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- HOW TAL OF THE CY AVOID A TRANS CASTG CONTROVERSYTHE NETFLIX REVIVAL OF A BELOVED QUEER SERI BRGS BACK OLYMPIA DAKIS AS ANNA MADRIGAL—AND, A CCIAL FLASHBACK EPISO, TRODUC TRANS ACTOR JEN RICHARDS AS A YOUNG ANNA.BY JOSEPH LONGOJUNE 6, 2019JEN RICHARDS TAL OF THE CY.BY ALISON COHEN ROSA/NETFLIX.SAVE THIS STORYSAVESAVE THIS STORYSAVEWHEN VETERAN ACTOR OLYMPIA DAKIS APPEARS NETFLIX’S UPG TAL OF THE CY, ’LL BE HER FOURTH TIME PLAYG ANNA MADRIGAL—THE BELOVED MATRIARCH OF 28 BARBARY LANE. DAKIS ORIGATED THE ROLE 1993, THE ORIGAL PBS MISERI ADAPTATN OF ARMISTEAD MP’S BELOVED NOVELS, WHICH QUICKLY BEME A CULT CLASSIC FOR S REVOLUTNARY PICTNS OF QUEER LIFE SAN FRANCIS. SHE REPRISED ANNA AGA THE 1998 AND 2001 FOLLOW-UP SERI. EIGHTEEN YEARS LATER, DAKIS IS ONE OF THE ONLY ACTORS TO APPEAR ALL ERATNS OF THE SAGA—ALONGSI LRA LNEY AND BARBARA GARRICK.THE NEW LIMED SERI KICKS OFF WH THE TENANTS OF BARBARY LANE THROWG THEIR BELOVED LANDLADY A 90TH BIRTHDAY PARTY. IN TYPILLY QUEER SAN FRANCIS STYLE, THERE’S DRAG QUEENS, TERACTIVE ART, AND, OF URSE, P AMOUNTS OF WEED. BUT THIS CELEBRATN FOR A SUBVERSIVE HEROE WH A BIG ASTERISK. DAKIS, 87 YEARS OLD, IS A CIS ACTOR PLAYG A TRANS CHARACTER—A MON SIGHT ON SCREENS BIG AND SMALL.THOUGH HE WON’T SPEAK FOR HIS LLEAGU—CLUDG MP AND TAL OF THE CY SHOWNNER LREN MORELLI, A FORMER WRER ON ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK—EXECUTIVE PRODUCER ALAN POUL, WHO HAS PRODUCED EVERY ERATN OF TAL, NEVER NSIRED STG ANYONE BIS DAKIS TO PLAY ANNA. “HAVG OLYMPIA WAS CRIL TO MAKG THE SHOW AGA,” HE SAID AN TERVIEW. “OLYMPIA IS CLEARLY GRANDFATHERED AND PAID HER DU.” JT AS IMPORTANTLY, HE NTUED, “OLYMPIA HAS CLEARLY EARNED THE RIGHT TO FISH OUT THE ROLE”—CG DAKIS’S “VERY BOLD” CISN TO PLAY A TRANS CHARACTER THE 1990S, A TIME WHEN THERE WAS LTLE TRANS REPRENTATN MEDIA.STILL, MORELLI SEEMS TO KNOW THAT DAKIS’S RETURN HAS THE POTENTIAL TO FFLE FEATHERS. “WE KNOW HOW STARVED THE YOUNGER, QUEER MUNY IS FOR THENTIC REPRENTATN,” SHE TOLD VANY FAIR MARCH. THE TEAM BEHD THE NEW LIMED SERI HIRED A PREDOMATELY QUEER ST AND CREW TO MAKE S STORY RG AS TE AS POSSIBLE; TRANS TALENT BEHD THE MERA CLUD WRER THOMAS PAGE MCBEE AND DIRECTORS SILAS HOWARD AND SYDNEY FREELAND. THE NEW TAL CLUS OF-THE-MOMENT STORY L, LIKE ONE WHICH MARGOT, A