Salma Hayek Takes Over TV
Ugly Betty was no fluke for Salma Hayek. The Latina actor knows that Hollywood tends to turn its back on women as they age, so what better way to keep in front of the camera than to run the show behind the scenes? That’s why Hayek has turned Hollywood player with several new projects bought by both ABC and CBS. Queer audiences weaned on Buffy the Vampire Slayer will have their interests piqued by the untitled female werewolf drama written by gay comics creator Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, but Hayek is also working on developing Guilty, a marriage drama; Get Out, a workplace sitcom; and Yo!, about an author who uses her immigrant family as the subject of her work. If even one of the shows catches fire like Ugly, Sayak should be sitting pretty for some time to come.
Grey Gardens Gets Gets
Since the end of Caroline in the City, gay actor Malcolm Gets has moved over to the indie side of life, appearing in Thirteen Conversations About One Thing and the queer romantic comedy Adam & Steve. But now he’s signed on to participate in what could become his most high-profile project to date. Grey Gardens, which Romeo reported on earlier, is the narrative film based on the documentary of the same name about Jacqueline Kennedy’s eccentric relatives, Edith Bouvier Beale and her daughter, “Little Edie.” Boosted by the success of the Tony Award-winning musical, this version won’t feature characters breaking into song nearly as much as the stage play, but Gets will appear as “Big Edie’s” musical accompanist, alongside Jessica Lang, Drew Barrymore, and Jeanne Tripplehorn as Jackie Kennedy. The finished product will air on HBO in 2008. Can’t wait.
The L Word Gets Its Man
Character actor Wallace Shawn is one of those men you know but maybe don’t know that you know - the guy who kept muttering the word “inconceivable” during The Princess Bride, to name one of his many comedic projects. And now that the new season of The L-Word is just around the corner, Shawn will be joining the cast as the money man behind writer Jenny’s “fictional” film project, Les Girls. The veteran of more comedies than most actors can count, Shawn will appear in a multi-episode arc. And yes, that means Jenny (Mia Kirshner) didn’t wind up being eaten by sharks when she set sail in a little boat at the end of last season, though getting back to land to work on a film in Hollywood can have similar results.
Tony Kushner’s Latest Marquee-Unfriendly Play
Tony Kushner, the award-winning playwright behind the landmark Angels in America, is hard at work on a new piece. Its tentative title? The Intelligent Homosexual’s Guide to Capitalism and Socialism with a Key to the Scriptures. There’s no word on the plot yet - and if there were, it might take too much room here to explain - but it’s reportedly going to deal with gay issues in a family setting. So pity the poor person assigned to arrange those letters on a marquee, but don’t pity the theater company that commissioned the work. That would be the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, a highly respected regional theater that will undoubtedly make an even bigger name for itself when the piece has its world premiere there in spring of 2009. It’s good to have friends in high places.
Katherine Heigl Speaks The Ugly Truth
“Ugly” isn’t a word that describes Emmy-winning Grey’s Anatomy and Knocked Up star Katherine Heigl, but T.R. Knight’s BFF is about to go before the cameras for gay director Robert Luketic in a romantic comedy called The Ugly Truth. The story centers on successful TV producer Heigl hiring one of those harsh, tell-it-like-it-is relationship advice professionals for her show. His brash style conflicts with her views on the world, naturally, until she begins to find that his “ugly truth” style of dating tips really do help her find the guy she’s always wanted. In other words, another film to confirm that straight people really are an odd bunch, made all the more subversive - one hopes - by having a gay director at the controls. No word on a male lead yet, but a start date of April 15 is set, so audiences will probably see how ugly it all gets sometime in early 2009.
Rogen and Banks Join Smith’s Porno
Kevin Smith loves the gays, and we love him right back. The Clerks and Chasing Amy writer-director always includes queer elements in his literately raunchy comedies, and he even graced the cover of gay lifestyle magazine A Bear’s Life. So there’s bound to be some same-sex action included in his upcoming Zack and Miri Make a Porno. Romeo has mentioned this film before, but now some recasting of the leads (Rosario Dawson was Smith’s muse on this at first) is on deck: Seth Rogen and Elizabeth Banks (he of Knocked Up, she of Fred Claus, both of The 40-Year-Old Virgin) will play the title characters, a platonic pair of best friends who enter the world of amateur porn to help pay the bills. But will the experience make them discover they’re not so platonic? Find out when Zack and Miri opens in 2008.
Guinevere Turner TV Project Gets a Go
If Romeo ran Hollywood, his first official act - even before paying writers what they’re worth - would be to give writer-actress Guinevere Turner (Go Fish, The Notorious Bettie Page, American Psycho) all the work she can handle. So it’s exciting to hear that Turner will be putting on her actress cap again for Don’t Go, an upcoming TV pilot about the lives and loves of the residents of an L.A. fourplex that sounds like Melrose Place meets The L Word. The racially mixed cast includes several African-American up-and-coming actors as well as South Asian Chutney Popcorn star Nisha Ganatra, so it sounds more like the real L.A. than the TV version we so often get. Romeo - who’s still not running Hollywood, alas - can’t wait.
