Вроде есть у меня, не помню точно(
Источник

Tugging On Superman's Cape
An Interview With Brad Fraser
by Michael D. Klemm
Reprinted from Outcome, April, 2004

часть о QAF

Outcome: I've been a fan of Queer as Folk as far back as the British version. As the American show went into its third season I feared that it might get stale. And then I saw your name in the credits as sсript editor. What were your contributions to QAF? Are you in part responsible for the darker turn it took last season?

Fraser: You know, a lot of people say that. But there are five writers, and Ron Cowen and Dan Lipman - the producers and head writers, and we're all co-creators. I definitely have an influence, and I definitely have a darker take on things. But generally, I'm the guy who says "no, we have to go farther, we have to go out there and really explore it. We can't just let it be a TV thing where we wipe it away next week." I'm the continuity police in the room. I really am quite psychotic about everything having to add up. The characters cannot make a decision just because it helps the story, when it doesn't really fit with their characters. Every sсript is a group effort. and Dan and Ron have the final say. But for the most part I think they look at me as the guy - Dan said it best one day when he said "I've never seen anyone who has as little fear as you when it comes to telling a story."

Outcome: Did they contact you or did you contact them?

Fraser: They contacted me. What I don't think they realized was that Unidentified Human Remains was really big in England, and particularly in Manchester where [British QAF creator] Russell Davies lived. When I saw the English version of the show, the relationship between Stuart and the younger boy was much like David and Kane [in Remains], and there was the scene on the rooftop, and I thought "Gee, I've had an influence on this show of some kind." And then all of a sudden two years later there I am being offered a chance to write for the new show. But I think that in some ways I helped inspire the English version and so it's gone kinda full circle.

Outcome: Brian and Debbie bonded over a joint in one of the two episodes that you wrote, and I thought it was one of the best scenes of the series. It has you written all over it.

Fraser: Thank you. I actually pitched that one because we knew Brian and Debbie had to make up after the conflict they were having all season and we weren't sure how to break that barrier and I said let's have them smoke up because Brian smokes dope all the time and Debbie is an ex-hippie. We don't always get to write such good character-based scenes, and when I wrote the scene, it just flowed out of me.

@темы: Интересная информация, QAF, Интервью

Источник

Для журнала GLT - Issue 809 June 26, 2003

‘QAF’s’ Michael talks about celebrity and kissing men as a straight actor
BY REX WOCKNER
Published Thursday, 26-Jun-2003

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Comedian Hal Sparks, best-known these days for his portrayal of Michael Novotny on Showtime’s “Queer As Folk” (QAF), is touring the country this summer with a stand-up comedy act. Sparks will perform this weekend at the Comedy Store in La Jolla, Friday, June 27, and Saturday, June 28. The Gay and Lesbian Times spoke with Sparks recently about sex, politics, religion and having to kiss boys all the time when you’re straight.
Gay and Lesbian Times: Tell me about your summer show.
Hal Sparks: I’ve been doing stand-up since I was 15-years-old.... I have a poli-sci bent on what I say, but my three main topics are the three topics that you’re not supposed to talk over with strangers: sex, politics and religion.
GLT: [What do you think] about Ontario — where “Queer As Folk” is filmed — legalizing full marriage for same-sex couples the other day?
HS: I think it’s fantastic. It’s funny they’re not going to recognize it here in America, but if a Canadian couple who’s married comes down here, they can be recognized. It’s real weird.
GLT: Has SARS freaked out the cast at all?
HS: We’ll see when we come back. We were just finishing up when it was kind of on the horizon. I have no problem with it whatsoever.
GLT: [What are your feelings about] Religion?
HS: My big thing is beware of any religion that comes from a desert because the psychology of people living in the desert will be transferred onto their religious
experience — and that’s a horrible way to live. These people scare me.
GLT: You’re not a big fan of George W.
HS: Not really, but it’s less about him as a person and more about an idea. The Republicans always seem to try and run the country as a business. The problem is, you can’t fire the poor. So they try to pretend to — they cut them off from benefits and stuff.
GLT: When you venture into gay neighborhoods, do you find you have a new kind of celebrity these days?
HS: Yeah. I used to go up and hang out in San Francisco all the time because I have friends who went to Berkeley and I love going to Chinatown. But now I can’t stop at an intersection.... I don’t have a problem with it, but it’s a little overwhelming.
GLT: A lot of gay guys I know would find it icky to kiss a girl. Did you have to deal with an “ick factor” in getting used to kissing boys all the time for the series?
HS: Absolutely. I still do. I don’t think the “ick factor” would ever go away for a gay man because it’s just contrary to their nature. It’s not that women are bad, it’s just that they have no interest, and mine is the same way. Definitely there’s an ick factor. It’s a little bit like French-kissing your dad. When you don’t have the internal impetus that makes you gay in the first place, you’re kind of flying blind in that area. I don’t get it. But then that’s even more evidence, I think, for the argument that people should be allowed to be who they are. In the same way I could never understand the appeal of that, I wouldn’t expect a gay man or woman to understand the appeal of what I do.
GLT: Have you had any gay surprises doing “Queer As Folk?”
HS: I didn’t know gay men had sex facing each other. That was a big surprise. It seems logical now, but I’d just never thought about it. It looks like it would rack you up. It looks painful. And I realized the gay club world isn’t that different from the straight club
world, really. There’s just this element of propriety that’s forced on the straight club world by years of social norms that isn’t necessarily there in gay clubs.
GLT: QAF’s Babylon is not your typical gay bar. Usually you only find backrooms in hardcore leather bars in the largest cities.
HS: Not in Pittsburgh in the only gay dance club there.
“Definitely there’s an ick factor. It’s a little bit like French Kissing your dad...”
GLT: Right. A twink club with a backroom is almost unheard of. What’s the coolest thing about working on “Queer As Folk?”
HS: Working with Sharon Gless. She’s a fantastic woman. I enjoy snow, so I don’t mind shooting in Toronto. Ultimately it’s great to be part of something that you know is historic. There’s not a lot of opportunity, especially with television, to do something and go, “Wow, this is a first on American television.” Our show’s really the only one that goes all the way, opening up the world for other people.
GLT: The show is sometimes criticized for being unrepresentative of the gay world.
HS: I think that if you take a group [of people] representative of a minority but they’re the most extreme almost in the negative ... and you make them lovable and you understand their struggle and their world and you start to care about them — and their
world is supposedly the most sexual, the least personal, the lowest form of gay life or whatever — then learning to love the average gay person is so much easier. You can see them as people almost quicker after having seen the extreme almost in the negative.
GLT: That’s an interesting take on it. Do you and Michael Novotny have anything in common?
HS: Almost nothing. I like comic books but not as much as he does, certainly.... I’m very commanding in my life — I’m more akin to Brian in my self-direction.
GLT: Michael is such a wet noodle sometimes that one wants to throw something at the TV set.
HS: Tell me about it. I’m the one who has to read the scripts the week before and then do it. But with any drama, you have to start low to get high. To show growth, you have to start down.... There’s a lot of chance for him to become a man at the end of this, which is the whole point. The point is showing these boys becoming men in the context of this world.
GLT: Half of “QAF’s” viewers these days are straight women. It turns out women like soft- porn as well.
HS: More than half. But it doesn’t feel soft when you’re doing it. That’s not a pun.
GLT: There are three gay actors on the series.
HS: Bobby Gant and Peter [Paige] and Randy [Harrison]. There are a couple of others that may or may not be. We make it a point not to comment on anybody who isn’t
out or open.
GLT: Peter can say so much with a one-second facial expression.
HS: He’s fantastic. None of us are going to get an Emmy on this show, ever, because of the content. But if anybody deserves one it’s Peter and Sharon.... And I think some of the writers deserve some recognition for the guts that they’ve shown for portraying some of
the story lines — and not in the most politically correct way.
GLT: There’s no question QAF delves into tons of issues in the gay world that have never been shown on TV before.
HS: Even “Sex and the City” is never going to handle the kind of issues we handle.
GLT: Any final words about your summer stand-up tour?
HS: I’m cute and hilarious. That’s really all you need to know.... It’s a lot of goofy fun. It’s more akin to what I did on Talk Soup, and that’s what people can kind of expect.

