Tag: HBO

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HBO Documentary – “The Out List”

High profile members of the LGBTQ community reveal their struggles and triumphs of being “out” in America. 

Features Oscar-winning screenwriter Dustin Lance Black, iconic drag queen Lady Bunny, former Log Cabin Republican executive director and Iraq veteran R. Clarke Cooper, former NFL football player Wade Davis, Ellen Degeneres, ballroom performer Twiggy Pucci Garcon, Neil Patrick Harris, longtime activist Larry Kramer, transgender activist and People magazine editor Janet Mock, Cynthia Nixon, Suze Orman, NYC City Council Speaker and mayoral candidate Christine Quinn, Jake Shears, Wanda Sykes, Dallas County sheriff Lupe Valdez, and Muslim educator Wazina Zondon.

Premieres Thursday, June 27 at 9:30PM on HBO.

For more information on HBO Documentary Films, click here.

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Bobby Cannavale to star in upcoming HBO rock series

Emmy Award winner and Tony Award nominee Bobby Cannavale, recently seen on Broadway in The Big Knife, is in negotiations to star in an untitled rock ‘n’ roll series for HBO, according to Deadline.com.

The project, from “Boardwalk Empire” executive producers Martin Scorsese and Terence Winter and Rolling Stones’ Mick Jagger, has been in the works at HBO since 2010.  With Scorsese set to direct the pilot, the project is gearing up for a 2014 shoot.
 
The pilot,  penned by Winter and follows Richie (Cannavale), follows a cocaine-driven record executive in 1977 New York City.

Cannavale, who was Tony-nominated for his performances in The Motherf**ker With the Hat and Mauritius, has also been seen on Broadway in Glengarry Glen Ross.  He currently has a recurring role on the hit Showtime series “Nurse Jackie.”

 (source)

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HBO gets biggest debut in almost 10 years with “Behind the Candelabra”

According to EW, HBO had it’s biggest movie debut in almost a decade with Behind the Candelabra this past Sunday night:

The Steven Soderbergh film delivered 2.4 million viewers in its first airing, making it the most-watched HBO Film title in almost a decade (since 2004′s Something the Lord Made).

Across two Sunday plays, Candelabra totaled 3.5 million viewers.

The performance is especially impressive coming on Memorial Day weekend, when TV viewing levels typically decline several percent. Compare Candelabra‘s performance to HBO’s previous recent record-setter Game Change, which had 2.1 million viewers for its Saturday night debut last year.

It’s worth noting that director Steven Soderbergh has said no major studio would make the film as it was perceived to be “too gay.” A $5 million film with Michael Douglas and Matt Damon almost didn’t get made?

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Behind the scenes of “Behind the Candelabra”

After the debut of HBO’s “Behind the Candelabra” this past Sunday, the producers have released an extended 14 minute behind the scenes/”making of” video that explores the discussions and process of making the movie.

I, along with millions this weekend, caught the film and enjoyed it. I thought the acting, especially by Michael Douglas and Matt Damon, was very strong. At one point in the film I realized I had completely bought into the idea that I was watching “Liberace” and “Scott Thorson” and not these two actors.

It’s almost hard to say I “enjoyed” the film, though, as the story that unfolds before us is almost creepy and unsettling at each turn. This is not a happy love story. There’s something tragic about the entire encounter from the very beginning.

If you are an HBO subscriber, I highly recommend the film. And if you aren’t, check out the video above. I’d say it’s good enough to get you to try a subscription. The original programming on HBO is some of the very best TV there is.

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HBO: New dramedy series starring Jonathan Groff

HBO has just picked up its new San Francisco based gay dramedy pilot starring GLEE and Broadway hottie Jonathan Groff for a complete season!

Deadline has the details:

HBO has picked up to series the Michael Lannan dramedy pilot executive produced by Andrew Haigh, Sarah Condon and David Marshall Grant,Sarah Condon.

The network has given an eight-episode order to the untitled project, which revolves around three friends in San Francisco (Frankie J. Alvarez, Murray Bartlett, Jonathan Groff), who explore the fun and sometimes overwhelming options available to a new generation of gay men.

Production is expected to start in the fall in San Francisco for a 2014 premiere.

The pickup of the untitled San Francisco project comes as HBO’s latest comedy series,Family Tree, opened to soft numbers on Sunday. HBO also has new comedy Hello Ladies coming up and recently renewed Veep and Girls.

One of the few networks that we faithfully watch in my house, I have great expectations for a gay-centered series from HBO. And I’m betting I won’t be disappointed.

Looking forward to it.

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Jeremy Jordan & Jonathan Groff – “Let Me Be Your Star”

A bit of Saturday silly fun from hunky Jeremy Jordan (SMASH) and Jonathan Groff (GLEE). I’ve liked the song “Let Me Be Your Star” since I first heard it in the pilot of SMASH.

In related news, Glee‘s Jonathan Groff has been cast in The Normal Heart, HBO‘s original movie adaptation of the Tony-winning Larry Kramer play, which is being written by Kramer and directed by Ryan Murphy.

He joins Julia Roberts, Mark Ruffalo, Matt Bomer, Jim Parsons and Taylor Kitsch in the pic, which tells the story of the onset of the HIV-AIDS crisis in New York City in the early 1980s. Production is slated to begin later this year in New York for a 2014 debut.

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EW cover: Matt Damon and Michael Douglas for “Behind the Candelabra”

HBO’s big Liberace movie with Matt Damon and Michael Douglas debuts Sunday, May 26th, but Entertainment Weekly has an exclusive behind-the-scenes look in this week’s issue.

Behind the Candelabra is based on Thorson’s 1988 memoir about Liberace’s over-the-top world of palatial houses, extravagant clothes, and secret affairs. (Liberace never publicly came out as gay before dying of AIDS in 1987.) It’s a world that Douglas actually witnessed first-hand, since his father, actor Kirk Douglas, was once Liberace’s neighbor in Palm Springs. “I remember meeting him just in passing, in his convertible with the top down — his hair not moving,” says the actor, who also got advice from one of Liberace’s close friends, Debbie Reynolds, who plays his mother in the film. “She just told me, ‘[Your voice] can never be too nasal.’”

The movie is also Douglas’ first role since his cancer diagnosis in 2010, and the actor tells EW that beating the disease and returning to acting has been therapeutic for him. “It was great to get back,” he says. “It gave me a new appreciation for what I do, taking advantage of it.”