Tom Hardy goes gay (again), Vergara and Stone get it on and Babs wants to be Momma Rose
Tom Hardy in ‘Warrior’
Tom Hardy as a gay rugby star? We buy it
It wasn’t bad news to hear that Mickey Rourke wanted to play Welsh gay rugby star Gareth Thomas in a new film about the athlete’s 2009 professional coming out process, but it was, at least, odd. After all, Rourke is in his late 50s and Thomas in his mid 30s — how would that work? Then came news that even Rourke wasn’t convinced he was up for the role’s physical demands.
Enter Tom Hardy, currently in talks to take on the part. Talk about easy casting. This is a man whose body is more than up to the challenge (see Warrior or Bronson for the proof) and whose chameleon-like abilities can see him dance around the edges of a film like Inception or practically into the woodwork in films like Tinker Tailor Solder Spy. And as for gay? He did that already too, slow-dancing with Gerard Butler in Rock-n-Rolla. Somebody teach this guy the finer points of rugby and get the cameras rolling.
Vergara in bed with Sharon Stone and …
Take one actress best known for an iconic lesbian role and another actress that lesbians simply wish would switch teams, put them both in a new film and what do you have? Sharon Stone and
Sofia Vergara in bed together in something called Fading Gigolo. And while you’re pretending that the title of the film isn’t inherently off-putting and that you’re just happy to hear about a lesbian component in a new comedy, here’s a bit of a twist in the fantasy good news: Their sex scene will also involve John Turturro, the writer and director of the project. They star in the
Hung-like film as a man forced into prostitution out of economic necessity. Look, don’t blame the messenger. And besides, it could be Woody Allen in that three-way instead of Turturro — The
Woodman co-stars in the film, as well. Count your blessings.
Gay-for-pay Adam Pally
Another happy ending for Adam Pally?
Adam Pally isn’t gay, he just plays one on TV as slovenly, irresponsible, no-rule-or-stereotype-abiding Max, on the hilarious, fast-paced sitcom Happy Endings. Max is unlike any gay character yet seen in primetime on a major network anyway. So it’s good news to see the likeable Pally taking on a film role, during the show’s summer hiatus, in A.C.O.D. (which stands for “Adult Children of Divorce”). The comedy also stars Amy Poehler, Adam Scott, Jane Lynch, Jessica Alba and Catherine O’Hara. Weirdly enough, while Poehler and Scott play romantic partners on Parks and Recreation, here Poehler will be Scott’s stepmother, the third wife of his older father. No word on what Pally’s character gets up to, but he’s showed a very specific kind of range on the other TV projects, notably as the “Young Hollywood Douchebag” on Californication. Here’s to future typecasting.
Barbra and Downton Abbey creator takes on Gypsy
The sharp-tongued Dowager Countess might look askance, eyebrows at full arch, at a man who actually works for a living, but the man who invented her, Oscar-winning writer and Downton Abbey imagineer Julian Fellowes, can’t seem to stop. Not only is season 3 of the hit Brit period soap already shooting, but now Fellowes has been hired by Universal to take a pass at the screenplay for their upcoming adaptation of Gypsy. Barbra Streisand and Joel Silver are producing the feature based on the Jule Styne-Stephen Sondheim-Arthur Laurents Tony Award-winning musical. For the young people out there, it’s the story of famed burlesque dancer Gypsy Rose Lee and her relationship with her mother, Momma Rose, which already hit theaters in 1962 with Natalie Wood and Rosalind Russell. As producer, it’s Streisand’s prerogative to play Rose. And that’s just what she’s doing. Get ready, gays.
— Romeo San Vicente
This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition April 13, 2012.