Gay guide to THE OSCARS.Which contenders merit gay and lesbian accolades? Pickings may seem slim, but The Advocate's fifth annual survey of the Academy Award nominees teases out all those queer connections Break out the togas, whip up some cuba libres, and mark your calendar for March 25, when ABC ABC in full American Broadcasting Co. Major U.S. television network. It began when the expanding national radio network NBC split into the separate Red and Blue networks in 1928. presents the 73rd Annual Academy Awards. Just because many of our favorite gay and lesbian films from 2000 are nowhere to be found (no original screenplay nod for Chuck & Buck? No documentary nomination for Paragraph 175? No Best Turkey Baster baste 1 tr.v. bast·ed, bast·ing, bastes To sew loosely with large running stitches so as to hold together temporarily. mention for What's Cooking? Nothing for Urbania?) doesn't mean we have no stake in the proceedings--but we'll be getting to Shadow of the Vampire momentarily. (1) BILLY ELLIOT Why it's here: Eleven-year-old Billy Elliot, an English coal miner's son with a pair of irrepressibly dancing feet, charmed the Academy into nominating Stephen Daldry (its first-time director), cited Lee Hall's script in the original screenplay category, and rewarded Julie Walters's chainsmoking ballet mistress with a Best Supporting Actress slot. Why we care: Openly gay theater director Daldry sets our toes to tapping as Billy, played winningly by an exuberant Jamie Bell, dances through the streets of Durham in northern England like a pint-size Gene Kelly. A movie that embraces the outsider in all of us--Billy, whose eventual sexual orientation sexual orientation n. The direction of one's sexual interest toward members of the same, opposite, or both sexes, especially a direction seen to be dictated by physiologic rather than sociologic forces. is left refreshingly open-ended, isn't at all fazed faze tr.v. fazed, faz·ing, faz·es To disrupt the composure of; disconcert. See Synonyms at embarrass. [Middle English fesen, to drive away, frighten when his gay best friend, Michael (Stuart Wells), plants an affectionate kiss on him--it reminds us that even an awkward duckling duckling baby duck. can grow up to be a swan king. (2) BEFORE NIGHT FALLS Before Night Falls (ISBN 1-852-42808-2) is the 1992 autobiography of gay Cuban writer Reinaldo Arenas, describing his life in Cuba, his time in prison, and his ultimate escape to the United States. Why it's here: Painter Julian Schnabel's impressionistic im·pres·sion·is·tic adj. 1. Of, relating to, or practicing impressionism. 2. Of, relating to, or predicated on impression as opposed to reason or fact: impressionistic memories of early childhood. biostudy of persecuted gay Cuban poet and novelist Reinaldo Arenas vaulted Spanish actor Javier Bardem into the select company of fellow Best Actor nominees Russell Crowe, Tom Hanks, Ed Harris, and Geoffrey Rush. Why we care: Bardem appeared in Pedro Almodovar's High Heels and Live Flesh, and he tested his lavender wings in the 1999 Spanish film Second Skin. In Before Night Falls he gives a full-blooded performance--sensual, impassioned, and heartbreaking--as the tragic Arenas, who is forced to abandon his country to be true to both his sexuality and his talent. And Johnny Depp's brief turn as the transvestite trans·ves·tite n. One who practices transvestism. transvestite Sexology A person with a compulsion to dress as a member of the other sex, which may be essential to maintaining an erection and achieving orgasm. See Transsexual. smuggler Bon Bon is an added hoot. (3) WONDER BOYS Why it's here: Writer Steve Kloves (who has since gone on to tackle the upcoming Harry Potter feature) won a Best Adapted Screenplay nomination for penning the film version of Michael Chabon's novel, a shaggily eccentric study of a university professor (Michael Douglas) whose life is seriously unraveling. Why we care: Robert Downey Jr. as Douglas's gay book editor, Terry Crabtree, crashes the pot-fueled party with transvestite Miss Sloviak (Michael Cavadias) in tow and treats Tobey Maguire's questioning student to some extra credit under the sheets. LONG NIGHT'S JOURNEY INTO DAY Why it's here: Frances Reid and Deborah Hoffmann's wrenching examination of South Africa's attempts to heal the wounds of apartheid earned them a Best Documentary Feature nomination. Why we care: The filmmakers and life partners learned their craft on such groundbreaking gay and lesbian documentaries as the Oscar-winning The Times of Harvey Milk (on which they both worked) and the Oscar-nominated autobiographical Complaints of a Dutiful du·ti·ful adj. 1. Careful to fulfill obligations. 