planner in the A&E film "Wedding Wars" set to air in the winter.

His character agrees to organize the wedding of his straight brother who works for the governor of Maine. When the governor (James Brolin) comes out against gay marriage, Stamos goes on strike. The story makes national news and leads to everone who supports gay marriage going on strike. "Wedding Wars" is a humorous look at a serious subject

"I didn't really think about the character being gay other than he was in love with a man," Stamos told Entertainment Tonight. "I didn't think of playing a stereotype. I loved his passion. I loved what he believed and how he went about it. The movie has a nice message."

Stamos previously played the gay emcee in "Cabaret" during one of his successful stints on Broadway where he also took over for Matthew Broderick in "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying."

Stamos has been single since a highly-publicized divorce from actress Rebecca Romijn two years ago.

Welcome to a new "Out In Hollywood" Feature! Every Friday, this blog item will be updated to alert you to upcoming LGBT DVD titles that you can pre-order from various Web sites such as Amazon.com and tlavideo.com, among others.

NOAH'S ARC: THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON: This LOGO series revolves around the daily lives of Noah, Alex, Ricky, and Chance, four African-American gay men in LA, through their relationships with their friends and lovers. AVAILABLE: 8/8/06

DANTE'S COVE: SEASON ONE: A series from HERE!TV about the lives of the sexy, young residents of a peaceful beachside town. They are plunged into a world of intrigue, secrets and shifting romantic ties when their town’s sinister, supernatural past comes alive. AVAILABLE: 8/8/06

ELLEN: THE COMPLETE SEASON FOUR: This is the season when Ellen famously comes out of the closet. There are guest appreances by guest appearances by Anne Rice, Trisha Yearwood, Queen Latifah, Bonnie Raitt, Sheryl Crow, Demi Moore, Oprah Winfrey, Melissa Etheridge, Gina Gershon and Laura Dern. AVAILABLE: 8/29/06

ADAM & STEVE: A romantic comedy about two men who are destined for each other. Written by and starring Craig Chester. The film also stars Malcom Gets, Parker Posey and Chris Kattan. AVAILABLE: 8/8/06

THE CONRAD BOYS: An Asian-American gay teen meets his first love and raises his younger brother after the death of their mother in thisl first film by writer-director Justin Lo who was all of 24 years old when the film was made. AVAILABLE:. 8/22/06

WILL & GRACE: SEASON FIVE: The fifth season of the adventures of Will, Grace, Karen and Jack. These seem to be coming out at a much slower pace than other sitcoms like "Friends." There are still three more seasons to go since the show wrapped up its eighth and final series in May. AVAILABLE: 8/29/06

THIRD MAN OUT: Chad Allen starsin this gay murder mystery as P.I. Donald Strachey Allen. The movie is the second in a series based on the books written by Richard Stevenson. AVAILABLE: 8/8/06

After more than six years as head of production at Disney Studios, Nina Jacobson was unexpectedly given her walking papers this week. Jacobson, one of the most powerful lesbians in the movie industry, got the news the same day as her partner gave birth to their third child.

The executive behind such hits as "Signs," "Remember the Titans," "The Princess Diaries," "The Chronicles of Narnia," and "Sweet Home Alabama" was dealt out of the picture during a major re-orgainization that includes the elimination of 650 jobs at the studio. She had two years remaining on her contract and turned down a production deal offered to her by studio head Dick Cook.

Jacobson is to be replaced by Oren Aviv, the studio's marketing whiz who also produced the smash "National Treasure." I had my first lunch ever on the studio lot six years ago with Jacobson when I arrived at The Hollywood Reporter to cover Disney and a few other studios. Very pregnant and eating a cheeseburger and fries, she was gracious then and was gracious again this week after her firing.

She not only wanted to be sure that Cook was not blamed for the timing of her finding out, she also released the following statement:
"The studio is undergoing a major reorganization, and there simply isn't room for everyone in the new structure. I love the company and it has been a great honor to be part of building the Walt Disney brand. I've had the opportunity to work on films that I love, with filmmakers I admire and colleagues I adore. I'm sorry to go but I am proud of what I've left behind, a vibrant movie studio with major franchises and thriving relationships with some of the most talented filmmakers in the world."

