MD News Desk: Trick ünd Treat

Keep up to date with all the latest from the entertainment world with the MD News Desk:

Hands Off the Merchandise:
- Acht, lederhosen! Get your own Brüno costumefor Halloween! Also available in "Clear Vinyl" and "Pink Penis".
- Coming to a Wii near you: Project Runway, the video game.

Cinematic Crushes:
- The Robert Pattinson phenomenon is explored in the new documentary Robsessed, coming to DVDNovember 10.
- Get in line: True Blood's Stephen Moyer wants gay sex scene with Alexander Skarsgård.
- Ewan McGregor to play son to Christopher Plummer's gay dad in Beginners.


Glee:
- In what may be a first, the first half of Glee's debut season will be released on DVD while the season is still in progress. Glee, Volume One: Road to Sectionals goes on sale December 29 (click here to pre-orderfrom Amazon.com).
- A germaphobe guidance counselor's worst enemy: Jessalyn Gilsig on playing Terri Schuester.
- Watch This: Kurt/Puck slash.

Videodrone:
- Trailer Park: You'll laugh, you'll cry ... the Toy Story 3 trailer!
- Lin-Manuel Miranda goes viral for the tour of his Tony winning musical In the Heights.

Awards Watch:
- The eight documentary short subjects short-listed for the 2009 Oscars includes Tell Them Anything You Want: A Portrait of Maurice Sendak, author of Where the Wild Things Are.

Coming to TV:
- A Fantasy Island reality show and a Hawaii 5-0 remake. (Go on say it ... "Book 'em, Danno!")


Kish:
- One Life to Live diva Robin Strasser (a.k.a. the devious Dr. Dorian Lord) talks to The Advocate about her lesbian wedding storyline and her own support of GLBT rights.

In the News:
- California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed the bill to approve "Harvey Milk Day". GayPolitics.com reports that the Oscar-winning movie Milk helped.

The Latest on TV:
- George Takei and Brad Altman make game show history as the first gay couple to ever appear on The Newlywed Game. The episode airs tomorrow night on the Game Show Network.


Out in Film:
- The Los Angeles Times chats with T.R. Knight about his Grey's Anatomy exit and the "complex musical" Parade.
- Tab Hunter's "tell-all autobiography" to become a "tell-all documentary".
- Upon the release of his new cover album, Colton Ford talks about the "virtues of the flesh and the joys of song".
- Bryan Singer hints he may return to the X-Men universe.
- Here's a tease of Adam Lambert's "Time for Miracles", a.k.a. "The Love Theme from 2012".

RIP:
- Irish pop star Stephen Gately, of Boyzone fame, passed away suddenly Saturday while on vacation in Mallorca. He was only 33 years old. Here's a video of Boyzone performing "No Matter What" (from the musical version of Whistle Down the Wind) during the Andrew Lloyd Webber Celebration at Royal Albert Hall.

Potent Quotables:
- Actor Said Mohamed on his new film Colonial Gods: "I was aware of the gay content in the film but this did not bother me. I am a Muslim but I approached the project in a professional manner, as I hope most actors would."

MD News Desk: Bears, Oh My!

Keep up to date with all the latest from the entertainment world with the MD News Desk:

Coming Soon:
- When Bears Attack: Advocate.com visits the set of BearCity, starring Gerald McCullouch and Sebastian LaCause.
- DC Comics trots out their version of Wolverine, Lobo, for the big screen, with Guy Ritchie at the helm.
- Naked Lunch author William S. Burroughs is the subject of a new documentary titled A Man Within.
- Disney's Tron Legacy set for release Christmas 2010.
- Twilight Watch: Extended New Moon trailer to premiere during MTV's Video Music Awards.

And the List Goes On:
- The Huffington Post takes a look at "Gender Benders" on film.
- Meanwhile, Empire Magazine presents the "50 Greatest Movie Sequels". And no, their #1 is neither The Godfather Part II nor The Empire Strikes Back.

Out in Film:
- Newsweek has an arresting interview with Jane Lynch, scene-stealer.
- Alan Cumming will bring his one-man show, I Bought a Blue Car Today, to Manhattan in October.
- Kelly McGillis has joined the cast of Stake Land, yet another vampire movie.
- Mike White's Enlightened series, starring Laura Dern, gets an HBO pilot.
- Megan Mullally will play a stage mother (no doubt "from hell") when she joins the cast of the Starz series Party Down.
- Congrats! Eating Out star Jim Verraros to wed his boyfriend this weekend.
- Joey Arias and Basil Twist will bring their GLAAD Media Award-winning evening of music and magic Arias with a Twist to Los Angeles in November.
- Say it ain't so!: John Waters talks about retiring from movie making.