LBIAN CISGENR WOMAN, NSIRS HOW HER RELATNSHIP HAS CHANGED NOW THAT HER PARTNER, JAKE (PLAYED BY TRANS NONBARY ACTOR GARCIA), HAS TRANSNED.EVEN SO, THE YOUNGER QUEER MUNY’S PURSU OF THENTIC REPRENTATN OFTEN VOLV LLG OUT HOLLYWOOD FOR OUTDATED AND OUTMOD VIEWS AND PRACTIC. LAST YEAR TERRY CREWS WAS LAMBASTED FOR EQUATG TRANSGENR PEOPLE WH “TRANSRACIAL” PEOPLE, WHILE ELLEN DEGENER WAS CRICIZED FOR SUPPORTG KEV HART AFTER HIS OLD HOMOPHOBIC JOK RURFACED—AND NETFLIX’S “TRANS TRMA PORN” FILM, GIRL, SPURRED AN ENTIRE NEWS CYCLE OF S OWN. THERE’S A STRONG CHANCE THAT AT LEAST A FEW VIEWERS WON’T BE SO FIVG OF DAKIS’S LEGACY STG.YET POUL, WHO HAS ALREADY ADDRSED DAKIS’S PORTRAYAL OTHER TERVIEWS, ISN’T GOG TO BUDGE. “IF WE HAD RE-ST THE ROLE WH A TRANS ACTRS WHO ULD PLAY A 90-YEAR-OLD WOMAN, THERE WOULD HAVE BEEN AN ENORMO UPROAR,” HE SAID. “THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN A HUGE ACT OF DISRPECT AND SACRILEGE ON THE PART OF THE FANS, WHOM WE OWE A LOT.”STILL, POUL AND HIS FELLOW EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS TOOK PAS TO MAKE THE SERI’S LATT ERATN NTEMPORARY AND CLIVE. THEY REACHED OUT TO NICK ADAMS AT GLAAD TO HOLD ST SENSIVY TRAG. ADAMS, A TRANSGENR MAN, WORKS WH WORKS AND FILM STUDS TO TE THEM ABOUT CREATG SAFE WORKPLAC FOR TRANS TALENT AND WRG TRANS CHARACTERS WH NUANCE.WH AN RMED CREW AND AN OPENG EPISO CENTERED ON ANNA’S 90TH BIRTHDAY, THE LIMED SERI’S ARC QUICKLY ME TO VIEW. MORELLI AND HER WRERS SAW AN OPPORTUNY TO FALLY DIVE TO ANNA’S MYSTER PAST. THE ORIGAL 1993 SERI PICTS ANNA ALREADY LIVG ON BARBARY LANE, WHILE MP’S FAL BOOK, 2014’S THE DAYS OF ANNA MADRIGAL, FOLLOWS HER TEEN YEARS AS ANDY RAMSEY WNEMUC, NEVADA. THE -BETWEEN PERD—ANNA’S EARLY YEARS SAN FRANCIS—WERE RARELY ACKNOWLEDGED THE TAL BOOKS OR TV ADAPTATNS UNTIL NOW.THE NEW SERI, THOUGH, FEATUR A STUNNG FLASHBACK EPISO SET THE 1960S, PICTG ANNA’S ARRIVAL SAN FRANCIS. IN , CHARACTERS PLAYED BY DANIELA VEGA (OM THE OSR WNER A FANTASTIC WOMAN) AND A SLEW OF OTHER TRANS ACTORS TAKE ANNA UNR THEIR WG. THE EPISO CULMAT A FICTNAL PICTN OF THE VERY REAL, VERY IMPORTANT 1966 COMPTON’S CAFETERIA RT, A TONE CINT THE GAY-RIGHTS MOVEMENT THAT PRECED STONEWALL BY NEARLY THREE YEARS.AND THIS EPISO, ANNA ISN’T PLAYED BY A CIS WOMAN. “IF WE’RE TO ST A YOUNG ANNA, WE KNEW WE HAD TO FD A TRANS