Take an Academy Award-winning screenwriter — Armando Bo (“Birdman”) — and two transgender Oscar nominees from trans-themed, Oscar-winning films — Karla Sofia Gascón and Daniela Vega from “Emilia Perez” and “A Fantastic Woman,” respectively — and you’ve got all the ingredients for a future queer prestige picture. It’s called “Las Malas,” and it’s an adaptation of the novel by Camila Sosa Villada. Bo is writing and directing the story of a group of sex workers in Cordoba, Argentina, led by house mother “Auntie Encarna” (Gascón), whose lives are radically changed when they discover and care for an abandoned baby. The ensemble cast will be led by newcomer Adela Buendía and also includes trans actress Lola Rodríguez from the hit Spanish TV series “Veneno,” as well as Argentine musician Louta and Spanish drag performer Yenesi. The Spanish-language film begins production this month.
The ‘Dinner with Audrey’ that launched a friendship
When legendary actress Audrey Hepburn was young and just starting her career, she met French fashion designer Hubert de Givenchy, who was also young and beginning his own legendary career. The story of their on-screen teamwork — the gay designer and charming starlet making magic with impeccable clothes worn to perfection — and decades-long friendship is coming to the big screen in “Dinner with Audrey,” starring Thomasin McKenzie (“Jojo Rabbit”) as Hepburn and Ansel Elgort (“West Side Story”) as Givenchy. The debut feature film from director Abe Sylvia (“Palm Royale”) and screenwriter Kara Holden (Disney’s “Clouds”) will also feature Michael Shannon (“Nuremberg”), two-time Oscar nominee Miranda Richardson and “The Long Walk” star Judy Greer. It’s shooting now in Budapest, Hungary — some set photos are trickling onto the internet — but we’re going to wait for the pleasure of seeing all those outfits on a big screen, probably sometime in 2027.
Nick Jonas-starring holiday horror adds queer cast
The latest film from horror director Eli Craig (“Tucker & Dale vs Evil,” “Clown in A Cornfield,” both of which feature touches of queerness ) is called “White Elephant” and, you guessed it, it’s about Christmastime murder and mayhem. Craig will direct from a script by JT Billings (“Are You Afraid of The Dark?”), the project stars Nick Jonas and Kathryn Newton (“Ready or Not 2: Here I Come”), and comes with the following logline: “Eight friends. One prize. Zero trust. Their annual festive holiday gift exchange spirals into a cutthroat game of Christmas carnage.” The film also comes with supporting cast KJ Apa (“Riverdale”), Ashley Park (“Emily in Paris”) and two young queer cast members — Alexandra Shipp from “Anyone But You” and “Barbie,” joined by Justice Smith from “I Saw The TV Glow.” Consider films like this the natural antidote to the onslaught of wholesome Hallmark rom-coms where no one ever bothers to go on a killing rampage. In production now, we’ll be counting the days until it’s time to unwrap that gift of carnage.
Parker Posey joins ‘The Mob’
“The Mob” is an upcoming “Traitors”-style competition show (from the same producers, so yeah) being developed for Hulu, and the host is none other than queer icon Parker Posey (who stole the most recent season of “The White Lotus” and, let’s not forget, also co-starred alongside “Traitors” host Alan Cumming in the greatest film of the 2000s, “Josie and the Pussycats”). Set in an Italian villa, the participants will behave like crime bosses in order to outlast the competition, and the cast is already chock full of reality TV alumni and at least one former “Sopranos” star: Aida Turturro. Joining her will be Willam Belli from “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” “Real Housewives” husband Joe Gorga, “Goodfellas” actress Debi Mazar, rapper Romeo, Demi Engemann from the chaotic series “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives,” and many others. We can assume that contestants getting “whacked” will be on the menu.
Romeo San Vicente would like to eat his way through Italy.