Contents:
GILMORE GIRLS: MICHEL FALLY GETS A LOVE LIFE THE REVIVALVANY FAIR CHATTED WH ACTOR YANIC TDALE ABOUT WHAT ’S LIKE TO BE BACK STARS HOLLOW, HIS FAVORE ON-SET MEMORI, AND WHAT FAD DIET HIS CHARACTER MIGHT BE ON NOW.BY LRA BRADLEYNOVEMBER 24, 2016COURTY OF NETFLIX.SAVE THIS STORYSAVESAVE THIS STORYSAVEIF GILMORE GIRLS WERE AN ICE-CREAM SUNDAE—A METAPHOR LORELAI AND RORY WOULD SURELY LOVE—THEN MICHEL GERARD HAS ALWAYS BEEN THE CHERRY ON TOP. THE LIGHTFULLY MISANTHROPIC NCIERGE IS SOMETHG OF AN ENIGMA: A FRENCHMAN WHO SOMEHOW END UP THE TY CONNECTICUT TOWN, WHERE HE SPENDS HIS TIME DROWNG ENNUI, UNTG LORI, AND GHG ABOUT CéLE DN. MICHEL’S L ARE OFTEN SOME OF THE SHOW’S MOST QUOTABLE—EXAMPLE: “PEOPLE ARE PARTICULARLY STUPID TODAY; I N’T TALK TO ANY MORE OF THEM”—AND HIS ACERBIC TOUCH IS HALF OF WHAT ALWAYS KEPT THE GILMORE WORLD OM BEG TOO CLOYG. (THE OTHER HALF, OF URSE, WAS PARIS.)BUT SOME FANS HAVE SPENT YEARS WISHG THEY KNEW MORE ABOUT THIS MYSTER FELLOW—PARTICULARLY HIS SEXUAL ORIENTATN, BUT ALSO VAGUER QUTNS, LIKE HOW HE END UP AT THE INPENNCE INN THE FIRST PLACE. AS THE NETFLIX REVIVAL PREPAR TO MAKE S BUT, VANY FAIR SPOKE WH ACTOR YANIC TDALE ABOUT WHAT ’S LIKE TO BE BACK—AND TRIED TO GET AS MUCH RMATN OUT OF HIM AS WE ULD.LET’S START WH THE MOST BURNG QUTN: MICHEL’S SEXUALY. ALTHOUGH NETFLIX’S NE OF SILENCE FELY EXTENDS TO MICHEL’S LOVE LIFE, TDALE WAS ABLE TO NFIRM THAT MICHEL WILL, ED, HAVE ONE THE REVIVAL—A FIRST FOR HIS CHARACTER.“BY CHOICE, I THK AMY NEVER REVEALED [MICHEL’S] PERSONAL LIFE AND HIS LOVE LIFE, BUT CLEARLY SHE MA A DIFFERENT CHOICE THIS TIME AROUND,” TDALE SAID. “SO WE GET TO SEE WHAT’S GOG ON HIS LOVE LIFE, AND MUCH MORE OF WHO HE IS. AND HE IS ALG WH SOME BIG CISNS—LIFE CISNS THAT YOU NEVER WOULD HAVE SEEN BEFORE. . . . ALL THE QUTNS THAT YOU HAVE WILL BE ANSWERED.”AS THE HUFFGTON POST NOT, SOOKIE ST. JAM WAS [ORIGALLY NCEIVED] AS A LBIAN CHARACTER—SOMETHG CREATOR AMY SHERMAN-PALLADO SAID WAS A “NON-STARTER” FOR THE WB BACK 2000 WHEN THE SHOW FIRST KICKED OFF. AS FOR MICHEL, ’S UNCLEAR WHAT SHERMAN-PALLADO’S TENT MIGHT HAVE BEEN—BUT WHATEVER “GAY” QUALI HE POSSSED, NO CHARACTER EVER EXPLICLY NOTICED THEM THE SHOW.IT DIDN’T TAKE MUCH WORK FOR TDALE TO GET CHARACTER. HE WAS AN EXACT F FOR SHERMAN-PALLADO’S BREAKDOWN, AND ONCE HE READ ABOUT HIS CHARACTER, HE “GOT HIM OM THE START VERY STCTIVELY.”IF YOU ASK TDALE, MICHEL ISN’T CRANKY. HE’S PARTICULAR—AND, Y, LACKS A FILTER.