By Romeo San Vicente
HBO to host a 'Battle of The Sexes'
If you were around and paying attention in 1973, you may remember that plenty of otherwise reasonable adults were still skeptical about the talent of female athletes. In fact, it was such a strange time in history – "Women's Lib," as it was called then, was a hot-button issue – that there came to be a tennis match known as "The Battle of the Sexes" that would transfix the entire country. Bobby Riggs, the 55-year-old Wimbledon champ, would play against the Number 2-ranked, 29-year-old star Billie Jean King. And he would lose. And it was a sensation, sparking debate and heated misogynistic weirdness as far as the eye could see. Now, thanks to producers Elizabeth Banks and Tom Hanks, an untitled HBO film starring Banks as King, will recreate that pop-culture storm. David Auburn ("Proof") will write the script, and Paul Giamatti has been cast as Riggs. Can't wait.
Meryl, Carey and Helena go to 'Suffragette' City
Coming for the end of the year and awards-movie season is a film seemingly designed to be nominated for a whole variety of statuettes: "Suffragette," a fictionalized account of the struggle involved in getting women the vote. The period drama, from director Sarah Gavron with a script from Abi Morgan ("Shame," "The Iron Lady"), stars Carey Mulligan as a working mother who realizes she must become an activist and fight for the vote to make her life better. Helena Bonham Carter co-stars, along with Ben Whishaw and Brendan Gleeson. Also, Meryl Streep will star as historical figure Emmeline Pankhurst, the women's rights activist. It will be that rare thing at the movies: a historical film about the early heroines of feminism, especially interesting since it will be the first major theatrical film to include this subject matter since 1964's "Mary Poppins." That's right, "Mary Poppins." Other than that, there are very few representations outside of HBO's 2004 film "Iron-Jawed Angels." Clearly, it's well past high time.
Chuck Palahniuk's sinister little 'Lullaby'
Writer Chuck Palahniuk, author of "Fight Club," has a new novel coming, his fifth one – the sweetly titled "Lullaby" – and it's already been optioned for a film adaptation. Of course, knowing Palahniuk's preferred dark tone, this lullaby will offer nothing even approaching sweet dreams. The book, picked up by filmmakers Andy Mingo and Josh Leake, involves a reporter investigating a series of sudden infant deaths, including that of his own child. He suspects that a regional African chant known as a "culling song" may, in fact, be the supernatural source of the deaths. Then he learns that the song has the power to kill just about anyone. In other words, fun all around from a gay author who's never felt the need to make anyone feel good about, well, anything. Now, when is that movie going to happen?
'Looking' for more Daniel Franzese
As of this writing, the future of HBO's "Looking" is uncertain. Having finished two seasons now, and in a ratings trough, there might not be a third season to explore the low-key lives of this San Francisco crew. Gay audiences, it seems, are unhappy with fictional gay lives that don't precisely mirror their own, and with narratives that meander a bit (OK, fine, whatever, a "lot"). Anyway, a cancellation would be a shame, especially since this season introduced a jolt of energy with big, joyful Daniel Franzese ("Mean Girls"). We'll be annoyed if the show goes away, and with it one of TV's only bears. But if this is, indeed, the last of "Looking," Franzese's got a couple indie films in production where fans can eventually find him again. One of them is called "Vows and Rites," from filmmaker Matthew Ehlers, co-starring Rose McGowan, about a wedding that collides with a funeral. The other one, about which there's even less information, is called "Mind Puppets," co-starring Vinnie Jones, from first-time filmmaker Juan Curi. Start checking your local film festival line-ups. That's where the independent film world warms up its talent.
