Cara Delevingne and Selena Gomez Smash Sculptures and Mouths in “Only Murders in the Building”
Spoilers ahead for Only Murders in the Building, but only for the gay parts, and only of the first two episodes of season two.
Before this season, Only Murders in the Building got a stray mention on our gay website on a technicality; between a guest star here and a Jamie Babbit directed episode there, we found excuses to mention this show we enjoyed when we could because it’s fun vibes spoke to us, but it wasn’t until Cara Delevingne strolled into the art studios of our hearts in Season 2 that we finally could celebrate this show for being fully, canonically, very, very queer.
In case you missed the first season and are just here because the feature image piqued your interest, here’s an elevator pitch for the first season of this show: three residents of a fancy New York apartment building form an unlikely friendship after their love of true crime podcasts ges a little too close for comfort when there is a murder in (you guessed it) the building and they decide to start their own true crime podcast to try to solve it. It’s a bit of a romp while also interlacing some genuine moments of friendship, self-reflection, and grief. I genuinely did not expect to enjoy a show starring Steve Martin and Martin Short so much, but they bring so much gentle humor and are such great foils to Selena Gomez‘s sardonic Mabel, plus I love me a good, old-fashioned whodunnit.
Okay that was a long elevator ride so let’s get to the good stuff.
The second season of Only Murders in the Building hits the ground running with the same tone as the second, where the jokes are plentiful but the stakes are high. But now we don’t have to spend as much time developing the dynamic between the core trio, so they can start to explore their dynamics with other characters.
Enter: Cara Delevingne. As the trio gains fame and notoriety in the city, Mabel starts being called “Bloody Mabel” on social media, sometimes in a positive way, sometimes in a negative way, but either way she can’t help but check her notifications. There she finds a video message from a woman with prominent eyebrows and cheekbones that could kill a man inviting her to an art gallery opening.
“Hey, I just met you, and this is crazy, but here’s my art gallery, I’m normal, maybe.”
And she even says later that she’s glad Alice wasn’t a catfish but if I found out any of my friends met up with a stranger alone after going semi-viral on the internet…I don’t care how hot they are, that is not smart behavior!!
But since I’m not there to yell at her, Mabel decides to go to the gallery and Cara Delevingne’s character, Alice, greets her while wearing the gayest outfit I have ever seen.
THIS is art.
Mabel is telling a story about Frida Kahlo (gay) when she catches Alice staring at her (also gay), and Alice says she just finds her so compelling. She asks Mabel to join her art collective and Mabel agrees on the condition that it’s not a cult…an accusation which Alice does not outright deny.
I probably would accidentally join a cult if someone who looked like and/or at me like this asked me to.
Later, Mabel gets caught smiling at her phone when Alice texts, and she ends up going to see her again at the gallery when it’s empty. Alice shows Mabel a sculpture and gives her an axe to destroy it with, as a form of art therapy and for a video series she’s doing. Alice caresses the axe, talks real close to her face, slowly places the protective glasses on Mabel’s face…And honestly? Processing your trauma via art is the gayest second date I’ve ever heard of.
After she’s done smashing out her feelings, Mabel tells Alice she feels better, and proves it by walking up to her and kisses her square on the mouth. Alice is pleased by this turn of events and kisses her back.
This show was like, “We only have 10 episodes, we can’t waste any more…KISS KISS KISS.”
And the world rejoiced!
Now, I scoured this good internet of ours, and I couldn’t find any definitive proof that Selena Gomez has joined the likes of her fellow former Disney stars like Demi Lovato, Miley Cyrus, and Dove Cameron in coming out as queer, only speculations I can’t in good faith take as fact. But I swear on a sex bench Cara Delevingne is, and regardless, I’m delighted by this turn of events for our dear Mabel.
I won’t lie, I don’t entirely TRUST Alice? Partly because she seemed to come on REAL strong, real fast, and Mabel’s gained too much attention for me to believe Alice isn’t up to something. Like maybe she thinks Mabel did a murder and is into that, or maybe she’s involved in this season’s murder mystery somehow. Maybe she has a rival podcast called Only Lesbians in the Building and wants to sabotage Mabel’s podcast. Or maybe Alice from Batwoman just made me overly suspicious of all Alices and actually this Alice is just someone hot and artsy for Mabel to kiss! Someone her age who gets her and can be there for her since lord knows she’s been going through it. Either way, I’m sure that it will be fun, because a) not mad at watching Cara Delevingne kiss girls on my teevee, b) watching Mabel have to explain to her old men buddies about bisexuality/queerness/this situationship will likely be hilarious.
This week’s episode was a flashback episode so there was no Alice, but in the future weeks I’ll be keeping you abreast of the queer shenanigans by way of our weekly Boobs On Your Tube column. Here’s hoping Alice isn’t the one doing murders in the building!
The League Of Their Own Reboot Trailer Is The Most Arousing Thing We’ve Ever Seen
This morning a teaser trailer dropped for Prime Video’s A League of Their Own reboot series, and I let out a scream that broke at least three sound barriers.