“WE ALL WISH THAT WE ULD SAY TO SOMEONE'S FACE, ‘YOU BORE ME TO ATH, AND I'M GOG TO GO BACK TO WHAT I WAS DOG,’” TDALE SAID. “WE N'T SAY THAT. WE ULD, I GUS, BUT WE JT DON'T ALLOW OURSELV. . . . YOU KNOW, I N'T TELL YOU—I MT HAVE HEARD THOANDS OF TIM, PEOPLE SAYG THAT FIRST LE THE PILOT, ‘PEOPLE ARE PARTICULARLY STUPID TODAY; I N'T TALK TO ANY MORE OF THEM.’ EVERYONE FEELS LIKE THAT ALL THE TIME!”AND IF WE N’T SAY THOSE THGS, WE N AT LEAST ADMIRE THE TV CHARACTER WHO ALWAYS DO.PERHAPS ’S BEE HE’S FRENCH. TDALE NOTED THAT MANY FRENCH PEOPLE SIMPLY “HAVE A VERY SPECIFIC WAY OF DOG THGS.” AND SOME—LIKE MICHEL—N’T HELP BUT FEEL IRRATED WHEN THGS ARE NOT DONE ACRDG TO THOSE L. AS AN EXAMPLE, TDALE RELLED GETTG LUNCH BY HIMSELF PARIS—AND BEG GENTLY REPRIMAND FOR HIS CHOSEN BEVERAGE:“I ORRED A DIET COKE, AND THE SERVER TOLD ME THAT HE DIDN'T AGREE WH THE DIET COKE—THAT DIDN'T GO WH MY FOOD!”SO, HOW DO A GUY LIKE THAT STAY IENDS WH A GAL LIKE LORELAI? THROUGH THE YEARS, THEIRS IS A RELATNSHIP BASED ON MUTUAL RPECT—EVEN IF ’S LARGELY EXPRSED THROUGH SARSM. MICHEL’S ADMIRATN FOR EY GILMORE—WHO IS VERY SIAR TO HIS OWN MOTHER—MAK MORE SENSE ON THE SURFACE. BUT TO TDALE, THE CLOSENS BETWEEN MICHEL AND LORELAI IS VERY REAL, TOO. “I THK THERE’S TE LOVE THERE,” TDALE SAID. “YOUR SISTER N ANNOY YOU, BUT YOU LOVE HER. SHE’S YOUR SISTER.”MOST POPULAROUR FLAG MEANS DEATH SEASON 2: EXCLIVE FIRST LOOKBY SARAH CATHERALLFLORENCE PUGH SAYS CHRISTOPHER NOLAN “APOLOGIZED” FOR HER SMALL OPPENHEIMER ROLEBY SAVANNAH WALSHTHE GILD AGE WILL GET A LOT MORE OPERATIC SEASON 2BY RICHARD LAWSONAND AS FOR RORY? MICHEL WAS ONE OF THE FEW CHARACTERS WHO MIGHT HAVE KEPT HER CHECK BEFORE PARIS GELLER ENTERED THE MIX. HE ALWAYS TREATED HER MORE LIKE A SMALL ADULT THAN A KID TO BE DOTED ON—POSSIBLY BEE HE SIMPLY HAS NO IA WHAT TO DO WH CHILDREN.AS TDALE NOTED, “EVERYONE IS KD OF SMTEN BY HER A LTLE B—BY HER CHARM. HE’S NOT AT ALL.”SO, WHAT’S LIKE TO BE BACK STARS HOLLOW AFTER ALL THE YEARS? FOR TDALE, SOUNDS A LOT LIKE RIDG A BIKE.“I HAD MY SU, I HAD LORELAI, I HAD THE SET, AND I JT DID A UPLE TAK, AND I TURNED AROUND AND I LOOKED AT AMY, AND I SAID, ‘IT FEELS LIKE I NEVER STOPPED,’” TDALE SAID. “I THK ONCE YOU’VE PLAYED A CHARACTER FOR SO LONG, HE’S YOU.”ONE PARTICULAR LIGHT, HE ADD, WAS RE-UNG WH MCCARTHY AND LREN GRAHAM, TDALE SAID, SCE PRETTY MUCH ALL OF HIS SCEN THE FIRST GO-AROUND VOLVED THOSE TWO—UALLY SCENARS