Archive

Ask AfterEllen.com (Feb. 3, 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: Is it true that the character of Anna Wu on Chuck is bisexual? … I’m a sucker for bi women in sci-fi shows, so I’m wondering if this one should be on my radar.

– Sarah

Answer: Yes, Buy More employee Anna – played by Julia Ling – is bisexual, although it’s understandable if you missed it: Anna’s bisexuality has only been referenced once so far, in the first season when Anna quipped “speak for yourself!” to a comment from Morgan about none of them having sex with a beautiful woman. It’s also referenced again in next week’s episode. I asked Chuck co-executive producer Allison Adler a few questions about the character, including whether there’s any same-sex relationships in Anna’s future, and here’s what she said:

Not this season, because we’re exploring the Morgan-Anna relationship, which will come to a head sometime this season. But maybe next season. It’s nothing we’ve really played with in the present because she’s always had this Morgan crush, but in the absence of Morgan, we’d love to explore any of that.
“We really appreciate [Ling],” Adler added, “and think she’s a tremendous addition to our cast.”

What about Chuck’s chances for a third season? “We have our fingers crossed,” Adler said, “and hopefully we’ll be able to explore all these things in a third season.”

Chuck‘s one of the shows that I was iffy about at first, but it grew on me, especially in the second season. It’s nice to see an Asian American female character in a semi-prominent role on TV, even if Wu doesn’t get a girlfriend.

In an interview with TV Guide in December, Ling said about playing Anna, “I love the skirts, the boots – her outfits are so sexy. I like dressing all Goth, and I like the ass-kicking.”

The 25-year-old actress speaks Mandarin, the Chinese dialect Trieu Chou, and German; graduated in second place in her California high school class, with a 4.0 GPA and perfect SAT scores; and describes herself as, “a nerd my whole life.”

Smart, outspoken, and made her TV debut on Buffy the Vampire Slayer? I’m sold!

Here’s Ling as Anna in an NBC.com webisode with a fellow Buy More employee, reviewing romantic comedies: Learn more about Ling at julialing.net, and we’ll keep you posted on any developments on Chuck.

Question: What’s the latest on the development of the American version of Bad Girls, with Alan Ball at the helm?

– Mary Kelly, Newfoundland and Labrador

Question: I have been searching for any updates on the usa (alan ball/hbo) remake of uk’s bad girls. i can’t find anything beyond may/june ’08. please find those beans and spill ’em 🙂

– Stephanie, Columbia, MO

Answer: I contacted HBO after being sent this question by dozens of readers in the last few weeks – clearly there’s interest in this show! – and received this response from a publicist:

At the moment there is no updated information [on the Bad Girls remake]. Alan Ball is busy writing the second season of True Blood so I would guess we just need to keep this in the category of “in development.”
Sorry, American Bad Girls fans. But there’s always The Farm! (Maybe.)

NEXT PAGE: The NAACP Image Awards and a Bitch Slap update

Question: Anything interesting happening at the NAACP Image Awards later this month?

– Ann, Chicago, IL

Answer: In addition to enjoying the sight of so many fabulous women of color in the same room together, watching Halle Berry host the show (with Tyler Perry), and rooting for an out lesbian actress to win an award, there’s one more reason I’m looking forward to watching the NAACP Image Awards next Tuesday, Feb. 12 at 8pm on Fox – no one from that John Adams mini-series is nominated for anything! (I love Laura Linney, but if I see her anywhere near that stage I’m going to throw something at the screen.)

Some of the films nominated this year including The Secret Life of Bees, Cadillac Records, Seven Pounds, and Miracle at St. Anne’s. The TV mini-series The Raisin in the Sun is also nominated in multiple places, and actually has a chance of winning this time.

Ugly Betty, Grey’s Anatomy, and Everybody Hates Chris are nominated in multiple TV categories, as is Lincoln Heights – which won our 2008 Visibility Award for Best Special Lesbian Episode last season for its lesbian couple at the prom episode.

