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April 24, 2008 Robert Gant ("Ben" on QAF) is on the cover of Instinct magazine's May 2008 issue to promote his upcoming film "Kiss Me Deadly", in which he co-stars with Shannon Dougherty. Instinctmagazine.com has a short behind-the-scenes video clip of the cover shoot, where Robert practises some of his James Bond-type moves. The feature is the first installment in the Jacob Keane Assignment series of original, feature-length spy thrillers for the here! network. Be sure to pick up a copy of the magazine, as there are more great pictures inside. Here are a couple of scans: As I reported last week, Robert and former QAF co-stars Sharon Gless ("Debbie") and Michelle Clunie ("Melanie") hit the campaign trail in support of Hillary Clinton last weekend. On Friday night, Robert kicked things off in Pittsburgh, along with Pennsylvania's Governor Ed Rendell and Director Rob Reiner. As reported by EDGE Boston and the Independant, the men accompanied Chelsea Clinton (Hillary's daughter) to four bars in Center City, including Woody’s, the city’s most famous gay bar. On Saturday, Robert joined up with Sharon and Michelle for another pub crawl. There are a couple of pictures of them here. In her LiveJournal, wirthwoman wrote, "Bobby was the first to speak and he talked about how he came out as a gay man during the show and how his life has changed for the better and that he had met Hillary who thought he looked familiar. When he told her he was an actor and had been on QAF, she said that’s where she remembered him from. He said with Hillary gays would have a friend in the White House and she was the only First Lady to march in a Pride parade and would be the first President to do so. He was very passionate about her. Channel 4 News was filming his remarks but they left after he finished." While his former castmates were schmoozing and boozing, Hal Sparks ("Michael" on QAF) also spent some time in Pittsburgh performing stand-up at The Improv, reports the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. He will appear next in VH1's "Celebracadabra!" (celebrities compete to become trained magicians) at 9 p.m. on April 27 and VH1's "I Love the Millennium" in June. His metal band, Zero 1, is touring and he voices a cartoon character for Nickelodeon ("Tak and the Power of Juju"). Hal's sporting some longer locks these days... check out his Gene Simmons look at the Nickelodeon's 2008 Kids' Choice Awards. Shinan Govani wrote about the QAF Wrap Party in 2005. He's the reporter who, upon seeing Gale in a poor-boy cap, asked him, "Are you selling papers?" Gale replied, "Yeah, you want one?" (read the review here). This week, Govani writes about the cost of celebrity in this article, and mentions Sharon Gless ("Debbie" on QAF) who famously played the whacked-out lead in a production of Misery in the West End. She "ate and ate and ate" for the role, as she herself put it not long ago in an interview with The Guardian. "I put on 45 pounds," Gless detailed. "I wondered why everyone was so upset; Robert De Niro does it and nobody cares. But almost every interview I gave, all people wanted to talk about was my weight." Thea Gill's new film, "Mullligans", a gay update of The Graduate, will be premiering at several festivals this season, including the Inside Out Film Festival in Toronto on May 18th, NewFest in New York, Q Cinema in Fort Worth, The Honolulu Rainbow Film Festival and the Fairy Tales International Gay & Lesbian Film Festival in Calgary May 30th, where Thea and Charlie David (her co-star) will be in attendance! Check out Thea's MySpace blog for a peek at the Mulligans trailer. Sharon Gless was honored by The Theatre School at DePaul University (Chicago) on April 22, 2008. The Theatre School, founded in 1925 as the Goodman School of Drama, is one of the oldest and most respected theatre training conservatories in the country. Each year since 1989 the school and DePaul University have presented "Awards for Excellence in the Arts" to a select few distinguished artists who have made a significant contribution to the arts throughout their careers. The school honors recipients for their many wonderful professional and charitable accomplishments. This year's gala honored Sharon for her "extraordinary career and achievements as an actress" and for her role in inspiring the young artists who travel from all over the country to train at The Theatre School. Since its inception, 98 artists have been honored, including Joan Allen, Ed Asner, Blythe Danner, Laurence Fishburne, Brian Dennehy, Karl Malden, Joe Mantegna, Marlee Matlin, Edward James Olmos, Elizabeth Perkins, Aidan Quinn, John C. Reilly, Wendy Wasserstein, George Wendt, Jane Wyman and Louis Zorich. Congratulations, Sharon! According to DVD Times, the Region 1 DVD of Sharon's series "Burn Notice" Season 1 will be released on June 17, 2008 priced at $49.98. "Leaving Barstow," directed by Peter Paige ("Emmett" on QAF), recently wrapped up production and is set to premiere at the Newport Beach Film Festival next Tuesday. According to Kevin Sheridan, who wrote the script and stars in the film, "Leaving Barstow" is a coming-of-age