Brother Boy, Latrelle, Sissy, LaVonda, Noleta and the other wacky \u201cSordid Lives\u201d characters are back for one final romp through homophobia and bigotry in Winters, Texas.<\/p>\n
Complicating matters, a bisexual serial killer is on the run and he becomes smitten with Brother Boy!<\/p>\n
Writer-director Del Shores and his large cast will bring a barrel of laughs when \u201cA Very Sordid Wedding\u201d opens FilmOut San Diego\u2019s 19th annual San Diego LGBT Film Festival, which runs June 9-11.![\"A](\"https:\/\/sduptownnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/web-A-Very-Sordid-Wedding-poster.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\u201cA Very Sordid Wedding\u201d will screen at 7 p.m. Friday, June 9 at the historic Observatory North Park theater. Tickets are $45 for the film, the Q&A session with Shores and the cast immediately following the film, and the Opening Night party at the Sunset Temple.<\/p>\n
Arriving 17 years after \u201cSordid Lives\u201d debuted on the silver screen, the sequel is set in the summer of 2015, not long after the U.S. Supreme Court made its historic ruling in favor of marriage equality. The high court\u2019s dramatic 5-4 decision doesn\u2019t please too many residents of the Texas town, where big-haired gossips and beer-guzzling rednecks conspire with their homophobic preacher to stage an anti-equality church rally with the goal of preventing same-sex marriages from happening in Runnels County.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Why release the sequel now?<\/strong><\/p>\n Shores, a real-life native of Winters, Texas, population 2,562, wasn\u2019t so sure he ever wanted to do a sequel to \u201cSordid Lives.\u201d He readily admitted to being \u201cbitter\u201d about his experience working with Logo TV on his 2008 prequel, \u201cSordid Lives: The Series,\u201d which featured the original cast plus stars Olivia Newton-John as Bitsy Mae Harling and Rue McClanahan as Peggy.<\/p>\n Shores published a long letter on his Facebook page in 2009 and accused the network of not paying residuals \u2014 royalties paid to talent for repeat showings \u2014 and aired other grievances in explaining to disappointed fans why the TV series would not return for a green-lighted second season.<\/p>\n \u201cI resisted it for so long,\u201d Shores said. \u201cI was frankly a little bitter after the demise of the TV series. But the fans kept showing me their \u2018Sordid\u2019 love, so I decided to complete the journey, if I could find the right story. And I feel I did.\u201d<\/p>\n What did Shores want to say in the sequel?<\/p>\n \u201cThat people have the ability to evolve! To grow. To change. To learn from those they love,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Without spoiling the plot, Shores reveals that the character of Latrelle Williamson \u2014 masterfully played by Bonnie Bedelia throughout the years \u2014 is the one who has evolved the most.<\/p>\n \u201cNo question about it,\u201d Shores said. \u201cSissy is right there by her side, but Latrelle makes a beautiful journey in the amazing incarnation by Bonnie Bedelia. That day shooting the church scene with Dale Dickey and Bonnie Bedelia could be my favorite day of directing ever.\u201d<\/p>\n Dickey, who played Glyndora in the original movie and TV series, takes over the role of Sissy Hickey \u2014 aunt to Brother Boy, LaVonda and Latrelle. In the sequel, Sissy makes it her mission to study the Bible page by page to find out what the good book says about homosexuality. Sissy also updates her little notebook in order to keep up on political correctness, which is a hilarious recurring joke throughout the movie.<\/p>\n \u201cThis was my 15th time to work with Dale and I will work with her as long as she will work with me,\u201d Shores said.<\/p>\n \u201cI happen to think Dale Dickey is a national treasure, one of our best actresses,\u201d he continued. \u201cSo, when Beth Grant turned down the role, I went right to Dale. She had done the LA revival of \u2018Sordid Lives\u2019 and won an Ovation nomination for her brilliant portrayal of Sissy and also did the national tour. She is perfection in the role. Deep, complex, funny, and my real Aunt Sissy lives on!\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n An important theme<\/strong><\/p>\n For actor\/producer Emerson Collins, who is also Shores\u2019 business partner, the sequel comes at a crucial moment in American history at a time when the Trump administration and the Religious Right are trying to curtail or take away hard-earned LGBT legal rights.<\/p>\n \u201cFor me,\u201d Collins said, \u201cit was important to continue to point out the hypocritical judgment that LGBTQ people encounter culturally in their families\u2019 churches and communities despite advances in legal equality and at the same time celebrate that LGBTQ people of faith do have affirming church homes available!