Monday, September 05, 2005
Ministry of Truth Straightens up Dusty Springfield
According to Gay.com (UK and Ireland edition), a Universal Studios film about the late singer Dusty Springfield (will not have any mention of her lesbian relationships, just the het ones.
Reasons given were reportedly that execs were "wary of including gay content after a series of cinema flops," for which Alexander was cited as an example. Also reported was that the studio "fears upsetting the actress lined up to play the star, who is a noted Christian rock performer." Grammatical gaff aside, if they were afraid of upsetting the actress (listed on IMDB as Kristin Chenoweth), why did they ask her to play an openly gay (or at least publicly bi, and gay to her friends) singer in the first place?
This article is in stark contrast to coverage on the project by AfterEllen earlier this year, in which director Jessica Sharzer stated that they wouldn't be "shying away" from the fact of Dusty's being a lesbian.
This reminds me of the year that two tv movies came out (so to speak) about Liberace, but only one event mentioned that he was gay. I thought we'd moved past that since 1988.
I wonder how Melissa Etheridge would be portrayed on the big screen, or Ellen Degeneres? Does it depend on who they line up to star?
***************************************************
UPDATE (9/6/05): I'm happy to convey that AfterEllen got right on this and debunked the original article that Gay.com had pared down and reprinted (I was unable to locate the full text of the Rupert Murdoch-owned Australian paper, Sunday Times). The original article had a number of glaring errors (such as claiming that The L Word had been cancelled), and a call to writer/director Sharzer confirmed her earlier statements.
|
Reasons given were reportedly that execs were "wary of including gay content after a series of cinema flops," for which Alexander was cited as an example. Also reported was that the studio "fears upsetting the actress lined up to play the star, who is a noted Christian rock performer." Grammatical gaff aside, if they were afraid of upsetting the actress (listed on IMDB as Kristin Chenoweth), why did they ask her to play an openly gay (or at least publicly bi, and gay to her friends) singer in the first place?
This article is in stark contrast to coverage on the project by AfterEllen earlier this year, in which director Jessica Sharzer stated that they wouldn't be "shying away" from the fact of Dusty's being a lesbian.
This reminds me of the year that two tv movies came out (so to speak) about Liberace, but only one event mentioned that he was gay. I thought we'd moved past that since 1988.
I wonder how Melissa Etheridge would be portrayed on the big screen, or Ellen Degeneres? Does it depend on who they line up to star?
***************************************************
UPDATE (9/6/05): I'm happy to convey that AfterEllen got right on this and debunked the original article that Gay.com had pared down and reprinted (I was unable to locate the full text of the Rupert Murdoch-owned Australian paper, Sunday Times). The original article had a number of glaring errors (such as claiming that The L Word had been cancelled), and a call to writer/director Sharzer confirmed her earlier statements.
|
Posted by Rogueslayer at 5:04 PM 
