Guy Pearce, still adored as sassy Adam in the groundbreaking 1994 comedy The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, will star as legendary activist Cleve Jones in the LGBT rights miniseries that has the potential to be our Roots.
As per Variety, Rachel Griffiths and Mary-Louise Parker have also joined the cast of When We Rise, an event miniseries about the battle for LGBT rights and adaption of the Cleve Jones memoir that is set to air on ABC at some point during the 2016/17 television season. Broadway veterans Austin McKenzie from Spring Awakening and Emily Skeggs from Fun Home are also joining the cast as younger versions of Jones and Parker’s women’s rights activist Roma Guy.
Expectations and excitement are high for the movie, an adaptation of Jones’ memoir that marks a reunion for writer Dustin Lance Black and director Gus Van Sant, who last collaborated on a little movie called Milk. That flick of course won Black a screenplay Oscar and star Sean Penn a statue for Best Actor. Van Sant will direct the two-hour first episode of the miniseries.
Black is elated that his dream project is finally getting off the ground:
How about we take this to the next level?
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“It’s been the honor of my life to research and craft these stories of family, diversity and equality over the past three years. To have collaborators of this caliber sign on to help bring these stories to life is a tremendous vote of confidence, and I hope a testament to the relevancy and necessity of our continued march toward justice for all.”
By the way, for all those expecting (or secretly hoping for) a Stonewall-ish whitewashing, the roles of gay African-American LGBT activist Ken Jones and trans pioneer Cecelia Chung will be cast soon.
We can’t wait to watch. This is the first major LGBT-oriented event series on television, and this casting makes us optimistic that they’ll get it right.
anxman
This will be our ‘Roots.” A two-episode mini-series does not a Roots make.
Robert Klingerman
Great choice.
Glücklich
Goddammit Guy Pearce was so FOINE in “Memento.”
Xzamilio
@Glücklich: Goddammit Guy Pearce is so FOINE… period.
scotshot
@anxman: It’s quality, not quantity.
Marky
You wanna see a good movie with Guy Pearce in it, watch Animal Kingdom.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1313092/
Dave Basora
I’ve had a crush on him ever since Priscilla. *swoon*
Tony Gagliardi
They both suck!
Jon Michael
Loved him since “Priscilla, Queen of the Desert” …
Malcolm Ingram
The history of our movement as told by men who love boys.
Stache
@Dave Basora: Damn he’s aged though. Then again Priscilla was over 20 years ago and we’ve all aged. Just that he’ll always be Felicia in my eye. He played the role just too well.
Stache
He still looks great though.
Stached1
Will the miniseries mention how Cleve Jones was a male prostitute and took lots of POZ loads?
joeyty
Let’s hope this is more honest than Haley’s ROOTS (he was successfully sued by writer Harold Courlander who showed Haley stole all his stuff), though if this book really was about the roots of the same-sex-oriented we’d go all the way back to Plato (and earlier).
Ksb1978
Who’s secretly hoping for a whitewashing of this film?? I forgot, this is Queerty.
Invert
Guy Pearce’s Felicia was the worst parody of a gay man I’ve seen in a long time, just over the top, nasal, pursed-lip queenliness. What a ham.
And this production sounds like yet another opportunity for straight actors to play gay- what, there were no GAY actors they could cast? Get stuffed.
AlexM
So they cast a bunch of straight actors to play gay rights activist? Makes a lot of sense.
joeyty
@AlexM: Sometimes they DO do the best job, though. Even as the more extreme gay characters (Michel Serrault in “La Cage Aux Folles”, Chris Sarandon in “Dog Day Afternoon”, William Hurt in “Kiss Of the Spider Woman”..)
iggy6666
@Glücklich: second that. Definitely in his prime back then. But he’s still a looker
Kelly Addis
Yasssss!
GayEGO
He is still a hot guy!
robho3
Idk who Cleve jones is —- should I ? I’m usually up on these things I guess I’m slipping