\u201d<\/p>\n Shores explores the concept of \u201creligious freedom\u201d in the sequel, so the film is timely since Trump recently issued an executive order that allows legal discrimination by faith groups.<\/p>\n Will things get worse before they get better? Is Shores glum about the future?<\/p>\n \u201cAmazingly, I\u2019m not pessimistic,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019ve seen how judges immediately rule against 45\u2019s executive orders, and I suspect the same will happen with this one. These bigots are being exposed for their ignorance and I believe we have to scream loudly and continue to be heard \u2014 whether it be in our work, on stage, on social media. So, maybe we will take some steps back, but I do believe that we will continue to take more steps forward because the majority of this nation is now with us.\u201d<\/p>\n Collins agreed.<\/p>\n \u201cProgress is always made over the weeping and gnashing of teeth of those who prefer the status quo, but inevitably it moves forward,\u201d he said. \u201cThe important thing for all of us is that, as bigots fight back, we protect and fight hardest for the most vulnerable in our community, from trans women of color to LGBTQ youth.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The challenges of producing<\/strong><\/p>\n Shores and Collins ended up as producers for the sequel, along with six other financiers. That added even greater responsibility for both men.<\/p>\n As an indie producer with a tight budget and a limited number of days to shoot, the challenge was \u201cfinding the right story for each character to complete their \u2018Sordid\u2019 journey,\u201d Shores said. \u201cAnd, raising the money!\u201d<\/p>\n Collins said his challenge as a producer was \u201cshooting a low-budget indie with 32 actors in two different countries with two different crews in 15 total days!\u201d<\/p>\n That\u2019s right: The movie was shot in Dallas, Texas, and in Manitoba, Canada. So how did big-city Winnipeg become a stand-in for small-town Winters, Texas?<\/p>\n \u201cCaroline Rhea [who plays Noleta Nethercott] is Canadian and did a movie up there several months before we shot \u2018A Very Sordid Wedding.\u2019 She called me and said, \u2018Why don\u2019t we shoot in Canada?\u2019 The incentives to shoot there made sense and this became the only way we could make the movie we wanted to make,\u201d Shores said.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Canadian dollar had slipped \u2014 unfortunately for them, fortunately for us,\u201d he continued. \u201cI called my good friend Michael MacLennan, another Canadian, who produced and wrote on \u2018Queer As Folk\u2019 with me, [which] we shot in Toronto, and he plugged us into Buffalo Gal Pictures and it was a match.<\/p>\n \u201cI could not believe we found the locations to match Winters, Texas, but we did. And best crew I\u2019ve ever worked with.\u201d<\/p>\n Did they save money by shooting in Canada?<\/p>\n \u201cWe did! We had incredible partners in Buffalo Gal Pictures who put together an incredibly gifted crew and helped us take advantage of tax incentives that ensured that we stretched the budget as far as possible to make sure all of the money is on screen,\u201d Shores said. \u201cIt did make for an interesting adventure getting 24 actors there and shooting with snow flurries one day standing in for July in Texas.\u201d<\/p>\n The scenes shot in Texas were done in Dallas, mostly at the Rose Room, a gay landmark inside the Station 4 nightclub in the Oak Lawn neighborhood. It was a thrill for Collins, a former Dallas resident, even though they had only one day to film their drag-show scenes involving Brother Boy.<\/p>\n \u201cWe had four different locations in and around the club to shoot in 12 hours with more than 250 extras,\u201d Collins said. \u201cIt was possible because of the phenomenal Dallas crew, the support of Caven Enterprises [which owns a slew of LGBT bars there], the incredible cast and the enthusiasm of the extras!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt was one amazing crazy day. We pulled it off all because of Emerson Collins,\u201d Shore said.<\/p>\n Another amazing day of shooting accommodated the ever-busy Whoopi Goldberg, who had only six hours to film her cameo role as a wedding officiant.<\/p>\n \u201cWhoopi is a good friend of Caroline Rhea, and Caroline introduced her to the series.\u201d Shores said. \u201cOne day Caroline called me, passed the phone to Whoopi, who praised my writing and told me she wanted to work with me. I wrote her into the second season of the TV series, which never happened, and Caroline informed me that Whoopi would love to be a part of the new film. I wrote the role and I\u2019ll let Emerson tell you how we got her to Winnipeg for those five magical hours. She was amazing. Is amazing. A delight. Gracious. Loving. A pro!