Заинтересовал абзац:
«GLT: There are three gay actors on the series.
HS: Bobby Gant and Peter [Paige] and Randy [Harrison]. There are a couple of others that may or may not be. We make it a point not to comment on anybody who isn’t out or open.»
О ком это он, интересно?

@темы: Хэл Спаркс, Интервью

Michael Lewis MacLennan Канадский драматург, был исполнительным продюсером и сценаристом шоу со 2 по 5 сезон.

Его интервью журналу GayCalgary® Magazine, March 2009, page 38

Looking back at Queer as Folk
Producer & Writer Reflects on Influential Gay Show

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Interview by Jason Clevett
(From GayCalgary® Magazine, March 2009, page 38)

From 2000 to 2005, the GLBT community and a lot of straight women were glued to their TV sets to watch the groundbreaking series Queer as Folk. Always thought provoking, at times controversial, and definitely revolutionary, at this point it is still too soon to know its long-term impact.

Canadian playwright Michael Lewis MacLennan was an executive producer and writer on the show from season 2 to its final fifth season. MacLennan recently chatted with GayCalgary and Edmonton Magazine to promote his play The Good Egg as part of the Enbridge playRites Festival that ran last month. In addition to QAF, he has been involved in Godiva’s, jPod, and Being Erica. He took some time to talk about his uniquely queer TV experience.

“They actually fired all of the writers off the first season so it was a whole new crop who were totally terrified and wondering if you were going to make it,” he recalled.

As a gay writer, he has always included gay characters in his shows - The Good Egg is his first to not include one. We asked how he has found, over the progression of his career, the acceptance of gay characters, shows and people, from the general public.

”I think there are two sides to that answer. There is a tremendous curiosity and appetite for that world. Queer as Folk was the number one rated show on Showtime in the United States. You aren’t anybody’s top rated show if you have a fraction of gay people watching it. In fact gay audiences were the hardest on the show. People enjoyed it and wanted to watch it. Women really responded to those characters without getting too wrapped up in them, and emotionally identifying with the woman getting treated badly by the man. It was a response to good storytelling. The first year was more about, oh my god look what we are seeing on television. But that isn’t going to keep people coming back week after week. It was about getting involved with the characters. It did wonders to create tolerance.”

The other side of the answer is the gay community itself, which gave the show a lot of flack.

“I can’t tell you how many people said things like, why do you have to show gay people in bath houses? Even though it was the first gay show that showed people adopting children, going back to school, getting justice against violence, overcoming addiction, using wealth to do good there would always be the, why do you have to show the guy having sex. I was like, guess what, you go to the bath houses. I know you do. They would reply, yeah I do but I don’t want people knowing that. There was this sense of, represent us but only do it using certain parameters. It was a TV show. Whose life is like Gossip Girl? Shows like that are way less realistic than Queer as Folk. Life is not a TV show, if your or my life was on TV I don’t think it would run for five years. “

What is acceptable for television and mainstream film has certainly come a long way, but not as quickly as one would expect, MacLennan says.

“I think that on the one hand it is getting accepted into modern popular culture. I find it is hard to point to a trend and see beyond exceptions to the rule. Whenever I have pitched things that aren’t even as gay as Queer as Folk, artistic directors at theatre companies tend to blanche at them. It is sort of like the Brokeback phenomenon. After that came out everyone expected a rise in gay movies, but we haven’t seen a big Hollywood gay film again until Milk. It is always seen as these strange exceptions to the rule but the rule never seems to change.”

He speaks from experience as a gay playwright, whose work contained gay themes and characters.

”I have been a widely produced playwright so I am not saying this out of sour grapes. But I have been told that a lot of my plays would be more widely programmed if they didn’t have so much gay content. So that was one of the challenges I gave myself with The Good Egg, to write about things I was passionate about and were socially relevant and also a lot of fun, and to do it in a way that doesn’t have any explicitly gay characters in it.”

Over the course of the five years, the show and its characters matured.

“If you look at that first year, the things they were doing were baser kinds of issues, there was more of a reveling of, look how much we can scandalize our viewership. When we got to places like being in a relationship where you are negative and they are positive, or fostering a child, changing a career, divorce…sometimes it wasn’t specifically gay issues. The characters themselves were growing up. I think that the show, for those that stuck with it, really allowed the characters to evolve. The exploration of the issues got more out there.”