Click here for more details on Jacobson and Disney.

It was a capacity crowd last Saturday at the DGA Theater as Outfest 2006 presented two never-aired in the U.S. episodes of the controversial and short-lived NBC drama "The Book of Daniel" which had religious groups up in arms evern before the series debuted in January. The controversial series was yanked by NBC after just four episodes as a result of pressure from conservative Christian groups. They said they found the story of a pill-popping Episcopal minister (Aiden Quinn) and head of a dysfunctional family offensive to the Christian faith. The preacher regularly had conversations with Jesus who appears in the flesh at various points duirng each episode. His wife (Susanna Thompson of "Once and Again" in an Emmy-worthy performance), drinks too much after one of her twin son does from Leukemia. Turns out his surviving twin (Christian Campbell) is gay and when tells his family at dinner, a female relative announces that she's a lesbian.

"We suddenly had an affiliate in Indianpolis saying they weren't going to show it because they thought it was anti-Christian," said series creator Jack Kenny. "They said no preacher would accept a gay son. I was told on talk radio that I can't be Christian and gay. (NBC's) response was to cut and run."

Campbell, who was among the cast members who were present for the Outfest screening, said, "I miss working on a show that I really believed in. I really miss feeling like a complete artist. I just will never, ever, ever regret a moment of it. I got to work with a caliber of actors that you don't get to every day."

Kenny is still clearly pained by the cancellation of this quality show which he believes was given the shaft by NBC. The eight completed episodes did air in the U.K. without incident and will be available (with extras) on DVD on Sept. 26 through Universal Home Entertainment.

"I haven't gotten any hate mail from Great Britain," Kenny said. "I wanted the (remaining) shows to get aired on cable but my sense is, the network just wanted it gone."

His Spanish=language movie, "Broken Sky" was the Dramatic Showcase feature at Outfest this year. With a running time of two hours and 20 minutes, most in the audience felt the movie (or miniseries might be more like it) could use some serious editing. But why did all but a few of the audience members at the DGA Theater stay glued to their seats for what seemed an enternity last Thursday? His name is FERNANDO ARROYO . You can't take you eyes off of this 24 year old actor who I ran into Saturday afternoon during a break between movies.

"Maybe the movie feels longer because there is so little dialogue," Arroya says diplomatically of his first movie after working for nine years in theater and television in Mexico City.

In the film, he plays a college student in love with another student (Miguel Angel) and follows their journey through bliss, then growing apart, heartache and finally, reconcilitation. "My character is a big motherf*****! He hides all of his feelings, represses them. but he realizes, for all of his life, don't lose the opportunity to love if you feel it."

The two actors have countless kissing scenes and several very intense love scenes without a stitch of clothing on that make Heath and Jake's scenes in "Brokeback" look tame. Although he is straight in real life, his acting in those scenes was more than convincing and Arroya says it's because he believed in his character's actions.
"When I have been in love with some girl, I was kissing every day, all then time. You're in love. It's not a problem (same-sex love scenes), you just do it and feel it. When people ask if I'm gay, I don't like to answer the question because what if I play another gay character."

Arroyo made his first trip to LA, ever, for the Outfest screening and is working on perfecting his English so he can make an English-language film in the U.S.

Then there is the talented, tall and handsome GREGORY J. LUCAS who I found myself standing next to at one of the bars at The Abbey last Friday night. I had seen his terrific film, "Vacationland" on a screener a few weeks ago and was struck by his performance in it as one of two high school best friends living in Maine and eventually giving up any pretense of being straight as they embark on a relationship. The movie isn't at all sappy and that's what makes it feel so real, like it could really happen this way.

"So you liked it?" the 22 year old asked. "Thanks. *I'm glad. Our screening sold out! It was amazing. Since then, things have been happening, meetings with amazing people."

