Rang up Jim Verraros the other day for a freelance piece I'm working on and took the opportunity to get some material for Out In Hollywood on the first openly-gay "American Idol" finalist who is now making movies and recording anothber CD. Jim, 24, was among the final 12 during season one of the show and came out publicly after the show and the Idols tour that followed. Since then, he has released a CD, starred in "Eating Out" and "Eating Out 2" and will begin filming a horror film next month ("I play a straight guy!").
Jim tells me that "Eating Out 2," which made its debut at LA Outfest last summer, is coming out on DVD in May but first will be the opening night movie at a gay film festival in London this month.
“The reaction to the sequel has been mixed for some reason," he says. "When I read the script, I thought it was 10 times better than the original. But some people like the simplicity of the first one which was donhe in such camp."
He heads into the recording studio for his new CD soon and hopes to have it complete by mid-April for a summer release. "It's shaping up to be the makle equivilant to Kyle Minogue," he explains.
Jim didn't win on "American Idol," Kelly Clarkson did. But he draws inspiration from another losing finalist: Jennifer Hudson.
"It's amazing that she's achieved what she has. Simon [Cowell] was like, 'You have no talent, no style or look and then she comes back and gives that ["Dreamgirls"] performance. She's given the show some hard-core cred."