ACTRS,” POUL SAID. THE TEAM LOTED HER JEN RICHARDS, THE EMMY-NOMATED STAR AND -CREATOR OF HER STORY. “JEN, TO ME, WAS THE ONE ACTRS I FOUND WHO ULD BE CREDIBLE AS YOUNG ANNA, THE PERSON WHO WOULD THEN VERY MUCH BEE OLYMPIA,” HE ADD.MOST POPULARVANY FAIR’S “IT’S RAG TEENS” COVER AT 20: WHERE ARE THEY NOW?BY SAVANNAH WALSHSOUND OF FREEDOM: THE WILD TE STORY BEHD 2023’S MOST CONTROVERSIAL FILMBY EVE BATEYIS THIS THE BEGNG OF THE END OF THE WRERS STRIKE?BY NATALIE JARVEYIT DIDN’T HURT THAT RICHARDS IS A TRANS ACTIVIST, AS WELL AS A PERFORMER. IN 2016, SHE WAS AT THE CENTER OF ANOTHER NTROVERSY SURROUNDG CIS ACTORS PLAYG TRANS WOMEN: AN ELOQUENT TWTER THREAD, SHE EXPRSED HER TRATN AFTER MATT BOMER WAS ST AS A TRANS WOMAN THE FILM ANYTHG. RICHARDS LATER UPLOAD A YOUTUBE TTIMONIAL TAILG THE REAL-LIFE IMPLITNS OF CIS MEN PLAYG TRANS WOMEN, LIKE JARED LETO DALLAS BUYERS CLUB AND JEFEY TAMBOR TRANSPARENT. “THE KDS OF PICTNS ACTUALLY DO LEAD TO VLENCE AGAST TRANS WOMEN,” SHE SAID THE BUT WHEN ME TO DAKIS RETURNG AS ANNA MADRIGAL, RICHARDS HAD NO OBJECTN. “I NEVER REALLY HAD AN ISSUE WH CIS WOMEN PLAYG TRANS WOMEN,” SHE SAID AN TERVIEW. “FOR ME, THE NCERN IS: HOW DO THIS AFFECT TRANS WOMEN THE REAL WORLD? WHEN YOU WATCH OLYMPIA AS ANNA, YOU WALK AWAY WH THE SENSE THAT TRANS WOMEN ARE WOMEN.”OF TAL’ MANY TRANS CHARACTERS, NONE ARE PICTED G THE TROP THAT HAVE BEE MONPLACE ACROSS TV AND FILM: THERE ARE NO SPIRUAL MENTORS, OR TRAGIC SOULS, OR MPY IC RELIEF HERE. INSTEAD, THE CHARACTERS ARE NUANCED, AT TIM MSY, AND ALWAYS VERY REAL. AS THE FLASHBACK EPISO REVEALS, ANNA IS FAR OM PERFECT: SHE ALMOST IMMEDIATELY BETRAYS HER TRANS SISTERS. “PEOPLE WILL BE LIKE, ‘OH, SHE’S A FUCKED-UP, SELFISH WHE TRANS WOMAN,’” RICHARDS SAID. “I ALSO LOVE THE FACT THAT ’S NOT SO SIMPLE.”IN PLAYG A YOUNG ANNA, RICHARDS HAD TO EVOKE A 1960S HOEWIFE, ASSUMG THE RA OF OLYMPIA DAKIS WHILE ADDG HER OWN FLOURISH. “THAT’S TIMIDATG AS FUCK,” SHE SAID. “I FELY HAD A LTLE CRISIS OF NFINCE.”SHE NFID POUL, WHO PUT HER NTACT WH FELLOW TAL STAR LRA LNEY. THE TWO ACTORS SPENT THREE HOURS RICHARDS’S HOTEL ROOM HONG HER CHARACTER. RICHARDS’S VOICE IS NATURALLY HIGHER THAN DAKIS’S, SO LNEY HELPED WH LOWERG HER REGISTER WHILE REMAG RONANT. IN A TWIST OF IRONY, “YOU HAVE A TRANS WOMAN HAVG TO LOWER HER VOICE TO MATCH THE CIS WOMAN,” RICHARDS SAID WH