Director of queer classic 'But I'm a Cheerlear' wanted to 'make a gay "Cluels"'

Contents:

• DIRECTOR OF QUEER CLASSIC 'BUT I'M A CHEERLEAR' WANTED TO 'MAKE A GAY "CLUELS"'
• THE 2 OUT GAY CHEERLEARS ARE MAKG HISTORY WH THE PANTHERS
• KEV MAXEN BE FIRST MALE ACH A US MEN’S PROFSNAL SPORTS LEAGUE TO PUBLICLY E OUT AS GAY
• 'PASSAG' DIRECTOR NOUNC 'DANGERO' NC-17 RATG ON A FILM PICTG A GAY LOVE STORY
• ‘BUT I’M A CHEERLEAR’ DIRECTOR JAMIE BABB ON THE QUEER CLASSIC 20 YEARS LATER: ‘I WANTED TO MAKE A GAY ‘CLUELS”

DIRECTOR OF QUEER CLASSIC 'BUT I'M A CHEERLEAR' WANTED TO 'MAKE A GAY "CLUELS"'

It's an amg look at attemptg to 'rehab" homosexuals wh therapy and "fdg their roots".

I thought was a great tongue--cheek way of sayg "okay, this is stupid, we need to let them be" for the gay you're the mood for a lot of lghg, and RuPl out-of-drag to boot, rent this one. ” The movie centers on a lbian high school cheerlear (played by Natasha Lyonne), whose parents send her to a nversn therapy mp to cure her homosexualy. And I thk the muny was so vastated by AIDS that there wasn’t a lot of edi gog on gay cema.

I wanted to skewer not only my muny, but also jt the absurdy of gay nversn.

THE 2 OUT GAY CHEERLEARS ARE MAKG HISTORY WH THE PANTHERS

It’s ridiculo to say that jt bee you bee more feme means you’re gog to be ls gay. I loved “Cluels, ” and I wanted to make a gay “Cluels. For sure — and sexism and homophobia.

I read that your first choice for the lead role turned down for relig reasons, and other st members were utned by their agents agast playg gay characters. Are gay actors still beg dissuad om playg gay characters? I thk ’s better, but there’s a lot of homophobia the actg realm and that agents would still advise some of their clients not to take gay rol, pecially if their clients is gay and the closet.

KEV MAXEN BE FIRST MALE ACH A US MEN’S PROFSNAL SPORTS LEAGUE TO PUBLICLY E OUT AS GAY

As someone who mak a lot of queer ntent, I still see a lot of closeted actors who don’t want to play gay rol bee they feel like they won’t pass or somethg.

Beyond the thorny topic of “Transparent, ” Prime do have a good track rerd of releasg shows wh LGBTQ characters and centerg their narrativ on queer them; particular, many of their shows foc on queer woman, rehgly avoidg the centerg of gay men that fed queer TV for s. In October last year, the pany’s Amazon Freevee ee streamg divisn dropped “High School”: a tenr and lovely g-of-age show spired by the liv of gay mic ins Tegan and Sara.

Perhaps the ultimate fort watch, “Scht’s Creek” famoly was a world where homophobia didn’t exist, and the gay characters were ee to be as cuddly and as msy as their straight unterparts. And even gog past Patrick and David’s romance though, many of the non-gay characters still have a strong queer appeal; “A Ltle B Alexis, ” anyone?

'PASSAG' DIRECTOR NOUNC 'DANGERO' NC-17 RATG ON A FILM PICTG A GAY LOVE STORY

One of the earlit h shows to center around gay characters, “Will & Grace” foced on the tense, more than a ltle -pennt iendship between gay lawyer Will (Eric McCormack) and straight terr rator Grace (Debra Msg). Although the show has been dged recent years for the perceived stereotypg of s gay characters — pecially Sean Hay’ bed-hoppg queen Jack — ’s origal eight-season n holds up as a fun, sharply wrten s, and one of the first of s kd to give gay characters the full spotlight they serve.

Based on the Black gay thor’s unfished mancript “Remember This Hoe, ” Raoul Peck’s geoly produced documentary brgs the work — focg on Civil Rights lears like Medgar Evers, Mallm X, and Mart Luther Kg Jr. Ford employed the same productn sign team that worked on “Mad Men, ” envisng a sexy midcentury LA teemg wh, y, hot gays, but also an irreprsible air of sadns that mt be what ennui looks like. A film so good that we n’t qu almost 20 years later, “Brokeback Mounta” was a watershed moment LGBTQ cema, markg the turng pot where gay love stori began to enter mastream cema.

‘BUT I’M A CHEERLEAR’ DIRECTOR JAMIE BABB ON THE QUEER CLASSIC 20 YEARS LATER: ‘I WANTED TO MAKE A GAY ‘CLUELS”

Though Eichner and the film’s PR mpaign end up upstagg the actual movie (this may have been a rare se of too much prs), “Bros” was a breakthrough moment for mastream gay storytellg, and a pretty entertag one, at that.