Little Britain, BBC America’s hit sketch comedy series, has seen its co-creator Matt Lucas become a star in the United Kingdom and a cable-TV cult cele-brity in the United States. Soon, the gay comedian will take on his first major big-screen role (after appearing briefly in the horror comedy Shaun of the Dead) as the legendary Alfred Hitchcock. The biographical film starring Lucas—whose physical similarities to the director alone make him a nearly perfect choice—is scheduled to begin shooting later in 2006. The movie will focus on Hitchcock’s early years and will co-star Ewan McGregor in an as-yet-unknown role.

Maria Maggenti Makes Music with Puccini

Bisexual director Maria Maggenti scored big in 1995 with The Incredibly True Adventure of Two Girls in Love. What followed was a screenplay (The Love Letter) and TV work (Without a Trace), but no follow-up feature—until now. Puccini for Beginners marks Maggenti’s return to big-screen romantic comedy, this time with adult lesbian and bisexual women finding themselves in an only-in-the-movies love triangle. Starring Elizabeth Reaser (The Family Stone) as a lesbian who finds herself involved with both a man (HBO’s Angels in America star Justin Kirk) and a woman (Gretchen Mol)—who coincidentally happen to be ex-lovers themselves—the urban screwball comedy premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and should be landing in theaters later this year.

Crafting Kinky Boots

The feel-good, root-for-the-downtrodden-character movie has been a consistently successful British import since The Full Monty stormed the box office. The latest entry is Kinky Boots, the story of a man named Lola (Chiwetel Ejiofor) who convinces the son of a shoe-factory owner (Star Wars: Episode III’s Joel Edgerton) to save the bankrupt company by turning it into a manufacturer of shoes for drag queens. Drag queens have become cinema’s most cuddly ambassadors of queer culture, thanks to Priscilla and To Wong Foo, so look for these Boots to be made for walkin’ all the way to the bank.

Scissor Sisters Shake Up Glastonbury

Britain’s Glastonbury Music Festival is the longest-running outdoor fest in the world. Happening since the early 1970s, the phenomenon attracts gigantic crowds, the coolest names in pop music and, more recently, the cameras of acclaimed British director Julien Temple. The result is a documentary film, Glastonbury, due in theaters in April in Britain and later in the United States. Not simply a concert on film, the movie explores the history, sociology and meaning of the annual phenomenon. Moreover, crowd-pleasing performances by queer-inclusive bands like Scissor Sisters and gay audience favorites like David Bowie, Bjork, Coldplay and Radiohead will make sure rock fans in other countries feel like they were actually there.

DeepInsideHollywood@qsyndicate.com.