A LGH. “BY THE END OF THOSE THREE HOURS WH LRA, I JT FELT THIS PART IS ME TOO.” SHE SE THE DUAL PORTRAYAL AS A BETIFUL BALANCE, “A KD OF WAY TO RETIRE THAT PORTRAYAL OF ANNA AND ENTER THIS NEW ONE.”RICHARDS AND DAKIS NEVER ACTUALLY MET OVER THE URSE OF FILMG TAL; WHENEVER RICHARDS STOPPED BY THE SET WHEN OTHER EPISOS WERE BEG SHOT, SHE SAID, DAKIS DIDN’T HAPPEN TO BE THERE. THEN AGA, “MAYBE WE WEREN’T MEANT TO MEET YET,” RICHARDS SAID. “I’M NOT PLAYG OLYMPIA. I’M PLAYG ANNA.”MORE GREAT STORI OM VANY FAIR— EXCLIVE: YOUR FIRST LOOK AT STAR WARS: THE RISE OF SKYWALKER— HOW PATRICIA ARQUETTE BEME THE QUEEN OF PRTIGE TV— INSI THE TUMULTUO MAKG OF ANIMAL HOE— WHY ONCE UPON A TIME… HOLLYWOOD MARKS A TELLG SHIFT FOR QUENT TARANTO— FROM THE ARCHIVE: OUR VERY FIRST HOLLYWOOD ISSUE, FEATURG TOM HANKS, JULIA ROBERTS, DENZEL WASHGTON, AND MORE!LOOKG FOR MORE? SIGN UP FOR OUR DAILY HOLLYWOOD NEWSLETTER AND NEVER MISS A STORY.JOSEPH LONGO
- TAL OF THE CY THOR: 'GAY ACTORS FOR GAY ROL'
- THE ORIGAL ‘TAL OF THE CY’ WAS A GAY RIGHTS TRAILBLAZER
HOW TAL OF THE CY AVOID A TRANS CASTG CONTROVERSYTHE NETFLIX REVIVAL OF A BELOVED QUEER SERI BRGS BACK OLYMPIA DAKIS AS ANNA MADRIGAL—AND, A CCIAL FLASHBACK EPISO, TRODUC TRANS ACTOR JEN RICHARDS AS A YOUNG ANNA.BY JOSEPH LONGOJUNE 6, 2019JEN RICHARDS TAL OF THE CY.BY ALISON COHEN ROSA/NETFLIX.SAVE THIS STORYSAVESAVE THIS STORYSAVEWHEN VETERAN ACTOR OLYMPIA DAKIS APPEARS NETFLIX’S UPG TAL OF THE CY, ’LL BE HER FOURTH TIME PLAYG ANNA MADRIGAL—THE BELOVED MATRIARCH OF 28 BARBARY LANE. DAKIS ORIGATED THE ROLE 1993, THE ORIGAL PBS MISERI ADAPTATN OF ARMISTEAD MP’S BELOVED NOVELS, WHICH QUICKLY BEME A CULT CLASSIC FOR S REVOLUTNARY PICTNS OF QUEER LIFE SAN FRANCIS. SHE REPRISED ANNA AGA THE 1998 AND 2001 FOLLOW-UP SERI. EIGHTEEN YEARS LATER, DAKIS IS ONE OF THE ONLY ACTORS TO APPEAR ALL ERATNS OF THE SAGA—ALONGSI LRA LNEY AND BARBARA GARRICK.THE NEW LIMED SERI KICKS OFF WH THE TENANTS OF BARBARY LANE THROWG THEIR BELOVED LANDLADY A 90TH BIRTHDAY PARTY. IN TYPILLY QUEER SAN FRANCIS STYLE, THERE’S DRAG QUEENS, TERACTIVE ART, AND, OF URSE, P AMOUNTS OF WEED. BUT THIS CELEBRATN FOR A SUBVERSIVE HEROE WH A BIG ASTERISK. DAKIS, 87 YEARS OLD, IS A CIS ACTOR PLAYG A TRANS CHARACTER—A MON SIGHT ON SCREENS BIG AND SMALL.THOUGH HE WON’T SPEAK FOR HIS LLEAGU—CLUDG MP AND TAL OF THE CY