The MPPA Gives Another "Instant R" To A Film With Gay Leads

Today my friend and colleague Ira Sach's film LOVE IS STRANGE opens in New York and LA. This festival favorite, which has received some amazing reviews (and awards buzz too!), is about a mature gay couple played by John Lithgow and Alfred Molina. Yet, once again, the MPAA slapped an "instant R" on the film due to the fact that the lead characters are gay. Earlier this year, it happened with another friend of mine's movie G.B.F., which had no explicit sex or nudity but also centered its story on a character who happened to be gay.  

Predictably, there has been yet another outcry over this persistent problem, both on Slate and other entertainment sites. There's also a great essay on NJ.com where the critic Stephen Whitty sizes Ira's film up against other offerings this weekend that are also rated R, like Frank Miller's SIN CITY sequel and JERSEY SHORE MASSACRE(!). Both feature a lot of nudity and explicit gun violence and somehow they have the exact same rating as a story about a gay couple and their families?! The MPAA is truly getting absurd with this sort of classification that equates the simple fact of homosexuality as shocking as the violent and sexually exploitative material of these two unabashed B-movies. 

With gay marriage becoming more common and now legal in a third of the United States, I think it's safe to say that the general public would not find this sort of story that shocking. Even more ironic is the fact that those under 17, who recent polls and studies show have a greater understanding and acceptance when it comes to LGBT issues, are actually banned from seeing the film due to it's restrictive rating. So the question is when will the ratings board stop this sort of institutional inequality when it comes to films with gay content and characters? Hopefully soon as they seem more and more out of touch with the reality of American audiences today.

Ira Sach's Film KEEP THE LIGHTS ON In Theaters This Weekend

I've posted here before about my friend Ira Sach's latest feature KEEP THE LIGHTS ON.  It had its New York debut at the Tribeca Film Festival earlier this year after screenings at Sundance and Berlin. Now the film is out in theaters this weekend and I urge you to check it out. It is one of the best American features of the year. And that's not just me talking....the New York TIMES agrees as well.

It's a love story between two men told over the course of 10 years.  It's intimate and intense and a deeply personal story as well.  And it's also revealing about the nature of intimacy and what happens when that gets tangled with addiction. Finally, it's a story about life in New York and, with its beautifully realistic look, has the feeling of a sharply witnessed documentary at times.

It's opening this weekend in NYC and LA so please check it out. And it will be at other theaters in major cities across the U.S. later this fall. Here's the trailer below to give you a taste of the film...

Is WTC VIEW A True Story? Here's My Answer...

Since our first performance back in 2003, people have been asking me if WTC VIEW, my play about life in NYC after 9/11, is a true story.  I was recently asked to write an essay for my friend Ira Sach's website about "Art & Autobiography" on this topic.  Ira put together this website over the summer as part of the promotion for his own autobiographical film, KEEP THE LIGHTS ON, which is currently in post-production.

I have always found it interesting how people are fascinated by whether or not a work of fiction is true or not.  So I was eager to write about this topic, especially in relation to WTC VIEW.  This was a play (and then film) I wrote about a guy who places a roommate ad on the night before 9/11 looking for a roommate in lower Manhattan.  On 9/10/01, I placed a roommat ad for my apartment on the VILLAGE VOICE website and this was the starting point for this work.  But is the story autobiographical?  Not in the way that people would expect.

So please check out my article on "Art & Autobiography", which posted today. Also, take a look around the rest of the site as well.  Ira has put together some amazing writers and historical pieces about gay life in New York City, all of which are worth reading.

Outside The Stonewall Inn When Marriage Equality Passed

My friend and fellow filmmaker Ira Sachs is currently directing a new movie called KEEP THE LIGHTS ON, about a gay romance that goes awry through drugs and addiction in the mid-1990's. He's also started a website to chronicle the process of the production of the film, which will also be featuring shorts and posts about gay life in NYC, past and present.

Yesterday, he posted some footage that was shot outside the Stonewall Inn the night that marriage equality passed in New York State.  There were hundreds of revelers outside the Stonewall where more than 40 years ago the modern gay civil rights movement was born.  This historic short was shot by Onur Karoaglu and beautifully captures the emotions of that evening.


KTLO Gay Marriage Video from keep the lights on on Vimeo.

A Tribute To Artists Lost To AIDS

My friend and fellow filmmaker Ira Sachs made a short film called LAST ADDRESS that premiered at Sundance earlier this year.  The film shows the exteriors of the buildings where gay downtown artists like Keith Haring, Robert Mapplethorpe and David Wojnarowicz lived and often worked before they succumbed to AIDS. Ira's 8-minute short serves as a beautiful elegy to these New York artists and the unique time in which they lived.  


This week, a companion website went up online with more information about these extraordinary men.  I encourage you to check it out; you can watch Ira's film below and you can visit the website here.  All in all, the LAST ADDRESS project serves as a lovely tribute to an amazing group of artists who may be gone but whose work will not soon be forgotten.