Director Paul Barresi is all over the mainstream news lately. He gave a quote about actor Heath Ledger's death as a close friend of Heath's uncle Neil Bell in Perth, Australia. (In interviews last year, Ledger told me himself that Uncle Neil was a bisexual cowboy who was his inspiration for his Oscar-nominated role in Brokeback Mountain. Then Paul was quoted about Britney Spears' shenanigans and how she courts the paparazzi she claims she hates so much. Then there are excerpts of Paul's upcoming bio, Bless Me Father for I Have Sinned, in which Barresi releases transcripts from a previously private tape of Steven Seagal complaining about his action star competitor Chuck Norris. And then there were reports that Tom Cruise was livid to find out that the ex-porn-star-turned-private-investigator was hired by the writer of the recent unauthorized biography about Cruise. But that anger seems to have subsided after Barresi's press in In Touch magazine where he says he's found no evidence of the actor being gay in any way.
Then, Barresi called to invite me to the premiere of a documentary, Running With Arnold that was just released and has a lot of footage of him and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and his wife, Maria Shriver. Paul says, "I am featured prominently in this documentary and I did some work as a private investigator for Schwarzenegger." Catch the documentary in a small art house near you over the next few months (see: RunningWithArnold.com)...
Speaking of mainstream, Gino Colbert is casting Johnny Hazzard (pictured) in a lead part in The Lair. I've known that this Channel 1 Releasing exclusive was a great actor from the moment I met him (nearly a decade ago, is it possible?) and this Here! TV venture could be the mainstream break that he so deserves. The role will be a sort-of werewolf character. Think Eddie Munster...
Who's the new tool? Powertool 3, the third in the series that launched Jeff Stryker into superstardom, is being cast as you read this, with Chi Chi LaRue scouring the country for a hot new star. The search kicked off in Nashville at Play Dance Club, and LaRue's doing the auditioning firsthand as usual. Since Channel 1 Releasing bought Catalina Video, which produced the first two big blockbusters, they now have the chance to create a sequel....
GAYVN Awards judges are doing amazing things. At least two have been on nationally syndicated mainstream TV shows, one has been doing a book tour for a mystery novel, one is the head of a major film festival, one is singing in local clubs and one is a prominent businessman. Of course, I can't reveal all of their identities, but, some of the things I can say is that Joey Dillus is helping Carol Queen collect gay items from porn stars and estates for the newly relocated Center for Sex and Culture, and Marlon Brandeis, mentioned in my F.U.: Majoring in Carnal Knowledge book is working on a porn fiction book himself, this one about his experiences in a religious school....
On a sad note, Onan the Vulgarian is going to have to find another place to hang his hat because X-Factor, based in Phoenix, suddenly folded in December after turning into a glossy color mag with a hot centerfold. He really made it a great porn gossip publication, covering books, websites, everything. He also had the magazine's own "Hard Choice Awards," which honored different kinds of things than we do at the GAYVNs. Anyway, the magazine is gone, and so is the website. We'll let you know where he lands....
Former GAYVN editor Jeremy Spencer (about three before me, and two after me), is starting a funny porn review show with Vincent Lambert from New York called "Dueling Divas with Spencer and Lambert." Like the Ebert and Roeper format, they will discuss the latest in gay porn, and their first review is for Jim Steel's Beach House Diaries by Men of Odyssey. Bob East of Odyssey joked, "I had no idea we would be the first victim. I only hope they are kind. It's sort of an honor to be the first, I mean, let's face it, there are a lot of movies out there from some big studios and directors!" Spencer is the editor of the GLBT section of XBiz and Lambert has his hot gossip and interview site, VincentLambert.com. And I've known both for a long while, and have debated and argued with them lots, so it will be fun to see their show....
Meanwhile, Bob East had to send me over a funny picture of porn starlet Shane from when she came over to the Men of Odyssey booth at AEE. Bob points out that the guys in the booth loved her visit: "One of Shane's things is grabbing a guy's crotch when taking a picture. Unlike the straight guys she actually found wood a few times."...
Dennis Bell was in an Internet café in a little town called Abraao on a roadless island on the coast of Brazil when he found out about his GAYVN Award nominations. Yeah, it sounds like a movie, or a Gilligan's Island episode. He swears there was no wireless, no cars, no cell phones, no ATMs (someone stole the lone bank machine and took it away by boat!). He's scouting for more hunks and remote locations for the Athletic Model Guild's Brasil Productions and even cracked a rib while filming. Anyway, he sends his "obrigado!" for the 10 noms he received and plans to find more guys with "big uncut baskets" to send our way!...
And to end, Michael Lucas found himself in another controversy, this time defending himself on Queerty.com where there are some anti-Jewish statements written about him and his friend, the columnist Michael Musto. Lucas fired off a letter to editor Andrew Belonsky, who at first deemed the porn director/star/company owner as "irrelevant" (and anyone who's ever met Lucas should know that even if you believe that, you should never say it to his face!). Lucas writes me, "I did not face such ugly anti-Semitism since Soviet Russia! I'm sorry to say but this website attracts the worst of the gay community." Four days after the initial spat, the comments were still posted, and I got no response from the editor when asked about it....
GayVN
- By