Coming to TV:
- Want to know when your favorite show returns this fall? Then be sure to check out Entertainment Weekly's handy dandy "Fall TV Cheat Sheet".
- Who gets fired from Seattle Grace? Grey's Anatomy spoilers for the new season.

From Screen to Stage:
- GoGo Belinda Carlisle is the new Velma Von Tussle in the West End's Hairspray.
- Following Grey Gardens, Doug Wright to adapt another documentary to the musical stage: Hands on a Hard Body.
- Last Chance: 9 to 5 closes on Broadway this Sunday.
- Buddy's back: Elf—The Musical is coming.
- Tyler Perry to direct a screen version of For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf. Will Madea have a cameo?
- What does Antonio Banderas say about not being cast in the Nine movie?

Ride the Movies:
- The bloodthirsty stars of Halloween, Saw, My Bloody Valentine and Child's Play will be on hand for the mayhem that is Universal Studios' Halloween Horror Nights.

Videodrone:
- The hilarious Bryan Safi explains the supernatural phenomenon known as "Gayngels" in this week's That's Gay.
- Zachary Quinto talks to his penis (NSFW).

Cinematic Crushes:
- A new photo book will let you spend A Day in the Life of Daniel Radcliffe.
- True Blood's Mehcad Brooks cast in ABC's The Deep End. Does this spell doom for Eggs?
- Colin Farrell to star in his In Bruges co-star Brendan Gleeson's directorial debut At Swim-Two-Birds.

Best of the Fests:
- The Venice Film Festival kicked off earlier this week and runs through September 12. Among the American films participating in the competition is Michael Moore's Capitalism: A Love Story and Tom Ford's A Single Man.
- Meanwhile, the Telluride Film Festival begins today and continues through Monday. Premieres include Todd Solondz's Life During Wartime and John Hillcoat's The Road.


Women We Love:
- Kathy Griffin plugs her new memoir Official Book Club Selection, available next Tuesday (click hereto pre-order from Amazon.com).
- Madonna to direct a musical bio of royal scandal figure Wallis Simpson starring Cate Blanchett.
- Want to dress up as Julie Andrews for a Castro Theatre sing-along? No, not Maria ... get out your umbrellas, it's Mary Poppins.

MD News Desk: Marvel! Glee! Mamma Mia!

Keep up to date with all the latest from the entertainment world with the MD News Desk:

Glee:
- Gleeks unite! While we wait for the much-anticipated second episode of the fab new musical comedy series Glee next Wednesday, Fox will air special repeats of the pilot twice this week. First, tonight's broadcast will be a "director's cut" including deleted scenes, while Friday's showing will offer scrolling Twitter commentary from the cast at the bottom of the screen.
- In the meantime, here's a preview of an upcoming episode, featuring a rapping Matthew Morrison.
- And the first of at least two Glee soundtrack albums will be released November 3. Click hereto pre-order from Amazon.com.

Coming to TV:
- The L Word to return to Showtime ... as a reality series?
- MTV planning a Teen Wolf series.

Coming Soon:
- The big news this week: Disney buys Marvel. Variety has a good overview on how this will (and will not) effect Marvel's film and theme park properties for the foreseeable future ...
- Such as Fox's planned reboot of the Fantastic Four (let's hope they keep Chris Evans and boot Jessica Alba) and Paramount's scheduled The Avengers, Captain America, Thor, Iron Man 2 and 3.
- Meanwhile, in more superhero movie news: DC Comics' Deadman to rise from the grave onscreen, while The Green Hornet gets pushed back to Christmas 2010.
- Remake This: Rebecca De Mornay cast in Mother's Day update, while Paul W.S. Anderson will helm a 3-D Three Musketeers.
- Sequel Watch: Halloween 3-D and Rambo 5 (not in 3-D ... at least yet).

