FILM CRITIC CALLING FOR 'BEST THING' BOYCOTT
The Village Voice and HX Magazine film critic Mark J. Huisman is calling
for a gay boycott of Paramount Pictures upcoming Rupert Everett/Madonna
film, "The Next Best Thing," in reaction to the studio's backing of
notorious homophobe Dr. Laura Schlesinger's upcoming TV show. Schlesinger,
a physiologist who presents herself as a psychologist on her daily radio
talk show, routinely describes gays and lesbians as deviants requiring
"reparative therapy."
In a letter sent to Paramount, and later sent to editors at every gay
publication in the United States, Huisman wrote, "I am ditching your new
film, "The Next Best Thing" unless you ditch Dr. Laura Schlesinger from
your upcoming TV schedule. Paramount cannot continue to market
theoretically queer-friendly entertainment products to me with one hand
and slap me across the face with your other hand by supporting the hate of
people like Dr. Laura."
Huisman is also calling on GLAAD to pull Paramount's film "Election" from
its list of GLAAD media award nominees.
--------------------------
Calendar of Events
Friday, March 3
FILM
In "The Next Best Thing," Rupert Everett (who has a real British accent)
and Madonna (who doesn't) have unsafe sex and end up with a baby - one
that will eventually herald the apocalypse, until Arnold Schwarzeneggar...
wait... wrong movie. Now I remember. In "The Next Best Thing" Madonna is
accidentally mistaken for an British nanny and is offered up to the devil
for breeding purposes... wait, that's not it. Oh, yeah in "The Next Best
Thing" a cabal of middle eastern ninja assassins relentlessly pursue
Martin Short and Madonna across the country after she accidentally steals
a string of sacred cultural coins (she's wearing them as a necklace.)
Donatella Versace stars as her kooky best friend.
----------------------------
Now onto the "Feature Presentation"... The only bad thing about this
article is it reveals a plot twist in the movie. But I guess if we read
every related article, we'll likely find out about it before Friday
anyway.
Madonna's "Next Thing"
IN AN EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW, MADONNA TALKS ABOUT "MIXED FEELINGS" ON HER NEW
FLICK, AND OF COURSE, BEING IN LOVE WITH RUPERT EVERETT
BY LAWRENCE FERBER
NEW YORK - Madonna can vogue. She can also Shanti, geisha, pray, writhe,
get unconscious, kiss and tell, keep it together... you know the drill,
the looks, the fads often imitated by millions. But in "The Next Best
Thing," directed by John Schlesinger ("Midnight Cowboy"), she takes on her
most laudable, politically-minded, mature, and socially conscious project
yet. The story of a gay man and straight woman who have a baby and face
parting when one gets involved with another man, Madonna both acts and
spits out two new tunes, including the surprisingly tasty, danceable,
William Orbit-produced remake of Don Maclean[sic]'s "American Pie."
Whether the kids don what she wears in the film or try out her new;
inexplicable "international" accent in casual conversation, however, isn't
the reason she did it though... or anything else.
"What goes through my mind is much more selfish," she explained. "I always
approach every project I do from at first, 'what am I going to get out of
it, learn from it, will it challenge me, is it going to take me to another
place, am I going to grow from it?' It always starts there. I don't think
you can begin being creative by thinking how it's going to affect other
people because that waters down. Ultimately, the impulse has to come from
a pure place."
In "The Next Best Thing," Madonna plays lovelorn Abbie, a yoga-instructing
professional who can't find a decent man. As it happens, she HAS found one
- tall, dark, and handsome Robert (Rupert Everett) - but he's a big ol'
fag. So the two are content to be best friends until, one night, a drunk
frolic lands Abbie with a lump in her womb. What's a fag and his
knocked-up hag to do? Well, they decide to raise the wee one, Sam (Malcolm
Stumpf), together, co-habitating, until one day the right man does arrive
(Benjamin Bratt) and inevitably must break the family up. Unfortunately
that happens sooner than later when Abbie, threatened by Robert's
unwillingness to negotiate on custody issues, slinks away with their kid
in tow, and an ugly legal battle transpires. Enter a few folks from the
periphery - like Abbie's loathsome ex-boyfriend Kevin (Michael Vartan) and
Robert's PWA buddy David (all-grown-up "Doogie Howser" Neil Patrick
Harris) - and you've a roller coaster of drama, gay parental issues, and
Mo'.
Obviously, "The Next Best Thing" is a project close to the heart of openly
gay Everett, a driving force behind its production and promotion. For one
thing, he nudged Madonna to cover "American Pie" ("There was a minute
there where I thought it was too corny for words," Madonna quips of her
remake which Everett contributes backing vocals to, "but everybody else
seemed to like it - I kind of went with the flow."), pushed its issue of
gay parenting, reshaped its story, and even arranged a commendable - and
possibly one of the first - gay press junket in South Beach, Miami.
