Love to Hate You
Now that he’s no longer suing Viacom for having the audacity to call its men’s network ‘Spike TV,’ Spike Lee can focus on making movies again. His next reported project is tentatively titled She Hate Me, about a guy (8 Mile’s exceptionally handsome Anthony Mackie) who gets the ax when he exposes corruption at his biotech firm. To make ends meet, he begins donating sperm to powerful corporate lesbians, one of whom happens to be his ex-girlfriend. The rest of the cast is set to include Jim Brown, Whoopi Goldberg, and the underappreciated Nia Long, who was so good as the grumpy lesbian who cut all the pretty boys to the quick in The Broken Hearts Club.
Shooting Arbus
Director Steven Shainberg and writer Erin Cressida Wilson, who gave everyone a rise with their kinky, funny S/M movie, Secretary, are now working on a project about the celebrated but troubled photographer Diane Arbus, whose promising career ended in 1971 with her suicide. Arbus was straight but gained notoriety—and a gay following—by shooting unconventional subjects she called ‘freaks,’ among them drag queens, twins, and the disabled. Although many people were shocked or offended by her disturbing images, she was named a Guggenheim fellow and was the first American photographer to be exhibited at the Venice Biennale. Shainberg hasn’t cast the role of Arbus yet, but Romeo suggests Anne Heche—she can act, and she definitely has the kooky thing down pat.
Seeing Double
Fans of X2’s Iceman—the heartthrobby guy who ‘comes out’ as a mutant in the queer-subtext-heavy blockbuster—will soon get more Shawn Ashmore in The Underclassman. The actor plays a post-adolescent detective who goes undercover in a prep school to investigate a car-theft ring. But hey, who cares what the plot is when the lead is so hot? The movie starts filming this fall and co-stars Drumline’s Nick Cannon. Meanwhile, Ashmore’s twin brother, the one-minute-older Aaron, is starring as twins in My Brother’s Keeper, an indie film now shooting. To make it more complicated, Shawn will appear in the film as his brother’s double, even though Aaron plays both characters. Got it? Either way, move over, Jason and Jeremy London.
Sweet on Swinton
Tilda Swinton, Orlando’s gender-shifter and The Deep End’s avenging mama, is set to join the cast of Constantine, a big-budget Keanu Reeves action movie based on the DC-Vertigo comic book Hellblazer. (Why, you ask, did they change the name to something that sounds like a wig-and-corset flick? Maybe the original title was too close for comfort to the shlocky Hellraiser.) Reeves plays Constantine, an occult-obsessed man who joins forces with a female police officer (Rachel Weisz) to kick evil-doer ass. Swinton’s character is a rogue angel named Gabriel whose job is to kick back. The movie’s in pre-production now, so you have a while to wait. But you can bet that the uber-cool Swinton will have us all rooting for the dark side to win.