2. Expressing or filled with a sense of obligation. du Daughter (which Hoffmann directed and Reid photographed). (4) GLADIATOR gladiator (Latin; swordsman) Professional combatant in ancient Rome who engaged in fights to the death as sport. Gladiators originally performed at Etruscan funerals, the intent being to give the dead man armed attendants in the next world. Why it's here: The movie to beat for the Best Picture thumbs-up, director Ridley Scott's Roman holiday racked up a commanding 12 nominations, in just about every category available. Why we care: We confess--we're a sucker for sweaty guys in togas. And while Best Supporting Actor nominee Joaquin Phoenix's evil emperor Commodus may have incestuous in·ces·tu·ous adj. 1. Of, involving, or suggestive of incest. 2. Having committed incest. eyes for his sister, Lucilla (Connie Nielsen), the haute grandeur with which he stomps around his decadently decorated digs simply screams "evil queen." (5) ERIN BROCKOVICH Why it's here: Best Actress front-runner Julia Roberts, playing a social reformer whose fashion sense rivals any drag queen's, led its list of five nominations. Why we care: In several scenes Roberts shares the screen with the always compelling out actress Cherry Jones, playing one of the long-suffering townspeople whose righteous cause Erin champions. (6) TRAFFIC Why it's here: The critics' fave-rave among the Best Picture nominees, Steven Soderbergh's triptych view of the war on drugs scored five nominations. Why we care: Best Supporting Actor nominee Benicio Del Toro plumbs the lower depths, including a seedy gay bar where he entraps dangerous Mexican assassin Francisco Flores (Clifton Collins Jr.) with mere steamy eye contact, and out actor Corey Spears pops up as one of the pill-popping preppies who lead Michael Douglas's daughter to perdition. (His character is listed in the credits as "Fucked Up Bowman.") CHOCOLAT Why it's here: Because the Miramax Oscar machine force-fed Lasse a. & adv. 1. Less. Hallstrom's treacly fantasy to the Academy, it squeezed out five nominations, including one for Best Picture. Why we care: We don't. A sugar-coated fable about repression melting in the hand of the pleasure principle is old hat, and Chocolat stole the Best Picture slot that rightfully should have gone to Billy Elliot. QUILLS Why it's here: Geoffrey Rush's madcap turn as the imprisoned im·pris·on tr.v. im·pris·oned, im·pris·on·ing, im·pris·ons To put in or as if in prison; confine. [Middle English emprisonen, from Old French emprisoner : en- Marquis de Sade--grandly thumbing his nose at the censors of sexual deviance--earned the pic one of its three nominations. Why we care: Tough break for gay screenwriter Doug Wright, whose adaptation of his own play didn't make the cut for an adapted screenplay nom, since without Wright's words, Rush would have had nothing to chew on but the scenery. (7) CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Traditional Chinese: 臥虎藏龍; Simplified Chinese: 卧虎藏龙; Pinyin: Why it's here: Its Mandarin subtitles proved no barrier to entry as director Ang Lee's transcendent martial arts movie soared to a resounding re·sound v. re·sound·ed, re·sound·ing, re·sounds v.intr. 1. To be filled with sound; reverberate: The schoolyard resounded with the laughter of children. 2. 10 nominations, including Best Picture and Best Foreign Language Film. Why we care: Ever since his gay marital comedy, 1993's The Wedding Banquet, Lee has refused to acknowledge the boundaries of gender, sexuality, or ethnicity. And even though an unrequited hetero hetero prefix, Latin, different love story is burning bright in Tiger, its three battling women warriors--Michelle Yeoh, Ziyi Zhang, and Pei-pei Cheng as the memorably named Jade Fox--form a mighty menage a trois ménage à trois n. A relationship in which three people, such as a married couple and a lover, live together and have sexual relations. [French : ménage, household + à, for that hints at subterranean lesbian longings. (8) SHADOW OF THE VAMPIRE Why it's here: Supporting actor Willem Dafoe and his long-in-the-tooth makeup both earned nominations for bringing to life a real-live Nosferatu. Why we care: German Nosferatu director F.W. Murnau (played on-screen by John Malkovich) was an even more colorful figure than the film suggests: The circumstances surrounding the gay director's death in a 1931 car crash--let's just say he and his Filipino valet didn't keep their eyes on the road--provide one of the most enduring bits of underground Hollywood lore. POLLOCK Why it's here: As artist Jackson Pollock and his long-suffering wife, Lee Krasner, Ed Harris and Marcia Gay Harden Marcia Gay Harden (born August 14, 1959) is an Academy Award-winning American actress. Biography Early life Harden, one of five children, was born in La Jolla, California, daughter of Beverly (née Bushfield), a housewife, and Thaddeus Harold Harden, a Texas took home his-and-hers acting nominations. Why we care: The battling Pollocks travel in a bohemian circle that includes at least one gay couple, Alfonso Ossorio (Eduardo Machado) and Ted Dragon (Moss Roberts), as well as flamboyant philanthropist Peggy Guggenheim (Amy Madigan), who plays it like a real-life Auntie Mame. Kilday is also a regular contributor to Premiere and Variety. |
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