Arts & Entertainment
Kristen Stewart and Bonham Carter join James Franco in transgender hoax biopic
(Screenshot courtesy of YouTube)
Kristen Stewart and Helena Bonham Carter are in talks to join James Franco in the cast of “JT Leroy”, the biopic about a cis woman who pretended to be a transgender author.
The movie will tell the true story of a woman, Laura Albert, who pretended to be a man who identified as transgender in her writing. The novel “Sarah” was about his supposed rough life on the streets and believed to be a memoir at the time. Another woman, Savanah Knoop, would physically impersonate Leroy during rare appearances fooling literary and celebrity circles.
The story was revealed to be a hoax in an investigative story for New York Magazine in 2005.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, Franco is attached to the film while Stewart, who is up for the role of Knoop, and Bonham Carter, who is up for the role of Albert, are in negotiations. Justin Kelly, who previously directed “I Am Michael,” will direct.
Shooting is set for this summer.
Sundance Film Festival premiered “Author: The JT Leroy Story”, a documentary about JT Leroy, last month.
Celebrity News
More than 1 million people attend Madonna concert in Rio
Free event took place on Copacabana Beach on Saturday
An estimated 1.6 million people on Saturday attended Madonna’s free concert on Rio de Janeiro’s Copacabana Beach.
The concert, which was the last one as part of Madonna’s Celebration Tour, included a tribute to people lost to AIDS.
Bob the Drag Queen introduced Madonna before the concert began. Pabllo Vittar, a Brazilian drag queen and singer, and Anitta, a bisexual pop star who was born in Rio’s Honório Gurgel neighborhood, also joined Madonna on stage.
Congresswoman Erika Hilton, a Black travesti and former sex worker, and Rio Municipal Councilwoman Mônica Benício, the widow of Marielle Franco, a bisexual Rio Municipal Councilwoman who was assassinated in 2018, are among those who attended the concert.
“Madonna showed that we fight important fights for the human rights of Black (people), young (people), women and LGBTQIA+ people, and against all injustice, discrimination, and violence,” said Associaçao Nacional de Travestis e Transexuais (National Association of Travestis and Transsexuals), a Brazilian trans rights group known by the acronym ANTRA, on its X account. “What they call identitarianism’ is our subversion to the retrograde and conservative tackiness that plagues the country.”
The Associated Press reported the concert was Madonna’s biggest ever.
The DC Center for the LGBTQ Community, SMYAL and Rainbow Families sponsored Gay Day at the Zoo on Sunday at the Smithsonian National Zoo. The Smithsonian observed International Family Equality Day with special exhibits and an event space.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)
Covering Gay Day at the Zoo for @WashBlade . Here at @NationalZooDC pic.twitter.com/LqgGNOOAiM
— Michael Patrick Key (@MichaelKeyWB) May 5, 2024
Photos
PHOTOS: Taste of Point
Annual fundraiser held for LGBTQ youth scholarship, mentorship organization
The Point Foundation held its annual Taste of Point fundraiser at Room & Board on May 2.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)
Trone discusses transgender niece
200 turn out for ’Love Fest’ Drag Story Hour at Freddie’s
More than 1 million people attend Madonna concert in Rio
Another successful Taste of Point fundraiser
Out in the World: LGBTQ news from Europe and Asia
Judy Shepard to receive Presidential Medal of Freedom
Pride journey: Las Vegas
It’s game, set, and mismatch in unfulfilling ‘Challengers’
Brittney Griner considered suicide in Russian prison
