Ten years after Brokeback Mountain, actor Jake Gyllenhaal was asked if he thought the landscape had changed for actors playing gay, according to LGBTQ Nation. Gyllenhaal told BET, "Oh definitely it's changed. I think playing a role and living a life are two very different things. I think telling stories, and all different stories, is what makes acting so great. It's why I was really proud of Brokeback Mountain and everything it had to say." He also called the U.S. Supreme Court's marriage-equality decision "beautiful."
Speaking of Gyllenhaal, he is about to secure an offer to star in Stronger, Lionsgate's drama about Jeff Bauman, who survived the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing, according to TheWrap. Gyllenhaal is in talks to play Bauman, who was cheering for his girlfriend at the finish line and lost both of his legs in the tragic terrorist attack, although he helped identify Dzhokhar Tsarnaev as soon as he emerged from surgery.
Mary J. Blige and Queen Latifah have been cast in NBC's live version of the musical The Wiz, TheWrap reported. Blige will play Evillene, the Wicked Witch of the West, who holds sway over the Winkies and the Winged Monkeys that do her bidding. ( She captures Dorothy and her friends to avenge the unintentional murder of her evil sister, Evvamean, and to get back the powerful silver slippers given to Dorothy by the Good Witch of the North. ) Latifah will star as the Wiz, the mysterious and powerful wizard who holds the keys to the Emerald City.
Speaking of The Wiz, reports claiming Beyonce is likely on board are not currently true, EW.com noted. Beyonce has reportedly passed twice on playing Glinda. However,there's always a chance that NBC might circle back with another offer.
Cinemax has canceled Banshee, and the upcoming fourth season of the drama will be its last, according to TheWrap. Banshee, which Alan Ball ( Six Feet Under ) co-executive-produced, follows Antony Starr as as a mysterious ex-convict who assumed the identity of Lucas Hood, a small Amish country town sheriff who's murdered. Quickly, he discovers that this town is full of dangers, warring factions and, like him, secrets.
Chris Pine has closed a deal to play Steve Trevor opposite Gal Gadot in Wonder Woman, TheWrap reported. Pine joins the DC Movie Universe in a multi-picture deal that includes sequel options, according to insiders. Patty Jenkins is directing Wonder Woman, which Zack Snyder and Deborah Snyder are producing with Charles Roven and Richard Suckle of Atlas Entertainment.
Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson spoke about Hulk Hogan's racist rant during the Television Critics Association Summer Press Tour, TheWrap noted. ( The rant also included anti-gay slurs, according to some reports. ) "Yeah, I saw that. I was pretty disappointed with what I heard, like all of us, by the way," Johnson, a former pro wrestler, told reporters. "I was really disappointed in him."
Detroit woman Sophia Eggleston claims she is the real-life version of Empire diva Cookie Lyon, and has filed a $300-million lawsuit against co-creator Lee Daniels and Fox, accusing them of stealing her life story for their hit show, Page Six reported. Eggleston, 53—who says in the suit she was a "drug kingpin" who did jail time for manslaughter for placing a "hit" on a man—claims she wrote her life story into a memoir about her "early drug lifestyle" titled The Hidden Hand. Her copyright suit filed in U.S. District Court in Michigan says she got a call from screenwriter Rita Miller several months after meeting her, saying she was going to pitch her story to Daniels.
At a Starbucks in the super-gay Los Angeles neighborhood of West Hollywood, three men started yelling "faggot" for no apparent reason, Out.com noted. However, according to eyewitness Joseph Daniels, out actor Leslie Jordan ( Will & Grace ) followed the men outside—and threw his drink at one guy as the man lunged at the entertainer. Also, deputies reportedly urged the victims of the insults not to file charges against the others, saying that if they did, the men screaming "faggots" could accuse Jordan of assault for throwing his coffee at one of them—and the deputies would have to arrest Jordan.
Academy Award winner Lupita Nyong'o will star at off-Broadway's Public Theater in Eclipsed, the 2009 play by Walking Dead actress Danai Gurira, Variety reported. Nyong'o, who took home the Oscar for her performance in 2013 film 12 Years a Slave, will make her New York stage debut in the fall production. The Public—the major off-Broadway non-profit that runs Shakespeare in the Park and launched the musical Hamilton—had Anne Hathaway appear there earlier this year in Grounded.