(More good Lincoln Heights news? ABC Family just picked up the family drama for a fourth season.) Some of the women nominated in the Outstanding Actress or Supporting Actress categories in film and TV include Queen Latifah, America Ferrera, Keshia Knight Pulliam, Rosario Dawson, Chandra Wilson, Vanessa Williams, Loretta Devine, Sanaa Lathan, Angela Bassett, Taraji P. Henson, and Dakota Fanning. (Yes, Dakota Fanning.)

Newly out lesbian Wanda Sykes has been nominated for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for The New Adventures of Old Christine (CBS), and Sonja Sohn is up for Best Supporting Actress for her role as lesbian detective Shakima Greggs in HBO’s drama series The Wire. Some of the nominated books written by women include Maya Angelou’s Letter to My Daughter; young adult novel Beacon Hill High by actress Monique (who stars in the lesbian-inclusive Sundance darling Push); Tananarive Due‘s supernatural thriller Blood Colony; outspoken gay-friendly children’s activist Marian Wright Edelman‘s The Sea is So Wide and My Boat is so Small, which charts a course for the next generation; and Whoopi Goldberg and Deborah Underwood‘s children’s book Sugar Plum Ballerinas #1: Plum Fantastic. See the complete list of nominees here and tune in to Fox on Feb. 12 to find out who wins (go Wanda!). And when you have time, read Edelman’s inspiring commencement speech to Muhlenberg college this last May, just because.

Question: When will Bitch Slap be released on DVD? Dying to see it!

– Rebecca, Sydney (Australia) Answer: First the movie has to be released in theaters, and that didn’t happen last month as originally advertised.

Last week, writer/producer/director Rick Jacobson explained the delay in production:

We hoped to have the film done by the New Year but always knew that was a big ask. This “little” film has over 700 visual effects (on par with the new Hulk movie) so we’re at the mercy of the effects wizards. As much as we want to get ‘er done. …We don’t want to rush it.

Gotta say, the film is looking and sounding really bad ass.

We’ve been approached by dozens of both domestic and foreign distributors so we’re not too worried about finding a home for the Slap. For us, it’s all about finding the right one who sees this film the way we do… in theaters.

We’re screening for distributors in the first couple weeks of February then having the cast and crew screening later in the month… After that, when the film goes public depends on the distributors. Sooner the better.

So, no definitive answer yet, but I’m guessing you won’t see it in theaters until late Spring or Summer at the earliest, which means it probably won’t go to DVD until late 2009 or early 2010.

NEXT PAGE: Top Model‘s Elina, Dante’s Cove, and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Question: When I first watched ANTM cycle 11, I totally fell in love with Elina…I was wondering what’s happening with her now, has she been picked up by any modeling agencies so that I can follow (read: stalk) her career as a model?

– Mary, Sydney, Australia

Answer: Elina Ivanova was recently signed by Seattle modeling agency TCM Models & Talent, and they have two new photos of her available: Speaking of Top Model, I checked with The CW after the contestants for Cycle 12 were announced last week, and their publicist confirmed there are no openly gay or bisexual women among them.

Question: Hi. Will there be another season of Dante’s Cove? – Patty, Chicago, IL

Answer: here TV announced last year that there will be a fourth season of the campy supernatural drama but no production dates have been scheduled yet, according to here. We’ll let you know when we know more.

Question: So now that Sugar Rush is coming to here! TV, is there any word on if or when it will be coming to DVD in the US???

Denise, San Ramon, Ca

Answer: Regent tells me they do plan to release the series on DVD sometime this Spring, but they don’t have an exact date yet.

Question: I recently read a Swedish novel translated into English called The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo that I absolutely loved. Do you know if there are any sequels planned?

– Chris, Bethesda, MD

Answer: All three books in this trilogy by Steig Larsson are already available in Swedish, and the second book (The Girl Who Played with Fire) will be released in English on July 28, 2009.