This is an exciting time for the actor. In addition to "Vacationland," he has wrapped roles in a few other films that are awaiting release: "Forgiveness," a drama about Holocaust survivors committed to a mental hospital, and "The Picture of Dorian Gray," a contemporary adpatation of the Oscar Wilde tale.

Not bad for a guy who, until this year, had as one of his only film credits the uncredited part as a model in a club in "Zoolander."

Much of our conversation was off the record as he told me about the shoot, his co-stars and about his private life. Considering the setting, I agreed to put my notebook away.

Anyway, i think we'll be seeing more of Gregory J. Lucas and Fernando Arroyo in the future!

Amid all the Outfest madness, I also had the immense pleasure of chatting with sports icon Billie Jean King last week, the subject of an absorbing documentary airing throughout the summer on HBO called "Billie Jean King: Portrait of a Pioneer." This superbly done program gives the great BJK her well-deserved due for all the amazing things she has done and continues to do with her life.

If you want to be inspired to do something with your life, catch this program. You will be in awe of how one person has been able to do so much.

Freshly back from Wimbledon where she was honored along with Martina Navratilova, Steffi Graf, Margaret Court and Maria Bueno as an "extraordinary winners" of the tournament, BJK rang me up from Prescott, Az. where she is spending time with her mother Betty. Her beloved father, Bill, passed away recently, but, thankfully, he is interviewed in the HBO documentary which also features insights from her longtime life partner Ilana Kloss, former rival and still good friend Chris Evert, Navratilova, BJK's former husband, Larry, her brother Randy Moffit (a former major league baseball player) and superstar Elton John, her great pal who wrote “Philadelphia Freedom� for Billie Jean back in the days when she played for the Philadelphia franchise in World Team Tennis. Elton and BJK host a major AIDS fundraiser each year called Smash Hits (more on this in a future posting).

"I've watched it once and I thought they did a really good job. They've been wanting to do this for about 15 years," said Billie Jean, winner of a record 20 Wimbledon titles including six in singles. "Everybody they talked to has really had time with me. I've seen other shows with people talking about me and I just thought, 'You don't even KNOW me!'"
On the HBO show, Sports Illustrated veteran scribe Frank Deford says BJK ranks alongside Jackie Robinson as a rare athlete who is a hero of the culture.
"I got chills up and down my spine," she said of Deford's remarks. "To be in the same category as Jackie Robinson, I do love it, because I admire him so much."

Billie Jean, ranked number one in the world five different years in the 60s and 70s and still a Wimbledon semifinalist in the early 80s at 38 and 39 years old, is spending her summer with her mom, promoting her Team Tennis league and working for the Women's Sports Foundation which she founded.

The famously bespectacled athlete ("I love my glasses, they're my signature") successfully fought for equal atheltic funding in schools (Title IX), launched the women's professional tour and formed its union, and beat Bobby Riggs in the legendary "Battle of the Sexes" match in 1973. So how she became such a pioneer?

"It's who I am," she said simply. "Anytime there is an injustice, I want to do whatever I can."

Some other excerpts from our interview:

On same-sex marriage: "We should have the choice, I’m very adamant about it. You want the same legal rights and to announce your love publicly. We absolutely deserve it."

On former rival Margaret Court: "We get along great every time we see each other at Wimbledon. She’s a reverend now and she thinks I should be saved, that I’ve gone down the wrong path."

On visiting pal Elton John in England: "He’s so cute! I love him! He has no plasma TV, he’s got a little TV in the kitchen, 12-15 inches and he sits in a chair like a little schoolboy and watches his football. He stands up and screams. He’s a riot. He’s in a good mood again."

