Deep Inside Hollywood

BY ROMEO SAN VICENTE

Sundance : ‘I Saw The TV Glow’ unnerves audiences

“I Saw the TV Glow,” coming soon from A24, is the year’s first volley of queer weirdness from innovative filmmaker Jane Schoenbrun. After her first feature, “We’re All Going to The World’s Fair,” achieved critical love and Gen Z queer adulation, the trans filmmaker’s sophomore effort seemed poised to breakout, and it looks like that’s what’s about to happen. A hit at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, starring Justice Smith (“Jurassic World Dominion”) and Bridgett Lundy-Paine (“Atypical”), it’s the story of two teenagers bonding and obsessing over fandom of a TV show — one steeped in “Twin Peaks” oddness and “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” references — and how it transforms their identities. Part ambient horror, part metaphorical trans narrative, and fully mesmerizing, “TV Glow” is already on track to become a cult favorite and touchstone of the next wave of queer filmmaking. Look for A24 to drop it into theaters sometime this year.

Kevin Williamson returns to ‘Rear Window’

Kevin Williamson, the queer creator behind the “Scream” and “I Know What You Did Last Summer” franchises, has just signed a multi-project development deal with Universal Television. Among the series in the pipeline are an adaptation of the Ruth Ware novel, “The It Girl”; a version of David Fincher’s film, “The Game”; an original project called “The Waterfront,” and, perhaps most excitingly, a reboot/reimagining of the Alfred Hitchcock classic, “Rear Window.” One of the most beloved thrillers in film history, it’s the story of a man who, in the process of observing the neighbors in his apartment building, witnesses actions that make him think a murder has occurred. The 1954 film starred Jimmy Stewart and Grace Kelly (and gay acting legend Raymond Burr as the suspiciously behaving neighbor) and, while no actors have signed on for the remake yet, this is absolutely going to be the kind of project actors will beg their agents to get them into the casting conversation. More on this one as it moves forward.

‘The Uglies’ look good for Netflix

In a future dystopia, society will impost cosmetic surgery at age 16 for anyone not attractive enough to keep living, and those who reject their turn to become Pretty-with-a-capital-P wind up running away. That’s the premise of “The Uglies,” a new film from McG, based on the novel “Uglies,” by Scott Westerfeld. Coming this year to Netflix, the movie stars Joey King (who also produced) as a teenage girl who runs away to save a friend who rejected the surgery, and whose own life is changed by the process. Co-starring Keith Powers (“The New Edition Story”) and queer superstar Laverne Cox, it has the feeling of “Logan’s Run” for a new generation — in that one they killed you at age 30 no matter how hot you were — and we’re very much up for a dystopian thriller where everyday human traits like crooked teeth become the deadliest liabilities.

‘No Good Deed’ adds more queer cast members to the lease

We already reported on lesbian TV creator Liz Feldman’s (“Dead to Me”) latest comedy project for Netflix, “No Good Deed,” starring Abbi Jacobson, Ray Romano, Lisa Kudrow, Teyonah Parris and Linda Cardellini. The eight-episode series revolves around multiple people vying to buy the same piece of property in the white-hot (meaning if you have to ask you can’t afford it) Los Angeles housing market. Now the cast has expanded to include gay comic actor Matt Rogers (“Fire Island”) and “The L Word” icon Kate Moennig. That means more queer bidders to battle over this fictional house and we are already rooting for them to crush the competition. If you’ve seen “Dead to Me” you already know that Feldman knows how to mine stress and discomfort for laughs — our favorite brand of comedy, really — so keep this one on your radar when it drops later this year.

Stormy Daniels, in her own words

In the documentary, “Stormy,” the porn star/dating show host Stormy Daniels — come on, you haven’t watched her tear it up on the wild OutTV queer dating series “For The Love of DILFS” yet? — gets to explain herself the way she’s always wanted. From director Sarah Gibson and executive producer Judd Apatow, the film follows the woman who helped expose yet another ugly aspect of Donald Trump as she navigates the sudden mainstream fame and political controversy that surrounded her. Reinvention can be tough, of course, but the bold, unflinching way Daniels has conducted herself in the wake of a scandal involving a sitting U.S. President has been nothing short of inspiring so this is a doc to dive into. If you’re in Austin during the Scfestival, the film will have its World Premiere on March 8, and if you’re the rest of us, you can catch it on Peacock on March 18. Team Stormy!

‘Michael’ casts Oscar-nominated Colman Domingo

Gay actor Colman Domingo’s career is on fire right now. His upcoming comedy, “Drive Away Dolls,” hits theaters any moment, he just wowed audiences as Mister in the musical adaptation of “The Color Purple,” he’s enjoying his first career Best Actor Oscar nomination for playing Black civil rights movement icon Bayard Rustin in “Rustin,” and now he’s been cast as Joe Jackson, troubled, controversial patriarch of the musical Jackson family in the upcoming Michael Jackson biopic, “Michael.” To be directed by Antoine Fuqua with a script from Oscar nominee John Logan, the film will star Jaafar Jackson — nephew of Michael and son of older brother Jermaine — as the King of Pop. Universal is set to release it in April of 2025.

Romeo San Vicente has reinvented himself more times than Madonna.