} potato

DID YOU KNOW?

Anne Rice famously considered rewriting the gay character Louis de Pointe du Lac as a woman in the screenplay of Interview With the Vampire, fearing that America’s ingrained homophobia at the time would stop the film from being made.

INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE (2023)

AN EPIC TALE OF GAY LOVE AND IMMORTALITY

ABC IVIEW

An update of (or corrective to) Neil Jordan’s 1994 film adaptation of the Anne Rice novel (which famously starred Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise), this series version sees Louis de Pointe du Lac (Jacob Anderson, Game of Thrones) reach out to a journalist to retell the story of his life as a vampire, a life shared with his creator Lestat de Lioncourt (Sam Reid, The Newsreader); Anderson’s Louis gleefully sinks his teeth into the scenery. A major, welcoming difference in this adaptation is the homoeroticism of the novel (all but absent from the film) is very much present here: Spoiler: they f*ck!

THE WOMAN KING HAIL ALL TO FEMALE WARRIOR POWER!

BINGE & PRIME

Set during the 1820s, Gina Prince-Bythewood’s historical drama takes place in the Kingdom of Dahomey, a powerful African state, and focuses on the Agojie, the all-female unit of warriors who defend the kingdom. The Agojie are led by General Nanisca (Viola Davis) whose leadership begins to falter with the arrival of new trainee Nawi (Thuso Mbedu), as well as the kingdom’s growing political dilemma over whether to continue its slave trade. While the Academy may have overlooked the film for Oscars last year, The Woman King is a rousing historical drama well worth your time.

The Other Two A Campy Satire About Celebrity And Fame Binge

It’s been a long time between drinks for local fans of this comedy series which now, in its third season, seems to have finally found a home on Australian streaming. For the uninitiated, the titular two are Cary (Drew Tarver) and Brooke (Heléne York), siblings who find their own struggles for entertainment careers in New York City waylaid when, first, their kid brother becomes a viral music sensation, and then their mum (Molly Shannon) becomes a celeb as a TV chat show host. All three seasons are now available, so you can follow Cary and Brooke’s ups and downs, professional and romantic, as the show takes hilarious pot shots at celebrity culture.

THE WHALE A STORY OF REDEMPTION, LOSS AND TRAUMA STAN

Throughout the 1990s, many a gay teenage boy had a crush on Hollywood heartthrob Brendan Fraser; the George of the Jungle VHS getting a solid workout. But after the success of The Mummy franchise, Fraser’s career waned. However, 2022 was the comeback year for Fraser, culminating in his Best Actor Oscar win for The Whale; Darren Aronofsky’s tale of a morbidly obese gay man who hopes to reconnect with his adolescent daughter (Sadie Sink) before it’s too late. Hong Chau (The Menu) also received an Oscar nomination for the film that audiences seem to either find highly emotional or emotionally manipulative.