The final season was one in which, in addition to the characters’ growth, much of the show was very political. MacLennan remembers the first meeting with the other writers to plan out the show.

“This was when Bush was at the height of his evilness. We were a room largely of Americans and we were really despairing what was going on in the world. I said, we have the opportunity right now to talk about things going on politically in the world and within the gay community and exposing a lot of hypocrisy. Nobody is stopping us so why don’t we be fearless? That last season we really went for it in terms of some of the issues that we explored and the discussions that we brought up. You are never going to see that on any show in terms of how frankly political we were. It exists as a bit of a time capsule in a way, at looking at that period of gay history. I don’t think it is dated yet but I think there will be a time when people will look at the show and go, wow there was a time when it was an issue to adopt? Those things will very soon be taken for granted.’

What is startling in retrospect about the final season is that much of it focused on a battle against “Proposition 14” a fictitious threat to outlaw gay marriage, adoption and civil rights. This was mirrored in several states in the 2008 election, most publicly with Proposition 8 in California.

“There was that hypocrisy within the political thing where people knew this would get votes. Even if they didn’t believe in the issues themselves they knew it was politically expedient to throw the queers under the train.”

Time will tell what impact Queer as Folk will have, on the gay rights movement, popular culture, acceptance, and even other television shows.

“We were the first show to have a gay marriage, to show gay adoption, to talk about the whole arrangement with Brian, Melanie and Lindsay. Now, what show doesn’t have someone being a sperm donor? At the time those things had never been done before. It is too bad that Queer as Folk doesn’t get a little more credit for it. When it first came out it got a bit of a critical drubbing and the gays were hard on the show. So far no one is really judging it well but I do think it will play an important role.”

“For me it is something that I am most proud of in my career. It taught me a great deal about not only being a writer but being a citizen and how you create something that is entertaining and compelling but also has some degree of social purpose. Ultimately it is a TV show and people have to enjoy themselves – good songs, hot bodies, juicy storylines – but within that there’s ways of really tackling some of the other issues.“

@темы: Интересная информация, QAF, Интервью

Это интервью уже было, но давно. Так оно и осталось непереведенным.
Хорошее, интересное ивью, прочитав его можно понять характер Хэла, его отношение к жизни и Квирам.
Слышала в последнее время несколько высказываний о, якобы, гомофобии Хэла, поэтому запощу ивью, если кому интересно, почитайте.
Источник

Actor, comedian and musician talks with O&AN about life after ‘Queer as Folk,' also to appear on June episode of O&A Today
June 1, 2007
Jarvis Handy

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Sparks will perform at Zanies Nashville June 1 and 2. He will also appear on O&A Today this month.
It was ground-breaking, riveting and scandalously salacious.

After HBO’s prison drama OZ tested America’s threshold for male nudity and same gender sex, the bulldozer that was Queer as Folk pushed audiences ever further, bringing them face to screen with both a realistic and stereotypical group of four gay friends living in Pittsburgh, Penn.

Thirty-seven year old Hal Sparks was the central character ‘Michael Novotny’, an adorably puerile mama’s boy in his late 20s/early 30s, who, at the show’s premiere, seemed somewhere between puberty and his first day of high school. Hal’s character spent the first season lusting after his more experienced boyhood friend and gigolo, Brain, who just couldn’t see past the children’s underwear with blue lining that Michael still wore.

Two years after the show’s series finale, it’s no “where are they now?” story with Hal Sparks. He has been performing with his band, featured on “Celebrity Duets” and continues his VH1 television appearances (from which he says he is most often recognized). In the shadow of such a culture changing series and crossover success, the question remains, how has it affected the career of a straight man playing gay in such a prominent role?

O&A: As a straight guy, are you tired of being related to gay culture? Do other celebrities make jokes about all your money being gay money?

Sparks: No, actually I don’t think I would’ve taken the project if I was ever really concerned. I’ve been involved in the AIDS Walk for longer than I was on the show. I get more flack, I guess, about that from the gay community than support. Like, I must be tired of it because I’m straight. I must be wanting to get away from it because I am, than the reality. It’s really an awkward thing because I don’t know how one would handle it. It’s kinda like being on a date with someone, and they constantly don’t understand why you’re sitting across from them at dinner. It’s like, ‘I’m being nice, I’m being myself.’

O&A: You started in the business back in 1986-87 around the age of 17. How did you get started?

Sparks: I started at 15 doing stand up. I wasn’t really qualified to do anything else. I was poor when I grew up in Kentucky. Then I moved to Chicago to live with my dad, and he rented a guest house near this really affluent high school so that I could go to it. Most of this kids there who were in the acting program had been acting since they were two years old. I started in stand-up basically, which is really odd for anybody at that age. I won the “Funniest Teenager in Chicago Contest” when I was seventeen and that just opened up a lot of doors.

O&A: Where did your funny come from?

Sparks: Let’s never underestimate the power of poverty and lack of education for creating a sense of humor. I didn’t have a TV until I moved to Chicago, so I grew up listening to comedy records. I listened to Richard Pryor, George Carlin, Steve Martin, Godfrey Cambridge, Shelly Berman and Woody Allen stand-up records, and Red Foxx.

O&A: When fans see you on the street, what work do they usually recognize you from?

Sparks: Talk Soup and I Love the 80’s on VH1 because those are the things that had the biggest reach.

O&A: I’m sure that by now, we don’t have to tell you that the makers of QAF (Queer as Folk) changed American culture and opened the gates to a flood of gays on television. There was virtually nothing gay on American television before QAF, and even with the on-slot of “gay” shows, the characters on those shows take more cliché roles, or are presented as the token gays, only present to lure a gay audience seeking representation in the media. What are you most proud of having been part of a culturally significant show?

Sparks: I think the portrayal of the Ben and Michael relationship as a [HIV] positive/negative couple, because that was the first time that was ever on television in America. It was the first time I ever remember it being in anything available to mainstream America. And then dealing with the issue of adopting kids too. And I think because the Michael character and the Ben character were the kind of people that you might know from the office, there was nothing extraordinary about their personality that would immediately peg them as gay, and so it was an easy crossover for a lot of the straight audience to understand it and get it. I catch a lot of shit for constantly reminding people that I’m straight, but that’s just how my life is. My life will remind you that I’m straight. The same way that Harvey Fierstein’s will remind you that he’s gay. You know what I mean--it’s just who you are.