Every year when i attend this 12-day festival of LGBT films, I think back to my teen years growing up in Orange County in the early 80s. When I found out about a movie called "Making Love" starring Kate Jackson of "Charlie's Angels" with Michael Ontkean as her gay husband and Harry Hamlin as his lover, I knew I had to see this movie. But I was still in the closet with double locks on the door. What if someone saw me? Still, had to go.
It was on a Saturday afternoon and I headed out to nearby South Coast Plaza wearing sunglasses and a baseball cap (not kidding, unfortunately) and nervously bought a ticket just sure that everyone I ever knew was watching me. I saw the movie, developed a huge crush on Ontkean but not so much Hamlin (who knew he'd become the Sexiest Man Alive?), and thought maybe there would be lots more gay-themed dramas like it coming out of Hollywood.

But when the AIDS crisis hit, many of the movies like "Longtime Companion" and "Parting Glances" were heartbreaking stories about the disease and while I saw every one of them, it was pretty depressing after awhile.

Fast-forward 25 years to this Outfest, the same year "Brokeback Mountain" is a critical and commercial hit. I see men and women, young and old, blissfully holding hands and enjoying an array of movies ranging from heavy dramas (the superb 'A Love to Hide' and 'The Gymnast among others) to heartfelt comedies ('Dirty Laundry' and "Fat Girls") to silly comedies ('Eating Out 2: Sloppy Seconds) to a sexy but too long romantic drama ('Broken Sky') to a superb television drama that was prematurely cancelled ("The Book of Daniel") to wonderful documentaries ("Camp Out" was my favorite) to collections of short films of varying quality.

I attended nearly every day of Outfest and it was great to catch up with people, to meet such talented filmmakers and actors, and to get some free food and drinks at the post-movie receptions. To top it all off, I proudly wore my bright yellow Outpass around my neck for the world to see. No baseball cap or sunglasses for me.

Those days are long gone.

Had too skip last night's award shindig due to a bad back and am questionable for tonight's closing night festivities. I'm BUMMED OUT. But, between heating and icing and doing these little stretches the chiropractor has ordered me to do, I got ahold of the winners of the 12th Annual Film Competition Awards that were handed out at the Ford Ampitheater. In all, 15 competitive awards were announced in three categories: Grand Jury Awards, Audience Awards and Special Programming Awards. 

I am thrilled to see that the terrific movie "The Gymnast," which you may recall I touted two weeks ago in my early picks entry, won two top awards: the Grand Jury Prize for best American narrative feature and the Audience Award for director Ned Farr for Outstanding First Narrative Feature. The Grand Jury Prize also includes a $2,500 cash prize, courtesy of 20th Century Fox

Other winners of the Grand Jury Awards were:Outstanding International Narrative Feature "Whole New Thing,"
Outstanding Documentary Feature – “Small Town Gay Bar,� and Outstanding Screenwriting – Q. Allen Brocka and Phillip Pierce for “Boy Culture� which made its Los Angeles debut in a screening directly following the awards.
Michael Carbonaro won the Outstanding Actor in a Feature Film award  for “Another Gay Movie� while Diane Gaidry was voted Outstanding Actress for "Loving Annabelle."

The other winners of the Audience Awards were: "A Love to Hide" and "Loving Annabelle" which tied for Outstanding Narrative Feature. (I didn't see 'Annabelle' but I thought 'A Love to Hide' was the best movie of the festival.) The Outstanding Documentary Feature award went to anotjer one of my festival favorites, "Camp Out." In the Narrative Short Film category, "Available Men: took top honors while "My Craxy Life" won for Outstanding Documentary Short. The queer rap film "Pic Up the Mic" was voted Outstanding Soundtrack.

Special Programming Awards went to Dan Hunt, Janet Boss and Reed Williams, directors of “Cruel and Unusual� (Freedom Award), Ho Tam, Director For “Book of James (Outstanding Artistic Achievement) and to Ash Christian, the 21-year-old writer-director-star of the terrific "Fat Girls." Christian was honored for Outstanding Artistic Achievement.
 
