Gay & Lesbian »

The upcoming The Danish Girl is one of those independent, edgy films that has all the right elements for something brilliant, but it's subject matter is so tricky that it could end up becoming a farce. Based on David Ebershoff's novel, The Danish Girl is the story of the world's first post-operative transsexual, Einar Wegener, and his wife, Greta. Tomas Alfredson is set to direct, Nicole Kidman has long been attached to play Einar, and Variety reports that Gwyneth Paltrow has stepped in to play Greta. She's stepping in for Charlize Theron, who originally held the role, but has dropped out for unspecified reasons.

The story takes place in 1920s Denmark. Greta* was a portrait painter, and needed a model. She asked Einar to step into a dress, stockings, and heels, and created some kind of awakening in Einar. In women's clothes, her husband became an outrageous character named Lili. The paintings of Lili became extremely popular, few realizing a man had stood in for them. Lili than took on a public life of her own, and Greta often introduced Lili as her sister. Eventually, Einar / Lili decided to commit to gender reassignment surgery, a dangerous and experimental procedure at the time. Greta stood beside her husband until his transformation was complete, and then their marriage was declared null and void by the King of Denmark.

We love it when our heroes fall for the suspicious types: the wolves in sheep's clothing, the dangerous femme fatales. It happens often in film noir and a heckuva lot in comics, and provides some of the best last-act twists and turns as our hearts palpitate along with those of our protagonists... up until the bitter end. Can't that evil love interest turn out to have a heart of gold, so we can all have a happily ever after? Sometimes, yes. Most of the time, no.

What is it about these doomed romances that we love so much? Perhaps it's the futility of it all; you can't have your cake and eat it when you're a superhero or a (wo)man on a mission to right wrongs, even if you'd rather be kissing that beguiling bad guy than fighting them, arresting them, or foiling their evil plans. Turning down a chance at love is the ultimate sacrifice for a hero or heroine to make -- it proves their commitment to the side of good. Hence, loving a villain makes a hero even more heroic. How tragic!

In what will surely spur controversy, I've whittled my favorite villain-hero romances down to the seven best pairings in cinema. No, Phantom of the Opera didn't make it. That would have been too easy. Instead, find odd couples, would-be perfect pairs, star-crossed lovers, and yes, the world's most legendary bromance after the jump.

Things went wild this past weekend as Where the Wild Things Are took top honors. The action flick Law Abiding Citizen also premiered well and Paranormal Activity continues to astound, taking third place while only playing in 760 theaters. Here's the top five:

1. Where the Wild Things Are: $32.7 million
2. Law Abiding Citizen: $21 million
3. Paranormal Activity: $19.6 million
4. Couples Retreat: $17.2 million
5. The Stepfather: $11.6 million

Four new releases this week, three of which will be putting the Halloween spirit into people.

Amelia
What's It All About: Hilary Swank and Richard Gere star in this biopic of aviator Amelia Earhart who disappeared during an attempt to fly around the world.
Why It Might Do Well: A historical drama is a pretty good counter programmer to all the horror and fantasy movies currently in release.
Why It Might Not Do Well: Right now we're looking at 17% at Rottentomatoes.com.
Number of Theaters: 800
Prediction: $6 million

Astro Boy
What's It All About: Adaptation of the classic anime (that itself takes a page from Pinocchio) about a robot boy with incredible powers.
Why It Might Do Well: 73% at Rottentomatoes.com ain't too shabby.
Why It Might Not Do Well: Will this character that originated in the 1950s translate well in the twenty-first century?
Number of Theaters: 3,000
Prediction: $16 million

This year marks the 70th anniversary (and a rerelease) of MGM's The Wizard of Oz, which is really quite startling. It's one of those films that's absolutely timeless, and it's so ingrained in each one of our childhood memories that it seems like it was made for our childhoods. If that sounds mawkish, I apologize. To be honest, Oz isn't even one of my favorite movies today, but it rocked my world when I was small, most memorably during its 50th Anniversary in 1989. I know that isn't the first time I saw the film, but I was absolutely enthralled with the little collector book and the documentaries and "deleted scenes" featured on the VHS. It's one of the earliest times I can remember finding out there was a "making of" tale behind a movie I adored, and it struck me as absolutely impossible that the movie was 50 years old. I'm not even sure I was aware
Judy Garland was long gone, though there were certainly enough "if we'd only known" hints in those documentaries.

But I digress. As I said, I outgrew the movie and I was never particularly fond of L. Frank Baum's original book or any of the sequels, though I dutifully read them. (I should take that back -- I adore Marvel's 8-issue run. Beautifully illustrated! Buy it!) I've never known much about Baum beyond his history with the Hotel Del Coronado (he stayed there while writing, and designed the light fixtures!), so Meghan O'Rourke's Slate article on Baum was a treat. I'll leave you to read it for yourselves, but what thrilled me was finding out some of the history, myth, and inspiration behind the book.

Continued below the jump

There's a long-running joke in Hollywood that one of the easiest ways to earn an Oscar is to either 'Ugly it up" or contract a disease. But, in recent years, one of the newer trends that can lead an actor to the podium is for them to take on a role where they play a person of same-sex orientation (a fact that has already become the stuff of satire). Over the past 10 years, plenty of actors have earned Oscars for playing gay roles, and the latest actor to join the club could be Matt Damon, who has signed to play Liberace's lover in Steven Soderbergh's biopic of the flamboyant musician.

So what's the big deal? Don't actors pretend to be different people all the time ... isn't that their job? Well, yes, but it's a little more complicated than that. Gay and lesbian political advocates have long lamented the sad state of affairs where straight actors are getting gay roles, instead of giving 'out' actors their chance to shine. So, while I question the idea that only gay actors could play a gay character, just as only straight actors can play straight characters, the sad fact is that Hollywood is still relatively puritanical when it comes to allowing their actors and actresses to be out and proud -- and that needs to change. But, that doesn't mean I think an actor (gay or straight) shouldn't play role any role they want ... just as long as they're good at it.