Oh did you forget that Prime Video was rebooting the 90s gay cult classic to finally officially make it gay?? Starring Abbi Jacobson, D’Arcy Carden, Chanté Adams, and Roberta Colindrez — with a pilot directed by But I’m a Cheerleader icon Jamie Babbit?? With a promise to “take a deeper look at race and sexuality”?
Well, I DID NOT FORGET!!! Because A League of Their Own is singularly the most important movie of my gay childhood and nothing will matter or exist until August 12th, when this television show gets on my screen.
So how are we coping at Autostraddle? WE ARE NOT WELL!!!
Shelli: That’s a teaser trailer alright.
It’s the most arousing thing I’ve ever seen.
Drew: I. Am. So. Excited.
Kayla: Omgggg
Carmen: I’m on the phone with my insurance company so I haven’t watched this yet and I am dyyyyyying.
[30 minutes later]
Carmen: UPDATE I FINALLY GOT TO WATCH THE TEASER
AHHHHHHHAHDHFAHFAHHHH
WELL
OMG
WELL
I MEAN
WELL
I
I CANNOT
I’M MAYBE REALLY DYING
Kayla: I have watched it 7 times ajkdjsakldj
Carmen: I almost sent y’all an audio recording of me screaming tbh.
I am unhinged at this point.
Riese: omg sliding into the base making eyes with the catcher
Carmen: Yes.
Riese:
Newsies could never.
Welding, baseball, vintage jumpsuits, bicycles.
Carmen: WAIT BUT WHEN SHE THROWS THAT BALL AT THE END
Riese: Oh I thought that part was for me personally, I didn’t know that was in everybody’s trailer.
If you’re going to spend the rest of your afternoon spamming the A League of Their Own trailer in your group chats — first of all, same. But second of all! You can also: read about the Top Ten ’90s Movies Beloved by Girls Who Turned Out Gay (including A League of Their Own), take a quiz to see Which 90s Movie Made You Gay? (including A League of Their Own), and also read a short fun story about the time when I was six years old and forced my mother to rent A League of Their Own every single weekend — no, I am not exaggerating — for five months straight. Perfectly normal heterosexual behavior.
In conclusion, I have yet to watch this trailer without shaking the table. Please respect my privacy at this time.
Jamie Babbit on “But I’m a Cheerleader,” Barbie Sex, and Getting Bad Reviews
This year we released our 200 Best Lesbian, Bisexual, and Queer Movies of All Time and Jamie Babbit’s 1999 cult classic But I’m a Cheerleader came in at number one. Well, what great timing, because this year marks the twentieth anniversary of its theatrical release and with that a brand new restored director’s cut!
I was lucky enough to talk to Jamie about lesbian camp, horny cinema, bad reviews, RuPaul, the upcoming A League of Their Own series, and truly so much more.
Drew Gregory: Something I love about But I’m a Cheerleader is the way it joins queer cultures. There’s really a unity between gay men and gay women in the movie when I feel like our cinemas especially are often separated. Was it a specific choice to hire a screenwriter who’s a gay man?
Jamie Babbit: So I knew I wanted to do the movie and I don’t consider myself a writer necessarily. I did a lot of research on Exodus International and I took a class at UCLA extension to learn the basic structure of screenplays, but I still felt like I needed someone else to write the script. I wanted someone gay but I also needed someone who I wouldn’t have to pay. Because I had no money!
I asked a friend of mine who went to USC grad school if she knew any gay people who might be willing to write a screenplay for free and she said there was a guy in her USC class who was from Montana and wrote his thesis project about a gay football player. That sounded perfect! So we had coffee and basically he had just graduated and was working at the dean’s office at USC. I was just a PA, so I was like — Hey sorry I have no money but I have this outline about two girls who fall in love at a gay rehab and I just made this short film that’s gonna go to Sundance that stars Clea DuVall so I want to write it for her. Do you think you could have this written in three months? Because I’m going to Sundance in three months. And he was like oh my god that’s so short and I was like look I really think I can get the movie made but I have to have the script at Sundance to get the financing.
So he agreed to do it and then he FedExed me the first draft of the script at Sundance three months later.
Drew: Oh my God!
Jamie: I know it was so crazy. And I met the financier for But I’m a Cheerleader at Sundance so thank God I had that script! But honestly what I gave to Brian were these two girls meeting at gay rehab. I didn’t have the gay male characters at all in my outline and I loved that Brian brought them to the script.
I was also really focused on making sure that I wasn’t casting all white people. I wanted to have diversity of gender and race. Actually my straight cinematographer — straight white guy — when he read the script in prep he said a lot of people thought he was gay in high school because he was arty and he suggested having a character who people think is gay but is actually straight. And I thought that was so smart! So that’s where the Jan character came from — this sort of masculine presenting woman who is actually straight.
One of the things that inspired me to make the movie is I was a very female presenting lesbian and when I came out to my parents they were like cool, we don’t care, but it’s just really bizarre because we’ve never met a lesbian like you. Are you sure you’re a lesbian? Your whole life you’ve been terrible at sports and you never wanted to do anything except play with your Barbies. We’re just confused. And I was confused too! So I just saw from a very young age the absurdity of masculinity and femininity and how that really had nothing to do with sexuality. And that the binary in general was bullshit.
