A fun date with "Coffee Date" crowd

What a fun time it was at the Egyptian Theater last night for the lively LA premiere of the comedy "Coffee Date." The A-list crowd was across the street at the premiere of "Bobby" at Grauman's and I gotta say, it's not so much that I wasn't invited, it's that I parked at the Hollywood & Highland structure to walk the block to the Egyptian and passed by at least three people I know waiting in line along Hollywood Blvd. waiting to get in. "WHERE are you going?" one of them asked. So I walked away giving myself a pep talk: "I'm A-list, I'm A-list. OK, I'm B-list or possibly C-list. Am I even on a list?"
So, who cares? Back to "Coffee Break." I loved seeing the movie again and for the first time on the big screen. It's a wonderful film about a straight guy (Jonathan Bray) whose brother (Jonathan Silverman) sets him up on a blind date at a coffee house with a gay man (Wilson Cruz) who he thinks is a woman (his name is Kelly and they didn't swap pics). But they are still drawn to each other over their mutual love of movies and begin to hang out as friends. "Other than you being the wrong gender, you're great," Bray tells Cruz during their first coffee date. "I think I was half in love with the woman you were." After their second evening together, when Bray is taken aback when Cruz tries to hug him goodnight, Cruz sayd: "We almost made it through the same night without a gay panic moment."

What follows is a series of misunderstandings that results in everyone thinking Bray's character is gay! His mother (Sally Kirkland), his co-workers (Jason Stuart, Debbie Gibson), his boss (Leigh Taylor Young). It's a wonderful film, written and directed by Stewart Wade. Hard to believe this is Wade's first film!
"My partner and I met on a coffee date," Wade said after the film screened. "Luckily, he turned out to be gay...and still is!"

Gabbed with some of the cast before and after the movie: out actor Jason Stuart, who is VERY funny and sweet in the movie as a supportive co-worker told me: "It's all about sexaul confusion, it's sort of like a Julia Roberts comedy with a twist.This is truly an independent film made by openly gay people starring openly gay people (he and Cruz) and we play gay parts in the film. That's sort of unusual in this industry where roughly 85 percent of the gay roles are played by straight guys."
The multi-talented Wilson Cruz, who starred on Broadway in "Rent" and locally onstage in "Tick, Tick...Boom!" got a lot of laughs during the film and it's good to see an actor, who came out at 19 when he starred as a gay teen in the short-lived gem "My So-called Life."

"We do take some liberties and we do take some chances. I think it's an exaggeration of reality but we tried to lay a foundation of realism to it and I think in that way it's really successful. At the end of the film, you feel like you watched two people deal with something in a very honest way," Cruz said.
Jonathan Bray, who is straight in real life (and mostly straight in the film) said "my character really is straight but I do delve into the confusion of it. I just love the way he write it, it was just very honest and very sincere. I really responded to the script. I read it, I thought it was funny and I thought it dealt very sincerely with questions of friendship and love and when you explore these emotions what does it mean to be in love and what is involved if there's sex?"
Sally Kirkland, also associate producer, always fun to talk to, called "Coffee Date" "a real feel-good film. It's got a gay theme but there's a real crossover thing. My straight friends love it, my straight friends love it."
I asked Sally if she was bitter about losing the Oscar in 1988 when she was a best actress nominee for "Anna." "I can't believe that bitch Cher won!" I said. (I worship Cher btw, was just trying to start a little something).
Sally giggled. "Aren't you sweet.? That was a tough year with Meryl (Streep) and Glenn (Close) and Holly (Hunter) nominated too."
Anyway, she wants EVERYONE to see the movie when it plays at the Landmark Theater on LaBrea Nov. 10, 11 and 12.
"It's the first time that I actually went myself and got the distributor," she said. "It was so good to be in the boys club and to achieve that."

For more info, check out the Coffee Date Website.