So on that note, I decided to give a little credit to five performances by straight actors in gay roles that transcended orientation and, ultimately, are just damn fine performances.

After the jump: my picks for the best of straight actors going gay for pay...

We may not get a superheroine movie any time soon, but after a lot of talk and deal making, Cassandra Hack may finally get her chance to shine and swing away. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Hack / Slash has lost the services of Todd Lincoln, and hired the much buzzed about Fredrik Bond.

Tim Seeley and Stefano Caselli's Hack / Slash is a delight whether you're a horror fiend, a comic book lover, or simply a fan of badass heroines. (Or scantily clad ones. Hey, they have to lure in the boys somehow when it dares to star a woman, right? Yes, I'm being sarcastic.) The ongoing series stars Cassandra "Cassie" Hack, a fearless girl who is every Final Girl combined into one kick-ass, baseball bat swinging chick. Her origin story is the stuff that usually spawns a serial killer, as her mother was tired of seeing her little Cassie bullied, and went on a lunchroom killing spree. (Shades of Crystal Lake!) After surviving that, a missing father, and numerous foster homes, Cassie decides to educate herself in the ways of combat, and take on the unpleasant task of hunting and killing all manner of slashers, monsters, and demons.

Read the rest over at The Horror Squad!

"Slim pickings" is the best way to describe this week's releases. Isn't anyone planning to stay home and watch DVDs?

Two Lovers
Joaquin Phoenix can't decide between Gwyneth Paltrow and Vinessa Shaw. Directed by James Gray, this suffocating drama is dark, thoughtful, and "more true to real human existence than most of the dreck that comes out of Hollywood studios," wrote Kim Voynar. I wasn't quite as impressed by it as she was, but it's still my top pick in a slow week. Also on Blu-ray. Rent it.

12 Rounds
Wrestler John Cena stars in Renny Harlin's latest train wreck (as I described it in my review), a sober drama that resolutely refuses to embrace its loonier plot elements (fire engine smashing through New Orleans, an out-of-control street car). Aidan Gillen (The Wire) provides one of the few pleasures as an exceptionally-nasty master criminal. Also on Blu-ray. The "Extreme Cut" adds less than three minutes of footage. Skip it.

Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun Li
I was hoping against hope that this might provide some cheesy fun, but Nick Schager slammed that door shut: "Fighting sequences are dreadfully lethargic ... their choreography is of a dull, unimaginative sort." Not even Kristin Kreuk can save this one. Also on Blu-ray. Skip it.

Also out: Jonas Brothers: The 3-D Concert Experience.

After the jump: "Indies on DVD" provides several good rental choices, a landmark film by Spike Lee hits Blu-ray, and a long-dismissed effort by director Hal Ashby gets dusted off.

Kevin Spacey never really went away, so I hesitate to say that he's making a comeback, so let's just say "Hey, it's nice to see Kevin Spacey out and about in the trades again." Then we can talk about Spacey's Father of Invention, and talk about the eclectic foursome he's lured in as costars. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Craig Robinson, Johnny Knoxville, Heather Graham, and Camilla Belle have all signed onto Spacey's independently produced, Trent Cooper-directed film.

The story centers on Robert Axle (Spacey), an inventor who has forgotten his humble roots after making billions, and become an egomanical jerk. In a Lex Luthor twist, one of his inventions has gone awry, maimed hundreds, and landed him in prison serving an eight-year sentence. Freed from his sentence, he goes about rebuilding his personal and professional life, but finds remaking his name and fortune easier than repairing his fractured family.
Rounding out the Axle family is Belle, who plays his daughter, employed as a social worker and reluctant to reconnect with her father. Graham plays her lesbian roommate (is there ever any other kind) who sleeps with Spacey, undoubtedly making the situation that much more prickly. Knoxville plays a store manager who gives the ex-con a job. Somewhere in the mix there's an ex-Mrs. Axle as Robinson plays her new husband, who now lives in the billionaire's house, eats his food, and drives his car, but is nice enough to help him get back on his feet.

There's a whiff of Arrested Development to the plotline, and Robinson makes just about everything funny, so let's all watch out for this one. Production begins this week in New Orleans, so it'll be here before you know it.

"Let me get this gay stuff out of my system." Richard Berkowitz (pictured above in both images) did not set to be an AIDS activist, or even to live openly as a gay man. He fully intended to meet and marry a woman, settle down, and raise a family, which would have pleased his liberal New Jersey Jewish Democratic family. Enrolling at Rutgers University in the early 1970s, however, changed his life.

Berkowitz's journey from college student to S&M hustler to safe sex advocate to gay community outcast is carefully chronicled in Sex Positive, a documentary by Daryl Wein that opens today in New York after a successful series of festival screenings. (Regent Releasing will open it in Los Angeles and Denver next week and in San Francisco on July 3.) Berkowitz is nearly forgotten today, despite co-writing two key texts that introduced the concept of "safe sex" and generated considerable controversy upon their publication.

Wein's film succeeds in reasserting credit to Berkowitz, virologist Dr. Joseph Sonnabend, and the late musician / activist Michael Callen for vigorously proclaiming that a promiscuous lifestyle increased the likelihood that gay men would contract AIDS. That message, initially delivered in 1982 and 1983 when the gay community was devastated by scores of deaths and little or nothing was being done by the government to research and try to cure or at least slow the spread of the "gay disease," got them branded as "anti-sex." Yet the three men asserted that a "sex positive" lifestyle could be enjoyed as long as certain safeguards were employed.