You Are Not Alone Sam Smith

Congratulations to openly gay Brit singer-songwriter Sam Smith who, along with his writing partner Jimmy Napes, won an Oscar for Best Original Song for  Writing's on the Wall  for the Spectre movie.  In a year when the focus of the Academy Awards was all about diversity, Smith very passionately dedicated his win to the LGBT Community.   He however didn't stop there as he also added that it was an honor to be the first openly gay man to win one of these precious statutes, but on that account he was wrong, several times over.

One of the most high profile gay winners in the past was Lance Dustin Black who won a Best Screenplay Academy Award for 'Milk' the biopic about slain gay politician Harvey Milk in 2009 when Sam Smith was 17 years old. Black's win was matched with one of the most eloquent speeches the Awards audience had ever heard. In fact he relayed a copy of it to Smith last night with a very funny tweet which said if you have no idea who I am, it may be time to stop texting my fiancé.    Black is of course engaged to the very handsome diver Tom Daley.

The very first openly gay actor to win an Oscar was in fact Sir John Gielgud and it was for his performance in 1981 for the film, Arthur.

In 1969, it was the turn of yet another Brit John Schlesinger who won the Oscar for Best Director in Midnight Cowboy, his film about two New York hustlers. He would later go on to be collect one of four Oscar nominations that were given in 1972 to Sunday Bloody Sunday a movie about a young bi-sexual Brit who flitted between his older male and female lovers.

Even before this, in 1964 openly gay George Cukor who was known to be the head of the gay subculture in Hollywood during the 1930′s, was the recipient of the Oscar for Best Director in My Fair Lady.

                                                                     Cukor with presenter Joan Crawford

Quite how Sam Smith could forget about one of the world's gay-est singers ever is hard to believe,  and he should have known that Sir Elton John won an  Oscar in 1994 for Best Original Song with Can You Feel The Love Tonight.

In 2006, it was the turn of another gay rockstar when Melissa Etheridge won the Oscar for the Best Original song. Her song, I Need to Wake Up, was featured in the Vice President Al Gore's Oscar winning documentary, An Inconvenient Truth.

Gay songwriter Howard Ashman collected six Oscar Nominations and won twice . Both wins were for Disney songs he co-wrote which Alan Menken and were sadly awarded to him posthumously in 1992 and 1993 after he had died of AIDS just aged 40.

In 1991 Broadway legend Stephen Sondheim collected his Oscar for this little ditty that he wrote for Madonna to sing in the movie Dick Tracy.

Sam Smith claimed that his source of mis-information about the lack of openly gay winner was he claimed none other than Sir Ian McKellen, which is hard to believe as his friend Bill Condon won one for writing the screenplay of Gods & Monster a movie that McKellen starred in and picked up an nomination for too.

Another screenplay Oscar went to Alan Ball for American Beauty, one of five Academy Awards, including Best Picture, that the movie won in 2000.   

Rounding this list up to a neat dozen are two actors who came out as gay sometime after they had won their Oscars. Joel Grey won for his definitive performance as the Master of Ceremonies in Cabaret in 1973, but didnt talk about his sexuality publically until 2015. Jodie Foster got her first Oscar Nomination (for Taxi Driver) when she was just 14 years old, and then 12 years later she won her first Best Actress Award for The Accused, followed by another one for The Silence of the Lambs in 1991.  Foster had been in a same-sex relationship for years but never talked about it openly until 2007.

A Cat's Near Purr-fect Oscar Predictions

Of all the pundits who have been making waves with their predictions of who will go home clutching their  gold statutes on Sunday, the Office cat at the best Cinema magazine in the UK ....Little White Lies ..... does an incredible job picking the winners. We actually think she has got them all right ......well almost .... sadly Charlotte Rampling will not be Best Actress as that award will go to Brie Larson for her stunning performance in Room,  and The Revenant will probably be voted Best Picture and not Brooklyn.

Viva Ireland.... and other Oscar Hopefuls

When it comes to Countries selecting their Official Submissions to the Academy of Motion Pictures in the hope of being Nominated (an winning) a Best Foreign Picture Oscar we should never ever be surprised at what goes down.  Of the 32 entries so far (last year there was a total of 83) four of the movies submitted have gay themes, the most astonishing of these is the one submitted by Irish Film & Television Academy.  Called 'Viva' it's a Spanish language movie set in Cuba and is the tale of Jesus who does the make up for a troupe of drag performers in Havana, but dreams of being a performer. When he finally gets his chance to be on stage, a stranger emerges from the crowd and punches him in the face. The stranger is his father Angel, a former boxer, who has been absent from his life for 15 years. As father and son clash over their opposing expectations of each other, Viva becomes a love story as the men struggle to understand one another and become a family again.

It qualifies for submission as both director Paddy Breathnach and screenwriter Mark O’Halloran are Irish and as IFTA CEO Aine Moriarty said when announcing the decision 'it reflects the diverse creativity and vision of this Irish team in bringing such a tender Cuban story to the screen that is both intriguing and visually captivating.'