Orange Is the New Black star Lea DeLaria spoke to the Television Critics Association recently about the success of the Netflix series, but also took the opportunity to talk about her own identity as well, NewNowNext.com noted. "Butches have a shared life experience, and you saw all of it in Boo's backstory," DeLaria said. "My own community ostracizes me and thinks of nelly fags and butch lesbians as sort of the pariahs of the community." She went on to share how her own experience was—fortunately, for her—different than Big Boo's, her character on the show. DeLaria had some positive things to say as well, suggesting that the LGBT community is making big strides in the right direction.
Tom Cruise's devotion to Scientology is well-known, and now he has been immortalized with a naked shroud in his likeness, according to an Inquisitr item that cites E! Online. The Tom Cruise Scientology shroud—created by artist Daniel Edwards to commemorate the actor's 25 years in the Church of Scientology—as caught attention, in part, because it features genitals. The shroud was unveiled at a pop-up Church of Scientology near the church's headquarters in Clearwater, Florida. It measures 14 feet by three feet, and the back is just as detailed as the front. However, it's not known if Cruise posed nude for the shroud's creation.
TV icon Valerie Harper was reportedly rushed to the hospital after collapsing backstage before a theater performance, People reported. The fire department found Harper, 75, unconscious at her show Nice Work If You Can Get It in Ogunquit, Maine. Harper, best known for her work on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, beat lung cancer in 2009 but revealed in 2013 she is battling terminal brain cancer. The Ogunquit Playhouse announced that Academy Award-nominated actress Brenda Vaccaro will be taking over the role of Millicent Winter through the Aug. 15 end of the play's run.
HBO will air two specials featuring the rock band U2, TheWrap reported. First a behind-the-scenes documentary following the band and the team behind their "iNNOCENCE + eXPERIENCE" world tour will air Nov. 7. A week later, on Nov. 14, the network will air the band's concert special, recorded the same day at the Bercy Arena in Paris.
Singer Hayley Kiyoko is garnering attention for her LGBT-positive music video for her single "Girls Like Girls," MTV.com noted. The music video, which Kiyoko co-directed with Austin S. Winchell, was shot shoestring budget and starred young up-and-comers Stefanie Scott and Kelsey Chow as two best friends who shared everything—including clothes, cigarettes and lingering glances. Kiyoko said, "You're seeing an innocent normal, 18-year-old girl just going through these feelings and then the song, and its lyrics, become this inner dialogue for her, where this is what she's really thinking in her mind: This is what she really wants."
Kiehl's Since 1851's journey with amfAR, The Foundation for AIDS Research on the 6th annual Kiehl's LifeRide for amfAR—a 12-day, multi-stop charity motorcycle journey aimed to raise awareness and funds to support cure-focused HIV research—will take place Aug. 3-15, according to a press release. Chris Salgardo, president of Kiehl's USA, and Kevin Robert Frost, CEO of amfAR, will lead celebrity riders such as actor Gilles Marini, rugby champion/anti-bullying advocate Ben Cohen and actress Tricia Helfer.
Could Jon Snow really be returning from the dead on the show Game of Thrones? That's the scuttlebutt after a photograph surfaced of actor Kit Harington in Belfast, where the show films some of its scenes. People have speculated on everything from Snow being dead ( with Harington visiting friends on set ) to the character being resurrected to the actor filming a flashback scene.
Michael Sam will make his debut with the Montreal Alouettes in August, but his coach won't give an exact date, the Associated Press reported. Coach Tom Higgins has said the openly gay defensive end could compete in any of the five games in August. Sam missed two weeks of training camp for personal reasons ( amid rumors that he and his fiance have split, other sources have reported ), returned June 29 and has been getting into shape.
Actress Jennifer Beals ( Flashdance; TV's The L Word ) has been accused of locking her dog in a hot car—a charge she says is just not true, according to CNN. A man named Dustin Goetz saw the dog panting in the car and confronted Beals about the situation when she returned. Goetz said he decided to report the incident to police. Beals said it was only 73 degrees that day and that she "rolled all four windows down and left the car for five minutes to pick up laundry, my car visible to me the entire time."
