Windy City Media Group Frontpage News

THE VOICE OF CHICAGO'S GAY, LESBIAN, BI, TRANS AND QUEER COMMUNITY SINCE 1985

home search facebook twitter join
Gay News Sponsor Windy City Times 2023-12-13
DOWNLOAD ISSUE
Donate

Sponsor
Sponsor
Sponsor

  WINDY CITY TIMES

Clea DuVall: Out actress turns writer-director with 'The Intervention'
by Lawrence Ferber
2016-08-24

This article shared 3684 times since Wed Aug 24, 2016
facebook twitter pin it google +1 reddit email


It took an intervention for Clea DuVall to finally come out of the closet publicly.

While she's played queer characters throughout her career as actress —in 1999's But I'm A Cheerleader and HBO's Veep, most recently—DuVall's delightful directorial debut, The Intervention, finally gave her a chance to play a lesbian character that she related to, as well as feel comfortable enough to officially open up about her own identity.

A dramedy written and directed by DuVall, The Intervention sees a group of friends gather to tell a couple, Ruby and Peter, that they urgently need to divorce, since their relationship has become completely dysfunctional and toxic. However, this well-intentioned meddling causes Ruby and Peter to lash out at these friends, including could-be-an-alcoholic organizer, Annie ( Melanie Lynskey ), and call out their respective issues. For example, lesbian couple Jessie and Sarah ( Natasha Lyonne ), the former of which is beguiled by one of their friends' latest conquests, a frisky 22-year-old bisexual girl, Lola ( Alia Shawkat ). One of the funniest bits of drama resulting from the emotional fireworks involves a frenzied, vengeful kissing competition between Sarah and Jessie—it's worth the price of admission alone.

"It was actually one of the hardest scenes to shoot," DuVall admitted regarding the scene. "There was so much about the timing, the people, getting the dialogue out. There were so much technical things involved I walked away from that worried, but it's my favorite scene in the movie now."

While The Big Chill serves as a cinematic inspiration for The Intervention, shot in and around Savannah, Georgia, real life also played a major part in the script's genesis: DuVall's personal experience staging a disastrous intervention ( "We were all out of our league and it was a bust, but eventually it worked out for that person," she notes ) and reconciling a difficult emotional period due to years of intense relationship woes and tribulations.

"Ten years of relationships building on top of each other," she elaborated, "and running from one problem into a new problem, not really dealing with anything, and the accumulation of shit that stacks up as a result. I think I finally just stopped running away from those things and let myself feel it and go through what I had been fighting to avoid."

Today sees DuVall in a much happier place relationship-wise, engaged to her girlfriend of four years. ( She declined to share her name, as the fiance prefers privacy. ) As for her choice of onscreen partner for The Intervention, DuVall reunited with longtime friend and Cheerleader co-star Lyonne, these days best known for her Emmy-nominated turn as libidinous prisoner Nicky Nichols on Orange Is the New Black.

"I didn't originally write the part with Natasha in mind," DuVall says. "I saw the role as someone very different. Then, as I started casting and getting more people involved, I really wanted someone I already was comfortable with and had an intimacy, where you wouldn't have to create that or a dynamic on the fly. She's like my family, and you can't manufacture that. Because I was doing something so far outside my comfort zone by writing, acting and directing at the same time, any support system and comforts I could give myself was much appreciated. Plus, she's so talented and funny and could add so much."

DuVall also acknowledges that Lyonne, who is heterosexual-identified, does make quite an amazing lesbian onscreen. "She does!" DuVall laughs. "There's something very commanding and alpha about her, and I think that stereotypically people equate that with a more male personality, so she feels very comfortable being the guy. With me, she's always the girl though, which I think she also likes."

Despite boasting a litany of LGBT roles to her credit, in shows like HBO's Carnivale, TNT's Saving Grace and FX's American Horror Story: Asylum, after Cheerleader DuVall admits she avoided lesbian turns for years, while also keeping her own identity ambiguous on a public level.