'Viva' wowed audiences when it premiered recently at the Telluride Film Festival where it was announced that Benicio Del Toro had come on board as the movie's Executive Producer and it stands a very good chance of ending up with the Oscar next year.

So too do the other LBGT movies already submitted. 

Greece's pick is Xenia a delightful quirky 'road-movie' filmmaker Panos H. Koutras which picked up nominations for The Queer Palm and Un Certain Regard where it premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in May.  Check out our full review from Queertiques.

Thailand's choice is How To Win At Checkers (Every Time) a refreshing coming-of-age drama debut movie from American/Korean filmmaker Josh Kim about two orphaned brothers who have to deal with the reality of social inequality which he does without sinking into melodrama or dragging out any of the usual cliched stereotypes. The compassionate fraternal relationship is particular touching and makes this heartbreaking story such a sheer joy to watch.  Check out the full review from Queertiques. 

The Dominican Republic has opted for 'Sand Dollars' from co-writers/directors Israel Cárdenas and Laura Amelia Guzmán. The movie stars veteran actress Geraldine Chaplin as an older European woman becomes enchanted with a young Dominican woman who must struggle to make ends meet. Love brings a flow of entanglements in a drama which unfolds badly.

TOP TEN MERYL STREEP MOVIES

Meryl Streep has another new movie out : this time she plays an aging rockstar who just abandoned her family to go have a good time in 'RICKI AND THE FLASH'. The movie has received mixed reviews but as usual the critics are raving about her standout performance. 

She also stars in the much anticipated movie 'SUFFRAGETTE' based on the events of the early feminist movement as they fought for the right to vote.  If that is not enough she has just finished filming 'FLORENCE FOSTER JENKINS', the true story of the infamous tone deaf aristocrat who couldn't sing a single note in key but still hired Carnegie Hall to give a Recital.

Could this possibly be the year that she gets her 20th Academy Award Nomination, and maybe even win her 4th Oscar?   The woman that many critics think is the worlds greatest living actress is just unstoppable. Here's what we think constitutes her best work to date.

OUR TOP TEN MERYL STREEP MOVIES.

(In alphabetical order)

ANGELS IN AMERICA (2003): Technically this film of Tony Kushner’s stunning political epic about the AIDS crisis during the mid-eighties is a TV mini series BUT it would remiss not to include this as Ms. Streep gave unforgettable performances as three different characters (including a male Rabbi) in a piece that is the defining play of that tragic moment in our history.

DANCING AT LUGHNASA (1998): In this adaption of Brian Friel’s play, set in rural Ireland in 1936 when times were very tough, Ms. Streep plays Kate a schoolteacher, and the oldest of 5 unmarried sisters and the one in charge of all their lives. She’s as strict with her siblings as she is with her pupils but always puts their happiness before her own.

DOUBT (2008): As Sister Aloysius Beauvier a Catholic school principal who questions a priest's ambiguous relationship with a troubled young student, Ms. Streep is all fire and brimstone with her unshakeable faith in a performance that netted her, and all three other actors in the film, Oscar Nominations.

KRAMER VS. KRAMER (1979) : As the wife and mother who walked out on both her husband and child, Ms. Streep is off the screen for a great deal of the movie, yet in this her breakthrough performance she wowed us all and won her very first Oscar.

POSTCARDS FROM THE EDGE (1990): in this movie based on Carrie Fisher’s life, a young Ms. Streep brilliantly plays a substance addicted Hollywood actress who can only get a job if she agrees to live with her mother. Naturally the mother is worse than any recreational drug and the two have a tempestuous relationship that reflects the real drama queens that they are. Hard to believe now, but Shirley MacLaine played the mother.

SOPHIE’S CHOICE (1982): Its hard to forget Ms. Streep’s compelling performance as the Polish Holocaust survivor who had lost both her children and is now residing in Brooklyn and trying to find a reason to want to live. It rightfully gained her a second Oscar.

THE BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY (1995): Ms. Streep plays an Italian War Bride who in the 1960’s finds herself supplanted in an isolated farm house in Iowa and who, totally put of character, has a 4 day affair with a photographer just passing through. She gives a tender and passionate performance in this very touching romantic story.

THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA (2006): As the monstrous fashion supremo a la Anna Wintour, Ms. Streep shines as the acerbic bitter genius who will stop at nothing to get things done her way. It is one of her most joyous performances ever. 

THE HOURS (2002):  In Stephen Daldry’s deeply moving film of Michael Cunningham’s book, Ms. Streep plays Clarissa a partnered lesbian who is caring for Richard, her best friend and ex lover, who is dying from the ravages of AIDS.  After watching her performance in this great ensemble movie, there is not a single dry eye in the house.

THE IRON LADY (2011): Even though the critics were split over this controversial biopic, they did all at least agree that in portraying Margaret Thatcher. Ms. Streep had nailed the character of the late British PM so spot on.  It was a riveting performance that snared her yet another Oscar.

WILL THERE BE A LUCKY LESBIAN AT THE OSCARS THIS YEAR?