From Screen to Stage:
- And speaking of Marvel, it may not be the end for the troubled Broadway musical Spider-Man, Turn Off the Dark after all.
- The Los Angeles run of Mary Poppins extends a month.
- The national tour of The Color Purple, starring Fantasia Barrino, launches in Chicago.
- Master parodist Gerard Alessandrini discusses the past and possible future of Forbidden Broadway.
- The Dreamgirls tour wants you to "Listen" to Deena ... and Effie.
- Naked Boys Singing goes to West Hollywood.
- Sold out: Streep Tease: An Evening of Meryl Streep Monologues Performed by an All-Male Company.

Out in Film:
- AfterElton.com offers an extensive and informative interview with Nicholas Rodriguez, a.k.a. One Life to Live's newest gay character Nick.
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer alum Tom Lenk joins Rock of Ages.
- Neil Patrick Harris talks Emmys and American Idol.
- Tony Kushner's epic Angels in America saga to be revived Off-Broadway next season.
- Moisés Kaufman's new epilogue to The Laramie Project, about the murder of Matthew Shepard, will be presented in a "historic and unprecedented" premiere concurrently at theatres around the world.
- As Avenue Q winds down to its Broadway closing September 13, Playbill.com interviews its Tony Award winning librettist Jeff Whitty (who is not only working on the Tales of the City musical, but one based on ... Bring It On!), while their Seth Rudetsky chats with the ladies of the final cast.
- The Advocate chats with Giuliana & Bill's "gay husband" Matt Jacobi.

Women We Love:
- Star Trek: Voyager's Kate Mulgrew has joined the cast of this fall's new NBC hospital drama series Mercy.
- DRG Records will release the six-disc "The Essential Barbara Cook Collection" October 14. Click hereto pre-order from Amazon.com.
- Estelle Parsons leads the touring cast of August: Osage County.
- Angela Lansbury to host a memorial for her Mame co-star Beatrice Arthur in NYC.

Ride the Movies:
- Behold: Fantasmic's new Maleficent Dragon at Disneyland.


Awards Watch:
- The Academy has announced that it will be using the preferential voting system to determine which of the 10 contenders for its Best Picture award will receive the 2009 Oscar.
- The Bold and the Beautiful (and their grizzly bear) was the big winner at this year's Daytime Emmy Awards.
- Robin Williams and all four Golden Girls are among those to be named Disney Legends at the D23 Expo next week.

Videodrone:
- Watch This: Serial Mamma Mia!

MD News Desk: Twisted Sisters & Mad Men

Keep up to date with all the latest from the entertainment world with the MD News Desk:

Film Art:
- The Disney Princesses get a little twisted, courtesy of artist Jeffrey Thomas.

Videodrone:
- The 30-Second Bunnies do some trick or treating with Halloween.
- Trailer Park: The Descent Part 2.
- Meet the Ambassadors of Harmony.
- This is one thing we can agree with Hitler on ...

Coming to TV:
- "My teen-angst now has a twenty share": Heathers series planned by Fox.

Out in Film:
- Out Magazine interviews Mad Man Bryan Batt.
- [title of show] creators Hunter Bell, Jeff Bowen and Michael Berresse collaborating with Desperate Housewives' Marc Cherry on a future ABC sitcom.
- Megan Fox will host the 35th (!) season premiere of Saturday Night Live.
- T.R. Knight starts rehearsals for the musical Parade.
- Alonso Duralde, author of 101 Must-See Movies for Gay Men, has a new weekly movie-themed column at AfterElton.com. In his debut, he takes on Taking Woodstock and peruses The September Issue.

Women We Love:
- Natalie Portman interviewed by ... Jake Gyllenhaal, her Brothers co-star.
- Will Barbara Cook return to Broadway in Roundabout's Stephen Sondheim Revue?
- Yup, even screen legend Lauren Bacall tweets.
- Xanadu babe Kerry Butler joins Rock of Ages.
- Laura Linney set to headline Showtimes' The C Word (which has nothing to do with Showtime's The L Word).
- Elaine Paige goes digital: on iTunes and YouTube.
- Four-time Tony Award winner Audra McDonald honored by the NAACP Theatre Awards.
- Aussie dance floor diva Kylie Minogue chats about her upcoming North American invasion.

Coming Soon:
- Things could get messy: Halloween helmer Rob Zombie to take on another version of The Blob.
- Johnny Depp and Geoffery Rush will hunt for the Fountain of Youth in the fourth Pirates of the Caribbean, to be directed by Rob Marshall.
- Twilight watch: meet New Moon's Volturi, including Dakota Fanning and Michael Sheen. Plus: What if Twilight was made in the 80's?

