'A League of Their Own' gets a show of its own
Remember that part in "A League of Their Own" where Rosie O'Donnell talks about feeling different from the other women, and how that was pretty much all the lesbian coding the script was willing to give to "Rosie O'Donnell in a movie about women's baseball"? The movie was basically the identical cousin of "Fried Green Tomatoes" in that it was entirely about lesbians except not willing to be about them at all, yet still iconic and queer in retrospect. Isn't it time, then, for a reboot that allows its sporty gals a chance to play ball and also maybe kiss the not-male gender of their fondest dreams? Yes, it is, and thanks to "Broad City"'s Abbi Jacobson and "Mozart in The Jungle" producer Will Graham, it's happening. Amazon is going to host the sitcom, which will not be a remake of the film, or even necessarily include the characters in the film, but will follow the league as they travel the country hitting triples for feminism. And, no, we don't have any inside information about how much lesbian content there'll be, it's just that we "know," you know? Because, please, have you seen "Broad City"?
Ben Platt will 'Run This Town'
Everybody wants to be in the Ben Platt business these days. Understandable, of course, the natural outcome of the Tony Award-winning actor making theatergoers weep during his run in Broadway's "Dear Evan Hansen." Next up for the young queer song and dance man is a drama called "Run This Town" from first-time director Ricky Tollman, who's also the screenwriter. It's about a journalist (Platt) who stumbles onto the scandal-filled trail of an obnoxious politician. Damien Lewis ("Homeland") is the wicked lawmaker, and "Vampire Diaries"' Nina Dobrev and Mena Massoud, the star in Disney's live-action "Aladdin," have signed on to play political operatives. Obviously, it would be better if there were musical numbers, like everything else in life. But we're happy Mr. Platt's star keeps rising. And it's a timely project, considering the record overwhelming number of horrible politicians walking around Washington, D.C. Now, if only art had the power to run them all out of office…
And 'Now, Apocalypse'
Veteran queer filmmaker Gregg Araki ("Mysterious Skin") and Steven Soderbergh ("Unsane") might not be the first people you think about when the word "sitcom" comes up, but don't be so quick to think a comedy collab can't work. Soderbergh will produce Araki's latest project for Starz, a half-hour comedy called "Now, Apocalypse," and if you think about Araki joints like "Nowhere" and the pitch-black comedy of his early films like "The Living End," you can probably see where this could go. The show will focus on a young person with the mythically resonant name Ulysses, and his journey, alongside a cast of fellow travelers, will involve the search for love, sex and fame in the coolest corners of Los Angeles. To keep it youthful, Araki is co-writing with Vogue.com sex columnist Karley Sciortino, who also hosts Viceland's kink-intensive sex series, "Slutever." Considering that a recent episode of that show involved people who fantasized about doing it with werewolves and that Araki's own delirious cult film "Nowhere" involved lots of sex and encounters with cockroach-like monsters, this is probably going to be a pretty trippy apocalypse.
Alia Shawkat and Holliday Grainger: Party 'Animals'
We follow Alia Shawkat's film and TV projects because she never bores us. The "Arrested Development" star makes the kind of career moves we applaud and admire, whether it's the nervy cult comedy "Search Party" or the acclaimed series "Transparent." So we have every plan of following her to "Animals," the latest film from director Sophie Hyde. Hyde's earlier project, "52 Tuesdays," was about a teenage girl with a gender-transitioning parent, and won acclaim at a variety of film festivals. "Animals" is based on British author Emma Jane Unsworth's well-received novel of the same name (Unsworth will also adapt the book to screenplay) and will star Shawkat and Holliday Grainger ("Cinderella") as young twentysomething women staggering into adulthood while maintaining a commitment to relentless partying. In other words it's probably the story of your life and we're going to trust that any life lessons learned won't be overly earnest.
Romeo San Vicente can't be tamed.
