They co-starred in the multiple Tony Award-winning revival of Stephen Sondheim’s “Merrily We Roll Along” and now Tony and Grammy winner Jonathan Groff and his colleague Daniel Radcliffe will work together again in “Trust the Man.” From Peabody Award-winning, queer writer-director-producer Will Graham, who co-created the “A League of Their Own” series, it’s a Vietnam War thriller about an Army Intelligence officer assigned to investigate a soldier with a mysterious past. As the two men become closer and obsession takes over, danger mounts. That’s everything we know right now – no word on when we get to see it — but Groff and Radcliffe have shown what they can do together onstage night after night, and we were huge fans of “League,” so call us happily intrigued.
Pride programming with Robin Byrd: ‘Bang My Box’
Before the internet, before streamed “content,” there was cable TV and public access channels. In this world lived the legendary Robin Byrd, a bikini-clad host on New York City’s cable access from 1977 to 1998, a woman who delivered joyful chaos: interviews with artists, porn stars, you name it; they were there while she championed visibility for queer people and unapologetic sexual and artistic freedom. Now she’s the subject of the documentary, “Bang My Box: The Robiny Byrd Story,” from filmmakers Jyllian Gunther and Stephanie Schwam (“Swiping America”), produced by Sarah Jessica Parker. The film showcases Byrd and others who were part of her experience — Annie Sprinkle, porn stars Porsche Lynn and Heather Hunter, Sandra Bernhard, and “SNL” alum Cheri Oteri — and reminds audiences of the legal battles she fought in defense of free speech. If you’re too young to know her, this is where you learn. It’s a vital piece of Pride Month viewing and it hits HBO on June 30.
Dot Marie Jones is here for the horror
“Breeder,” we’re told, will freak you out. And that’s appropriate because horror has one job, which is to be horrifying. “Breeder” is also part of the current wave of young filmmakers traveling the internet-to-cinema path, which includes films like “Backrooms” and “Obsession.” From first-timer Alex Goyette, the film stars Dot Marie Jones, the wonderful “Glee” alum, here playing well against type as a sinister poodle breeder who lures a broke college student, played by Daniel Doheny (“Alex Strangelove”), to her ranch with the promise of funding for his research. Of course, that’s not how it goes down. Maddie Phillips (“Teenage Bounty Hunters”) co-stars in this bit of brutal business that’s already causing some horror reviewers to call it a new classic. Shudder and Independent Film Company have jointly acquired it for a fall release, so mark your calendars, but leave your emotional support dog at home.
‘Beach Read’ lands Kristin Davis and Tig Notaro
How do you get queer attention for your hetero romance film? You add one lesbian and one iconic star of a very gay TV show to the cast. That means that “Beach Read,” the film adaptation from 20th Century of Emily Henry’s bestselling novel, has cast Kristin Davis from “Sex and the City” (yes, it’s never been technically a gay franchise, but come on) and queer comic Tig Notaro (“Army of The Dead”) to round out the proceeding involving stars Phoebe Dynevor (“Bridgerton”) and Patrick Schwarzenegger (“The White Lotus”) as well as Andie MacDowell and Kevin Bacon. It’s about rival authors — she writes romance novels and he writes “serious” literary fiction because cats are girls and dogs are boys or something like that — who make a bet to write each other’s genre and then foes become friends, etc. It’s shooting right now, so look for it sometime in the future. Meanwhile, we are culturally generous and believe that heterosexuals deserve nice things that aren’t dry-kiss TV movies, so we remain cautiously optimistic and, as long as we get courted in this way, we’ll support it.
Romeo San Vicente knows that all bodies are beach bodies.