I really honestly have to say that sexuality is not a choice. But one of the reasons why I think it’s healthy to constantly remind people is because the vast majority of straight people think gay is contagious. They think it’s either a bad choice, an immoral choice, or they think it’s something you catch, and that’s where their biggest fear comes from. Homophobia is largely rooted in the fear that you may become it yourself, or that it will take you over without your consent. I’ve been closer to it than probably any straight guy in the history of entertainment and in the end if I’m still myself; I’m still straight; I’m still me; then maybe that takes a bit of the fear away for those people. And they go, ‘It didn’t turn him gay, so maybe it’s not a lifestyle, maybe it is genetic or a choice a spirit makes before it enters the body on a metaphysical level,’ or whatever you wanna call it. ‘Maybe it is a birth right as opposed to something my religious book tells me based on ignorance.’

O&A: There was an obvious absence of people of color on the show, what do you attribute that to?

Sparks: In what limited experience I have in talking with our execs and a lot of the other writers, [the show reflected what is] in the community itself. Because depending on where you are, there are larger racial walls within the gay community than there are within the straight community. I think it’s mostly like a cultural thing. But also, you’re dealing with an honest portrayal of this group of friends who grew up together from basically the same neighborhood, the same area, in Pittsburgh. So the crossover’s gonna be fairly limited. In the same way that towns like Boston—there’s a certain level of racial segregation that’s still evident. And it’s not even by choice on the part of the people that live there, it’s just habit. People tend to clique together. The writers themselves [were] just writing characters that they knew personally, representative characters. Instead of going, ‘Let’s be all things to all people,’ which is entirely impossible, they kinda went ‘I knew this kinda person growing up, I’m gonna write that.’ We never really had somebody on that was transgender.

O&A: The show originally aired from late 2000 to 2005, a short five years while most others culturally significant series run for eight or nine years. Why do you personally think the show was canceled?

Sparks: Well, it wasn’t canceled for the record. The exec producers and Showtime had always intended for it to have a limited run. The show it was bought from, the British show, only had 10 episodes all together. From Ron and Dan’s point of view, it couldn’t go on forever and show character growth. It was impossible. If they were to grow into being men, it had to stop at some point. In a lot of ways it was like a five-year-long movie. When you have a drama, character change has to happen, or you’re on a failed drama.

O&A: Were you disappointed?

Sparks: Not at all, I thought we’d accomplished something great. I always knew that the benefit of the show would only be totally understood and respected about four years after it was over, and we’re almost at the two year mark. There’s also the illusion that as long as the show was on, the change that it was instigating was happening. Just cause a TV show is on doesn’t mean that the changes necessary to the social structure are occurring. It’s like having the West Wing on and pretending that Martin Sheen is really the President, and ignoring Bush. The thing with Queer as Folk is that if you can escape into this world and live as if, then it might keep you from the activism, the voting both, and engaging other people in your community and people in the straight community, and people in the bisexual/transgender community.

O&A: So you felt like the fantasy of Queer as Folk was such a lure for some people that it was a distraction from major issues that needed attention?

Sparks: No no, it would have been had it stayed on forever. It needed to instigate change, follow through on that change, show the growth of those characters, and be a leading voice in that respect. The show was not about perfect identification so that everybody in the gay community would find someone on the show like them. The show was about watching someone in your community become the better version of themselves, and maybe leaving an allegory that you could follow.

O&A: Since the show, your former costar Gale Harold (Brian) has done four films, including one with QAF alumni Michelle Clunie (Melanie). Randy Harrison (Justin) is continuing a successful theatre career with a nationwide tour. Scott Lowell (Ted) has done one film and just completed work on “Ping Pong Playa” alongside Peter Paige (Emmett), who himself wrote, produced, and directed Say Uncle. Thea Gill is a regular on Dante’s Cove and has completed two films.Many of your former cast mates are still working, and some are even working together. Which of them do you keep in touch with?

Sparks: Well, I’m friends with a few of them still. I see Robert Gant around town cause he lives in LA. Occasionally I see Harris Allen, who played my son on the show, when he comes into town, he’s Canadian, and Thea as well. But for the most part, I’ve just been doing my thing since the show ended. When you do a drama, no matter what it’s about, it eats up your life. You’re in that environment--15-hour-days, five-days-a-week, for five years straight pretty much. So, being a touring stand-up comedian since I was fifteen, and being a musician, choosing the world of acting in a lot of ways because of the variety that it offers, once you get out of any kind of long term contract you kinda wanna start defining yourself again. So in a lot of ways that’s just what I’ve been doing.

Randy, who played Justin, is touring doing Shakespeare right now. [He] lives in New York most of the time, so I just wouldn’t run into him. I think he’s a really talented, cool guy. As long as he’s gonna be on the road going to the Southern states doing Shakespeare, I doubt I’m gonna run into him unless we’re blocks away from the same venue and I’m doing stand-up or something.

O&A: So there wasn’t that bond where you intended to keep in contact as long distance friends?

Sparks: No, I don’t think so. I think because ultimately everybody came to the show for the right reasons, but [also] their own reasons. Politically, socially active, whatever you wanna call it--a pay check, whatever their reason for doing it was, they come and go with those reasons, and you’ll either bond with them or you don’t.

O&A: What was your worst experience working on the show?

Sparks: Umm, I dunno, death threats. We would have DVD signings—we got threats that there were gonna be people coming and throwing acid on us or doing whatever. Hardcore Christian right groups and just nut-cases in general. Someone believing that you should have your hands cut off like you were in Afghanistan, and getting mail about that from people in sections of the country where you were going in a couple of weeks.

O&A: Since then, you’ve been the most visible. I can probably turn on the TV right now and find you somewhere, so is it really as hard as they say coming off a highly successful show to find work, or are actors just pickier afterward?

