By Romeo San Vicente
She rocks, she docs
Her latest film, "Prey for Rock & Roll," rocked its way into theaters in October, but the other chapter of Gina Gershon's journey through the mosh pit is still to be told. That's why the Independent Film Channel has decided to air "Prey for Gina Gershon," a six-part documentary series that follows everyone's favorite "dykon" as she headlines her first concert tour. The series was shot over three weeks as the "Bound" star traveled on a musical promotional trip for "Prey," backed by veteran New York underground band Girls Against Boys – but minus the dozens of faux tattoos she sported in the film, in which she plays a struggling, bisexual rocker. The screen star has been singing and songwriting since her teens and will narrate the series as well. Look for it to enter the charts next April.
Hot 'Hooligans'
In England they call them "football hooligans": young male soccer fans whose enthusiasm for the game – combined with testosterone and drunkenness – usually leads to trouble and pain for anyone who gets in their way. So how against type is it to cast Charlie Hunnam (who played a blond twink on the U.K.'s "Queer as Folk") and Elijah Wood (the object of Sean Astin's affection in the "Lord of the Rings" films) as brutish, violent louts? Very. But the two will indeed star in the new indie film "Hooligans," which begins shooting in early 2004 with director Lexi Alexander, the former karate and kickboxing champion/stuntwoman whose short boxing-themed film, "Johnny Flynton," was a 2002 Oscar nominee. If anyone can whip these two men into fighting shape, she can.
Columbia pays for 'College'
Syndicated gay humor writer Marc Acito, whose column "The Gospel According to Marc" appears in alternative papers across the country, has a new reason to smile. A script based on his first novel, the lengthily titled "How I Paid for College: A Tale of Sex, Theft, Friendship, and Musical Theater," has been purchased by Columbia Pictures for an undisclosed amount of money. Acito's novel, which he describes as "true enough to sufficiently embarrass my family," chronicles the criminal endeavors of a young man who embezzles and blackmails his way into enough tuition to pay for Juilliard. Doubleday will publish the book in 2004. People who skip books and wait for the movie versions will have a little longer to wait.
'Grownups' tune in to CBS
Who doesn't love a nice, tasteful "Hallmark Hall of Fame" TV movie, especially one based on the work of that nice, tasteful novelist Anne Tyler? The Pulitzer Prize winner's "Back When We Were Grownups" is getting the small-screen treatment at CBS, but with a big-screen cast – including Blythe Danner, Faye Dunaway, Peter Fonda, Jack Palance, Peter Riegert, and Ione Skye. Danner stars as a widowed 50-something mother and grandmother whose one biological daughter and three stepdaughters make some unorthodox romantic choices – for example, one has a "longtime companion" who is a gay man. Danner's character decides to make an unusual romantic gesture of her own: courting the college sweetheart she dumped. "City Slickers" helmer Ron Underwood will direct, but no word yet on who plays the "gay" son-in-law.
