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Meet Buddy G and his two moms
Two moms who split time between Austin and Omaha, Neb., are launching a straight-to-DVD cartoon that reflects their own life together as parents of a young boy.
“Buddy G My Two Moms and Me” is about a 5-year-old with two moms who loves science and uses a computer strapped to his arm to solve problems.
Executive producer Margaux Towne-Colley said Wednesday, Nov. 28, that the DVDs are “selling like hot cakes.” She said most reaction to the $10 DVD has been positive so far, although she does expect some negatives: “There’s people out there who would like to pretend families like ours don’t exist, but we do.”
Towne-Colley and her partner Donna Colley’s animation studio, 3D Magic Factory, is in Austin.
The first episode of “Buddy G” talks about the value of being truthful, along with a few facts about how metal detectors work. Future episodes were to include other families, including ones with two dads.
Katherine Heigl speaks “‘The Ugly Truth’
“Ugly” isn’t a word that describes Emmy-winning “Grey’s Anatomy” and “Knocked Up” star Katherine Heigl, but T.R. Knight’s BFF is about to go before the cameras for gay director Robert Luketic in a romantic comedy called “The Ugly Truth.”
The story centers on successful TV producer Heigl hiring one of those harsh, tell-it-like-it-is relationship advice professionals for her show.
His brash style conflicts with her views on the world, naturally, until she begins to find that his “ugly truth” style of dating tips really do help her find the guy she’s always wanted.
In other words, another film to confirm that straight people really are an odd bunch, made all the more subversive one hopes by having a gay director at the controls.
No word on a male lead yet, but a start date of April 15 is set, so audiences will probably see how ugly it all gets sometime in early 2009.
Rogen and Banks join Kevin Smith’s “‘Porno’
Kevin Smith loves the gays, and we love him right back.
The “Clerks” and “Chasing Amy” writer-director always includes queer elements in his literately raunchy comedies, and he even graced the cover of gay lifestyle magazine “A Bear’s Life.” So there’s bound to be some same-sex action included in his upcoming “Zack and Miri Make a Porno.”
We’ve mentioned this film before, but now some recasting of the leads (Rosario Dawson was Smith’s muse on this at first) is on deck: Seth Rogen and Elizabeth Banks (he of “Knocked Up,” she of “Fred Claus,” both of “The 40-Year-Old Virgin”) will play the title characters, a platonic pair of best friends who enter the world of amateur porn to help pay the bills. But will the experience make them discover they’re not so platonic? Find out when “Zack and Miri” opens in 2008.
Guinevere Turner TV project gets a “‘Go’
If we ran Hollywood, our first official act even before paying writers what they’re worth would be to give writer-actress Guinevere Turner (“Go Fish,” “The Notorious Bettie Page,” “American Psycho”) all the work she can handle.
So it’s exciting to hear that Turner will be putting on her actress cap again for “Don’t Go,” an upcoming TV pilot about the lives and loves of the residents of an L.A. fourplex that sounds like “Melrose Place” meets “The L Word.”
The racially mixed cast includes several African-American up-and-coming actors as well as South Asian “Chutney Popcorn” star Nisha Ganatra, so it sounds more like the real L.A. than the TV version we so often get.
Van Sant, Campion, Penn all have “‘8’
When directors aren’t busy dealing with the stress of helming a feature-length film, sometimes they like to unwind by popping off a little short film.
Witness this year’s art-house hit “Paris, Je t’aime” for the proof on that. And now, a less winsome, more activist-minded anthology film is in the works, titled simply “8.”
The project involves eight directors focusing on various international crises, including hunger, poverty, education, child mortality and the shortage of adequate drinking water in developing nations.
Gay director Gus Van Sant, acclaimed filmmaker Jane Campion (“The Piano”), Oscar-winning actor and sometimes director Sean Penn, and controversial French director Gaspar Noe (“Irreversible”) will all participate, with Noe tackling AIDS in a short called “SIDA.”
It might not sound like a lot of laughs, but with these directors on board, you know it’s going to be compelling viewing. Look for “8” in art-houses sometime in 2008.
This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition November 30, 2007.