The 24th edition of Outfest 2006 featured 209 films and videos from 28 countries, exhibited in nine venues over 12 days.  The awards ceremonywere hosted by the quick-witted Bruce Vilanch and preceded the Los Angeles debut of “Boy Culture.� Among the celebrity presenters celebrity presenters were Loretta Devine, Jane Lynch, Momma (who served as the Trophy Girl), Rex Lee (“Entourage�), Rodney Chester, Doug Spearman, Jensen Atwood, Christian Vincent ("Noah's Arc"), Wilson Cruz, Eduardo Xol, Jim Varraros, Steve Kmetko and Frank DeCaro (Sirius Radio Personality).

CONGRATULATIONS to the winners!

Just got back from seeing "Dirty Laundry" and am still in a damned good mood about it. Feels so good to laugh like that and to shed a tear or two all during the same movie. I had requested a screener of writer-director Maurice Jamal's hilariious and touching new film but, thankfully, there were none available. "Dirty Laundry" is billed as a serious comedy about family drama and is absolutely meant to be seen with an audience even if it means you can't hear some of the dialogue because everyone is still laughing so hard at a previous line. The superb script is just filled with humor and truth. But none of that would have mattered as much if not for the first-rate performances of the cast headed by the supremely talented Loretta Devine, present at the screening held at the Showcase Theater.

The film focuses on Patrick (Rockmond Dunbar), a black gay man who left his small town in the South and moved to New York where he carved out a successful career as a magazine writer. But a family situation brings him back home after a 10 year absence. SPOILER ALERT: He finds out he has a 10 year old son. Devine, playing his mother who has been raising the boy, gets to sink her teeth into a helluva role and she delivers in every single scene she's in including a hilarious and touching drunk dinner scene at the end ("My son is as gay as a $3 bill!"). Funny Jenifer Lewis plays Devine's full-of-herself sister and provides some of the film's biggest laughs in a scenery-chewing performance.

But Devine is the heart of the movie.

"There's been tremendous buzz surrounding Loretta's performance," Jamal told me before the start of the festival. "She said the script really spoke to her and she attatched herself to it first which allowed us to sign the others and raise money."

Jamal was determined to make a movie that stayed true to his vision.

"The studios wanted to change the script, build up the white character, make it gayer but we felt it was important to tell our story and tell it this way so we raised the money ourselves," added Jamal, who would not disclose how much the movie cost to make. "People are glad to see a film like this. I don't think a coming out story from the entire family's perspective has ever been done before, the process the entire family goes through once this bomb is dropped."

Jamal shot the movie in three weeks and edited it in another three weeks and was able to complete the work through “a lot of denial and a lot of expresso. That was the recipe."

"Dirty Laundry" does not yet have a release date but Jamal said there are currently negotiations going on with a distributor.

Many writers, directors and stars of queer-themed films including Alan Cumming (above) speak out during the new documentary "Fabulous! The Story of Queer Cinema" which debuts Sunday on The Independent Film Channel. From Before Night Falls, Boys Don't Cry, Billy's Hollywood Screen Kiss and High Art to Incredibly True Adventures of Two Girls in Love
Velvet Goldmine, Edward II and Love! Valor! Compassion! , virtually all landmark LGBT films are touched on.

The movie explores the emergence of gay and lesbian films from the beginning of the gay rights movement in the 60s to the "new queer cinema" of the 90s, to the proliferation and influence of gay and lesbian film festivals like Outfest to the mainstream film business' late discovery of the gay market.

This documentary is heavy with films clips and insightful interviews. It will likely acquaint you with some movies you've never seen, many of which are available on DVD. One of those interviewed is Outfest Executive Director Stephen Gutwillig who during this festival has been talking a lot about Outfest's Legacy Project which is dedicated to preserving LGBT films for future generations. Many of the films are damaged "due to decades of neglect." He said Saturday that saving and preserving these films "is the cause of our time."

With an awful name like "Eating Out 2: Sloppy Seconds," you kind of expect the worst. But a jam-packed Outfest audience at the DGA on Thursday night (including me) were willing to take its chances. And we were rewarded with plenty of laughs throughout the movie which was sweet, sometimes raunchy, sexy at times, and almost always funny. If you missed it, a second screening has been added for Sunday at noon at the DGA.