\u201d<\/p>\n Collins elaborated.<\/p>\n \u201cWhoopi and her team were incredibly supportive in making it possible,\u201d Collins said. \u201cThey found one six-hour window during our shoot schedule on a Friday night that she could be with us.<\/p>\n \u201cWe built the entire plan around that one night and she rode her bus 27 hours from New York City to Winnipeg after a taping of \u2018The View\u2019 to get there,\u201d he continued. \u201cShe was gracious and generous and when Del told her she could improvise her lines she responded, \u2018What you wrote is brilliant, how about I just say that?\u2019 When she finished, she got back on her bus and drove on!\u201d<\/p>\n Besides producing, Collins also played the part of Billy Joe Dobson, a bisexual serial killer who escapes prison and hooks up with Brother Boy, played again by Leslie Jordan.<\/p>\n \u201cDel wrote the part for me, so it\u2019s basically typecasting, I think! Seriously though, the most important start to playing this kind of character is to not judge him as the actor,\u201d Collins said. \u201cIt\u2019s my job to make sure his motivations are clear and rooted in the real experiences that got him to this course of action, and then the audience can make judgments about his actions.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n End of the road<\/strong><\/p>\n Despite a legion of fans, the \u201cSordid Lives\u201d cottage industry is closing shop.<\/p>\n \u201cYes, this is the last chapter,\u201d Shores said. \u201cI have lots more characters and stories in me, but it was time to end my amazingly wonderful \u2018Sordid\u2019 journey.\u201d<\/p>\n So what\u2019s next for Shores and Collins?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Besides promoting the sequel, Shores said he is developing a new TV series that he loves, writing a new play called \u201cThis Side of Crazy\u201d and working on his new one-man show, \u201cSix Characters in Search of a Play.\u201d<\/p>\n Collins is promoting the movie as it travels the film festival circuit and gets wider play in mainstream cinemas.<\/p>\n \u201cThe audience reaction in theaters is jaw-dropping with multiple applause breaks in every premiere we\u2019ve attended, from Palm Springs to Dallas to Fort Lauderdale, and the laughs cover the next lines throughout the film,\u201d Collins said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a special community experience to laugh together,\u201d he said. \u201cIn this particularly difficult political climate, this is our contribution to the conversation about continuing to advance the rights and quality of life of LGBTQ people in our country.<\/p>\n \u201cSo we are spreading it as far and wide as we can and letting the word of mouth continue to open new doors for screening the film.\u201d<\/p>\n To learn more about the film, visit tinyurl.com\/mrz6arh<\/a>. For a synopsis of all films at the 2017 FilmOut festival, visit\u00a0bit.ly\/2qKqHPt<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u2014Ken Williams es editor de Uptown News y puede ser contactado en <\/em>ken@sdcnn.com<\/em><\/a> o al 619-961-1952. S\u00edguelo en Twitter en @KenSanDiego<\/a>, Instagram en @KenSD<\/a> o Facebook en KenWilliamsSanDiego<\/a>. He is a volunteer board member of FilmOut San Diego, serving as Film & Media Relations Director.<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Por Ken Williams | Editor<\/p>","protected":false},"author":846,"featured_media":251670,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11555","_seopress_titles_title":"A \u2018Sordid\u2019 Opening Night","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11549,11547,11551,11550,11555],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-251669","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-entertainment","category-features","category-news","category-top-stories","category-uptown-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251669","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/846"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=251669"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251669\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/251670"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=251669"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=251669"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=251669"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"A](\"https:\/\/sduptownnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/web-MAIN-The-girls.jpg\")
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