In the grand tradition of “films that made you gay,” few loom as large as the 1975 documentary Grey Gardens.
Of course, movies don’t have the ability to “turn” people gay, but there is a special power to a film like Grey Gardens, an idiosyncratic doc that’s practically considered homework (the fun kind!) for the modern queer—a movie we ought to know.
Following the peculiar day-to-day lives of “Big Edie” Beale—the aunt of former First Lady Jackie O—and her adult daughter “Little Edie,” Grey Gardens welcomed viewers into the titular estate in the East Hamptons, a decrepit home where the women whiled away in poverty and (what some would call) delusion.
Over the decades, it’s become a proper cult hit, the kind gays will build their entire personalities around. And among the loyal fandom’s many fascinations is the Beale’s handyman, who appears occasionally throughout the doc.
Dubbed “The Marble Faun” by Little Edie, viewers spent years wondering about the identity of the young man. But in the 2000s he resurfaced, and the world finally got to know Jerry Torre.
Some time after the events of Grey Gardens, Torre relocated to Saudi Arabia where he worked for a palace garden—a job secured through Jackie O’s second husband, Aristotle Onassis. Once back in the states, he drove a cab in New York City and operated an art-moving business, all while pursuing his own passion as a sculptor. He’s been living happily with his partner Ted O’Ryan Sheppard for many years.
Torre tells all of that and more—including recollections from his time working with the Beales—in his fascinating memoir The Marble Faun Of Grey Gardens, which he co-wrote with film historian Tony Maietta.
Now, Torre will become the focal point of a movie of his own in an adaptation of his celebrated book. As Deadline reports, The Marble Faun Of Grey Gardens is being turned into a feature by Unger Media, telling the story of “a gay teenage runaway from Brooklyn framing Big Edie and Little Edie as the misguided guardian angels in his life—and beyond.”
Sounds like another future gay classic to us!
Related:
The adaptation is being scripted by Leo Geter (with writing credits on series like Longmire and The Closer), producing alongside Torre, Maietta, Unger Media CEO Jonathan Unger and actor/comedian Drew Droege, who shares he’s “a longtime Grey Gardens fan,” and that Torre is “deeply inspiring to me as an artist and a queer person.”
Deadline notes casting is currently underway for the role of Torre. He was only a teen when he met the Beales, so we’d anticipate a young, up-and-coming actor to fill the role of “The Marble Faun.”
Our two cents? Rising star Daniel Zolghadri has been great in coming-of-age films like Eight Grade and Funny Pages, and could fit the bill. As for Big Edie and Little Edie, we’re still not over Jessica Lange and Drew Barrymore’s performances in the 2009 HBO film, so why not bring them back?
Or, hell, maybe Jinkx Monsoon is available?
abfab
I can’t even count how many times I’ve watched this and how many people I’ve turned this entire project on to. Chickens! I love the intro……………Drew coming in waving the flag. The Hamptons! Jackie O. Just brilliant.
FootOdorConnoisseur
I loved the movie, but at the same time it was so depressing, seeing the living conditions and the squandered dreams.
Joshooeerr
Grey Gardens certainly has elements of camp, but is it really one of those “films that made you gay”??? A mostly sad, depressing account of two women with mental health issues living in squalor. I don’t think so.
Kangol2
I’ll ask this about the film about the handyman: Why?
still_onthemark
I saw the doc very recently and the handyman isn’t “unnamed” in it, he’s referred to as Jerry several times I think.
Adam
Correct.
J Bast
I wonder who will play Wayland Flowers in the movie.
That certainly would be a funny interlude.
bachy
“It’s very difficult to keep the line between the past and the present. You know what I mean?”
This is the line spoken by Little Edie that inspired the song “Grey Gardens,” the seventh track on Rufus Wainwright’s sophomore album, Poses. It’s one of his best.
jackmister
Jerry always likes the way I do my corn.
Doug
Something’s missing here. This article only refers to a book, but there was already a documentary made in 2011 called “The Marble Faun of Grey Gardens,” which mostly detailed his life as a cab driver. I remember renting the DVD.