Touted as the first gay comedy sequel ever, "Sloppy Seconds" is an improvement over the first film which was screened at Outfest last year. Both movies star Jim Verraros, the talented performer best known for coming out after making it as a finalist during the first season of "American Idol."

The sequel ramps up the beefcake quotient and also has a funnier script that is performed with comic gusto by a group of energetic actors. The flick was filmed in 10 days in Los Angeles this spring. It does not have a distributor yet but is certain to make it to DVD as did the original film.

"It was a very fast shoot but we were able to do it in a very short time because they were so good," said writer-director Phillip J. Bartell.

In addition to Verraros, "Sloppy Seconds" also frtures cast-holdovers Emily Brooke Hands and Rebekah Kochan who have the best comic timing of the cast. They are a hoot! Many of the cast members are in their first films including everyone's object of affection, James Michael Bobby, who was asked about his sexuality by a woman in the audience who said, "I want to know if he's really gay because I wanna hit that!" He's straight in real-life but didn't hold back in playing gay.

Also in the audience Thursday was Q. Allan Brocka, the writer and director of the first "Eating Out." This time, he's a producer on the film. He was too busy making "Boy Culture" (below) which has been given Outfest's choice awards show spot at the Ford Ampitheatre on Sunday night. I've seen it and found it pretty enjoyable and won't mind seeing it agaIn on Sunday with an audience.

Ya just never know who you're gonna run into at Outfest. On Monday night, Nick Nolte and Lesley Ann Warren were among the celebs taking in the screening of "Coffee Date" at the DGA while Kathy Najimy was at the Showcase to see pal Ricki Lake's new movie "Park."

But it really was celeb paydirt Tuesday night at the DGA where I went to see the documentary about Tony Kushner: "Wrestling With Angels." Before the movie, I was introduced to George Takei (below), the "Star Trek" legend who came out publicly last year. "Everybody already kneeeew," he said in that distinctive voice of his."

George is keeping busy these days attending 40th Anniversary "Star Trek" conventions around the world and he says fans have been great. Always out in his private life, Takei says he decided to go public after Gov. Schwarzennegar vetoed the same-sex marriage bill.

"I felt I needed to speak out on that, I felt I needed to be authentic," he said. "It feels great. Although my colleagues and the fans knew, the difference is now I get to address issue much more openly. And the conventions give me the opportunity to use 'Star Trek' as a platform for LGBT issues."

It seems that George is also pals with Howard Stern and did his second weeklong stint on Stern's radio show recently and may do it again sometime. Stern loves the way George says, "Oh myyyyyyyyyy." He says Stern won't marry his girlfriend until gays are allowed to marry as well.

"Howard could not believe that I am gay. He said, 'You're so masculine!' I said, 'So!' We have baseball players and truck drivers, all very masculine, and gay."

Also met Rex Lee (above), the openly gay actor who plays Jeremy Piven's gay assistant on "Entourage." He told me that when he auditioned, 'I didn't knoiw how gay to be. I wasn't clear on what flavor of gay they wanted. So I just went over the top. Then on my second reading I was more subdued. They must have liked something."

As he was walking over to the DGA earlier in the evening, Rex said someone driving down Sunset Blvd. honked and yelled out, "Lloyd!"

"It's such a blast," he said of his newfound fame. "A day doesn't go by that someone doesn't say, 'Hey! You're that guy on 'Entourage!'"

And last, but not at all least, I got to see the sensational S. Epatha Merkerson (pictured below) at the after-party for the Kushner movie. Epatha, winner of the Emmy, Golden Globe and SAG awards last year for "Lackawanna Blues," called the film "breathtaking."

" I thought it was fabulous," she said. "It's an amazing journey he's been on and I can't wait to tell him I was so moved by it."

Usually based in NYC where she films "Law & Order," Epatha is in town making a movie with Sir Anthony Hopkins. she has been in real demand since "Lackawanna" and after having the most memorable Emmy acceptance in recent memory: she dropped her speech down the front of her dress and couldn't retrieve it! Instead of trying to play it cool, she just confessed to the audience what had happened in the most genuine way.