Ride the Movies:
- The Princess and the Frog showcased at Disney's Hollywood Studios.

Cinematic Crushes:
- American Cinematheque to honor Matt Damon.
- Thriller casts: Daniel Craig in Dream House and Hayden Christensen in Vanishing on Seventh Street.
- Campbell Scott joins the third season of Damages.
- Channing Tatum and Jamie Bell will strap on some swords and sandals for The Eagle of the Ninth.
- Our pal QueerTwoCents digs into the past of current One Life to Live hunk David A. Gregory (a.k.a. "barn bath" Ford), including this hilariously ab-alicious ad for Airborne.

Coming to DVD:
- The Humpday DVD(due November 17) gets "de-gayed".

The Latest on TV:
- Greek returns for its third season on ABC Family tomorrow.
- The Daytime Emmys will be presented tonight on The CW. The always-fabulous Vanessa Williams hosts.


From Screen to Stage:
- Minneapolis' Torch Theater will "turn the world on with a smile" with The Mary Tyler Moore Show live.
- Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS is auctioning off a special closing night package for Broadway's 9 to 5.
- The upcoming Ragtime revival announces its cast.
- American Idol alum Diana DeGarmo joins the Off-Broadway musical The Toxic Avenger.
- The Bye Bye Birdie revival loses its "gang rape-y" Shriner's ballet.
- The Producers in Germany: "Frühling für Hitler".
- Meet the new Billy Elliot.

Potent Quotables:
- Evan Rachel Wood on her True Blood character, vampire queen Sophie-Anne: "She's not necessarily a lesbian. Her human partner is a girl, but I'm pretty sure she goes both ways ... I think vampires are like that in general."

MD News Desk: Brad, Blood and Beyond

Keep up to date with all the latest from the entertainment world with the MD News Desk:

True Blood:
- Clip and play: True Blood paper dolls! Includes the fab Lafayette and a bare-assed Sam Merlotte.
- Stephen Moyer (a.k.a. Vampire Bill) has been cast in the upcoming movie Priest (no relation to the controversial 1994 gay drama).
- Ryan Kwanten (a.k.a. Jason "You dirty little monkey" Stackhouse) takes it off for GQ.
- Also: time is running out to vote for the sexiest True Blood character in the latest MD Poll. Make your choice in the right hand sidebar.

Kish:
- One Life to Live's Brett Claywell dishes on “Kish”.

GLBT Entertainment:
- Beatles manager Brian Epstein gets a biopic with A Life in the Day.
- Tom Ford's feature film directorial debut A Single Man (based on the Christopher Isherwood novel) is one of a record 14 films competing for the Queer Lion Award at this year's Venice Film Festival.
- BearCity, billed as a "gay romantic comedy set in New York City’s bear community", is seeking hirsute extras.

Ride the Movies:
- Will the long rumored new Star Tours ride film be announced at Disney's D23 Expo?

The Latest on TV:
- The first season of BBC America's spooky Being Human (starring the sexy Aidan Turner, Russell Tovey and Lenora Crichlow) comes to a close this Saturday.


Coming to TV:
- ABC is planning a pilot based on the novel-turned-recent movie The Time Traveler's Wife.
- Also coming to haunt ABC: Clive Barker's Hotel.
- The sexy camp vamp series The Lair returns for a third season.
- MTV is developing an American version of the BBC teen drama Skins.
- Amanda Woodward returns? Heather Locklear may visit the new Melrose Place after all.
- The Kids in the Hall (including Scott Thompson) will be back on TV with an 8-part comedic murder-mystery series called Death Comes to Town.
- HBO looking to bring Dan Savage's sex advice column Savage Love to TV.
- Will & Grace executive producer Gary Janetti is working on another sitcom about gay-straight friendship for NBC — but this time, the friends are both men.
- Take a look at AfterElton.com's Best Fall Gay TV Guide Ever!

Cinematic Crushes:
- Zac Efron struts his stuff on the set of The Death and Life of Charlie St. Cloud.
- Will Robert Downey Jr. be the next Lestat?
- John Hamm gets a Sucker Punch.
- Josh Lucas goes for a Little Murder.
- James McAvoy says I'm with Cancer.
- Ryan Reynolds is all by himself in Buried.
- The Advocate chats with Into the Pride's lion man Dave Salmoni.

