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Ask AfterEllen.com (July 1, 2009)

Want to know the status of a particular movie, TV show, or band? Wondering what a certain actress is up to these days? 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: Loving Annabelle’s official MySpace page posted a blog a few months ago promising a “surprise” and a re-release of the film in April 2009. It’s already June, and I can’t find any re-released version. Is the release not going to happen, or has it been delayed?

ÔÇò Kathryn Clark, Toronto, Canada

Question: Is there a release date for Katherine Brooks’s new movie Waking Madison? Will it be released in theaters or straight to DVD?

ÔÇòVicki, Boston, Massachusetts Answer: The films ÔÇò past, present, and future ÔÇò of Katherine Brooks are so often in the subject line of the AskAfterEllen.com emails I receive that I’m thinking of setting up a separate account (“Ask AfterEllen.com about Katherine Brooks”) just to field them!

I reached out to Brooks for an update on the re-release of Loving Annabelle, and she told me, “It has been delayed as we are obtaining the rights to feature a special bonus on the release DVD.”

For more info on the nature of that special feature (because that was your next question, right?), I took Brooks’s suggestion and contacted Wolfe Video, who declined to spill the details until everything is finalized. Wolfe did tell me that they had hoped for a December release, but that’s looking a bit less likely as the days go by.

AfterEllen.com interviewed Brooks last summer about Waking Madison, which she then described as being about, “a young woman, Madison, who suffers from multiple personality disorder. She’s suicidal and has really just given up on life. She decides to lock herself in her apartment for 30 days as a last resort.” The film stars Loving Annabelle’s Erin Kelly, Elisabeth Shue, Frances Conroy (Six Feet Under) and Sarah Roemer (Disturbia) in the title role.

Regarding the release date for Waking Madison, Brooks told me, “We are not certain yet, but the release date is getting closer and will announce it as soon as we know.”

For now, Brooks is busy working on another project. She told me, “I’m getting ready to begin casting my next movie, The Boys Club, which is based on a female horse jockey.” That jockey that inspired the film is Julie Krone, the first woman to win a Triple Crown race.

I’m not sure if the horse with Brooks in the photo above is going to be in the film or if it is just a friend, but you know what they say about those Hollywood casting stables!

Question: After I saw the trailer of The Stone Angel, I’m so interested in Christine Horne. And after I found this picture on Google (see below), I REALLY wanna know more about her. Is she gonna be in any movie soon?

ÔÇò Mag, Hong Kong

Answer: Thanks for doing my photo-hunting work for me! (Are you good with grammar as well? Let’s talk!)

The Canadian theatre actor appears to be at just the beginning of her film and television career. Her small body of film work includes The Stone Angel (co-starring Ellen Burstyn and Ellen Page) in 2007, the Canadian TV series The Dresden Files (2008) and a Canadian television production of Othello, also in 2008.

In a recent interview, Horne credited Burstyn with indoctrinating her into the world of film. “We went out to dinner and she gave me the film ‘code.’ On a film set people take for granted that you know the lingo. I had no idea what (they) were saying. She filled me in, helped me read my call sheet. All these things they should have sent me off with a (production assistant) to learn. I had Ellen Burstyn.”

I tracked Horne down and asked her what else she’s working on, and this is what she told me:

The Stone Angel was my first and only foray into feature films – I do mostly independent theatre in Toronto. I run two companies, The Thistle Project and KICK Theatre, and can usually be found working on projects at various stages of development with either of those. I also recently played “Desdemona” in a CBC television adaptation of Othello which is now available on DVD (in Canada, anyhow!).

I hope that’s helpful – I’m afraid my career isn’t all that interesting!

Well, of course, we beg to differ. Let’s make a pact to keep our collective eye on the talented Ms. Horne.

Question: I recently read an article in the New York Daily News that said that Tori from Saved By the Bell was now a filmmaker whose work is in gay film festivals. WTF?! Is she a lesbian?

ÔÇò Susan, NY Answer: Yep, it’s true. The show that was the launch pad for Hollywood greats like Mario Lopez, Tiffani Thiessen, and Elizabeth Berkley (Showgirls!), also produced award-winning lesbian filmmaker, Leanna Creel.

We caught up with Creel, who played tomboy Tori Scott on Saved By the Bell, and asked what she’s working on these days. This is what she told us:

My marriage was “validated” by the California court …but because of the conflicting decision to disallow gay marriages in the future, I don’t feel like celebrating. Don’t get me wrong, I’m thrilled that my son was born two days after the state started issuing marriage licenses, just in time for his moms to get married.

