Stars: July 2006 Archives

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.

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.