This Fall sees not one, but three new major independent movies with Lesbian plots being released, and social media is all abuzz that an actress may finally get an illusive ‘Best Actress Oscar’ for going gay. Two of the  movies star two actresses who have already collected their gold Statutes for playing straight, and another two actresses who have already been nominated too, so we are talking Hollywood ‘A’ List, which should guarantee some excellent qualifying performances.

Lionsgate Films caused quite a stir this week when they released the first trailer for ‘FREEHELD’. It is based on the true story of a lesbian couple, Laurel Hester and Stacie Andree who fought for domestic partner rights for same-sex couples a decade ago, helping to pave the way today. After Hester, a police officer in Ocean County New Jersey, was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer in 2005, she repeatedly appealed to the County Board to ensure her pension benefits could be passed on to Andree.  

The movie stars last year's Oscar Winner Julianne Moore who has previous played part of a lesbian couple with Annette Benning in 'The Kids Are Alright.’ Benning was nominated for an Oscar and also for a Golden Globe along with Moore, whom she pipped at the post to win. 

In ‘Freeheld’, Moore’s co-star is Oscar Nominated (and out proud lesbian) Ellen Page.  The movie, adapted from Cynthia Wade's 2007 Oscar Winning Short Documentary, is being directed by Peter Sollett from a script written by Roy Nyswaner (Oscar nominated writer for ’Philadelphia’). 

In May the talk at the Cannes Film Festival was all about Todd Haynes’s wonderful new movie ‘CAROL’ starring two-time Oscar Winner Cate Blanchett and Oscar Nominee Rooney Mara as a 1950’s controversial lesbian couple. In a story based on Patricia Highsmith’s ahead-of-its-time novel ‘The Price of Salt’, the women defy all of society’s conventions in this very deep and profound love story. Its premiere was met with a great deal of excitement and rave reviews with both actresses tipped to win the Cannes Best Actress Award, with Rooney finally snatching the trophy in the end. In Press interviews to promote the movie, Blanchett admitted that she had affairs with both women and men in the past which added a whole new frisson to our expectations.

We can see from the trailer that like so much of Haynes's other work (‘Far From Heaven’, Velvet Goldmine’ and the remake of 'Mildred Pierce') that ‘Carol’ is highly visually stunning too, but we will have to wait until this Christmas 2015 to see it for ourselves.  This is however not the first time that openly-gay Haynes has worked with Blanchett, as in his movie on Bob Dylan’s life ‘I’m Not There’ she played a non-specific gender version of the singer, which gained her yet another Oscar Nomination.

In 2007 Blanchett collected her third Oscar nomination for ‘Notes On A Scandal’ in which she played a straight schoolteacher who was being stalked by a closeted lesbian who had designs on her, in another Oscar nominated performance by Judi Dench.  Neither women won.

The final new movie of this trio, and the first one to be released is 'JENNY’S WEDDING', and is by far the weakest.  It stars Golden Globe Nominee Katherine Heigl playing a closeted lesbian who has to come out to her conservative family.  The movie has been playing the Film Festival circuit this summer and has been garnering indifferent reviews for both the movie, and Heigl in particular.  Some even went as far to note that they thought she was playing ‘gay’ to try and revive her flagging career which is in the doldrums since her last few movies have bombed. From all accounts we shouldn’t expect to see her at any Award Ceremonies this year, let alone at the Oscars.

The Academy Awards has a very lame history for honoring both out-gay actors and heterosexual ones who play ‘gay for pay’.  Their record to date can be best described as ‘spotty’, but after some flagrant refusals to give some the Awards that were truly deserved, (think Ian MacKellan in ‘Gods & Monsters’ or Felicity Huffman in ‘Transamerica’ or denying 'Brokeback Mountain' the Best Picture Award, which was so rightly theirs) one has to think it reeks of blatant homophobia.  There are at least a handful of notable exceptions for straight men like Sean Penn for playing Harvey Milk, Phillip Seymour Hoffman as Capote, and William Hurt for his role as Luis Molina in 'Kiss Of The Spider Woman', but even so there is no openly gay actor in Oscar’s history who has ever won.  (Technically there is actually now one, as Joel Grey ‘came out’ decades after he had won for 'Cabaret'.)

When it comes to gay women, or those playing gay, then the Academy's score is pathetic.  Right back to 1961 when William Wyler’s classic cult movie version of Lillian Hellman’s play 'THE LITTLE CHILDREN' about two lesbian schoolteachers picked up an unprecedented 5 Oscar Nominations for categories such as Best Costume Design and Best Sound, and even one for young Fay Bainter who played a precious child, but nothing at all for its amazing Audrey Hepburn and Shirley MacLaine. So far we’ve had Hilary Swank collecting her first Oscar for playing transgendered Brando Teena in 'BOYS DON’T CRY', and Jodie Foster who collected both of her Best Actress Oscars before she came out of the closet.  

We have had more out-lesbians M.C.'ing the Oscars than actually winning Awards and it's way past time that the Academy changed all that.  We will probably still have to wait some time for that to happen, but so far it at least it looks very much like when it comes to playing a lesbian on the silver screen, then this could finally be the lucky year for at least one actress. Maybe even two.