Big Cast Bites into Blueberry
Acclaimed Hong Kong director and Cannes Film Festival jury head Wong Kar Wai, the man responsible for one of the most critically lauded gay-themed films of the 1990s, Happy Together, has generated so much respect from English-speaking actors that assembling a cast for his first English-language film must have been like being set loose in a candy store. For that project, an ensemble romantic comedy currently titled My Blueberry Nights, Wong has chosen Grammy-winning singer Norah Jones as his star. She’ll play a young woman traveling across America in search of love, meeting unusual characters along the way. Joining Jones will be Rachel Weisz, Jude Law, Natalie Portman, Ed Harris, and possibly Kevin Spacey, who’s reportedly close to signing on. The results are sure to be sweet.
American Idol’s Sloppy Sequel
He was eliminated early from the Top 10 in the first season of American Idol, but that didn’t send Jim Verraros home with his tail between his legs. The singer became the first and only contestant to come out; he released an album of songs that have helped propel him onto the dance charts; and he co-starred in the raucous gay comedy Eating Out. Now the young rising star is back for more. In the naughtily titled Eating Out 2: Sloppy Seconds, Verraros reprises his role from the first movie, co-starring in what promises to be—according to advance buzz on the plot’s sexy twists and turns—one of the raunchier gay comedies to come along in some time. Just remember, though, that in spite of its title, it’s not porn, just good, dirty fun.
‘Baghdad Blog’ To Hit Big Screen
Salam Pax is the pseudonym of a gay Iraqi architect living in Baghdad, and his is the witty, unflinchingly honest voice behind the blog called ‘Where Is Raed?’ The online diary, a disturbing account of the Iraqi citizen’s life during wartime—a process Pax refers to as the ‘liber-vasion’—was serialized in the U.K. newspaper The Guardian,