story focused on a young man's struggle to leave what he knows. The trips to Barstow led to some interesting interactions with the locals, according to Peter Paige. One night, while filmmakers were shooting footage by the railroad tracks, a neighbor called the police thinking that they were drug dealers. The neighbor had seen a black Audi parked by the tracks and decided it was up to no good, Paige said, but the officers were gracious about the situation. Another night, a passerby inquired what movie they were making. When told it was called "Leaving Barstow," Paige said, the man responded, "Leaving Barstow? That’s what I gotta do!" The director said he was struck by Barstow’s atmosphere, from the screech of the train whistles to the hot wind that permeated the town. "I really wanted to capture that sense," he said. "Barstow is such a special place. I know the film is called, 'Leaving Barstow,' but I really wanted to honor it." Having been raised by a single parent, Paige said Sheridan’s script spoke to him. "The quality of the writing is really beautiful, and Kevin tapped into something really human, I think," Paige said. "The performances in this movie are staggering, so beautiful, complicated without being contrived. They’re so human it’s almost startling to watch." For more information on Leaving Barstow and to see a trailer, visit the official webite. For information on the April 29 screening, visit the Newport Beach Film Festival website. April 15, 2008 This weekend, Sharon Gless ("Debbie"), Robert Gant ("Ben") and Michelle Clunie ("Mel") will lead a pub crawl through the streets of Pittsburgh with stops at Images, 941 Saloon, Pittsburgh Eagle and others. The former Queer As Folk cast members are bar hopping in an effort to get out the gay vote. The event is organized by the "Hillary Clinton for President" campaign as a way to encourage gay voters to hit the polls when Pennsylvania weighs in on the Presidential election April 22nd. The pub crawl starts at Images (965 Liberty Avenue) at 9pm on Saturday, April 19th. Visit the website for more information. Gay.com features Robert Gant as "the full package" and asks you to vote on his most attractive attribute (*ahem* - I want to say his package, but that might give the wrong impression, LOL) April 14, 2008 A new, extended version of the trailer for "Falling for Grace" starring Gale Harold and Fay Ann Lee is available on the official website, as well as at apple.com. The Lifetime Movie Network will be showing two of Gale's films in the coming weeks. Martha Behind Bars airs tomorrow (April 15) at 6:00 PM and again on Wednesday, April 16th at 8:00 AM. Fathers and Sons will air Sunday, April 27 at 12:00 PM. Aaron Woodley, writer/director for Rhinoceros Eyes, has a new film named Tennessee starring Adam Rothenberg, Ethan Peck and Mariah Carey. It's set to premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York City on April 26th, 2008. Burn Notice returns for a second season on Thursday, July 10 at 10pm/9c. Sharon Gless is keeping busy, as she will also star in the first episode of the sixth season of Nip/Tuck. Gless returns to her role of psychotic "agent" Coleen Rose. eonline reporter Kristin says, "We also meet her poor sister. P.S.: I'm hearing someone the guys know and love might have breast cancer." From Sault This Week: Sault Ste. Marie native and critically acclaimed actor, Jack Wetherall ("Uncle Vic" on QAF) is proposing that he bring home his talents to create an educational theatre program and repertory company he said could rival the Stratford and Shaw Festivals in Southern Ontario. "I would love to co-ordinate a theatre program in the Sault that would allow our local talent a place to study and act, but would also attract talent from all over North America to come to the Sault to study," he tells Bob Mihell. "I've realized I know some of the best acting teachers in the world, including [former Stratford artistic director] Robin Phillips, and some of the people who are in the forefront of avant-garde experimental theatre in New York. I know I could attract the best trained theatre people in the world to Sault Ste. Marie." Wetherall would like to combine the talents of Canadian and American teachers from both sides of the river and form a 'Bridge Company'. "It would help this city realize we have tremendous potential as a tourist destination. People could come here in the summer and enjoy fabulous theatre, but also go to great restaurants, go to our beaches, use our hiking trails, ride the tour train, and canoe and kayak. There is so much more potential in keeping our local talent here rather than sending it off." In the vein of "If you build it, they will come," perhaps some of Mr. Wetherall's former co-stars from QAF might show up to participate. I could see Randy Harrison or Scott Lowell taking a bite out of Southern Ontario. Brent Ledger of the Toronto Star writes about the tragedy of relevant gay history going missing because so much of the "stuff" – letters, diaries, papers, etc. -- has been tossed. Ledger has been doing research on a gay Toronto art collector named Douglas Duncan, and has learned the importance of not treating