Sparks: I think some of the actors absolutely found it harder after Queer as Folk to get mainstream work. The actors on the show who are actually gay had a harder time with gay casting directors not letting them be outside their character. There’s a bit of gay mafia [he laughs] in LA that is afraid to let them rise, or dismisses them outright as being their character, which is ironic I think.

O&A: If you were offered another gay role, completely different from ‘Michael’, and you thought the premise was original and had great potential, would you take it?

Sparks: No, not tomorrow. I’d do it in a few years though. I think it would to some degree water down the effect of ‘Michael’, and that’s another consideration. If I do another role within the next five years that’s very significant, there’s a section of the entire populous that will now write of the bridges that were built by Queer as Folk to some degree, and go ‘I knew it, he’s just gay, it’s just that’s what he does.’ And then they’ll go back to their lives. At that moment they stop having to confront who they really are. It’s the political decision that you have to make when you do that role as well. The long term effects of that role are more important than a pay check.

O&A: As you mentioned, you’re also well known for your work on the VH1 pop culture nostalgia series I Love the 70s, 80s, 90s, and all the follow-ups to those.

Sparks: Yea--I think I was the longest interview they did; in the very first one I did 10 hours just talking about all 10 years on the original I Love the 80’s series. I guess I was the first one to actually sit down and make jokes specifically, as opposed to just relating stories. I sat down and improvised for 10 hours straight. It kinda changed the face of the show according to the guys at VH1. Initially it was gonna be a mix of red carpet interviews and little sound bites and nothing else, and then it really became what Best Week Ever turned into because of me sitting there.

O&A: Did you get any free memorabilia for being part of the show?

Sparks: No. As a matter of fact, I brought my own Kiss dolls.

O&A: You front a band, Zero 1, with former Buffy creature affects artist Robert Hall and Miles Loretta, your cousin. Zero 1 was an established band before you competed on Celebrity Duets. A lot of artists have said that they would never consider going on that kind of show (a show that ranks their talent and is obviously a cliché model of American Idol), what was your motivation for taking part in that competition?

Sparks: Well, you could win $100,000 for charity if you won. That’s it. If you turn down a chance to give any charity $100,000 because you’re afraid of being embarrassed, you’re an asshole. You are so self-involved and so self-important that you wouldn’t even take a shot at getting $100,000. That’s a life changing amount of money for a cancer charity or a homeless charity. I mean, that’s a big deal. If you don’t take it seriously and try really hard, f**** you! I really have very low patience for people who are more concerned with saving face than helping people.

O&A: Is the self-titled album the first for Zero 1?

Sparks: Yea, that’s our first record. It’s available on the Web. I produced it and released it independently because I couldn’t figure out a good reason to give all of my money to a record label in exchange for next to nothing. And I think that’s the way a lot of indie artists are going these days--it’s just a smarter, better way to go. Plus it meant that my cousin—music is the only way he makes money, it means more of that money goes into his pocket quite frankly. But yea, people can order it on my Web site. And we may end up with distribution by the end of the year, but we’ll see.

O&A: Do you think it will be a challenge to convince audiences to hear you as an artist given your acting success?

Sparks: No, mainly because I play metal. And there’s an element of—it requires so much skill to play that style of music. It’s not like playing punk or pop music where you’re singing to a tape, it requires you knowing your instrument. I get judged the same way any metal band does. You go and you watch, and either I’m doing it or I am not. Actors who play pop, or blues, or punk, I kinda feel bad for because you could pretend to do those art forms a lot easier than you can, say, blue grass, or metal, or classical music because they’re not virtuoso styles.

O&A: Are you dating?

Sparks: Yea, I live with my girlfriend in LA. Her name’s Samantha.

O&A: Is she an entertainer?

Sparks: She’s a graphic designer. I stole her from her past relationship and made her move in with me. We’ve been living together for a year.

O&A: Are there plans for a ring in the future?

Sparks: I don’t do marriage. I don’t think the government has anything to do with my relationship.

O&A: If you were single and looking to date anyone in Hollywood, who would that be?

Sparks: I used to not find Angelina Jolie attractive, but then I found out that just recently her first boyfriend went on record and said that when they were young and they were having sex, it wasn’t good enough, so she started cutting him with a knife. Suddenly I found her attractive. I’m not a huge fan of knife play, but whatever.

O&A: If you were actually gay, who would you see yourself dating?

Sparks: That’s an impossible question.

O&A: Rob Thomas answered it.

Sparks: Who?

O&A: Rob Thomas of Matchbox 20.

Sparks: I’ve heard his music. In all honesty, Rob Thomas is a pop musician who was never on a show like Queer as Folk, and he doesn’t probably take the question as seriously as I do. To him it’s kind of a flippant little, ‘Oh, that’s cute!’

O&A: Alright. If you had a “man-crush”, who would you say you have a “man-crush” on?

Sparks: Oh, well that’s totally different. Me! I’m the best kisser I know, I have a fantastic body, I think I know myself very well, so I think I’d get along with me.

O&A: Have you ever been with a guy in any way?

Sparks: [He chuckles] No.

O&A: Where do you see your career in the next 10 years?

Sparks: I’ll be doing a stand-up special every year and a half. Putting out an album with my band on the same kind of schedule, doing feature films pretty regularly.

O&A: You just made a stop with your stand-up tour at Zanies Comedy Club in Nashville. Every comedian has a style, describe your comedic style?

Sparks: I’m an exact rip off of Hal Sparks. I perform almost exactly like he does.

O&A: You’re voicing the lead character ‘Tak’ for a computer animated series called Tak and the Power of Juju set to premiere on Nickelodeon this fall. Are there any other projects in the works?

Sparks: Yea, I’m doing a movie called “The House that Jack Built.” It’s a suspense story; it’s like a haunted house story. My stand-up DVD comes out next month.

O&A: Did you take the voice role to lend your image more to your band?

Sparks: I did it because after five years on Queer as Folk, doing very adult programming, I wanted to have the opportunity to do something that was good for kids. The ability to be able to do something that was funny and entertainment for kids after five years on a show that, quite frankly, kids shouldn’t watch until they’re older.

Hal is not afraid of being burned with his fingers in the pot all over the board: acting, music and comedy. He plans to find success in all three, which would be another first in American entertainment.

“The House that Jack Built” will begin production in LA the first Wednesday in June, with the film to be released later this year.

