[New] deep inside hollywood

BY ROMEO SAN VICENTE

Hurricane Bianca whips up a third storm

If you’ve been following drag artist Bianca Del Rio’s “Hurricane Bianca” film franchise — and you are or you’re not living well — you’ll be happy to learn that another one is on the way. On the heels of “Hurricane Bianca” and “Hurricane Bianca: From Russia with Hate” comes “Hurricane Bianca: The Roots of All Evil,” due to shoot in early 2023. Written and directed by “Hurricane” vet Matt Kugelman, the story will follow Bianca as she drives her homophobic-fast-food-chain-owning mother out of business (and we assume chicken sandwiches are somehow involved).

Casting is still underway but so far the supporting team includes Willam Belli (“A Star is Born”), Rachel Dratch (“Wine Country”) and fellow drag superstar Vanessa Vanjie Mateo. We know that the answer to drag queen haters is more drag queens, and if it also involves a “Dynasty”-style family feud, that’s even better. Look forward to this one sometime later in the year.

One to Watch: ‘Willow’ star Erin Kellyman

Queer actor Erin Kellyman plays Jade, the knight-in-training on the Disney+ fantasy series “Willow,” where she’s been given a will-they-or-won’t-they lesbian storyline (answer: yeah, they will). Now the up-andcomer is co-starring in the latest film from acclaimed director Steve McQueen. It’s called “Blitz,” it’s a World War II drama, and that’s that on plot details so far. But Kellyman joins a solid cast: Saoirse Ronan (“Little Women”), Stephen Graham (“The Irishman”), Harris Dickinson (“Triangle of Sadness”), Kathy Burke (“Absolutely Fabulous”) and UK music legend Paul Weller, known for his bands The Jam and The Style Council. Shooting is underway so keep this one — and Kellyman (there can never be enough queers in the cinema) — on your radar for later in the year.

Will 2023

Be The Year

Dies Dreaming’?

Xochitl Gonzalez’s debut novel, “Olga Dies Dreaming,” was a literary highlight of 2022, and before it was even published, back in 2021, Hulu ordered a series based on the book. Of course, these things take time and so we wait patiently for the Aubrey Plaza-starring project to come to that streaming platform. It’s the story of Olga (Plaza) and Prieto (Ramon Rodriguez, “The One and Only Ivan”), two Puerto Rican siblings in Brooklyn who face family challenges and difficult truths about their past, set during the days just before 2017’s Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico. And the supporting cast — Jesse Williams, Daphne Rubin-Vega and Liza Colon-Zayas (“The Bear”) — packs a punch. We follow Aubrey Plaza anywhere she goes (especially if we get a sequel to “Happiest Season” where she and Kristen Stewart finally get together) but we’re especially enjoying her dramatic turns of late, so this one is at the top of our watch list.

Mark your queer movie calendar for ‘Knock at the Cabin’

This one went a little under the radar, and that’s to be expected from M. Night Shy- amalan, whose twist-filled movies reward going in fresh, but his latest, “Knock at The Cabin,” is among 2023’s first queerthemed film releases, and worth noting. Based on Paul Tremblay’s 2018 horror novel, “The Cabin at the End of the World,” it stars gay actors Jonathan Groff and Ben Aldridge (“Spoiler Alert”) as a couple who rent a secluded cabin in the woods with their young daughter (Kristen Cui). And if you’ve ever seen a movie about anyone in a cabin the woods, you know what’s in store. Of course, since this a Shyamalan film, you also might not. Strangers arrive, among them Dave Bautista (“Glass Onion”) and Harry Potter alum Rupert Grint, who hold the family hostage for a very strange reason, forcing them to fight back. Once you’ve caught up on “Tar” and the other queer-themed Oscar hopefuls, you can satisfy your scary movie needs when this opens in early February. Q

Romeo San Vicente knows his “Evil Dead” lore enough to always book a hotel.

Gay stuff at the Golden Globes

BY CRAIG OGAN

The 80th annual Golden Globe Awards included some very queer moments. Starting with the host, breakout gay comedian JERROD CARMICHAEL . Many of the people and programs featured and honored fit the queer bill, too. Big winners included LGBTQ-inclusive films and shows like “The White Lotus,” “Everything Everywhere All at Once” and “Tár.” Also honored were gay TV writer, producer, and director Ryan Murphy — creator of “Glee,” “Pose,” and the “American Horror Story” series.

JERROD CARMICHAEL apologized to “White Lotus” star Jennifer Coolidge, “on behalf of all the gays.” He was referring to her character’s mistreatment on the show at the hands of a “group of evil ‘high-end” gays with mafia ties.”

MICHELLE YEOH, accepting the “Best Actress in a musical or comedy,” gives a shoutout to Jamie Lee Curtis. She exclaimed that Curtis was her “hot dog lover,” a reference to their characters’ hot-dog-like fingers in the film.

Actor and singer ZENDAYA won a Golden Globe for her role as troubled queer teen Rue Bennett in “Euphoria.”

BILLY PORTER , in a fierce fuchsia tuxedo gown, introduced winner RYAN MURPHY with a passionate speech about making a gay place for himself in the entertainment business. “In the early aughts, when my Black gay ass decided to come out to Hollywood and try my luck at this film and television thing for the first time, I discovered on Day One that Hollywood wasn’t having all this Black boy joy yet,” said Porter. He found acceptance and has been in several of Murphy’s gay-friendly productions.

Murphy received the Carol Burnett Award for Achievement in Television. His acceptance speech was dedicated to and aimed at LGBT actors and productions with whom he’s worked. He said he did that “to make a point of hope and progress.” He recounted that, as a youngster watching television in the 1970s, “I never, ever saw a person like me getting an award or even being a character on a TV show.” Wags said he must have missed all of Bob Cumming’s tv career, any of Merv Griffin and his guests, and the many appearances of Tony Randall.

Barbara Poma Founder, onePULSE Foundation