SHOWNNER LREN MORELLI, A FORMER WRER ON ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK—EXECUTIVE PRODUCER ALAN POUL, WHO HAS PRODUCED EVERY ERATN OF TAL, NEVER NSIRED STG ANYONE BIS DAKIS TO PLAY ANNA. “HAVG OLYMPIA WAS CRIL TO MAKG THE SHOW AGA,” HE SAID AN TERVIEW. “OLYMPIA IS CLEARLY GRANDFATHERED AND PAID HER DU.” JT AS IMPORTANTLY, HE NTUED, “OLYMPIA HAS CLEARLY EARNED THE RIGHT TO FISH OUT THE ROLE”—CG DAKIS’S “VERY BOLD” CISN TO PLAY A TRANS CHARACTER THE 1990S, A TIME WHEN THERE WAS LTLE TRANS REPRENTATN MEDIA.STILL, MORELLI SEEMS TO KNOW THAT DAKIS’S RETURN HAS THE POTENTIAL TO FFLE FEATHERS. “WE KNOW HOW STARVED THE YOUNGER, QUEER MUNY IS FOR THENTIC REPRENTATN,” SHE TOLD VANY FAIR MARCH. THE TEAM BEHD THE NEW LIMED SERI HIRED A PREDOMATELY QUEER ST AND CREW TO MAKE S STORY RG AS TE AS POSSIBLE; TRANS TALENT BEHD THE MERA CLUD WRER THOMAS PAGE MCBEE AND DIRECTORS SILAS HOWARD AND SYDNEY FREELAND. THE NEW TAL CLUS OF-THE-MOMENT STORY L, LIKE ONE WHICH MARGOT, A LBIAN CISGENR WOMAN, NSIRS HOW HER RELATNSHIP HAS CHANGED NOW THAT HER PARTNER, JAKE (PLAYED BY TRANS NONBARY ACTOR GARCIA), HAS TRANSNED.EVEN SO, THE YOUNGER QUEER MUNY’S PURSU OF THENTIC REPRENTATN OFTEN VOLV LLG OUT HOLLYWOOD FOR OUTDATED AND OUTMOD VIEWS AND PRACTIC. LAST YEAR TERRY CREWS WAS LAMBASTED FOR EQUATG TRANSGENR PEOPLE WH “TRANSRACIAL” PEOPLE, WHILE ELLEN DEGENER WAS CRICIZED FOR SUPPORTG KEV HART AFTER HIS OLD HOMOPHOBIC JOK RURFACED—AND NETFLIX’S “TRANS TRMA PORN” FILM, GIRL, SPURRED AN ENTIRE NEWS CYCLE OF S OWN. THERE’S A STRONG CHANCE THAT AT LEAST A FEW VIEWERS WON’T BE SO FIVG OF DAKIS’S LEGACY STG.YET POUL, WHO HAS ALREADY ADDRSED DAKIS’S PORTRAYAL OTHER TERVIEWS, ISN’T GOG TO BUDGE. “IF WE HAD RE-ST THE ROLE WH A TRANS ACTRS WHO ULD PLAY A 90-YEAR-OLD WOMAN, THERE WOULD HAVE BEEN AN ENORMO UPROAR,” HE SAID. “THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN A HUGE ACT OF DISRPECT AND SACRILEGE ON THE PART OF THE FANS, WHOM WE OWE A LOT.”STILL, POUL AND HIS FELLOW EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS TOOK PAS TO MAKE THE SERI’S LATT ERATN NTEMPORARY AND CLIVE. THEY REACHED OUT TO NICK ADAMS AT GLAAD TO HOLD ST SENSIVY TRAG. ADAMS, A TRANSGENR MAN, WORKS WH WORKS AND FILM STUDS TO TE THEM ABOUT CREATG SAFE WORKPLAC FOR TRANS TALENT AND WRG TRANS CHARACTERS WH NUANCE.WH AN