Amy Schumer broke her funny-girl persona, becoming teary-eyed as she vowed to fight for tougher gun laws after a deadly shooting broke out in a Louisiana movie theater that was playing her summer blockbuster, Trainwreck, according to Page Six. "I'm not sure why this man [the gunman] chose my movie to end those two beautiful lives and injure nine others, but it was very personal for me," she said. Schumer and her second cousin, Sen. Charles Schumer, announced a three-pronged plan that would increase background checks nationwide as well as make it more difficult for the mentally ill and violent criminals to get their hands on guns.
Openly gay radio personality Elvis Duran recently talked with People magazine about losing 100 lbs. The radio superstar of "Elvis Duran and the Morning Show" on Z100 said after moving to New York City from New Jersey, his health "went down." After Dr. Mehmet Oz suggested he go to a hospital, Duran got gastric-bypass surgery last December. "You do have to change the way you look at everything," he said. "You get full much quicker. It's good. … The problem is my clothes. My ass is saggy in the jeans now."
Lady Gaga posted an Instagram photo of herself wearing a nude bodysuit and Alexander McQueen python armadillo platform stiletto ankle boots, according to E! Online. She's also holding two more pairs of the boots—and they were apparently all gifts from her fiance, Chicago Fire actor Taylor Kinney. Reportedly, the shoes cost almost $300,000.
As Wolfe Video celebrates its 30th anniversary, the company has made a donation to the June Mazer Lesbian Archives—depositing a complete DVD library of every lesbian film Wolfe has released since 1985, according to a press release. This library of approximately 100 lesbian movies ranges from classics like Desert Hearts to more recent acclaimed hits like Mosquita & Mari, Reaching for the Moon, Kiss Me and the company's newest release, Of Girls and Horses. All of the DVDs will be available for researchers at the archives.
Downton Abbey will get its own float at the Rose Bowl Parade on Jan. 1, to plug the PBS hit drama's final season debut two nights later, Deadline reported. PBS chief Paula Kerger, announcing the season-six kickoff stunt, called it a "beautiful sendoff," but declined to give any more details except that "it's a float and will have a lot of flowers on it and it will be a Downton Abbey theme.
Supermodel/actress Cara Delevingne had a run-in of sorts with anchors with the show Good Day Sacramento, TheWrap noted. Delevingne, promoting her movie Paper Towns, wound up being mocked by the crew after a brief but exceedingly awkward exchange. "Are you just exhausted?" one local news anchor asked, after becoming annoyed by Delevingne's weariness. After Delevingne said she was irritated by the anchors, one shot back, "We'll let you go then, how 'bout that? Why don't you go take a little nap, maybe get a Red Bull?"
Former pro baseball player and Celebrity Apprentice contestant Jose Canseco plans to show his support for former Olympic decathlon gold medalist Caitlyn Jenner's decision to come out as transgender by dressing up and living as a female for seven days, The New York Daily News reported. Canseco admitted he didn't fully understand Jenner's transition at first, but says he's had a change of heart. In 2005, he wrote the New York Times bestseller Juiced, which blew the lid off baseball's steroid culture.
Rapper Macklemore ( who performs the marriage-equality anthem "Same Love" with Ryan Lewis and Mary Lambert ) has revealed that he suffered a drug relapse in 2014, People noted. "I held it together for a while," he told Complex. "But, eventually, I stopped going to my 12-step meetings. I was burnt out. I was super-stressed." The rapper said he set himself back on track when he found out that his fiancee, Tricia Davis, was expecting.
Channing Tatum has closed his deal to star in 20th Century Fox's superhero movie Gambit, TheWrap reported. The move came just days after TheWrap exclusively reported that the deal between the actor and studio for the X-Men spinoff was in jeopardy.
Chris Hemsworth bulked up to get the body of a Norse god in Thor: The Dark World but, for his latest film that's out in December, he subsisted on 500-calorie-a-day diet, US Weekly noted. Starring in Ron Howard's action-adventure flick In the Heart of the Sea, about the real-life disaster that inspired Moby Dick, Hemsworth plays first mate Owen Chase. "We have to shoot the really skinny stuff where we drop down to 5, 6, 700 calories a day, [for] a good three or four weeks and it's going to be pretty uncomfortable, but we'll be together in our misery," Hemsworth told Entertainment Tonight of his costars Cillian Murphy, Ben Whishaw and Paul Anderson.