But the reality is, we’ve been advised to go through a second parent adoption so that I’ll be protected as his non-birth mom in other states, and around the world. It’s a weird thought to have to adopt your own son, and strange to think about having a right that is only recognized here in California.We have to file separate federal tax returns for example. I think the Federal Government should allow gay marriage just to cut down on the paperwork.

In addition to photography and cinematography for private and corporate clients, I’ve been creating web content for clients such as Yahoo!, Nokia, Food Network and HGTV. Everything from a photography series called SNAP (that I also hosted) to a cooking show for the MTV crowd called Cheap & Easy. Most recently, I finished a make-over series on window treatments with Kahi Lee for HGTV.com.

In December I produced a series for Food Network.com with 12 top chefs in Napa which I’ll be producing again in 2009 called The 12 Days of Christmas at Meadowood, Napa Valley. I’m also at work on script that I hope will be my first feature as a director.

In 2001, I started a non-profit photography program called photopiece (photopiece.org) that helps teenagers get in touch with the stories they have to tell, and then doing so with a camera.We started with mostly Latino immigrant youth in downtown LA, but the program has grown to rural Oregon with Native-American teens, Ecuador and Mexico. A former student has returned to his high school and is now teaching a class at Miguel Contreras Learning Complex in downtown LA, which is something I’m very proud of.

Clearly, it’s time for a Saved By the Bell class reunion. Hopefully Tori’s motorcycle comes with a sidecar!

Question: Whatever happened to Patricia Velásquez, who played the “Lez Girls” version of Marina in the final season of The L Word? She was stunning.

ÔÇò Anonymous

Answer: Venezuelan model-actress Velásquez is currently in pre-production with the “epic military action saga” The Operative: Red Dawn, due out in 2010. In it, she’ll play a dual lead role as sultry double agent Adriana Lopez.

According to IMDb.com, she’s also playing the title role and producing the film Searching for Ingrid, although there is little information about the film other than it’s “in development” status. Perhaps the best thing about Velásquez is that not only is she gorgeous and talented, she’s also a dedicated activist. Velásquez is a UNESCO Artist for Peace, and the president and founder of The Wayuu Taya Foundation, which she created with the goal of improving the life of Latin-American indigenous people and bringing education to the poorest of her country. (The name Wayuu Taya is derived from the Wayuu or Guajiros, a matriarchal society and collection of ethnic groups who speak the Wayunaiki language who inhabit the Guajira region, between Venezuelan and Colombia.)

In May, she was honored by The Women Together Foundation and United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) for her professional success as an actress-model and for her humanitarian work with The Wayuu Taya Foundation.

So watch your back, Angelina, you don’t have a monopoly on “Hot and Humanitarian!”

Question: What happened to Glee? They released the first episode but i don’t know if they released another episode. Are they going to release another one? Or is that episode the series finale? Hehe I miss Jane Lynch.

ÔÇò Kesse

Answer: Fox was just whetting our appetite with the extended preview of the first episode that aired back in May, as the series isn’t set to make it’s actual debut until September 16, 2009. Glee looks like it will be the show to watch this fall, boasting not only the talents of Jane Lynch, but also Eve (in a couple of episodes) as a choir director from a rival school. Also scheduled to appear in the series this fall are Kristin Chenoweth, Everwood’s Sarah Drew and out Broadway star Cheyenne Jackson.

If you’re missing Jane Lynch, you can also catch her in episodes of Party Down (which, according to journalist Michael Aussiello, she’s probably now too busy to rejoin now for more episodes). I also recommend watching her in the late great improv comedy series Lovespring International, in which she plays Victoria Ratchford, the director of an “elite Beverly Hills dating service” (located in Tarzana). Lynch’s Ratchford is a bit like Michael Scott (The Office), but with an edge and a smart pantsuit. Try it, you’ll like it.

Question: Do you know who this woman is? ..she seems to be in the news a lot but we can’t figure out who she is and why her table [at parties] is filled with 20-year old models all the time!

ÔÇò Meg, New York, New York

Answer: Since I don’t typically attend parties in New York, I forwarded your question and the photo along to some of my NYC pals to see if they might be able to identify her. Most of them said, “No idea,” though my friend Anna did offer, “James Franco.” While that ID would explain the presence of the 20-year old models, I don’t think it’s correct. Another friend speculated that it’s “Voula,” a NYC party promoter.

Can any of you identify this apparent fixture in the NYC social scene? If so, let us know in the comment section below. There’s no prize involved, unless you count a vague sense of superiority (which most lesbians seem to really enjoy).

A special thanks goes out to AE reader TruMischief for her invaluable research assistance with the Ask AfterEllen.com column.

A new edition of Ask AfterEllen.com is published every other 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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