At that junket, held at the Uberdeco, super lush Delano Hotel, Everett
told of "The Next Best Thing's" jaw-droppingly ludicrous sounding initial
incarnation, when it was the tale of a "flubbery" gay man obsessed with
food, his child-hungry best female friend, and their mutual effort to
sprout a wee one. In downright Vaudevillian attempts to get the gal
pregnant (more crudely, the gay guy excited enough to slip it in and spill
some seeds), the slapstick pair would dollop whipped cream and other
confections on her body for him to slurp up and smoosh about in. Worse,
the original story's Abbie and Robert WERE set on spawning a child, so
when it came time for Abbie to flee the nest for greener hetero pastures
with their kid, she came across as a downright calculated villain, unlike
the merely confused and desperate Abbie Madonna plays. So let's give a
hand to uncle Rupert!
"He's always bossing me around"' smiled Madonna, looking absolutely
gorgeous at her all-press New York junket. "He's like a big bully. He's
tall, he is stronger than me, he can wrestle me down to the ground."
But would she "fall" for him like Abbie falls for Robert?
"Eventually, yeah. I adore him. I love him. I'm sure if he was straight
things would be different."
Speaking of different, in many ways, Abbie is a more different, dangerous
and difficult role than Evita or even that killer slag Madonna played in
that forgettable Willem Dafoe flick from however many years ago. After
all, Abbie's NOT the most likeable character (at least to gay men rooting
for Everett), and at the same time must come across as vulnerable, human,
and wounded in her history with love and men. "Well, I do have some things
in common with Abbie," Madonna admitted. "I've made some mistakes
definitely. I think I've passed some pretty incredible people by because
I'm really selfish. Whatever. Live and learn, right? I'm still kicking
myself."
But what about commitment and marriage NOW?
"Possibly," she volunteered with a pause. "Next question!"
Back to her character, regardless of her snatching Sam away and forcing
Robert to pursue legal action, both Everett and Madonna see Abbie as
sympathetic. Said the latter, "I think she's a really nice person and did
the very best thing she could do. I think she made mistakes, made some
silly choices in the end, things that perhaps I wouldn't have done, but in
the end I have a lot of compassion for her and think she behaved in a very
humane way. But the way she chose to have the baby and raise the baby, I
probably wouldn't have done those things - in fact I'm sure I wouldn't
have."
And as for Everett, he sees his Robert as sympathetic, although he
admitted not being ready to wear a parent's shoes himself just yet.
"Well, I think a lot of gay men truly are interested in raising families
and being parents," Madonna opined on the subject of gay parenting. "I
think people take that really seriously, so I hope it changes that
misconception. I think that Rupert is a fantastic gay role model because
he doesn't really fit into middle America's pre-conceived notion... that
kind of manly queeny gay personality. I think he kind of defies all of
that - he's actually quite butch and very hetero-seeming!"
By the same token, "The Next Best Thing" defies any predictable narrative
path, weaving comic and cute adventures with "Kramer Versus Kramer"
courtroom drama. Admittedly, this results in tonal and storytelling
inconsistencies, but for Madonna this wasn't a major point of concern.
"Only that it flowed effortlessly and that the audience took the ride with
you," she explained. "I do think it is very reflective of life. It started
out kind of happy... I wouldn't say carefree but I don't think Rupert's or
my character really thought things out further down the line. I think we
were very much in the moment and I think what happened to them in the
movie happens to a lot of people in real lie - certainly with couples who
fall in love, marry, and have children never thinking things may not work
out down the line and what happens as a result of that?"
Of course, who Madonna is today has happened as a result of decisions made
by her parents, most importantly, religion. After all, where would she be
without the burning crosses of "Like a Prayer"? Or any other aspects of
her art which an Italian Catholic upbringing wrought? Now that she's a
mother herself, one might ask how will she raise Lourdes in the spiritual
sense? "That is a conundrum," Madonna admitted. "I don't know. I'm very
conflicted about that. I talk about God with my daughter and we say
prayers every night before she goes to bed, and she was baptized a
Catholic. But I'm not really sure how I feel about the concept of
organized religion. So I don't know exactly how I'm going to introduce
that into her life."
Showbiz is another issue Madonna seems conflicted about regarding Lourdes,
and stresses it will be Lourdes' call when she's old enough to decide on a
career. "The climate of the entertainment business changes from decade to
decade," she explained, "so who knows what it's gonna be like when she
gets older. But I do think you have to be pretty thick skinned to survive
in the business and understand it is about the big picture and not the
small one... And be prepared for the rejection and do it for the right
reasons."
As for her own future, Madonna expressed plans to pursue writing ("I don't
know what shape that would take... whether it would be a screenplay, but I
think I'd like to do that more.") and further film projects ("I'm really
picky about stuff so nothing really specific yet."), so long as nothing
interferes with Lourdes seeing her father (Madonna has turned down world
tours so Lourdes and daddy can be close). And while Madonna confesses
"mixed feelings" for "The Next Best Thing," she feels she's come a long
way since those days of "Shanghai Surprise." "I feel a lot more
comfortable with myself as an actress now, that's for sure," she admitted,
"but I don't really think about the audience. I think 'do I love this
part?,' and 'I'm gonna do the best job I can possibly do because that's
the only insurance I'm gonna have when it comes to an audience reaction.'"
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