This is a busy new chapter in this lovely, and lively woman's career and she deserves it. I'm a huge S.Epatha Merkerson fan.

For anyone not familiar with openly gay actor Chad Allen's work beyond playing Jane Seymour's son on the "Dr. Quinn: Medicine Woman" series, get a ticket to Sunday afternoon's screening of "Shocked to the System: A Donald Strachey Mystery." Chad gives what I consider to be his best performance yet and good for him! Chad is such an articulate spokesperson for LGBT issues and has clearly overcome being outed by a cruel tabloid more than a decade ago and is enjoying a thriving acting career on stage and screen in gay and non-gay roles.

In "Shocked," Chad reprises his role as hard-boiled gay detective character who embarks on an investigation that leads him on a dark and dangerous trail into the world of "gay conversion therapy" - a mix of psychology and religion designed to turn homosexuals "straight." The film also features Morgan Fairchild in one of her icy bitch roles and, of course, she nails it.

I talked to Chad about the film and which he described as being "like a 'Columbo' movie. I love this one so much. This is what I was wanting the series to become. It's a great mystery with a great characters and relationships

He also shared his thoughts on the state of gay and lesbian cinema:

"What I've wanted more than anything else, especially in the last couple of years, is bringing gay and lesbian stories to love and get to the point where we can tell great stories with great characters. We are actually in the process of turning a page in gay and lesbian storytelling with different genres and telling stories we never could tell before. The films mostly just used to be issue-oriented. I think 'Brokeback Mountain' broke down barriers that had existed for a long time."

"So far in America, we have been unable to tell some stories because of our fear of sexuality and the fear in the business that you couldn't tell a story with a gay hero and have it make money. But we now know, because of 'Brokeback,' this is not the case. A good movie and a well-made story trumps everything. That's not just a victory for gay rights, it's a victory for everybody."

I told ya he is articulate!

"Shocked to the System" will screen on Sunday, July 16 at 2:30 p.m. at the Showcase Theater.

Has been hard to pin down exactly why Kathy Griffin canceled tonight's scheduled appearance at the Showcase Theater where several episodes of her "Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List" were to be screened. Last year, this was a fun event and Kathy, accompanied by husband Matt and her two gay best friends, did a Q&A after and ripped on Oprah Winfrey saying "she thinks she's Jesus," Tom Cruise and assorted other A-listers.

But Kathy WAS on "Larry King Live" last night and talked about how her now ex-husband Matt had systematically stolen more than $70,000 from her in the past year. For a D-lister, that's a lotta dough I guess.

So, if ya planned to see Kathy, make other plans. I'll update if I find out why she flaked on a group she calls, with affection, "the gays."

UPDATE: Gabbed with Outfest Executive Director Stephen Gutwilleg tonight and he tells me the Griffin screening was yanked because the "D-List" episodes weren't finished. Hmmmmmmm. So, for the first time since the festival began, the Showcase Theatre was dark.

UPDATE2: Found out Wednesday that Kathy Griffin didn't leave Outfest completely high and dry. She did donate, perhaps as a peace offering, a dinner with her which sold at the opening night silent auction for $1,700. Someone must REALLY like Kathy. They will get a limo ride out of it too I'm told. Whoever you are, have fun! Let us know how it went.

Ricki Lake, who has had plenty of gay fans ever since she burst onto the scene as the lead in the original film version of "Hairspray," was at the Showcase Theater Monday night with the rest of the cast of her new movie "Park," her first big screen effort in ages.

In this uneven ensemble comedy about 10 random Angelinos whose lives collide during their lunch hour in a section of Griffith Park, Ricki and Cheri Oteri of SNL fame share a long make-out scene inside a car. Ricki has tailed her husband (William Baldwin in a wacko performance) to the park and catches him cheating with another woman. After she and Oteri trap him in his car then vandalize it, Oteri throws out the idea of becoming lesbians. They go for it right there. Post-kiss, Oteri is appalled. Lake comes out of the kiss a lesbian. By film's end, she is headed to a bar on Santa Monica Boulevard.

