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Deep Inside Hollywood

By Romeo San Vicente

Eve gets "Unstuck"

Eve ("Barbershop") is a lesbian now. Well, on camera at least. The rapper-actor soon will star in and executive-produce the Showtime original movie "Getting Unstuck," based on the real-life story of an HIV-positive lesbian talk-show producer. Eve will play Conscious (aka Merle Soden), a former producer of Queen Latifah's short-lived talk show, who endured childhood abuse, drug addiction, homelessness, and HIV on her way to a career in television. The film will be Eve's second dramatic feature – she appeared in 2004's dark "The Woodsman" with Kevin Bacon – marking a change from the comedic material for which she's become known. The movie will also pair the actor with gay Showtime president Robert Greenblatt, whose production company executive-produces her UPN sitcom. But will Latifah make an appearance? Maybe coach Eve on how to play gay? Check future listings to find out.

Shankman's new job: "Nutjobs"

Openly gay director Adam Shankman has a knack for racking up one box-office success after another. At the helm of money-making, crowd-pleasing Disney comedies like "Bringing Down the House" and "The Pacifier," Shankman has become that studio's one-man hit factory. His latest project, "Nutjobs," is looking to replicate the winning formula. Written by Alan R. Cohen and Alan Freedland, both alums of TV's "King of the Hill," the story involves two men, one an obsessive-compulsive disorder and the other a pathological liar, trying to prove that their therapist's suicide was actually a murder. Of course, when Shankman will have time to work on the movie – between dealing with the planned remake of "Topper" and the recently announced holiday comedy "Four Christmases" – may turn out to be the real mystery.

Janeane Garofalo's Coming-Out Stories

On May 11, premium cable channel Here TV will premiere "Dangerous Living: Coming Out in the Developing World." Created by documentary filmmaker John Scagliotti ("Before Stonewall" and "After Stonewall") and narrated by Janeane Garofalo, the one-hour special tells the stories of people who have come out of the closet outside of the industrialized Western world's relatively liberal safety zone. The subjects of the film – citizens of Pakistan, Vietnam, Honduras, Namibia, India, and the Philippines – soldier bravely through everyday life, even when threatened with consequences as dire as imprisonment, torture, and death. Meanwhile, the special's air-date was chosen to commemorate the 2001 arrest of the Cairo 52, a group of Egyptian men imprisoned and tortured for merely attending a gay discotheque. Check Here TVs website (www.heretv.com) for pay-per-view information.

Chip Kidd's "Cheese"-y movie

Chip Kidd isn't a household name, but his work may be on your bookshelf – he's the gay graphic designer of countless books and book covers. As of 2002, he is also a novelist in his own right. Now his debut work of fiction, "The Cheese Monkeys," is headed for the big screen. 3Geez Productions has acquired the rights to the novel, and director Chris Grismer ("Queer as Folk") is on board to direct. "Cheese" is a coming-of-age novel, set in the late 1950s, that follows a group of students during their first two semesters of college and their encounters studying art with a demanding, difficult-to-please professor. No word yet on casting, screenwriter, or shooting schedules, but Romeo's hoping the finished product will help him replace the memory of the similarly-themed "Mona Lisa Smile."

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