clutter as clutter, but actively curating it and making sure it gets into the right hands, usually professional archives. "Thinking historically doesn't make life any easier, but it can enrich our sense of the present," he says. "I have far more matchbooks that I can ever use – an overflowing jar, in fact – but they bear the images of hot spots past and present and I'm loath to get rid of them. Who else, after all, has an original matchbook for the groundbreaking TV series Queer As Folk or the now-defunct Yonge St. bar/restaurant, the Living Well?" Jamie Evangelista and Laura Hartley interviewed Dan Whitford, lead vocalist, keyboardist and guitarist for the indie electro-dance trio "Cut Copy," one of Australia’s promising bands in the latest issue of Tangled Magazine. When asked how it was hearing their song "Going Nowhere" in a QAF episode, he replies, "It was pretty crazy, actually. You have moments where you sort of realise that your music has crossed over or that it reaches into a more of a mainstream consciousness. When you get stuff on TV, that's sort of one time when it really hits home. It was a cool experience." Did that bring the band more exposure? "I hope so! You never know, really. It's hard to quantify. I think anytime you sort of get on TV, whether it is an [advertisement] or on a show, you hope, it would bring you some more fans, or [take you] to an audience who don't already know your music." [read more of the interview here] Jessie Monteagudo writes about the widespread influence of gay gym culture in an article for the Miami Herald. Monteagudo says that during the past 20 years, working out and acquiring a muscular body have become major components of many gay men’s lives. "Because of the gym, the gay male physical ideal changed from slim, youthful and androgynous to hard, muscular and masculine. Gay gym culture influences the way we look, the way we dress, our aesthetic and erotic sense, our sexual activities and our social calendar. Furthermore, thanks to our role as social trendsetters, the gym has also become a major part of mainstream culture." He also says, "The gym in 'Queer as Folk' encapsulated gay life much more accurately than did the mythical sex-Mecca Babylon. In fact, it could be said that the gym has more influence on urban gay male life than anything else in our culture except the gay rights movement and AIDS." March 24, 2008 This weekend, Theatre for a New Audience's production of William Shakespeare's Antony & Cleopatra featuring Randy Harrison began previews at The Duke on 42nd Street, in New York City. On Sunday, April 6, at 3:00pm the public is invited to attend a matinee performance of the play, featuring Laila Robins as Cleopatra and Marton Csokas as Antony. After the performance, enjoy cocktails and hors d'oeuvres at an exclusive party with the cast. Visit tfana.org/brooklynsdreamers for tickets and more information. Channel 4 International, part of the Digital Rights Group, has acquired the cult comedy Rick & Steve: The Happiest Gay Couple In The World. The series will premier in the UK on digital channel E4 in Autumn 2008. 'Rick & Steve: The Happiest Gay Couple In The World' is a ground-breaking 6 x 22 minute animation, which takes the viewer on a whirlwind ride through modern domestic bliss in the gayest of gay ghettos, West Lahunga Beach. It features the voice talents of Alan Cumming ('The L Word', 'X2'), Peter Paige ('Queer As Folk'), Margaret Cho ('I'm The One That I Want'), Billy West ('Futurama') and Wilson Cruz ('Party Of Five', 'He's Just Not That Into You'). Haviland Stillwell has been blogging about the current "R Family Vacations" cruise (also known as the "Rosie Cruise") on her website. Rosie O'Donnell ("Loretta" on QAF) was on board for the first couple of days; also on board is Sharon Gless ("Debbie" on QAF). Look for Sharon to make appearances on future blogs with Rosie and Ross Mathews of the Tonight Show. Internet broadcaster AmericaFree.TV has chosen "Wake" (featuring Gale Harold) to be its HD Movie of the Week (until this coming Wednesday, March 26). "Wake" is a drama about four brothers who reunite after years of separation as their mother lies dying in the family home. Buttons get pushed, plans go awry and at the peak of this emotionally raw and darkly humorous evening, the games start to intensify and become real, leading ultimately to complete chaos. Marshall Eubanks, CEO of AmericaFree.TV, said: "Wake is another award winning film that did not see wide distribution. We are glad to be able to help enlarge the possibilities for movie-watchers by bringing this movie to our world-wide audience." Robert Gant will play Chief Garver in a made-for-TV movie on Spike TV called "Mask of the Ninja." Falling for Grace is opening on April 18th at the Harkins Camelview V theatre in Scottsdale Arizona. In the Toronto Star, Richard Ouzounian writes about Carole Pope, the outspoken Canadian icon who was in Toronto this weekend for an intimate concert, along with guest comic Elvira Kurt and in her own inimitable words, "There will be acoustic, there will be jokes, there will be blood." Ouzounian says Ms. Pope has some choice words on sex, politics and