SATURDAY SPECIAL: Eliot Glazer's Speedwalking Video

Oh remember the 80's. Remember instructional videos. Remember speedwalking. This is a comic short from Eliot Glazer on Broadway Video's (SNL's production company) YouTube channel. Hilarious!

Feature Film AUGUST Now Available Online At Wolfe Video

The feature film AUGUST, that I co-wrote with Eldar Rappaport and helped produce, is now available online at Wolfe Video's website. AUGUST is the story of two ex-boyfriends who meet again a few years later and complications ensue. Set during a heatwave in L.A., the film is sexy and real and has been compared to another festival favorite--the British indie WEEKEND.

Anyway, you can now rent the film there directly or purchase it as a digital download with extra features include a behind-the scenes featurette. A special online bonus is that if you want to share the link, you can earn a 10% commission for referring it to others on Facebook or Twitter. Details are at the linnk above. And, of course, if you want to kick it old school, you can purchase the DVD on Wolfe's site or Amazon.com.

Mani Te'o Got CATFISH-ed, Or Was It A Gay Cover-Up

Queerty and Out Sports today are reporting that there may be more to the tragic Mani Te'o fake girlfriend story than just a hoax.  After Deadspin.com shocked the sports world and broke the incredible story yesterday, Te'o and Notre Dame released statements saying the whole thing is a terrible hoax that has been played on Te'o.  It's eerily reminiscent of CATFISH, the indie doc  where a young New Yorker is taken in by a Facebook friend's web of lies and falls for a person who does not exist.  When he meets her, though, the ruse is up.  When Te'o met his love at a football game in 2009, according to his story, the ruse was just beginning. So something seems a little off here...

Out Sports claims that the Twitter account of Teo's fake girlfriend was run by a good friend of his, Roniah Tulasosopo (a fellow football player and devout Mormon). The allegation is that this was all some sort of cover for a possible affair between the two men. That seems possible if not entirely plausible (especially over the last six months when he's been living in the spotlight). But the idea of creating a tragic girlfriend story would certainly give Te'o the advantage of looking straight while actually not being straight. All this sounds much fishier than CATFISH though. And as details come out as part of an investigation into the whole thing, we'll know more. It's disappointing though to see yet another inspirational sportsman caught up in a story of deceit.

A Write-In Campaign For Ben Affleck? It's Happened Before

After winning the Golden Globe for Best Director on ARGO, Ben Affleck's absence from the Oscar nominations list is proving even more baffling in H'wood. I was talking with a friend during the Globes and we joked that maybe he could mount a write-in campaign. Today there is a think piece in the Hollywood Reporter on just that idea and how that could be possible, if highly improbable.

The big shock to me was that it's possible at all and, actually, had been done two times before. There was a campaign for Bette Davis's performance in OF HUMAN BONDAGE which was unsuccessful as she came in third. Even more shocking is the fact they used to release the voting tally!  The second campaign was a cinematographer of MIDSUMMER NIGHTS DREAM, Hal Mohr, who actually won an Oscar based on his write-in effort.

However, since then, the Academy has banned write-in votes so it would involve a huge revision of Academy rules to make it happen. Also, the simple fact that voting is online for the first time this year makes a write-in on an electronic ballot kind of impossible. So Ben might have to settle with his Globe win and maybe hope to slay the ZERO DARK THIRTY & LINCOLN dragons for Best Picture.

Victor Garber Is Out And Has A Hot Boyfriend

So in the wake of Jodie Foster's sorta coming out, there are stories all over the Internets today that Victor Garber (who stars in awards-fave ARGO) is out.  Actually, his outing officially happened last week and was a bit more low key than Fosters with 20 million people watching.  Garber was asked by Greg Hernandez (of Greg in Hollywood) to confirm what Wikipedia said, that he lived with his partner of 14 years. Garber was surprised to be asked but said it was true and that it was sort of common knowledge.

It's true that in NYC theatre/film circles, it was common knowledge. But this was the first time Garber had spoken about it publicly. It's funny that these things should matter at all but the fact is they do.  If we can hear every single detail about straight couples breaking up and getting together (Hello Taylor Swift!) then why not some details about their gay counterparts, especially when they are in a committed relationship.  And when the boyfriend in question, Rainer Anderseen is super hot...well, that's just a bonus.

Jodie Foster In Her Greatest Role...Herself

Last night's Golden Globes featured an instantly legendary speech by Hollywood icon Jodie Foster as she received the Cecil B. DeMille lifetime achievement award. The speech, which brought the crowd to its feet even before it started, has been classified by some as her coming out speech. However it was so much more than that.  It was something like a loose monologue/sololiquy about her life in general and her unusual career in show business since the ripe young age of 3.

