Deep Inside Hollywood

Deep Inside Hollywood

Demi Moore and Parker Posey Cry Happy Tears Demi Moore knows how hard it is for an actor who takes a break from the business to find her way back in, so lately she's been taking some cues from ex-husband Bruce Willis. Want a low-risk comeback? Get on the indie-film bus. And that's exactly what she's been doing, recently starring in the heist drama Flawless with Michael Caine, and now set to shoot Gay writer-director Mitchell Lichtenstein's (Teeth) latest film, Happy Tears. She's in good company, too, as indie-film veteran Parker Posey has signed on to play Moore's younger sibling. The drama focuses on the two estranged sisters (one self-aggrandizing, the other bitter and resentful) as they re-establish their relationship and deal with their elderly father's progressive dementia. Shooting now in Philadelphia, look for the happiness sometime in 2009. Gay Cast Populates Canvas Shifting the Canvas, an indie drama due to tackle the complicated lives of a group of Brooklyn friends after 9/11, has cast several faces familiar to Queer audiences, notably up-and-coming Gay actor Cheyenne Jackson. Last seen on film as rugby player Mark Bingham in United 93, and currently on Broadway in the hit musical Xanadu, Jackson will star as a heterosexual Wall Street executive involved with a group of Gay friends. Rounding out the cast is Kids in the Hall alum Scott Thompson, as well as John Paul Pitoc (best remembered as the horny go-go boy in Trick) and Gedde Watanabe (last seen regularly as a Gay nurse on ER, but forever known as "Long Duk Dong" from Sixteen Candles). The film rolls in June and promises cameos by several as-yet-unnamed New York nightlife personalities. Raul Esparza Slays 'Em in 25/8 Eventually, all the Broadway stars try their luck in Hollywood. And it was just a matter of time before Raul Esparza, the handsome Tony Award nominee and Drama Desk Award winner (both for Company and Taboo), wandered west. The Bisexual actor has already found success on the small screen, cast in a recurring role on ABC's hit Pushing Daisies. But now he may be stepping way outside the feel-good box he's been in - he's in talks to play a serial killer in Wes Craven's latest teen-horror film, 25/8. Concerning a group of kids being stalked by a killer believed to have died on the birthday they share in common, the film will co-star teenage colleagues Max Thieriot (Jumper) and Shareeka Epps (Half-Nelson). No production or release dates yet, but the scary stuff is due to shoot soon. Cosby Kid Goes to Jail Adorable little Rudy Huxtable is all grown up and looking to introduce her adult self to audiences. Already, Keshia Knight Pulliam, who played Bill Cosby's youngest child throughout the '80s on his groundbreaking sitcom, has been featured in Beauty Shop opposite Queen Latifah. And now she's about to become more visible in Tyler Perry's latest drag extravaganza, Madea Goes to Jail. Starring Perry as the clownish and outsized old woman who's always ready to beat on people who misbehave, Pulliam co-stars as a prostitute who finds herself protected from a predatory lesbian inmate by Madea. Audiences expecting to find subtlety, good taste, and positive Queer role models are advised to look elsewhere when this one comes down the pipeline. The rest of you will know where to find it when it hits multiplexes in 2010. Romeo San Vicente's favorite Cosby Show kid was always Denise. He can be reached care of this publication or at DeepInsideHollywood@qsyndicate.com.

picture:Demi Moore