today's role models. The woman dubbed "The Raunch Queen" in her heyday with Rough Trade 30 years ago is still capable of lobbing a conversational grenade into the room with the best of them. "Just when you think human sexuality is wide open," she begins from her home in Los Angeles, "you realize we're still back in the Dark Ages. We're all controlled by a bunch of old white guys and I really wish they'd die off." Then she laughs with that dark, throaty sound of hers that could give Beelzebub bad dreams. "And I just can't get enough of Republicans caught being gay." And later: In fact, some of the kids of today have turned on to Pope, thanks in part to her music appearing on television soundtracks from The L Word to The Trailer Park Boys. She even recorded a new version of her anthem of horniness, "High School Confidential," for Queer as Folk. "Oh yeah," agrees Pope dryly. "That's where I got all the 15-year-old boys who want to be my friend on MySpace." March 10, 2008 Patrick Antosh, costume designer for Queer As Folk, was interviewed in a recent issue of the German publication "Manner magazine." The magazine's website currently displays the cover which features a photo of Gale Harold and Randy Harrison from the photoshoot the actors did for the December 2000 issue of "OUT" magazine (in a slightly different pose). For an English translation of the article, visit Patrick's news page. From LA Observed: Scott Lowell was in good company with other celebrities like Ron Howard and Rob Morrow at a screening of "Safety Last," one of the most famous silent films, at UCLA's Royce Hall yesterday afternoon (March 9). The film was preserved by the UCLA Film and Television Archive from Lloyd's personal 35-millimeter nitrate. Thea Gill starred in a movie called "Truth" alongside Stephanie Zimbalist (of Remmington Steel fame) and Dean Cain, back in 2005. The movie is available on DVD, but also aired on Canadian television last year. Jim Bawden, television columnist for The Toronto Star ("Starweek magazine"), wrote a great review you can read here. Mr. Bawden has written about Queer As Folk before; in fact, he reported that while American imports took over a lot of the Canadian network schedules in 2005, Queer as Folk was one of the homegrown programs that stood out from the crowd. "After five seasons and 83 episodes," says Mr. Bawden, "the T.O.-made Queer as Folk decamped to reruns after spending more than $80 million in the city and keeping hundreds of local actors employed. With sales to dozens of countries, it proved one of Canadian TV's most successful exports." Nice! Lots of news about Sharon Gless from the Cagney & Lacey website... March 4, 2008 According to TV Shows on DVD, rumour has it that season one of Burn Notice (starring Sharon Gless) will be released on DVD June 3, 2008. The movie Eighteen, starring Paul Anthony as Pip and Thea Gill as Hannah, is available on DVD from TLAvideo.com. In the film, Pip's grandfather recounts his own 18th birthday in France during WWII, and his one night marriage with cabaret singer Hannah, only for something to live for during the war. Check out this image of Thea Gill from the cast page. "here!" television network has just announced their Spring 2008 lineup. "The Delphi Effect" (formerly titled "Kiss me Deadly"), which stars Robert Gant and Shannen Doherty, will air on May 2, 2008 (world premiere). As reported earlier, Robert will play Nate Spencer in a telefilm called "Special Delivery," to be shot in Oahu, Hawaii this year and distributed by the Lifetime Movie Network. Check out these behind-the-scenes photos of Robert with co-star Lisa Edelstein (she plays Dr. Lisa Cuddy on "House" and also appeared in "Fathers & Sons" with Gale Harold, as well as "Say Uncle" with Peter Paige): The Northwest Herald (McHenry County, Illinois) talked to Hal Sparks, who is performing his stand-up comedy this week in the Chicago area, about growing up in Kentucky, hosting "Talk Soup" and dealing with the drama on "Queer As Folk." Jana Thompson asks Hal what it was like playing a gay man on QAF. "Was it challenging?" she wonders. Hal replies, "Drama is especially challenging, and doing it for five years is borderline toxic. It's rough work, and you're paid every day to be miserable. Somebody has to be betrayed or sick or dying. The emotion of it lingers in your body for 24 hours after. It's like if you and I have a fight and make up, we'll have a few flashbacks and move on. But when you spend 2-1/2 days [shooting] it, it's in your cells all weekend. That's going to bleed into the rest of your relationships." Remember season 4 of QAF, when Brian and Justin made a bet that involved a trip to Ibiza (Spain) if Justin won? And how Brian pretended to go there on his own when he was really getting treatment for his cancer? Well... it seems the Balearic island is undergoing some changes this year. Local authorities have just passed legislation outlawing club openings between 6am and noon (oh dear... no more watching the sunrise while immersed in the thumpa-thumpa). Local bureaucrats, however, have said there could be exceptions made to this rule. |
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