After the close of his comedy tour with his three one-hour sets at Zanies, he will continue performing with his band Zero 1 and appearing on VH1 and elsewhere. No doubt, at least in part due to rigorous media training, Sparks is almost more a militant supporter of GLBT rights than the average HRC member. Probably most evident during his stint on Celebrity Duets, there is a genuine boyish zeal that seems to shroud his own admitted personal struggles with growing up in poverty.

Outside of his careful choice of words when on the subject of sexuality, Sparks finds comfort in expressing himself uninhibitedly with the apprehensive rebelliousness of a junior rocker; almost unsure of whether or not he’ll get a spanking for saying “f*** you.”

I imagine that these are the elements of his personality that made him the perfect ‘Michael Novotny’ and that these same elements are a result of what makes him a successful comedian. With the right timing, we can look forward to more groundbreaking work from Hal Sparks in the future.

@темы: Хэл Спаркс, Интервью

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Подскажите, кто знает, пожалуйста.
Наверное, самое интересное ивью Питера.

Paige in Focus: Backstage with Queer As Folk's Peter Paige
THE GOOD, THE BAD AND EVEN THE EMBARRASSING…
by David R. Guarino
2002-10-09

Peter Paige with Frank De Caro.

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In an exclusive backstage interview, Queer as Folk's Peter Paige shares the scoop on his dizzying newfound fame, most embarrassing moment, being a spokesperson for the GLBT population, words of wisdom on the state of the GLBT community--and his commitment to it in his increasingly prominent role as an openly gay actor and activist.
"My new tag line is, 'They come for the Queer but they stay for the Folk,'" said actor Peter Paige on the success of Showtime's immensely popular original series, Queer as Folk. It is safe to say that if there is one thing actor Paige is not, it is a shrinking violet. Indeed, the handsome, warm and good-natured star of Showtime's Queer as Folk is one of the nicest guys you'd ever want to meet. In that sense, he mirrors the lovable and altruistic Emmett Honeycutt, perhaps the most flamboyant of "The Boys from Liberty Street," and the character he has become famous for portraying on Showtime's blockbuster groundbreaking original series.

From a rather humble beginning playing The Scarecrow in a school production of The Wizard of Oz at the tender age of six, Paige has always found the art of stepping out onto a stage to be one of life's greatest thrills. "You never feel more alive than that moment when you are about to walk onto a stage for the first time." Ever since that modest initiation into the world of entertainment, Paige has gone on to become a rising star of many mediums, most noteworthy, stage, screen and television. Perhaps best known for his continuing role as Emmett on QUA, Paige is a versatile, dedicated actor who has continually challenged a command of his craft by portraying a variety of diverse characters in venues running the gamut from Shakespeare ( A Midsummer Night's Dream ) to the role of Snoopy in a Boston production of You're a Good Man Charlie Brown.

Born in West Hartford, Conn., Paige attended high school in Raleigh, NC, and studied theater arts at Boston University. Paige has also distinguished himself as an upcoming playwright and theater director.

As quick witted and funny as he is intelligent and warm, Paige has managed to carve out an impressive career encompassing acting, singing, writing, producing and directing. Most people do not realize that Paige originally screen tested for the role of geek "Ted Schmidt" on QAF before the role was offered to Scott Lowell. "I have a lot of schlub in me," Paige confided during a backstage interview at the "Distinctive Dialogue" event presented Aug. 21 at Chicago's Circuit, benefiting amfAR and sponsored by Tanqueray. QAF Executive Producers Ron Cowen and Daniel Lipman ultimately decided that Paige was better suited to portray the feisty, somewhat effeminate, sexy Emmett Honeycutt.

Paige's ample roster of TV roles have included spots on some of TV's most successful sitcoms, including: Will & Grace, Caroline in the City, Suddenly Susan, Undressed, Movie Stars and Time of Your Life. Paige's original projects include successful collaborations ( with Abraham Higginbotham ) on Pantophobia and Twisted, both of which have tallied successful runs at LA's HBO Workspace. Paige also starred alongside Robert Sean Leonard in High Concepts, and appeared in Tartuffe, Les Deux Precieuses, Blue Window and The Rivals. Paige shared a billing with Martin Landau in the film, Joyriders, and costarred with Elisa Donovan in the 1999 independent film, Pop.

Paige recently completed the Showtime original film Our America opposite Josh Charles and Vanessa Williams. Paige gives a stirring performance as the best friend/producer of an NPR DJ who helps change the lives of two misdirected inner-city youths. During last year's summer hiatus ( from QAF ) Paige also returned to the stage in the world premiere of Jessica Litwak's Secret Agents.

Paige, who now calls Los Angeles home, was recently in Chicago to appear in Tanqueray's "Distinctive Dialogue" series debuting in the Windy City at Circuit. Paige shared the stage with TV Guide columnist and The Daily Show mainstay Frank De Caro.

DAVID GUARINO: It's great to have you back in Chicago. Is this the first time you've done a benefit for amfAR or Tanqueray?

PETER PAIGE: It's great to be here, thanks! Yes, it's the first benefit I've done for Tanqueray, amfAR as well. I've certainly been to functions benefiting amfAR as an attendee; this is the first time I've been available to do something as a guest.

DG: Your character, Emmett, was involved with an older man in the last season of Queer as Folk. It was an intimate relationship. ( Paige nods ) What are your personal feelings about ageism in the gay community?

PP: It's certainly prevalent, and you certainly feel it, although I have to say that several of my boyfriends have been significantly older than me. Not as much older than me as George was to Emmett, but I have definitely dated men who were significantly older than I was. But I think ( what ) you're speaking to and what I see really all around me is, you know, this obsession with youth and beauty. I think it's sort of part of the eternal adolescence that gay men tend to get trapped in. I was thinking about "why is that happening?" I think because so many gay men, and I think this is changing with the youngest generation, because they're getting to come out younger and have their adolescence during their adolescence. But gay men, we didn't get to do all the sort of dating rituals and things like that when he had boundaries and restrictions imposed on all of us. So you come out, all of a sudden you're as free as a bird, ( you're ) in your 20s, you have disposable income, and you have nobody telling you "no" in any way, you have no restraints. And I think that that much power, combined with the rush of really experiencing that stuff for the first time, just becomes addictive. And I think people get trapped there. They don't move through it, looking for something more meaningful.