In addition to the Hulk Hogan's racist rant heard in a sex tape filmed eight years ago, he's now being slammed for bashing gay people in the same video, The New York Daily News noted. The disgraced wrestler can be heard using the F-word in the same unauthorized XXX tape that included his rant about Black people and use of the N-word that got him fired from the WWE. Interestingly enough, Hulk defended homosexuality in 2012 when ex-wife Linda Hogan accused him of having an affair with fellow wrestler Brutus Beefcake.
Janae Marie Kroc, the world record-holding bodybuilding star and record-smashing powerlifter, has come out as transgender, Advocate.com noted. ( She was formerly known as Matt Kroc. ) Kroc, 42, is now describing herself as both trans and gender-fluid and, according to a report, living in both genders. Kroc, who has three sons, said in her statement she was still undecided about whether to fully transition and live as a woman full-time.
Next April, a two-week celebration of Broadway, titled "Project B-Way/95," will be part of the 37th season of programming at New York's Symphony Space, Playbill noted. Highlights of the tribute to The Great White Way include a concert by two-time Tony winner Patti LuPone; a free, day-long tribute to the work of Oscar-winning composer Stephen Schwartz; a discussion of race and diversity found on the New York stage; and more.
English style icon Jane Birkin wants her name taken off Hermes crocodile handbags, Page Six noted. "Having been alerted to the cruel practices reserved for crocodiles during their slaughter to make Hermès handbags carrying my name. I have asked Hermès to de-baptize the Birkin Croco until better practices in line with international norms can be put in place," she said. The exotic version costs from $36,000 to $432,000.
Troubled Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Kim Richards was reportedly arrested for shoplifting in Los Angeles, People reported. The Van Nuys Police Department told Entertainment Tonight that Richards was booked and spent the night in jail before being released on $5,000 bail. TMZ reported that Richards was detained by a security guard at Target for allegedly trying to carry out items worth more than $600.
Leolah Brown, the sister of Bobby Brown, spoke to reporters after walking out of the private funeral for her niece, Bobbi Kristina Brown, in Alpharetta, Georgia, according to TheWrap. Brown said that she left during the eulogy being given by Bobby Kristina's maternal aunt, Pat Houston, the sister-in-law and former manager of the late Whitney Houston. "Whitney will haunt Pat Houston from the grave," Leolah Brown said to reporters. "She will haunt her." Other family members claimed that Leolah Brown was removed from the service by security after interrupting the eulogy.
Luke Perry—who was catapulted to fame as the brooding Dylan McKay on Aaron Spelling's iconic '90s series Beverly Hills, 90210—doesn't really want to talk about the show, according to TheWrap. At the Television Critics Association summer press tour, the actor was asked whether he would be watching Lifetime's Unauthorized Beverly Hills, 90210 Tell-All. "I don't think about it," the actor responded. Perry later said the original show is "just not relevant to anything I'm doing."
QFlix, Philadelphia's LGBT film festival, ran last month, opening with Beautiful Something and closing with the area premiere of writer/director Joey Kuhn's Those People, Philadelphia Gay News noted. The Philly-set Beautiful Something—starring actors such as Colman Domingo and Brian Sheppard—follows a handful of characters over the course of a single day. A few of the other movies shown during the festival included All Yours, the Fallon Fox documentary Game Face and Seed Money, a portrait of Falcon Studios' Chuck Holmes.
The first new album in decades from legendary vocalist Darlene Love, Introducing Darlene Love, is available for pre-order at iTunes, Google Play and Amazon, according to a press release. Elvis Costello and Bruce Springsteen contribute two tracks each to the 14-song album, which also includes tunes such as "Love Kept Us Foolin' Around" ( Linda Perry ), "Who Under Heaven" ( Jimmy Webb ) and "River Deep, Mountain High" ( Phil Spector/Jeff Barry/Ellie Greenwich ).
Katy Perry must wait to buy a $15-million former convent from the Los Angeles archbishop as a judge refused, for now, to evict a local developer who bought it last month from disgruntled nuns, Bloomburg Business reported. The judge also said the archbishop can't sell it to the pop diva while the lawsuit is unresolved. California Superior Court Judge James C. Chalfant set another hearing for Sept. 15, ordering the lawyers to provide him with proposals for an intermediate remedy that would be best for the five remaining Sisters of the Most Holy and Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
