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Ask AfterEllen.com (Jan. 13, 2009)

Want to know the status of a particular movie, TV show, or band? Wondering what a certain actress is up to these days? Want to know if someone is openly gay? (We won’t out anyone, but we’ll let you know what they’ve said publicly.) Send your entertainment-related questions to [email protected] – with your first name, city and country – and we’ll try to answer as many as we can.

Question: Is [actress] Clea DuVall a lesbian or has she ever come out and said anything about her sexuality?

– Melissa, Syracuse, New York Answer: The 31-year old actress has never publicly stated her sexual orientation.

She is a favorite among lesbian viewers for her work in several films by out director Jamie Babbit, including But I’m A Cheerleader (1999), Sleeping Beauties (a short film starring Radha Mitchell, of High Art fame), Itty Bitty Titty Committee (2007), and her role in the HBO film, The Laramie Project, about the homophobia-fueled murder of Matthew Shepherd (written and directed by Moisés Kaufman).

In the Emmy award-winning HBO series Carnivàle, DuVall’s character, Sofie, had a lesbian love scene with Carla Gallo’s character, Libby.

Last May, she guested an episode of This Just Out with Liz Feldman, where she tried to avoid becoming friends with Liz.

Clea’s fansite has an extensive photo gallery of DuVall’s tattoos, including a photo of her tattoo bearing the phrase “I Heart Marcie.

There is speculation that the reference is to a former girlfriend, but it could also simply mean that she’s a big Peanuts fan.

Question: I read somewhere that Uh Huh Her is comprised of two lesbian musicians, but is Camila Grey out?

-Pahke, Honolulu, Hawaii Answer: Officially, the band has one lesbian member, singer-actress Leisha Hailey (The L Word). Her bandmate, Camila Grey has not made any public statements about her sexual orientation. In an August 2008 interview with the band, Hailey and Grey were asked if they were in relationships – both said “yes,” then Grey was specifically asked about her sexuality:

AE: Are you queer, Camila? Do you identify as queer? CG: I don’t talk about my private life. You caught me off guard with that relationship question!
If Grey changes her mind and decides to talk about her “private life,” we’ll let you know!

NEXT PAGE: The latest on The World Unseen and I Can’t Think Straight, and a Missy Higgins update

Question: I Can’t Think Straight has had runs in LA and New York, but even the film’s web site does not show a schedule of it opening wider. Will it be showing in other cities in 2009?

– Kim, Chicago, Illinois

Question: Do you happen to know the DVD release dates for The World Unseen or I Can’t Think Straight?

– Mary, Raleigh, North Carolina Answer: We’ve received a whole slew of questions about where to find the two feature films written and directed by Shamim Sarif. I passed your questions along to Aida Kattan, who runs the U.S. branch of the production company (Enlightenment Productions) for the films.

She told me that both films are still in the film festival circuit and fans should check the Facebook pages (I Can’t Think Straight and The World Unseen) and MySpace pages (www.myspace.com/theworldunseen and www.myspace.com/icantthinkstraightep) for each to find up to date information about upcoming screenings.

Regarding the release of the films on DVD, she told me, “Our distributor, Regent, determines when the DVDs come out in North America. We’re still waiting for exact dates but tentatively ICTS is due in May and TWU soon after. We hope to make both films available for pre-order in the UK early February.”

She promised to let us know more details as soon as she gets them. Aida also sent me this message to AE readers from Sarif:

I’m just overwhelmed by the support and all the positive feedback we’ve gotten from AfterEllen readers. I can’t tell you how much it means, after working hard and long to make The World Unseen and I Can’t Think Straight to know that people are excited and moved by them. And I’d like to thank everyone for voting for me and the movies in the Visibility Awards too. Next up for us – spreading the book of I Can’t Think Straight beyond amazon.com, and maybe even shooting a movie this summer. As always, raising that money, even at a low budget, is a challenge in today’s economic climate especially.

But all afterellen readers can help that by refusing free and illegal downloads of our movies, and waiting for the DVDs…. Again, thanks to everyone who has taken the time to see the movies and read the books and then to comment on them. I know some of you have driven miles to do so and I appreciate it more than I can say.