DG: We've all heard about the great benefits of being part of the cast of Queer as Folk. Tell us some downsides.

PP: Um. We live in Toronto, which is a great city, but it's far away from home. We're there a lot, a good portion of the year. That's the biggest downside. Other than that, we're really insanely lucky. My agent, who has been in the business since … he was a child actor … and he came up to me and he said, "Peter, I've been on a thousand sets of a thousand different TV series, and none of them feel like this one ( Queer as Folk ) . This is magic, what you have here." And it's true, I believe that. It's such a wonderful place to go to work everyday. I know it's Pollyanna and I know it's ( sometimes ) irritating to hear, but that's the truth.

DG: Well it felt that way when I was there ( on the set ) last February. The only thing is I remember how thankful I was for the few minutes I had alone on the set of Woody's in between the first and second part of the interview I had with Hal ( Sparks ) . Because the amount of people that are there milling around … it would seem to me by the end of the day … well, let me ask you. Do you ever feel like you just want to be alone?

PP: Oh my God, yes! But you know what, I have a place to be alone. I have a trailer. I don't really need that very much. I'm very social and when there's something social going on I usually want to be a part of it. So I probably spend the least time in my trailer of anyone. But even I, you know, sometimes ( Peter waves and laughs ) it's like, "BYE!"

DG: You're a graduate of Boston University, The School of Theater Arts?

PP: Yes. That's a place I loved. You know, my first love is the stage, and I will always go back. I love doing the classics, I love doing Shakespeare. And Moliere, and Coward and Shaw. And those are the things that just get me all worked up! But I feel quite privileged to be working on Queer as Folk. Yet there is something so unbelievably exciting about being on a stage. You never feel more alive than that moment when you are about to walk onto a stage for the first time.

DG: What is by far the most embarrassing thing that's ever happened to you on stage or on the set of Queer as Folk?

PP: Oh my God! I don't know! My friends are really good at remembering all these stories for me. I tend to shut them out. The most embarrassing thing that's ever happened to me on the stage ... I was doing a production of You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown, which is embarrassing enough. ( I laugh ) In Boston. Playing Schnoopy.

DG: Schnoopy?

PP: ( Nods ) Schnoopy, yeah. I was having a blast, it was great. And one night during a group number, one person got the giggles; the next person got the giggles. I wasn't supposed to sing in the song, cause I'm a dog. And I decided to jump in and sing to kind of save the song. But I should know better because I'm one of those people who, once I open my mouth, I can't control what happens. I opened my mouth, I lost it. ( There were ) six people onstage, howling with laughter, no song going on. ... It was a youth matinee, so they didn't quite know what to do with it. I think an adult audience actually probably would have gone with us and just enjoyed it. I think the kids were like, stressed out, and didn't know how to handle it. I'm sure I have other stories… yeah, I don't know, I just block those things out! Then I just don't remember them. Or I'm not that easily embarrassed. Or I have no shame. Maybe that's it, I think that's it, I have no shame!

DG: Who, in your opinion, is the shyest member of the Queer as Folk cast?

PP: Randy? ( Harrison ) Yeah, it's a toss between Randy and Gale ( Harold ) , but it's probably Randy. There's certainly a gray area that Gale shares with his character, Brian Kinney, but he's very much a different person ( in real life ) .

DG: How similar is Peter Paige to the character Emmett Honeycutt?

PP: Well, I'm certainly an outgoing person. I don't think I present myself to the world quite the same way Emmett does. That's sort of how I describe it. In my best moments, we share an openness that he has. But that's not true all the time. I think I'm more jaded, more grounded, more sensible than Emmett, which is both a good and a bad thing. I learn a lot from Emmett every day, and it's such a privilege to go to work and play him. It's really taught me a lot. I love it, here's this effeminate gay man who just loves himself. He just thinks he's great, and it's so unusual to see. You know, it's just a really revolutionary thing, you don't see it.

DG: Our culture is largely driven by the premise that most desirable gay men are butch, "straight-acting and appearing." How has Emmett Honeycutt impacted the image of the more effeminate gay man?

PP: David, one of the best compliments I've gotten, actually it's become sort of a little tag line that gets thrown at me every once in a while is ... somebody said, "You give nelly queens a good name." ( I laugh ) And I think that's a great compliment. And I take it as such.

DG: The sex scenes that we see on Queer as Folk, particularly like the ones at Babylon, where the characters are having anonymous sex downstairs. Many of these sex scenes do not show a use of condoms. How do you address the criticisms that have arisen surrounding depictions like those?

PP: They don't show the use of condoms necessarily, but series-wide it's implied that it's very important to most of the characters. When there's not a condom use, it's a depiction of a real thing that happens to gay men. People slip, people make mistakes, people make bad judgment calls. It's usually very clear how important condom use is. Brian is usually in that back room ( at Babylon ) . It's very very clear about his policies about condom use. He makes the point to Justin in no uncertain terms; Justin has a scene where he's asking Brian to fuck him without a condom, and Brian says, "You want me to do you, you want me to stick it in raw?" and Justin says, "Yep," and Brian says, "Fuck you! Don't ever do that. Don't ever do that!" So yes, you don't always see them ( the characters ) putting them ( the condoms ) on. Because that's as much a feature of storytelling as anything else. I think, though, that the condom thing is regularly addressed on the show and I believe that the characters have been fairly clearly drawn in terms of their thoughts about it.

DG: How do you personally feel about Robert Gant recently coming out in the Aug. 20 issue of The Advocate? Had he confided his sexuality to you prior to doing The Advocate interview?

PP: Oh, of course.

DG: Was Bobby's sexuality a known fact by all of the cast prior to his coming out?

PP: Yes, absolutely, David. And by the way, he was never closeted on the set in any way, shape or form. His decision not to come out initially was something we talked about for hours and hours and hours in his trailer. Like over and over and over again. You know, because he wanted to hear my experience in coming out; what I thought the benefits were … what I thought the concerns might be. I was heavily invested in that decision with him and I'm also so proud of it. I'm so proud of him and happy for him. It seems like a great weight has been lifted off him. I was with him presenting awards at the closing night of the Gay and Lesbian Film Festival in LA and there was this one window where the ( Advocate ) article was about to come out. And the article had been released, so he was finally allowed to talk about it. Because he wasn't allowed to scoop his own article. So he was finally allowed to talk about it, he had a public setting, he went up on stage, and he came out to this entire audience live.