Potent Quotables:
Brad Pitt on gay marriage: "You have a group of people telling other people how to live their lives, and you can't do that. I just say you have to ... you really have to check what country you're living in because the freedom that allows you to practice religion is the same freedom you're stepping on. That's not right. And I want to add that if there was a nation of gay married couples who were telling you you couldn't practice your religion, I'd be speaking up for you too. So let's stop the nonsense."

Out in Film: Sarah Paulson

Idol worship: Sarah Paulson, actress.

- Her first notable role was in the cult TV series American Gothic, followed by such other short-lived programs as Jack & Jill, Leap of Faith and The D.A.

- In addition to memorable guest performances on Deadwood and Nip/Tuck, she is best known for her Golden Globe nominated role as Harriet Hayes on Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip.

- On film, she has appeared in such movies as The Other Sister, What Women Want, Down with Love, Serenity and The Notorious Bettie Page.

- She played Laura Wingfield in an acclaimed Broadway revival of Tennessee Williams' The Glass Menagerie. Other stage roles include Killer Joe, Talking Pictures and Colder Than Here.

- Most recently, she was seen on the big screen in The Spirit (coming to DVDApril 14) and will star opposite Bobby Cannavale in the revised romantic comedy Cupid, premiering this Tuesday on ABC.

Reverend’s Reviews: Viva Pedro

Hot off his 2008 best original screenplay Oscar win for the acclaimed Milk, Dustin Lance Black isn’t letting the (gold) dust settle on his keyboard. A new film he’s written, Pedro, will premiere this week at LA's Outfest Fusion festival. But don’t worry that you’ll have to crash a film festival or drive to West Hollywood to see it: Pedro will be shown April 1 on all MTV television networks.

Black has teamed up with acclaimed out producers Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland (The Fluffer, Quinceañera) to bring this life story of Pedro Zamora to the screen. Zamora, as you will recall, was the first openly gay and openly HIV-positive cast member on MTV’s The Real World. One of thousands of “boat people” who fled Cuba as a child with half of his family in 1980, Zamora stunned his housemates and MTV viewers — and caught the attention of then-President Clinton and the international community — by speaking out about his condition.


Zamora learned he was HIV+ at the age of 17 and died in 1994 at the age of 22. In a mere five years, he became the face of AIDS to teenagers and young adults throughout the US. His good looks, charm and frankness made an immediate impression, and caused many gay young men (including myself, then in my mid-20’s) to think, “If it could happen to him, it could happen to me.”

Pedro, like Milk, employs a flashback device that starts at the beginning of the end of Zamora’s life. Found unconscious in his hotel room prior to a Real World taping, much of Pedro takes place around his hospital bed and, finally, Pedro’s deathbed in his family’s home. The result of this dramatic approach is that the film has a more disconcerting “waiting for the protagonist to die” feel to it than the more dynamic Milk does.

In between these grim scenes, however, viewers do get glimpses of Zamora (well-played as a teenager and adult by Alex Loynaz) in happier times: his childhood in Cuba and his teen years coming out in Florida; times spent with his loving mother and sister; getting married to his partner, Sean Sasser; and, of course, being cast in The Real World.

Those who watched The Real World at the time will likely recall one of Zamora’s other housemates and homophobic nemesis, Puck (reincarnated here by Matt Barr). Fortunately, Puck is dispatched fairly quickly in Pedro. The filmmakers wisely spend more time focusing on the ever-deepening friendship between Zamora and his straight roommate, Judd Winick (Hale Appleman), who wrote the moving memoir Pedro and Me: Friendship, Loss, and What I Learnedfollowing Zamora’s untimely death.


In addition to being Black’s second produced screenplay, Pedro marks the feature debut of director Nick Oceano. Black and Oceano shine a more “warts & all” light on Zamora than Black did with Harvey Milk, which essentially canonized the assassinated San Francisco supervisor. I’m not complaining about that, but Pedro does feel a little more honest.

Despite its terminal-illness trappings, Pedro is well worth seeing. The film resurrects a brief but significant life, and reminds us of a time not too long ago when the risks associated with being openly gay and/or openly HIV+ were greater than they are today. We have Zamora, in part, to thank for the progress that’s been made in this regard.

UPDATE: Pedro is now available on DVDfrom Amazon.com.

Review by Rev. Chris Carpenter, resident film critic of Movie Dearest and the Orange County and Long Beach Blade.