James Franco Playing Ex-Gay Pastor in 'Michael'

[Sawyer]

http://www.deadline.com/2014/04/justin-kelly-teams-with-james-franco-gus-van-sant-for-michael/

Justin Kelly Teams With James Franco, Gus Van Sant For ‘Michael’
By MIKE FLEMING JR

Justin Kelly, a protege of Gus Van Sant, has set a summer start date for Michael, a film that will star James Franco in a film that’s based on the Benoit Denizet-Lewis article My Ex-Gay Friend, published in The New York Times Magazine. While there have been some gay empowerment-themed films cropping up (Van Sant and Franco did Milk together), this one takes the opposite track. Franco is playing the title character, a gay activist who, after enduring years of taunts and struggle, becomes an anti-gay Christian pastor. Kelly, who’s repped by Gotham Group and attorney Peter Nichols, wrote the script.

Franco, Vince Jolivette, Scott Reed, Ron Singer and Joel Michaely will produce, while Van Sant is exec producer.

 

[Ant-manic]

wasn't Michael the John Travolta film where he played a not-gay angel? this one sounds almost as bad.

 

[Pink Ranger]

Interesting. I can see this being kind of like the next The Master of an upcoming Oscar bait season.

 

[Sawyer]

wasn't Michael the John Travolta film where he played a not-gay angel? this one sounds almost as bad.

 

[jonathancrane]

Interesting...

 

[Sawyer]

Zachary Quinto and Emma Roberts Join

 

[Schlosser85]

I'm not sure these self-loathing phonies need movies made about them unless they show them for what they are.

 

[Pickleweasel]

What the hell is "ex-gay"

 

[Schlosser85]

A self-loathing gay person who claims to have been "cured" and to now be straight.

 

[Sawyer]

Well, here is the original story the film is based on. If it's any indication, they're not going to put him in any particularly flattering light.

 

[Schlosser85]

What irritates me is that he now actively preaches against other gays. Do what you will with your own life, but don't bash other people just because of your own self-loathing.

That goes for Marcus Bachmann and Lindsay Graham too.

 

[weezerspider]

It's being produced by Gus Van Zant, who's openly gay and has Zachary Quinto in the film who is also openly gay. The film's clearly going to depict the guy and the 'ex-gay' agenda in a negative light. Sounds intriguing.

 

[Pink Ranger]

I hope they really delve deep into this character, and not just portray him and his allies/enablers as cartoonish villains. The audience doesn't need to be reminded how ****ed up his beliefs are, but they would like to see how ****ed up this guy is inside his own head, and how that leads him to follow the path he does.

I can see GVS and Franco treating this like something similar to a man's struggle against some kind of addiction, mental illness or other personal demon, rather than a more blatant gay rights movie. Of course they need to show the damage this movement causes, however.

 

[Sawyer]

 

[Sawyer]

The pic of Franco looking up at the sky has me right now. It looks like a still from a sci-fi movie. Now I'm imagining a spaceship flies down and hit's him with some sort of death ray that turns him hetero.