He almost didn't do it, and it was like, "Bobby, don't deprive yourself of this opportunity. Take this moment for yourself. You will never forget it. Even in the most difficult moments when you're not getting an audition because they now perceive you in a certain way you will have this to remember. This will mean something to you for the rest of your life." And he did it, he got a standing ovation, and it was such an amazing moment. I was so privileged to be there.

DG: That's such an amazing story. What's the most important thing that Queer as Folk has taught the American people, GLBT and straight?

PP: It has normalized the idea of two men or two women being in love and/or having sex. I can't tell you how many people come up to me; straight men now. It started with gay men, it moved quickly to the women ( gay and straight ) , and now it's moving into straight men. Who just say, "Oh, you know, I love you on the show; my wife and I watch all the time." Not too long ago a guy on a plane, I walked ahead because I was going to the bathroom, we were getting on the plane, and this guy said to me, "Aren't you Emmett on Queer as Folk?" And I said "Yeah, yeah." And he said, "Oh, I watch that show; I love him." He said, "My wife and I watch the show all the time." And I said, "Why? Why do you watch it? What is it that you see?" And the guy said, "I like the stories." I love it that there's nothing else there, there's no big cryptic answer. There's no "WELL, I THOUGHT THIS," there's no defensiveness in it. It's just, "I like the stories."

DG: Let me talk about a few of the things you're doing now. You just appeared in a Showtime original movie called Our America?

PP: ( Peter nods ) I play a producer who works at NPR.

DG: And that experience was … fun?

PP: It was great! I worked with Josh Charles. All my scenes are essentially with Josh; he's a great actor and he was a real joy to work with. I love the story. It's a true story about this DJ who gets involved with two kids in Chicago who live in The Ida B. Wells Housing Project.

DG: Did you film it here in Chicago?

PP: No. We shot it in Toronto. ( Peter scratches his hand signifying lack of $$$ )

DG: I like Toronto. When I visited the QAF production office, that was the first time I was ever there.

PP: I love Toronto. I really do like Toronto, but it's too friggin' cold. Of course, it gets really cold here ( in Chicago ) too. This whole year was pretty mild, but the first year I thought I was going to kill myself. It was brutal! But I loved being part of Our America. It's a really inspiring story, I think. A true story about the power of possibilities. This DJ teaches these kids about their own possibilities. He doesn't patronize them, he doesn't give them a leg up, he doesn't give them any charity, he just tells them what they're capable of. And they run with it, and it transforms their lives. And I felt so proud to be a part of it. I've been very fortunate that way. The projects that I've worked on are really things I believe in both artistically and sociologically and politically and that's so rare. To actually get to work in the entertainment industry and be allowed to maintain some sort of social conscience. I feel really lucky about that.

DG: You also appeared on the stage last summer, starring in Jessica Litwak's Secret Agents, which was a world premiere, was it not?

PP: Yep! It was a play I had been workshopping for seven years! And I was really so, so thrilled to be doing it. We actually finally had put together the money to do a production of it when I booked Queer as Folk. And we had to postpone doing the play until I was on hiatus. It is really a gorgeous, three-person play about a brother and a sister and their mutual obsession with James Bond. An amazing, amazing piece of theater.

DG: And how long were you in it?

PP: Eight weeks, I think? Maybe six. All I know is the day that we closed, I got on the plane and flew to Toronto to shoot Our America. It was the summer. I went into rehearsals when we wrapped the first season ( of QAF ) . After I finished Our America, I went home for two weeks, and then we started with Season Two of Queer as Folk, so it was a busy time.

DG: Your best friends would probably say your most endearing trait is …

PP: God, that's a hard one. I have so many! ( laughing ) My best friend would probably say my most endearing trait is my … compassion.
____
Like I said, Peter Paige is anything but a shrinking violet. But when it comes to promoting and working for the GLBT community that he is proudly part of, Paige has become both an outspoken advocate and a respected activist.

Multitalented, delightful, witty and wise beyond his years, Paige is a rising star who raises the bar as he sets the example. Surely this is one newly famous gay man who is not afraid to stand up and be counted.

@темы: Питер Пейдж, Интервью

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Последний Танцевальный гей-клуб в гей деревне Торонто и дискотека, на которой снимали "Вавилон" на Showtime в Queer As Folk, закрывается 30 июня после World Pride celebration.
Клуб «Fly» на Gloucester Street просуществовал 15 лет.

Toronto Club that Played Queer as Folk's Babylon Is Closing

4.29.2014
BY NEAL BROVERMAN

The last gay club in the village shuts down after World Pride.
The last gay dance club in Toronto’s gay village, and the disco that portrayed "Babylon” on Showtime’s Queer as Folk, is closing in June after the World Pride celebration.

Fly has operated on Gloucester Street for 15 years, but is being eyed by developers as the site of a future high-rise. While construction on the condo tower is not imminent, the building’s owner only offered to renew Fly’s lease on a yearly basis; owner Keir McRae said that wasn’t realistic. Hopes for another promoter to take over the club have not panned out.

Fly’s adjacent restaurant and bar, Fire on the East Side, has already shuttered. When Fly closes on June 30 following the global World Pride party, it will be the last large dance club in Toronto’s gayborhood. The city passed a law a decade ago that limits most dance clubs to a small district outside the gay village.

“The city’s not doing a whole lot to protect gay businesses — sometimes actively discouraging them, especially dance clubs,” MacRae told Xtra! “Dance clubs have always been a significant part of gay culture, and the city is not allowing gay dance clubs in the Village.”

Fly, along with a now-defunct club called Five, portrayed the Pittsburgh super-club "Babylon" on the Showtime gay soap Queer as Folk.

Is assimilation behind the closure of big-city gay clubs or is it something else, e.g., greedy developers? gentrification?

@темы: Интересная информация, QAF

@темы: Поздравления

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@темы: QAF, Atomic

@темы: QAF, Atomic