These days, Drew Barrymore is seeing Fabrizio Moretti, the drummer for The Strokes, but that doesn’t stop Romeo from considering the bisexual actor as part of the Queer Team—that’s why they call it “bi,” after all. Meanwhile, Romeo loves that she’s a high-powered Hollywood producer now, pushing her own projects through. The latest script Barrymore has her eye on is He Loves Me, a psychological thriller with a plot that’s top secret, and, based on the title alone, sounds like a stalker picture. Warner Bros. bought writer Joyce Brotman’s script for Barrymore’s Flower Films production company, and the pre-production details are in the hammering-out phase. But until audiences find out if he loves her or loves her not, they can get their Drew fix in 2006’s Curtis Hanson-directed gambling pic Lucky You, where she’ll be opposite Hulk hunk Eric Bana, and in the upcoming Curious George animated feature.
Bowie Returns to Movie Prestige
Queer audiences have always had a special relationship with David Bowie. His early years as an androgynous, bisexual glam-rocker are indelibly imprinted in the public imagination, and his film career, though less prolific, has been likewise unusual. Bowie’s return to the screen comes after a six-year absence, and will see him participating in two projects. He’ll voice a character in the animated feature Arthur and the Minimoys, alongside Madonna, and he’ll portray Nikola Tesla in Christopher Nolan’s (Batman Begins) latest, The Prestige. Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale star as a pair of rival magicians in early 20th-century London, and Bowie’s historical figure—Tesla discovered the rotating magnetic field—becomes involved in their lives. Based on the 1996 Christopher Priest novel, the movie will also star Michael Caine. All this magic should appear before moviegoers’ eyes sometime in 2006.
Kushner Wrestles at Sundance
Freida Lee Mock has been nominated for an Academy Award five times, and in 1995 she took one home. And if you don’t know who she is by now, then you don’t watch enough documentaries. The director, who owns a statuette for Maya Lin: A Strong Clear Vision, about the controversial Vietnam Memorial architect, has a new film premiering in January at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival about another controversial creative force. It’s called Wrestling with Angels: Playwright Tony Kushner, and promises to be an eye-opening portrait of the United States’ most outspoken contemporary theater voice. The gay Pulitzer Prize-winning Kushner (Angels in America) straddles the seemingly impossible-to-cross gap between mainstream box-office success and serious, politically charged, unpopular opinion-filled theater. This makes him a perfectly complicated subject for Mock’s camera. Look for the film to move from Sundance into art-house theaters later in the year.
Brits Draw Line of Beauty
Last year’s Booker Prize-winning novel, The Line of Beauty, by Alan Hollinghurst, is about to make its television debut as a mini-series for the BBC, with an American broadcast date close to being finalized. The three-part series will tell the story of a gay love affair set against the backdrop of 1980s London, a time when it wasn’t exactly great to be gay in Great Britain, since Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was in office and antigay laws were a hot-button topic. The troubled times were a far cry from the civil-rights protections and legalized gay unions England now enjoys, and Beauty exposes many of the injustices and hypocrisies of the era. No cast has been announced yet, but keep your eyes on basic cable for a stateside airing within the year.
Bryan Singer’s Final Frontier
Queer Trekkies (or Trekkers—it’s so hard for Romeo to know what’s correct in Deep Space) will be pleased with this bit of information. Openly gay director Bryan Singer (X-Men) is making noise about wanting to helm the next Star Trek movie. Now, before fans go jumping the gun and speculating on specifics, understand that there is no deal yet. There’s talk about a deal that may or may not take place. And the man is busy: He’s executive-producing a documentary about Superman before his own Superman Returns hits theaters, and he’s also working on Logan’s Run and The Mayor of Castro Street. But the in-demand filmmaker has recently expressed a marked interest in Trek via some off-the-cuff red carpet interviews. And when you’re hot in Hollywood, people tend to try to get you what you want. Romeo just wants some homo Enterprise crew members, for once.
Cruz and Hayek Steal Bandidas
It’s always a treat to watch Penelope Cruz and Salma Hayek vamp it up lesbian-style for red-carpet photographers. The tabloids have a field day with the best gal pals when they’re looking glamorous and hanging all over each other in public. Lesbian fans don’t mind it either. And those fans are going to get plenty of both women in the upcoming movie Bandidas. The friends are playing a pair of sexy south-of-the-border bank robbers in the comedy-western, which co-stars Steve Zahn (Cruz’s co-star in Sahara), who’ll play a cop sent to Mexico to investigate the crime spree. Written by Luc Besson and co-directed by newcomers Joachim Roenning and Espen Sandburg, the movie will also feature Sam Shepard and Dwight Yoakam in small roles. Look for the ladies to steal into theaters sometime later this year.
Lisa Kudrow Takes on Ex-Cons
The Comeback may have fizzled on HBO, but that hasn’t slowed down actor-producer Lisa Kudrow and her gay writing-producing partner, Dan Bucatinsky. The duo, whose Is or Isn’t Productions is set up with Warner Bros., is developing several pilots for Fox, CBS, and UPN. The Fox project is based on the Irish sitcom Paths to Freedom and revolves around two men - one a white-collar criminal and the other more downscale—released from prison on the same day. The I-or-I team is also working with Daisy Mayer (Party Girl) on a dramatic series about a young woman who takes a job at a New York auction house and gets a bumpy crash course in the ways of high society. Be on the lookout for both shows as they test the dangerous, murky waters of television-land soon.
Mandy Moore Goes Shopping
Most movie stars employ personal shoppers, but Mandy Moore is about to become one. The perky young star who shined so wickedly while hurling Bibles at sinful teens in the satirical Saved! is currently working on the romantic comedy Personal Shopping. One of queer uber-producer Scott Rudin’s latest batch of entertainment ventures, Shopping is the story of a man who loses his luggage, then employs Moore’s character, a department store shopping consultant, to help rebuild his wardrobe. No surprise, the guy ends up wanting to wear Moore home as well, but expect sweet-natured PG-13 goings-on from up-and-coming writer-director Tim Sullivan and his decidedly modest young star. The credit cards get max’d later in 2006.
Romeo San Vicente’s romantic life would fill a book all by itself.
