After the accolades and box office success of Brokeback Mountain and Transamerica, everyone is jumping on the gay movie bandwagon. Catherine Zeta-Jones is about to play famed British model/trannie, April Ashley on the big screen. Though we can’t wait to see Brad Pitt go all homo on screen (this time without the fangs and Mr. Katie Holmes-to-be by his side), we didn’t expect Zeta-Jones to go all tranny so soon after an Oscar win. What, no post-Oscar win flop a la Halle Berry’s Catwoman? That would seem to be the normal path for a recent winner.
A quick check over at IMBD shows that she already has a head start in the queer movie trend. She's starring alongside Alan Cumming, who plays a cabaret singer, in Coming Out. This is good. We’re sure Cumming has his share of tranny friends he can forward Catherine’s way for inspiration. Or maybe she should just call Felicity Huffman for some tips.
Catherine Zeta-Jones to Take On Transgender Movie Role [247 Gay]
Alan Cumming has decided to give five lucky Queerty readers a little piece of himself. The first five people to email info@cummingthefragrance.com with "Queerty" in the subject line will win a bottle of Cumming.
Good luck, girls!
Alan Cumming is an actor who seems to have done it all: won a Tony, played an X-Man, written and directed. The multitalented Cumming recently answered some of Bradford Shellhammer’s questions about The L Word, the Threepenny Opera, and his fragrance line.
We cannot wait to catch you, Cyndi Lauper, and Nellie McKay in the Threepenny Opera. What you can you say about the production?
Right now not very much because I haven't started rehearsals. But I'm nonetheless very excited. I did a workshop about a year ago so it has been really great to feel that I can actually get through it! Also it's meant that in the last year ideas, the songs and parts of the character have been floating around in my mind. The biggest revelation about the workshop was discovering that Macheath is a sex addict. Who knew?
Tell us about your fragrance. What made you launch it?
It was really one of these crazy things that tend to happen to me! My friends Jason Schell & Christopher Brosius and I sort of all came up with the idea over a period of time and eventually we had one of these Judy/Mickey moments and said "Let's make the fragrance right here!" Christopher is a genius and I had worn various fragrances of his for years and Jason had these really fantastic ideas about how to market the fragrance. For me it has been real fun to provoke and subvert the whole notion of celebrity endorsement and at the same time have products that I really enjoy and am proud to add my name to. We now have 5 things–the fragrance, the cleanser [Cumming Clean], the body scrub [Cumming Off Buff], the body lotion [Cumming All Over], and the soap [Cumming in a Bar], all available at Cumming The Fragrance.
It's such a hilarious thing for me when every time I wash my hands the soap has my name on it. I'm also using it to help charities that I believe in. We're starting a program whereby each month we'll give a hefty percentage of our online sales to charity.
You are on the new season of The L Word. What character do you play?
I play a character called Billie Blaikie who comes into the series to run The Planet and generally spice things up. I had never seen the show before I shot my episodes, but I talked to the producers about the character and thought it sounded fun. The one thing I was adamant about was that I would have sex with a lesbian on the show. I think it's really good to mix things up a bit and to challenge people's perceptions about the ways sexuality is pigeonholed. So the idea of a bisexual man having sex with a lesbian was right up my alley. However, the type of sex I ended up having was a little more than I bargained for. It was the most graphic sex scene I have ever done. But I had great fun with all the girls and I got to have a different hairstyle and colour in each episode.
After the jump Alan explains why he wants to be the queer Martha Stewart.
CONTINUED »
• Nellie McKay has left Sony and sadly her eagerly anticipated sophomore album won’t see the light of day anytime soon. At least we’ll get to see her in the Three Penny Opera on Broadway with Cyndi Lauper and Alan Cumming. [Reuters]
• We’ve all done it. You know, gotten drunk and pulled out the drag. However, we all haven’t filmed it! [Manhattan Offender]
• Our favorite plastic surgery addicted pop star Pete Burns has signed up for the UK’s Big Brother. Times like these we wished we lived in England. Thanks Jerry. [The Sun]
• We present you the world’s best condom commercial ever. Thanks Tom. [Double Agent]
• Love to ski? Love anal sex? Great. Gay.com has some gay ski events you should be attending. [Gay.com]