Her warm message makes it a little easier to wait for the DVDs now, doesn’t it?

Question: What is [singer-songwriter] Missy Higgins doing these days?

– Lien, Deerlijk, Belgium

Question: Any news on Missy Higgins’s new film?

– Leah, Coventry, Connecticut Answer: Higgins probably won’t be headed back to the studio anytime soon.

In February, the 25-year old openly bisexual Higgins will embark on a U.S. tour in support of her latest release, On a Clear Night. The tour will run through April, and you can find specifics on the dates at her official website, MissyHiggins.com.

Higgins initially had to cancel some of the dates on her U.S. tour in the fall because she been cast in along with Geoffrey Rush in the film Bran Nue Dae, Australia’s first Aboriginal musical. The semi-autobiographical film, based on the life of writer Jimmy Chi, will mark Higgins’s cinematic debut, and is being directed by Rachel Perkins. The film is being shot in Broome, Australia, and there’s no word yet on the exact release date.

Higgins has said of her involvement in the film, “Broome holds a special place in my heart so this opportunity felt like something I just couldn’t pass up on. I fell in love with all the characters when I read the script, especially my character who is a hilarious hippie. Being my first go at acting I’m a bit terrified but I feel very honoured to be working alongside such an incredible cast and crew and I know it’s gonna be a lot of fun.”

Higgins isn’t just busy with music and film; she’s also invested a fair amount of her time in activism. She’s been a poster girl for PeTA, and this year she has become quite active in environmental politics – Higgins recently spoke out about protecting Australia’s Kimberley coast from industrialization (watch the video here).

NEXT PAGE: Stephanie March on Law & Order: SVU and a sequel to Desert Hearts

Question: Since Mariska Hargitay let known her desire to have another child, do you think Law & Order: Special Victims Unit is on its last leg? If so, can you please let us know if Stephanie March (ADA Cabot) will ever make another appearance? I for one hope Cabot shows up on the arm of Olivia.

– Emily Answer: Is the show, now in its tenth season, on its last leg? That probably depends on who you ask.

One of our own bloggers, Ace, published a lengthy list of complaints about the show going down hill in recent years, and the ratings have steadily declined since 2003 (though they have slightly improved in the current season). At a recent Television Critics Association (TCA) press conference, Richard Belzer, one of SVU’s stars, complained that NBC’s decision to give SVU’s 10 pm time slot to Jay Leno’s new comedy show was “the last gasp of a dying network.”

But star Mariska Hargitay has been nominated for an Emmy award for her work on the show every year since 2004 (she won in 2006), and she is currently the highest paid actress on television. So while Hargitay has hinted that she might take another maternity leave, it’s a safe bet to think that she has a lot of reasons to stay with the show as long as possible.

On the bright side, one of your wishes will come true: Stephanie March will be returning to the show for six episodes on February 17, though there’s no word yet on who’s arm she might appear. Is Liz Lemon’s an option?

Question: Is there any news on the follow up to [the 1986 film] Desert Hearts? I know it was mentioned by Donna Deitch in an interview ages ago.

– Nikki Answer: In a June 2007 interview with AfterEllen.com, Deitch was asked about the sequel and told us, “I’m a little reluctant to talk about the story and the setting, because when you’re in the middle of writing something like that, it’s kind of hard to talk about it ’cause you’re not quite certain, you know.”

She elaborated a bit:

It’s going to be some time later, and it’s going to not only be about these characters, it’s going to expand into new characters as well. I envision actually more than one Desert Hearts sequel, ’cause I’m thinking about making several of them. Since this one was in the late ’50s, I have some room to move around here, right? And I think it’s time for me to get off my day job and get on with doing this, because I can see several sequels, and then I can see sort of a sci-fi [one].
A sci-fi sequel to Desert Hearts? That’s…different. But if she can get any of the women from Battlestar Galactica to sign on for the sequel, I doubt that there’s a lesbian anywhere who would object.

In a July 2008 interview with The Huffington Post, Deitch provided a little more information.

