01/11/2006
Colin Farrell sex tape site went down due to heavy server load.
Hollywood is dusting off gay-themed film projects that have been languishing in development for years because of the success of Brokeback Mountain, reports an article in the L.A. Times. Among those are Craig Zadan and Neil Meron's The Mayor of Castro Street (which now has Bryan Singer attached to direct), based on Randy Shilts' book about Harvey Milk, the assassinated openly gay San Francisco supervisor. Also back to life is The Dreyfus Affair about two gay baseball players. And finally, Patricia Nell Warren's classic novel The Front Runner
LOGO founder Matt Farber launches music label aimed at LGBT audiences. Farber: "While there's no such thing as 'gay music,' there are many gay and lesbian artists who want their identity embraced. To not only embrace them as artists but as individuals. It really is just a home for the artists."
Posted 8:51 AM EST by Andy in Elsewhere | Permalink
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Ben Affleck once optioned for the film rights to do "The Dreyfus Affair." Affleck couldn't sell the story to any studio and there was no script. With the right screenplay, "Dreyfus" would be a great movie.
The success of "Brokeback" will definitely open the doors for some great gay scripts to make it the screen.
Posted by: Matthew | Jan 11, 2006 9:28:04 AM
"The Front Runner" was the first gay book I read in 1976, the cover jacket says '20th Anniversary Edition'...hmmmm. I'm afraid I won't look 10 years younger when I look at myself in the mirror this morning... thank god for fiction.
Posted by: david | Jan 11, 2006 10:01:24 AM
Colin was not looking... well... in my book, he looked about 4 sheets to the wind. Would I still do him? In a heart beat!
Posted by: Rad | Jan 11, 2006 10:15:54 AM
I think at one point Paul Newman was supposed to be in the Front Runner as the coach / mentor / lover.
Posted by: Donald | Jan 11, 2006 10:21:27 AM
Oh yes. I think the first time I read it was 1978 or 79
Posted by: Donald | Jan 11, 2006 10:22:33 AM
Once upon a time, a book named "The Dreyfus Affair" as one of the top ten movies never made. Here's hoping they finally go forward - it's a great story.
Posted by: Brian | Jan 11, 2006 11:07:44 AM
There has been talk of "The Front Runner" being made into a movie since it first came out. They even joke about how long it has been talked about in "Tales of the City" (whick takes in place in the late 70s). I seem to remember Robby Benson mentioned as the lead. (yes, I am getting old.)
Posted by: Martin | Jan 11, 2006 11:36:44 AM
I remember reading "The Front Runner" when it came out - I even bought a hardback copy back then when I was in school and really shouldn't have been spending the money. But as my perspective has widened over the years, the book has more and more struck me as an exploitative, button-pushing piece of melodramatic trash. It a little resembles those post WW II war movies that follow a platoon of soldiers, one Italian-American, one Polish American, one Irish-American, etc. - except the book has one of every gay seventies stereotype. And how Warren is obsessed with dick size! - so much so that it really seems to me that this (I believe lesbian) author is only doing it because she thinks that the gay men she's selling her wares to are all obsessed, too. So in the book, the virtue of each character is measured by how big he is, and among the trio of runners, our hero, Billy, is biggest of all. Yecchh. This crap needs to slip into the oblivion it deserves; let's not encourage Hollywood to make a movie of it.
Posted by: tcj | Jan 11, 2006 12:20:20 PM
Warren is a lesbian, and, while I was enamored with the story itself at one time [if you think she's a size queen, try reading any of the Gordon Merrill books such as "The Lord Won't Mind"], rereading it later I realized what clumsy, bad writing it was. Paul Newman was, indeed, very serious about the film at one time. Somewhere I have a copy of a very old letter, circa 1984, he wrote to an acquaintance in response to an inquiry about where the project was. His basic answer was that while he would very much like to do it he felt he was too old [even then] to play the coach and hadn't come up with anyone else. He did not explicitly say it, but I'd guess he was running into the reluctance of actors to play gay. As for a movie about a real gay athlete, Zadan, et al., are also behind the planned movie about baseballer Billy Bean, optioned by Showtime. Billy told me in November that they have been determined to not make it until they get a known, respected actor to play him. With the laurels being thrown at Ledger, that should now be much easier.
Posted by: Leland | Jan 11, 2006 12:57:22 PM
I read way back in '85 that Harrison Ford was tapped to be in the film version of Front Runner. Guess not...
Posted by: spazmo | Jan 11, 2006 1:24:41 PM
On the news, I heard that Colin "never thought the tape would get out" Yeah, right. Tell that to Paris Hilton and Pamela Anderson.
Colin, try thinking with your "other" head next time.
Posted by: Lady Heather | Jan 11, 2006 8:41:08 PM
Funny, I came across "The Front Runner" by accident at a Waldenbooks when it first came out. I was just coming out too, or trying to find my way out. This book helped me a great deal but I don't understand the comment about the book being all about size. Maybe someone has issues with size.
I remember a very heartwarming story that made me see that it was ok to be gay and that I could be anything I wanted to be, and be proud of it. I've re-read the book many times over the years as I do with several books that have some importance to periods of my life. While it's been several years since my last read, I still don't recall 'size' being a major theme of the book. Maybe I was looking at it differently. I now hope a movie is forthcoming. It's going to need a little updating but I still think it could be great.
Posted by: GaYToR | Jan 16, 2006 12:14:49 AM