By Romeo San Vicente
Eliza Dushku's road to Mapplethorpe
Actors with ambition to produce and direct know that to make their dream projects come true there are dues to be paid. So when "Dollhouse" star Eliza Dushku announced her intentions to make "The Perfect Moment," a biopic about the late gay artist Robert Mapplethorpe, she probably knew there'd be clout-and cash-collecting detours along the way. And here they are: the horror film "Zoe," slated for 2011 and co-starring James Van Der Beek and Freddie Prinze, Jr. (is it set in the '90s too?) in which Dushku plays a small-town waitress terrorized by… well… something; you'll see when it opens. And then there's the future mega-event known as "Ghostbusters III," a project she's been circling, one that would pretty much catapult her to the A-list, with all the production shingle perks that status tends to dole out. Hope so. And really, what're a few slimed ghosts on the road to making art?
Susan Sarandon entering 'The Big Valley'
Back in the 1960s, Barbara Stanwyck (who may or may not have been bisexual – as was rumored during her career – but who was a favorite of lesbian and gay audiences all the same) played Victoria Barkley, sturdy matriarch of the wild west TV drama "The Big Valley." So it's fitting, in a way, that Susan Sarandon, about whom no one creates sexuality rumors because her early career choices ("The Hunger" and "The Rocky Horror Picture Show") more or less cemented her position as a queer screen icon, may be stepping into Stanwyck's ladylike boots. Poised to re-enter pop-culture consciousness as a feature film, "The Big Valley" is just the right sort of remake candidate: one that's had time to exit public consciousness first. It has no other cast yet, but Romeo would love to see a gay cowboy subplot somewhere in the mix. Nothing major, just something where the quiet "special friends" get to live happily ever after.
'Whorehouse' to reopen for business
So "Nine" tanked at the box office. Oh well. We're now back at a point in the movie-making landscape where one failed big-budget musical doesn't derail the genre's viability, which is great news for fans of that heightened reality where breaking into song and choreographed dance moves is commonplace. Here come two more: "The Song Is You," from "Dreamgirls" director Bill Condon, is about a man who turns to music as a refuge, connecting it to key moments in his life (or as Condon has described it, "(falling) into his iPod Shuffle"). In turn, the man also falls into a romance with a singer he hasn't even met. At the same time, the remake of "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas" is on the horizon. No cast yet, no release date yet, no nothing yet, just a teasing promise. So, message to people responsible: obviously she's not going to play the lead, but there must be a liberal infusion of Dolly Parton into this movie all the same. Anything less will be blasphemy. Now go make it work.
Kevin Smith produces 'Bear Nation'
Anyone who follows the man recently ejected from a Southwest Airlines flight for taking up too much seat space knows that Kevin Smith is a bear. A heterosexual one, but still a bear. And his gay bear colleague, documentary filmmaker Malcolm Ingram ("Small Town Gay Bar," which Smith produced), has enlisted the help of Silent Bob to get his next project off the ground. Smith has executive-produced and also makes an appearance in "Bear Nation," a doc from Ingram about the bear subculture (for the still-uninitiated, they are that niche market of gay men who refuse to shave, wax, or say no to seconds at the buffet) and all the ways they've begun to make their presence known in the larger gay world. The film premieres any minute now at Austin's South By Southwest Film Festival. Non-Austinites will have to wait for a local fest or cable airing, all of which are highly likely to follow. Prep now by growing that facial hair.