After the screening, I asked Ricki how it felt to be back in the movies.

"It's really, really fun and I'm really proud of this film," she said. "I had to fight for this part."

Writer-director Kurt Voelker joked that he made Lake and Oteri "kiss many, many times, over and over again for different angles. Finally Cheri said to Ricki, 'Get off of me!'"

Among those in the near-capacity audience were members of the talented cast, many who looked sorta familiar and have appeared scores of television shows and films including Trent Ford, Maulik Pancholy, Anne Pudek, Melanie Lynskey and Anthony "Treach" Criss. All are mega-talented but the real standout was Dagney Kerr who was hilarious as a hysterical suicidal woman who keeps getting foiled in her attempts to do herself in. Whenever Kerr is on screen, the movie works.

The film, which took 21 days to shoot, does not yet have a distributor.

Sat in the audience at the DGA theater Sunday before a series of bizarre short films was screened (I shoulda gone to brunch instead...but I digress!). Some guys were grumbling about how Ed Burns, the straight movie star married to Christy Turlington, was showing up later that night to screen his new movie "The Groomsmen" about a group of guys, lifelong friends, who reunite for the wedding of Burns' character to his pregnant girlfriend (Brittany Murphy).

Turns out one of the guys, who left town without a word 8 years earlier, is gay and never told anybody. Portrayed by John Leguiizamo, he comes out to each buddy in the days leading up to the nuptuals. "One character being gay doesn't make it a gay movie," one of the outfesters said, and he said it kinda bitchy too.

But it all turned out good.

The movie played to a capacity audience that laughed a lot and shed a few tears and applauded wildly throughout the credits. Then the very tall Mr. Burns, who took a 5 a.m. flight from New York, took the stage for a lengthy Q & A. I was struck by how touching the coming out scenes because they reminded me of coming out to my straight college friends when I was in my late 20s. Some were surprised, some weren't, and we all have stayed close. And this is how it was in the movie with Jay Mohr's character especially touching and honest: "You didn't talk to me for eight years because you're gay? Why didn't you gamble on me man?" And later, a guilt-ridden Mohr says to another friend: 'He's a gay! My best friend's a gay guy and I was making gay jokes."

I wondered how Burns got it exactly right. He said: "I started to ask some of my gay friends, 'How did it go down when you talked to your family and friends?' It was based on their experiences."

The movie was shot in 21 days with a budget of $3 million, funding that came through after Burns got Brittany Murphy attatched to the movie which was stalled despite a cast that already included Burns, Mohr, Matthew Lillard and Leguizamo. It will get a limited release in New York and Los Angeles and based on how well it does, will expand into more markets. I hope it is a big success.

It was a jam-packed Saturday for me at Outfest as I took in four movies and during a lunch break, wrote a story for the Daily News on "Pirates of the Caribbean 2" setting an all-time opening day box office record. A movie I unexpectedly added to my schedule that won't set any box office records, but will get distribution, is "Fat Girls," a feature written by, directed by and starring Ash Christian who is all of 21.

Sheesh! At 21, I was living in a college dorm trying to get some studying done in between parties. But enough about me. This kid Christian has created this wonderfully enjoyable movie about a gay high school kid and his "Rubenesque" best friend Sabrina who are suffering through the indignities of being "different" in high school.

While Sabrina is indeed a fat girl, the point of the movie is that anyone who has ever been an outsider has an inner "fat girl" and can identify with the characters in this touching, and very, very funny movie. Gabbed with the chubby Christian after the screening and he told me that he got tired of seeing gay movies "with really hot guys starring in them. I can't relate to that!" He said he himself was a gay teen in high school growing up in Texas and was "sort of a loner, an outcast." He survived by "putting a lot of energy into my art," left Texas at 17 moved to LA where he was soon getting scores of acting jobs including a role on "Six Feet Under." He wrote "Fat Gir