"I was scared," she reflected. "There were a lot of lesbian roles offered after, and I was scared. It was the 1990s, I was in my early 20s, and there was so much indirect pressure to be a certain way. No one was ever saying to me, 'don't take on these gay roles,' but I think I was definitely putting that on myself and that's too bad, because there are things I look back on and wish I had been more brave."

That's all changed now, however, and DuVall feels especially comfortable in the skin of behind the scenes director: This year she directed the video for Tegan & Sara's synth-drenched earworm of a single, "Boyfriend," ( she also enlisted Sara Quinn for The Intervention's original score ) while several projects are in various stages of development.

Yet there's one zone DuVall admitted she feels compelled to enter despite her lack of comfort to date: politics. With this insane, high-stakes election versus Trump and a pro-gun, anti-female/LGBT GOP platform, she's motivated to intervene.

"I'm in conversations with people I worked with to see what we can do to get involved and help with gun control," she said. "There's an organization called Emily's List, and their goal is to get female democrats elected to all the levels of political office. I think I've shied away from being too publicly political, mainly because I felt I wasn't educated enough, and I want my opinions to be based on education rather than reactions to things I don't like."


This article shared 3684 times since Wed Aug 24, 2016
facebook twitter pin it google +1 reddit email

Out and Aging
Presented By

  ARTICLES YOU MIGHT LIKE

Gay News

Jamie Barton brings nuances of identity to her Lyric Opera 'Aida' performance 2024-03-18
- Chicago's Lyric Opera is currently featuring a production of Giuseppe Verdi's Aida starring Michelle Bradley as Aida, Jamie Barton as Amneris and Russell Thomas as Radamès. The opera runs through April 7, 2024, with Francesca Zambello ...


Gay News

Queer Eye's Jai Rodriguez is set to slay at The Big Gay Cabaret 2024-03-05
- Out and proud performer Jai Rodriguez is set to play at The Big Gay Cabaret this March for three days. Presented by RuPaul Drag Racer Ginger Minj, this monthly series highlights the wide world of cabaret ...


Gay News

THEATER 'R & J' puts a female, queer spin on Shakespeare 2024-03-05
- Romeo and Juliet is the theatrical gift that keeps on giving. It's been reworked for the masses numerous times, whether in direct adaptations or musicals such as West Side Story. Shakespeare's plotline points have even inspired ...


Gay News

Center on Halsted hosts 6th Annual Intergenerational Talent Show 2024-03-03
- On the evening of Feb. 29, Center on Halsted held its 6th Annual Intergenerational Talent Show in front of a packed audience at the Hoover-Leppen Theater. The event brought together participants of the Center's youth and senior ...


Gay News

THEATER When growth is paramount: Jim Corti helps fuel Aurora theater expansion 2024-03-01
- Out actor/director/choreographer Jim Corti made his Broadway debut in 1974, in the ensemble of Leonard Bernstein's musical Candide. Director Harold Prince's acclaimed Tony Award-winning revival is often cited as a ...


Gay News

Theater Review: Billy Elliot, The Musical 2024-02-19
- Book and Lyrics: Lee Hall; Music: Elton John. At: Paramount Theatre, 23 E. Galena Blvd., Aurora Tickets: 630-896-6666 or Paramountaurora.com; $28-$79. Runs through March 24 Billy Elliot: The Musical may nearly be two decades old, but ...


Gay News

'West Side Story' gets a sex-positive spin with new burlesque show 2024-02-19
- In partial observance of National Condom Day, which was Feb. 14, Los Angeles-based AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) presented A West Side Story Burlesque at the Harris Theater for two hour-long performances on Feb. 17. The show, ...


Gay News

Second Glance Productions hosts LGBTQupid Soiree 2024-02-16
- In celebration of Valentine's Day, Chicago based film and media production company Second Glance hosted The LBGTQupid Soiree. The event, which was focused on spinning attitudes on this particular day, was presented at The iO ...