Fans of good fiction, and good thrillers (it works as both) should definitely check out this award-winning series, which was a bestseller in Europe.

I picked up The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by chance in a bookstore a few months ago, and although it took a few chapters to reel me in (the writing is uneven and heavy-handed in places), I soon couldn’t put it down.

The novel is a somewhat complicated story about journalism, business, and the unlikely friendship between a disgraced-but-honorable older male journalist and a 24-year-old female hacker with an attitude problem (for good reason), so I’m just going to provide the Publisher’s Weekly description for you:

At once a strikingly original thriller and a vivisection of Sweden’s dirty not-so-little secrets (as suggested by its original title, Men Who Hate Women), this first of a trilogy introduces a provocatively odd couple: disgraced financial journalist Mikael Blomkvist, freshly sentenced to jail for libeling a shady businessman, and the multipierced and tattooed Lisbeth Salander, a feral but vulnerable superhacker.

Hired by octogenarian industrialist Henrik Vanger, who wants to find out what happened to his beloved great-niece before he dies, the duo gradually uncover a festering morass of familial corruption-at the same time, Larsson skillfully bares some of the similar horrors that have left Salander such a marked woman.

As you might have guessed from the description, violence against women is at the core of this novel (as is anti-Semitism), but not in an exploitive way. Quite the contrary, really – I’m glad the author included at least a few good male characters like Blomkvist to balance out the parade of men in this book who really do hate women.

Although I have never been to Sweden and don’t know much in particular about modern Swedish culture, the themes and characters are so universal, it felt like it could just as easily been set in Massachusetts. And both Mikael Blomkvist and the “feral but vulnerable superhacker” Lisbeth Salandar are engaging and multifaceted characters (Lisbeth is also bisexual, with a preference for men, although this facet of her character only minutely factors into the story). I can see why Paramount is reportedly considering turning the novel into a feature film, although the cynic in me says they’d probably just reduce it to another boilerplate violence-against-women crime thriller that centers around Blomkvist.

They’ve already made it into a movie in Scandanavia, with Noomi Rapace playing Lisbeth; it opens in Denmark in March (thanks to AE reader Kathrine for the tip!). Larsson had outlined seven books in the series before he died unexpectedly in 2004, after completing the third. Fortunately, reports by Swedish readers have indicated the third books does end satisfactorily – not on a cliff-hanger – so it still works as a trilogy. If any Swedish AfterEllen.com readers have read all three books and can verify this for us in the comments, please do (without giving away any spoilers)! And those who are already fans of the trilogy can discuss it in this forum thread (thanks Bente!).

NEXT PAGE: The Winning Season, and the Dead Like Me movie

Question: What’s the word on The Winning Season, that girls basketball movie starring Emma Roberts and Shereeka Epps? Is it any good?

– Angela, Dallas, TX

Answer: I haven’t seen the movie myself – it premiered at Sundance last month – but the reviews have been pretty good, and Lionsgate just bought the distribution rights, so we’ll all be able to see it sometime this year or next.

The Winning Season stars Sam Rockwell as a grouchy alcoholic coach forced to coach a high school girl’s basketball team. Think The Bad News Bears-meets-Hoosiers-meets-Believe in Me.

Yes, that means it’s another movie about a girl’s sports team that is really all about the dysfunctional male coach, which is annoying. But many sports movies about boys teams follow the same formula, and there are so few movies about a girls sports team in existence (no more than a dozen or two have ever been made) that I’m willing to overlook this. Emma Roberts plays the coach’s daughter and defacto leader of the basketball team; the rest of the team (there are only seven players) is played by Melanie Hinkle, Shereeka Epps, Rooney Mara, Emily Rios, and Meaghan Witri.