I just watched it again and the honesty and the eloquence of it are just so striking. And the emotions, unlike some acceptance speeches, completely unguarded. When she talks about her mother, who seems to be suffering from Alzheimers, it is such a intense moment and a beautiful sentiment, (made with a movie metaphor no-less) as she says "I Love You" three times in hopes that restorative magic may happen.

I first saw Jodie in a Disney movie FREAKY FRIDAY, when I was a youngster. I not only had the hugest crush on her....I wanted to be her. Now I see why. Her enormous talent is just the surface. With her heartfelt eloquence and deep emotion in receiving that award she showed that she is an incredible human being, and one with a rich sense of humor too.  She is not Honey-Boo-Boo, as she memorably noted. (That was the understatement of the night.) She is Jodie Foster and maybe the next 50 years will feature her reprising last night's role and simply playing herself. Who knows? Maybe that could be her greatest role.

GLEE's Chris Colfer Gets STRUCK BY LIGHTNING

My friend and fellow filmmaker Brian Dannelly (SAVE ME, WEEDS) has directed a new movie STRUCK BY LIGHTNING, which opens today in NYC and LA. Not only does the film star GLEE's gay breakout star Chris Colfer but the script was also written by Colfer as well. The film is a wickedly black comedy in which Colfer's character gets struck down (as they title says) in the opening shot and then reflects via flashback/voiceover about his final days at a small high school where he had big dreams of literary fame, which he tried to achieve via blackmail. Ah high school...

I got a chance to see the film via Apple TV (it was digitally released last month) and it's a smart, sassy comedy which is all the more remarkable for the fact that Colfer wrote the script when he was all of 21.  The film premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival here last spring and did the festival circuit last year to much acclaim. You can watch the movie's trailer below...and, if you like a good high school comedy (as I do!) you catch it in theaters this weekend! 

A Murderer Makes An Appearance On THE DATING GAME

The TIMES this week reported on the sentencing of a serial killer who'd murdered two women in New York City back in the late 1970s. Rodney James Alcala's hearing made the news because the judge sobbed openly during the proceedings over the brutal nature of the killings.  He had also killed a number of women and teen girls in California, for which he is serving multiple life sentences in that state.

The article mentioned a creepy fact that Alcala made an appearance on THE DATING GAME back in 1978, a year after the two unsolved NYC murders.  What's even more creepy is that he was the winning bachelor. The woman he went out with survived her date fortunately but must have totally flipped out when she realized years later who her TV suitor really was. Here's the clip on YouTube:

New Details On The New Season of SMASH

Out in Pasadena, the annual winter TV press tour is underway and yesterday SMASH got to have it's meet and greet with the critics.  The Hollywod Reporter has all the details but the major news is that the new season will feature a lot more music and a brand new musical too.  Jeremy Jordan, from the hit real Broadway show NEWSIES, has joined the cast and will be working on a show within the show called "The Hit List" while "Bombshell", the Marilyn musical from Season 1 will continue to develop.

There was also news that a full "cast recording" of the fictional "Bombshell" musical will be released mid-February with songs from both Season 1 and Season 2. The musical itself, however, is still fictional as it was confirmed last year that there is no book written and no current plans for an actual Bway show about Marilyn.  They haven't ruled it out but it seems unlikely that it will ever happen, given the history of Marilyn flopping on the Great White Way before.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to a new season of the show which many love to hate. I'll be honest--I just love it. A show about Broadway on network television? I mean seriously...what's not to like? :) Here's the trailer for Season 2--with some serious guest stars too. It all starts Feb 5th.

DOWNTON ABBEY And The Case Of The Missing Wedding

When Season 3 of DOWNTON ABBEY made it's premiere this week in the US, there was a good deal of rejoicing after having to wait a few months since the UK premiere last fall.  However, there was also some grumbling over something that seemed missing--that is Lady Mary and Cousin Matthew's actual wedding ceremony. After Mary got her quip off about being unpredictable (which was awesome and so Mary!) there was a clumsy dissolve the her and Matthew driving through the country on their way back from the honeymoon.

Well, the executive producer of the show responded to the fans outcry.  I mean this was the moment that the show has really been leading up to for 3 whole seasons afterall.  His full statement is on EW's website but essentially he said that showing the wedding would have been repetitive as people have seen countless wedding scenes in countless TV shows and movies. Yes, but in SOUND OF MUSIC they did not cut to a car returning from the honeymoon -- you get the whole royal wedding!  (Unless you happen to watch it on NBC).

Despite this misstep, the show did killer ratings for PBS and nearly 8 million people watched, more than double those who watched last years season opener.