Gay News

Carisa Hendrix mesmerizes as Lucy Darling in Teatro ZinZanni 2024-02-12
- Since 2019, Teatro ZinZanni has gathered together amazing performers from all over the world to create an experience in Chicago under the Spiegeltent in the Cambria Hotel building, 32 W. Randolph St. Over the years, ticket ...


Gay News

THEATER Dot-Marie Jones talks Goodman production, 'Glee,' 'Bros' 2024-02-12
- Running through Feb. 18 at the the Goodman Theatre, the production Highway Patrol works with a script conceived entirely from Emmy-winning actor Dana Delany's (TV's China Beach) digital archive of hundreds of tweets and direct messages ...


Gay News

Dr. Lady J explains how opera can be a drag 2024-02-10
- On Feb. 8, Center on Halsted, in partnership with Lyric Opera of Chicago, presented a lecture by historian, drag activist, podcaster and curator Dr. Lady J. The event, titled "Castrated Superstars, Cross Dressed Divas, and Queer ...


Gay News

SHOWBIZ Raven-Symone, women's sports, Wayne Brady, Jinkx Monsoon, British Vogue 2024-02-09
- In celebration of Black History Month, the LA LGBT Center announced that lesbian entertainer Raven-Symone will be presented with the Center's Bayard Rustin Award at its new event, Highly Favored, per a press release. She joins ...


Gay News

Chicago-based production company to host all-inclusive, LGBTQ-focused Valentine's Day event 2024-02-07
--From a press release - CHICAGO — Second Glance Productions will host the LGBTQupid Soiree this Valentines Day, Wednesday, February 14, 2024. The event will be held at the iO Theater, 1501 N. Kingsbury St., from 6 pm to 11 pm ...


Gay News

THEATER Nostalgic 'Sunsets' still offers a timely reflection of LGBTQ+ community 2024-02-07
- Nostalgia reigned on a variety of scales this past weekend in Chicago. During her Celebration tour, at a majestically packed United Center, Madonna acknowledged the last 40 years of her career, highlighting her '80s interactions with ...


Gay News

The Jeff Awards announces the 50th-anniversary non-Equity theater nominations 2024-02-06
--From a press release - (Feb. 6, 2024 - Chicago) — Celebrating its 50th anniversary awarding recognition for Non-Equity theater, the Joseph Jefferson Awards announces its nominations for theater excellence among Non-Equity theater during the ...


 


Copyright © 2024 Windy City Media Group. All rights reserved.
Reprint by permission only. PDFs for back issues are downloadable from
our online archives.

Return postage must accompany all manuscripts, drawings, and
photographs submitted if they are to be returned, and no
responsibility may be assumed for unsolicited materials.

All rights to letters, art and photos sent to Nightspots
(Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago
Gay and Lesbian News and Feature Publication) will be treated
as unconditionally assigned for publication purposes and as such,
subject to editing and comment. The opinions expressed by the
columnists, cartoonists, letter writers, and commentators are
their own and do not necessarily reflect the position of Nightspots
(Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago Gay,
Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender News and Feature Publication).

The appearance of a name, image or photo of a person or group in
Nightspots (Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times
(a Chicago Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender News and Feature
Publication) does not indicate the sexual orientation of such
individuals or groups. While we encourage readers to support the
advertisers who make this newspaper possible, Nightspots (Chicago
GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago Gay, Lesbian
News and Feature Publication) cannot accept responsibility for
any advertising claims or promotions.

 
 

TRENDINGBREAKINGPHOTOS







Sponsor


 



Donate


About WCMG      Contact Us      Online Front  Page      Windy City  Times      Nightspots
Identity      BLACKlines      En La Vida      Archives      Advanced Search     
Windy City Queercast      Queercast Archives     
Press  Releases      Join WCMG  Email List      Email Blast      Blogs     
Upcoming Events      Todays Events      Ongoing Events      Bar Guide      Community Groups      In Memoriam     
Privacy Policy     

Windy City Media Group publishes Windy City Times,
The Bi-Weekly Voice of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Trans Community.
5315 N. Clark St. #192, Chicago, IL 60640-2113 • PH (773) 871-7610 • FAX (773) 871-7609.