It’s unconventional as a sequel. It is not the follow-up to the two characters and their next steps. Its about the world of Desert Hearts and it’s going to take on many more characters. It will be set in NYC in the late 60s. The two characters will be in it. The screenplay will hopefully be done by the end of the summer.
Whether the screenplay was indeed completed in the timeframe she’d hoped for, or if Desert Hearts II will be set in outer space, we don’t yet know, but Deitch has been busy.

In the last couple of years, she’s directed episodes of Bones, Eureka, Crossing Jordan, and Heroes. And in the Huffington Post interview, she said she planned to direct her partner Terri Jentz’s true-crime memoir Strange Piece of Paradise when it finally comes to the big screen.

NEXT PAGE: That rumor about an American version of Tipping the Velvet, and other Sarah Waters news

Question: At least a year ago I remember rumors that an American version of [the UK television serial based on the Sarah Waters novel] Tipping the Velvet was going to be made. What is the status of that project?

– Sarah, Wheaton IL

Question: What do you know about the new Sarah Waters novel, The Little Stranger, coming out on April 30 in the US and June 4th in the UK? I’ve heard it’s a ghost story set in the 1940s; any hints about how sexy it might be?

– Sarah, Boston, Massachusetts Answer: If all the rumors about the fabled U.S. version of Tipping the Velvet were true, this would no doubt be one of the most highly anticipated lesbian movies of all time.

Sarah Waters’ best-selling debut novel was first brought to the small screen in 2002 by BBC television, and starred Rachael Stirling, Keeley Hawes, and Jodhi May. The film also featured Sally Hawkins, who went on to star in the next BBC serialization of another Waters novel for television, Fingersmith, in 2005. (Hawkins won a Golden Globe Award this week for Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy for her role in the film Happy-Go-Lucky).

In 2006, rumors of a U.S. version of the film to be directed by Sofia Coppola (Lost In Translation) and starring Desperate Housewives’ Eva Longoria Parker and actress-singer Beyoncé Knowles as lovers exploded on the internet. The news was quickly reported in publications around the world, and, almost just as quickly, were denied by all who were allegedly involved. Longoria said, “What makes me crazy is that there are quotes out there, quotes from me saying it’s true. But in fact it’s not true. And (there are) quotes of Beyoncé saying it’s about time we had a female Brokeback Mountain. And we’re like, we never said that.”

Beyonce’s representatives chimed in with, “This is not happening. We’ve never heard of this film.” If she liked it, she would have put a ring on it, right?

So will a U.S. version of Tipping the Velvet ever see the light of day? There’s no definitive answer. IMDB.com does have a listing for the film scheduled for a 2010 release, but with no additional information. The official website for Sarah Waters makes no mention of it either.

Waters fans, however, can take heart in knowing that her latest novel The Little Stranger will be published by Riverhead in April 2009 in the U.S. and by Virago in June 2009 in the U.K.

There’s very little press on the novel at this time, but the amazon.com.uk description of the book sounds interesting.

In a dusty post-war summer in rural Warwickshire, a doctor is called to a patient at Hundreds Hall. Home to the Ayres family for over two centuries, the Georgian house, once grand and handsome, is now in decline, its masonry crumbling, its gardens choked with weeds, the clock in its stable yard permanently fixed at twenty to nine. But are the Ayreses haunted by something more sinister than a dying way of life? Little does Dr. Faraday know how closely, and how terrifyingly, their story is about to become entwined with his.
The bad news? Waters told us in an on-camera interview last summer that the book doesn’t have any lesbian characters.

“There was an angry letter to the UK lesbian magazine Diva from a reader who thought I’d betrayed lesbians,” Walters told the The Times in December. “She said she wasn’t going to buy my books, and neither were her friends. Which was a bit depressing and made me feel a bit crap.”

The good news? Waters promises that she still plans to write about lesbians in her future novels. “The book after the next one, I’ll come back to a lesbian story.”

A new edition of Ask AfterEllen.com is published every Tuesday. Have a question for us? Email it to [email protected]. For more entertainment news, read previous editions of Ask AfterEllen.com, and check out AfterElton.com’s weekly entertainment Q&A column, Ask The Flying Monkey.

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