This is not a drill: Fun Home is going to be a movie. The autobiographical, bittersweet musical about a young lesbian’s coming-of-age in her family’s funeral-home business – one run by her difficult yet loving and deeply closeted father – will continue its evolution from Alison Bechdel-created graphic memoir to Tony Award-winning stage musical to big-screen production, thanks to producer Jake Gyllenhaal. The musical, adapted by Lisa Kron and Jeanine Tesori, will also star Gyllenhaal as the father. Every time a queer project gets a big screen push, we worry a little that heterosexual hands will dilute their strength, but we trust the Brokeback Mountain star here. He’s a proven ally and clearly knows that we’re a picky population when it comes to our stories being told well. So far there’s no other cast, no production information or release date, but we can wait patiently for something worth waiting for.
More Indya Moore! The transgender, non-binary actor who plays model Angel Evangelista on Pose has a new side gig and we’re very happy about that. They’re the voice of Shep, a non-binary character introduced in Steven Universe: Future, the continuation of Cartoon Network’s queer-inclusive animated series Steven Universe. The groundbreaking original series about the magical space adventures of a young boy who is half-human, half-alien already featured characters who were transgender and intersex – imagine, if you can, if Peppermint Patty and Scooby Doo’s Velma had actually been written as lesbians and what that would have meant to earlier generations of queer kids – and the new show upholds the foregrounding of queer characters leading lots of the action. The story takes place in Steven’s adolescence and there’s little question that it will continue to push the boundaries of cartoons aimed at young audiences. The future is here.
Romeo San Vicente knows that Jake Gyllenhaal has our back!