RMED CREW AND AN OPENG EPISO CENTERED ON ANNA’S 90TH BIRTHDAY, THE LIMED SERI’S ARC QUICKLY ME TO VIEW. MORELLI AND HER WRERS SAW AN OPPORTUNY TO FALLY DIVE TO ANNA’S MYSTER PAST. THE ORIGAL 1993 SERI PICTS ANNA ALREADY LIVG ON BARBARY LANE, WHILE MP’S FAL BOOK, 2014’S THE DAYS OF ANNA MADRIGAL, FOLLOWS HER TEEN YEARS AS ANDY RAMSEY WNEMUC, NEVADA. THE -BETWEEN PERD—ANNA’S EARLY YEARS SAN FRANCIS—WERE RARELY ACKNOWLEDGED THE TAL BOOKS OR TV ADAPTATNS UNTIL NOW.THE NEW SERI, THOUGH, FEATUR A STUNNG FLASHBACK EPISO SET THE 1960S, PICTG ANNA’S ARRIVAL SAN FRANCIS. IN , CHARACTERS PLAYED BY DANIELA VEGA (OM THE OSR WNER A FANTASTIC WOMAN) AND A SLEW OF OTHER TRANS ACTORS TAKE ANNA UNR THEIR WG. THE EPISO CULMAT A FICTNAL PICTN OF THE VERY REAL, VERY IMPORTANT 1966 COMPTON’S CAFETERIA RT, A TONE CINT THE GAY-RIGHTS MOVEMENT THAT PRECED STONEWALL BY NEARLY THREE YEARS.AND THIS EPISO, ANNA ISN’T PLAYED BY A CIS WOMAN. “IF WE’RE TO ST A YOUNG ANNA, WE KNEW WE HAD TO FD A TRANS ACTRS,” POUL SAID. THE TEAM LOTED HER JEN RICHARDS, THE EMMY-NOMATED STAR AND -CREATOR OF HER STORY. “JEN, TO ME, WAS THE ONE ACTRS I FOUND WHO ULD BE CREDIBLE AS YOUNG ANNA, THE PERSON WHO WOULD THEN VERY MUCH BEE OLYMPIA,” HE ADD.MOST POPULARVANY FAIR’S “IT’S RAG TEENS” COVER AT 20: WHERE ARE THEY NOW?BY SAVANNAH WALSHSOUND OF FREEDOM: THE WILD TE STORY BEHD 2023’S MOST CONTROVERSIAL FILMBY EVE BATEYIS THIS THE BEGNG OF THE END OF THE WRERS STRIKE?BY NATALIE JARVEYIT DIDN’T HURT THAT RICHARDS IS A TRANS ACTIVIST, AS WELL AS A PERFORMER. IN 2016, SHE WAS AT THE CENTER OF ANOTHER NTROVERSY SURROUNDG CIS ACTORS PLAYG TRANS WOMEN: AN ELOQUENT TWTER THREAD, SHE EXPRSED HER TRATN AFTER MATT BOMER WAS ST AS A TRANS WOMAN THE FILM ANYTHG. RICHARDS LATER UPLOAD A YOUTUBE TTIMONIAL TAILG THE REAL-LIFE IMPLITNS OF CIS MEN PLAYG TRANS WOMEN, LIKE JARED LETO DALLAS BUYERS CLUB AND JEFEY TAMBOR TRANSPARENT. “THE KDS OF PICTNS ACTUALLY DO LEAD TO VLENCE AGAST TRANS WOMEN,” SHE SAID THE BUT WHEN ME TO DAKIS RETURNG AS ANNA MADRIGAL, RICHARDS HAD NO OBJECTN. “I NEVER REALLY HAD AN ISSUE WH CIS WOMEN PLAYG TRANS WOMEN,” SHE SAID AN TERVIEW. “FOR ME, THE NCERN IS: HOW DO THIS AFFECT TRANS WOMEN THE REAL WORLD? WHEN YOU WATCH OLYMPIA AS ANNA, YOU WALK AWAY WH THE SENSE THAT TRANS WOMEN ARE WOMEN.”OF TAL’ MANY TRANS CHARACTERS, NONE ARE PICTED