VOLVG LORELAI THE MIDDLE, TRYG TO MAKE PEACE BETWEEN SOOKIE AND MICHEL AS THEY BICKERED.ALTHOUGH TDALE DIDN’T HAVE THE ANSWERS TO ALL OUR QUTNS, HE HUMORED BY CHANNELG HIS NER MICHEL AND TAKG HIS BT GUS. UNLIKE THE GILMORE POOCH, PL ANKA, MICHEL’S DOG, PAW-PAW, HE GUS, IS PROBABLY AD. AS FOR WHAT FAD DIET MICHEL MIGHT CURRENTLY BE ON, TDALE WENT WH PALEO—“BEE HE WAS VERY TO THE LATT THG.” MICHEL’S DIET OBSSN, HE ADD, WAS BASED PART ON A PRODUCER, WHO, HE REMEMBERS, READ A BOOK THAT SUGGTED EXCSIVE LORIE NSUMPTN WOULD DIRECTLY SHORTEN ONE’S LIFE EXPECTANCY BY FIVE YEARS. AS FOR HOW MICHEL LAND STARS HOLLOW, TDALE WAS LS SURE: “YOUR GUS IS AS GOOD AS ME,” HE SAID. “MAYBE SOMETHG ROMANTIC—A ROMANTIC LIAISON MA HIM STAY.”MOST POPULAROUR FLAG MEANS DEATH SEASON 2: EXCLIVE FIRST LOOKBY SARAH CATHERALLFLORENCE PUGH SAYS CHRISTOPHER NOLAN “APOLOGIZED” FOR HER SMALL OPPENHEIMER ROLEBY SAVANNAH WALSHTHE GILD AGE WILL GET A LOT MORE OPERATIC SEASON 2BY RICHARD LAWSONBUT NOW FOR THE MOST IMPORTANT QUTN: IN A POST-DTY’S CHILD WORLD, WHAT DO MICHEL JAM OUT TO?“I WOULD THK HE'S A LADY GAGA [FAN],” TDALE SAID.THE GILMORE GIRLS REVIVAL FALLY HS NETFLIX ON FRIDAY—ASSUMG, OF URSE, THAT THIS WHOLE THG HASN’T BEEN A PERFECT ILLUUN.CHARMG NEW GILMORE GIRLS POSTERS TAKE YOU THROUGH ALL FOUR SEASONS1 / 4CHEVRONCHEVRONLRA BRADLEY
Although nearly every character’s sexualy was addrsed at some pot throughout her six seasons as the mastermd of The CW seri, Michel’s (Yanic Tdale) — Lorelai Gilmore’s (Lren Graham) right hand man at the Dragonfly Inn — largely remaed a mystery, though a majory of viewers have e to assume that he is gay.
But wh the first episo of the four-part revival, Sherman-Pallado addrs the longstandg query about the Frenchman a nversatn between Michel and Lorelai at the Inn: he is gay and is planng to adopt a son wh his hband, Freric.
Early on the first film, Wter, ’s revealed that Yanic Tdale’s French n manager Michel Gerard (long spected by fans of beg gay) is married to a man lled Frerick, and rag agast the prospect of havg children. ”Still, whether Michel is nonilly gay, bi or somethg else, ’s great to fally see some queer reprentatn on the seri – and don’t stop there. In the next film, Sprg, a Stars Hollow meetg se town selectman Taylor Doose (Michael Wters) bemoang the lack of gay people the town available to jo a planned Pri para, a slightly meta mentary on the show’s former lack of reprentatn.