By Romeo San Vicente
Ellen Page's career up in the 'Eyre'
Oh, Ellen Page – you're keeping mum about your sexuality, but you're teasing the lesbians into a frenzy. First there was that "Can't I wrap my legs around another woman in friendship?" sketch on "SNL." Then, your decision to play real-life lesbian activist Laurel Hester in a biopic (a project which appears to be on hold for now) and a roller-derby girl in Drew Barrymore's directorial debut "Whip It." But while you keep the ladies guessing, you're certainly staying busy, what with lead roles in three more upcoming projects. Page stars opposite Susan Sarandon and Cillian Murphy in the thriller "Peacock." She's part of an all-star ensemble – that includes Leonardo DiCaprio, Marion Cotillard, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Murphy again – for Christopher Nolan's "Inception," and Page will play the famous Bronte heroine in the BBC's "Jane Eyre." Looking forward to all the non-revealing interviews Page will give to promote these movies.
Dukakis and Fricker are lesbians on the run
She played an MTF transgender woman in the three "Tales of the City" mini-series, and now Oscar-winner Olympia Dukakis will star as half of a lesbian couple. She and fellow statuette recipient Brenda Fricker ("My Left Foot") play a pair of longtime companions in "Cloudburst," due sometime in 2010 from gay Canadian director Thom Fitzgerald ("The Hanging Garden," "Beefcake," "3 Needles"). After 30 years together, when one of them gets placed in a nursing home, the two conspire to make a break for it and hit the road to Canada, where they can be legally married. During their travels, they are joined by a young male hitchhiker (who has yet to be cast). Dukakis and Fricker are both known for playing women who take no guff, so this casting seems perfect. Now, let's make movies about old, cool lesbians a hot trend, shall we?
'Hung' for teens?
Even though they can't show penises on television, the newly hip appendage (thanks, "Forgetting Sarah Marshall") has never been hotter on the small screen. HBO is airing "Hung," a comedy starring Thomas Jane as a high school basketball coach forced to market his one outstanding attribute to lonely women, and now MTV is following suit with "Hard Times." This latest series follows the travails of teen loser RJ Berger (Paul Iacono of this summer's "Fame" remake), whose life is totally changed when his impressive package is unveiled in front of the entire student body. (David Katzenberg, who directed the pilot, knows plenty about accidental nudity from his years as a "Survivor" producer.) Will the revelation boost his confidence and make him popular, or will he become the butt of jokes from cruel classmates? Find out when MTV airs "Hard Times" later this year.
Pack your bags for 'BearCity'
Once Kevin Smith and Kathy Griffin started making jokes about bears – gay guys who tend to be hairier and huskier than your average disco twink – it was inevitable that the culture at large would figure out that this niche of the queer subculture existed. Perhaps equally inevitable was "BearCity," an upcoming feature film about a young, gay would-be actor who finds himself attracted to men with some meat on their bones and fur on their backs. Casting is still taking place for the film, set to be helmed by Douglas Langway (director of the bear-adoptive-dads-with-guns action saga "Raising Heroes"), who co-wrote with filmmaker and entertainment journalist Lawrence Ferber. Shooting is set to start in August, so don't be surprised to see "BearCity" woofing it up on the 2010 gay film fest circuit.