G THE TROP THAT HAVE BEE MONPLACE ACROSS TV AND FILM: THERE ARE NO SPIRUAL MENTORS, OR TRAGIC SOULS, OR MPY IC RELIEF HERE. INSTEAD, THE CHARACTERS ARE NUANCED, AT TIM MSY, AND ALWAYS VERY REAL. AS THE FLASHBACK EPISO REVEALS, ANNA IS FAR OM PERFECT: SHE ALMOST IMMEDIATELY BETRAYS HER TRANS SISTERS. “PEOPLE WILL BE LIKE, ‘OH, SHE’S A FUCKED-UP, SELFISH WHE TRANS WOMAN,’” RICHARDS SAID. “I ALSO LOVE THE FACT THAT ’S NOT SO SIMPLE.”IN PLAYG A YOUNG ANNA, RICHARDS HAD TO EVOKE A 1960S HOEWIFE, ASSUMG THE RA OF OLYMPIA DAKIS WHILE ADDG HER OWN FLOURISH. “THAT’S TIMIDATG AS FUCK,” SHE SAID. “I FELY HAD A LTLE CRISIS OF NFINCE.”SHE NFID POUL, WHO PUT HER NTACT WH FELLOW TAL STAR LRA LNEY. THE TWO ACTORS SPENT THREE HOURS RICHARDS’S HOTEL ROOM HONG HER CHARACTER. RICHARDS’S VOICE IS NATURALLY HIGHER THAN DAKIS’S, SO LNEY HELPED WH LOWERG HER REGISTER WHILE REMAG RONANT. IN A TWIST OF IRONY, “YOU HAVE A TRANS WOMAN HAVG TO LOWER HER VOICE TO MATCH THE CIS WOMAN,” RICHARDS SAID WH A LGH. “BY THE END OF THOSE THREE HOURS WH LRA, I JT FELT THIS PART IS ME TOO.” SHE SE THE DUAL PORTRAYAL AS A BETIFUL BALANCE, “A KD OF WAY TO RETIRE THAT PORTRAYAL OF ANNA AND ENTER THIS NEW ONE.”RICHARDS AND DAKIS NEVER ACTUALLY MET OVER THE URSE OF FILMG TAL; WHENEVER RICHARDS STOPPED BY THE SET WHEN OTHER EPISOS WERE BEG SHOT, SHE SAID, DAKIS DIDN’T HAPPEN TO BE THERE. THEN AGA, “MAYBE WE WEREN’T MEANT TO MEET YET,” RICHARDS SAID. “I’M NOT PLAYG OLYMPIA. I’M PLAYG ANNA.”MORE GREAT STORI OM VANY FAIR— EXCLIVE: YOUR FIRST LOOK AT STAR WARS: THE RISE OF SKYWALKER— HOW PATRICIA ARQUETTE BEME THE QUEEN OF PRTIGE TV— INSI THE TUMULTUO MAKG OF ANIMAL HOE— WHY ONCE UPON A TIME… HOLLYWOOD MARKS A TELLG SHIFT FOR QUENT TARANTO— FROM THE ARCHIVE: OUR VERY FIRST HOLLYWOOD ISSUE, FEATURG TOM HANKS, JULIA ROBERTS, DENZEL WASHGTON, AND MORE!LOOKG FOR MORE? SIGN UP FOR OUR DAILY HOLLYWOOD NEWSLETTER AND NEVER MISS A STORY.JOSEPH LONGO
Prid over by the transgenr, kaftan and nnabis-lovg landlady Mrs Madrigal, clud lbian firecracker Mona Ramsey and gay sweetheart Michael ‘Moe’ Tolliver, as well as self-admirg straight stud Brian Hawks, among s rints. Livg wh Tal of the Cy’s pag has provid gay rears wh a muny, even when real life may have not Mp ntued the lumns, duly llected to novels, until the late 80s, wh his characters ageg real time.