Veteran actress Margo Martindale (The Riches, The Hours, Million Dollar Baby) also has a small role as the lesbian bus driver, “bringing subtlety to another potential cliche,” according to one film blogger’s review of the movie, which goes on to describe her as, “not only the good cop to [the coach’s] bad-boy routine, but an emotionally intuitive go-between capable of translating the girls’ needs back into terms he can understand.”

Here’s the trailer: Loving the girls’ attitude – not loving the mustache. Is the movie secretly being funded by NBC to promote My Name is Earl?

Question: With next month’s return of Stephanie March on Law & Order: SVU (since I’m an avid Olivia & Alex fan I can’t help but wonder) is there any news of a possible lesbian romance (or hint of one) between the detective Olivia Benson & ADA Alexandra Cabot on the show??

– Ashley

Answer: No.

(OK, I suppose nothing can ever be completely ruled out, but in my Professional Lesbian opinion, that has about as much chance of happening as Max getting a decent storyline on The L Word.)

Question: When is the Dead Like Me movie coming out?

– Ruby, Honolulu, HI

Answer: The straight-to-DVD movie starring Ellen Muth and Whitley Jasmine Guy that continues the Showtime series will be released in the U.S. on Feb. 17. (Thanks to AfterEllen.com reader SurfRider for the tip!)

Here’s the official description of the movie:

When George (Muth) and her colleagues get a new boss whose focus is on moving souls quickly and enjoying life without consequences, the team begins to break the strict reaper rules. While her friends fall victim to their desires for money, success, and fame, George breaks another rule by revealing her true identity to her living family. As the reapers struggle with their roles on Earth, they each find that death can be just as complicated as life.
So that whole “you can sleep when you’re dead” slogan on that bumper sticker I bought in college was a lie? I want my $1.50 back!

NEXT PAGE: All My Children news

Question: Has ABC renewed Tamara Braun’s contract for All My Children?

Lin

Question: Hi, I am become a huge fan of the Bianca and Reese story on All My Children. I was wondering if Afterellen can try to get an interview with Tamara Braun concerning the Bianca and Reese story. I would love to hear what she has to say.

Cher

Answer: There’s good news and bad news for AMC fans.

The good news? Bianca and Reese were actually shown in bed together, talking, snuggling and kissing, for an entire minute last week – a first for daytime TV! Their wedding on Feb. 14 – if it actually happens – will also be a first for daytime TV.

Now the bad news: TV Guide reported on Friday that Eden Riegel is not renewing her four-month contract when it expires later this month, but Tamara Braun is staying around “for awhile.” When we contacted ABC about Braun’s contract, they would only say, “we do not comment on talent contracts.”

We’re working on an interview with Tamara, but I’m not sure ABC will make her available for interviews right now, since the actress has been outspoken about her commitment to her character being a happy-in-love lesbian, and the AMC writers seem to be … not so committed to that. Read this new blog post from The Linster for more details (and ranting) about the latest developments on AMC.

Question: Where the heck did SMMWT go? Do Sarah and Lori have any plans to start back up again; or has life gotten so chaotic, that they’ve had to drop the vlog completely?

– Amy, Iowa

Answer: Initially Lori and I decided just to take a temporary break from She Made Me Watch This!, but we’ve since had to drop the vlog completely, for pretty much the reason you guessed: life has gotten too chaotic, with only three staff members working on AfterEllen.com (there used to be four, but with the economy the way it is, we have to run a little leaner) and an unending amount of articles to proof, videos to watch, emails and private messages to reply to, stories to research, blog posts to write, and spammers to ban. (Ah, the glamorous life of a Professional Lesbian!)

Thanks to all of you who tuned in to our vlog while it lasted, and who keep coming back to support the other vloggers – and bloggers and freelance writers – on the site who continue to provide great content and make it possible for Karman, Trish, and me to have at least the hours between 2am and 6am to ourselves. (We love them for that!)

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.

Lesbian Apparel and Accessories Gay All Day sweatshirt -- AE exclusive

Related Articles

Leave a Reply

Back to top button