Pictured 2001, Tal of the Cy thor Armistead Mp (centre) and his star Lra Lney (right) have rned for the anchise’s latt reboot (Cred: Alamy)What the seri has meant to gay rears, particular, over the years is lculable: livg wh s pag has provid them wh a muny, even when real life may have not. The Ain-Amerin Ben is the sole person of lour amid a table of rich, whe, olr gay men, and when they start jokg about ‘Mexin tranni’, he tak exceptn and lls them out on their offensivens – only to enrage the assembled pany. There’s nsirably ls nnectn between olr and younger gay men than there ed to be – Walt OtsWalt Ots is a clil psychologist who has specialised workg wh gay men.
TAL OF THE CY THOR: 'GAY ACTORS FOR GAY ROL'
His new book Out of the Shadows: Reimagg Gay Men’s Liv explor how plited their liv still are, even wh a supposedly morn and progrsive Wtern society like the US. As part of this study, one notable trend he intifi is a dwdlg sense of mararie between olr and younger gay men – a si effect, part, of their growg assiatn.
Gay people were outsirs, which gave them a very fed [sense of] muny, but that’s dimished to a signifint extent. I’ve heard a le many tim om younger men which is ‘I’m not the kd of person who gets HIV’ – Walt OtsOts believ that gay men now live “triparte muni”, spl to three distct generatns.
THE ORIGAL ‘TAL OF THE CY’ WAS A GAY RIGHTS TRAILBLAZER
There is the olr group who lived through the HIV epimic as adults, and stand as the survivors of a severe trma; a middle group, who lived through the epimic as children, and so, Ots’s words, have “a kd of terrible inty that entangl beg gay and HIV”; and a younger group who grew up the wake of the disvery of effective antiretroviral treatments, and for whom HIV has therefore been a relatively margal if the issue of HIV no longer spir the dread among gay men once did, neverthels activat prejudic – both young and old. This year’s is more momento than ever, memoratg as do the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall rts, when on 28 June 1969, members of the LGBT muny rose up followg a police raid on New York gay bar the Stonewall the celebratns also tend to stimulate a bate over whether gay culture has, to s triment, bee creasgly policised. As time has gone on, ‘gay’ culture has bee more and more multifaceted, wh a whole spectm of genr and sexual inti clud unr the ‘queer’ umbrella.
”What’s more, there is a much greater awarens of tersectnaly among the young: that is, of how racism and sexism tersect wh homophobia.
But the velopments n be treated wh bafflement, even disda, by olr generatns, not least olr gay whe men, who, for all the sufferg they have unrgone, have enjoyed much greater visibily and acceptance than other LGBT groups over the years. Landlady Mrs Madrigal (Olympia Dakis) is a queer mentor like no other – and today’s young LGBT people still need such figur (Cred: Netflix)Do Mp thk a divi has opened up between whe gay men and the rt of the muny? Old and young, gay and straight, cis and trans, black, brown and whe: all ngregate the kooky mune of Barbary Lane a way that still feels prsgly is, above all, a portra of ‘logil fay’ – that’s the gen phrase Mp himself ed one of the novels to scribe the rmal fay that many of , particularly LGBT people, make as an alternative to our blogil one; he subsequently ed as the tle of his 2017 memoir.