Drew: That’s so interesting to me, because I’m a gay trans woman and when Jan has that really great emotional moment I immediately read them as transmasculine.
Jamie: Yeah!
Drew: When I was younger people often read me as gay, but I was into girls so I just figured I was a weird straight boy. And I totally projected that onto Jan.
Jamie: I think that’s all there on purpose, you know? I loved when Caitlyn Jenner’s daughter was like oh mom you’re a lesbian and she was like well yeah I’m kind of butch and I still like racing cars and I’m dating a femme trans woman. There’s no binary we’re all somewhere and we’re all just ourselves.
Drew: It’s also interesting in talking about abolishing those binaries to note that the movie is super campy in a way not usually associated with lesbians. I can think of a few queer women movies that have come out since But I’m a Cheerleader — DEBS, Drool, Mommy is Coming, Daddy Issues — but these are rare exceptions. Do you wish lesbian cinema in general was campier? Was that something you were specifically thinking about when making this?
Jamie: I mean, to me the movie was a combination of Clueless and riot grrrl music. So it has a badass quality but it’s also very pop. I wish lesbian movies were less based in reality. I wish there was more fantasy or just imaginative retellings of stories. But honestly it’s a pretty sexist world out there — it’s hard to get money — and I think a lot of people are daunted by the thought of making a movie that looks like Edward Scissorhands. That’s sort of what I told the production designer and she wasn’t sure how we were going to do that with less than a million dollars. But if you’re going to paint something anyway, just paint it all one color, you know? Let’s do what we can. Let’s not give up before we try. I was really influenced by Pink Narcissus. Have you ever seen that?
Drew: Yeah!
Jamie: Just in that it’s very highly stylized and also a little corny?
Drew: Yes.
Jamie: And obviously I love John Waters. So a lot of work I’m talking about is from gay male filmmakers. Derek Jarman — all his weirdo stuff. Todd Haynes. But I think lesbians just hadn’t been given the opportunity — women in general hadn’t been given the opportunity — to have the money to make these kinds of movies. It’s just access, you know? Having the bravado of saying you’re going to do it.
Drew: It’s also really interesting you bring up Clueless, because in a queer context we think of something that embodies heightened femininity in relation to gay men, but that’s coming from, well, women. So it’s interesting that you’re talking about growing up as someone feminine presenting who played with Barbies and that’s just right there on screen in the camp of this movie.
Jamie: Oh my God totally! When I was growing up my connection to my creativity was having my Barbies with their clothes off having sex constantly.
Drew: (laughs)
Jamie: So putting all the actors in plastic outfits and having them make out, I was like oh this is literally my childhood.
Drew: (laughs)
Jamie: It was perfect.
Drew: So I’m 26 and by the time I was aware of the movie it was already celebrated and considered a modern classic. But when I looked back at the reviews—
Jamie: Oh my God they’re horrible!
Drew: I mean, largely from cis straight male critics obviously.
Jamie: Yes.
Drew: Did that hurt? Or did you have a “they can go fuck themselves” mentality?
Jamie: I mean, I was definitely like fuck them. I was so pissed. But thank God for the riot grrrl inside of me who was like of course these sexist cis dudes hate my guts fuck them. I’d never seen an F in Entertainment Weekly before and I literally haven’t since.
Drew: Wow.
Jamie: I knew I struck a chord because if I’m getting an F? That’s not a C. That’s like really, really pissing someone off. So I kind of liked it too? I was like fuck them. But that guy is the head critic at Variety still. So, you know, those guys are still around.
Drew: Sure.
Jamie: But I was okay with it. I was such an outsider anyway. I always knew I didn’t like people on the inside and it just affirmed my belief that I didn’t like them.
Drew: Did it make it more difficult to get future projects made?
Jamie: Yeah! I mean my dream — which was very quickly dashed — was that I would make a movie, it would be a big success, and then I would get to direct Clueless — a big studio movie like that. But I’m also very much myself. My parents raised a person who was very self assured, you know? I was raised to think the mainstream sucks and that they’ll always shoot you down.
But I was still surprised by the vitriol and the hatred towards the film. It was this dual reality where I went to Sundance and all the 20 somethings and younger were going nuts for the movie and then all the old people — and by old I mean my age now — who had all the power and were writing reviews were really mean to me and really mean to the film. They said I had no talent and that I didn’t deserve a career! So I realized I might have to keep making underground films for the next 20 years. And that was kind of a bummer because I’m a lesbian and I don’t have any money and I’m not going to marry money. So I was like, well I guess I’ll just have to babysit and make indie movies.
But luckily I got an agent at Sundance. He was Clea and Natasha’s agent too and he just hired me because they loved me and he thought well at least actors love her. And then my first interview I ever had was with Ryan Murphy for Popular. It was his first TV show and it became my first TV show. He hired me for the next two years and that’s how I was able to get by directing TV for so long.
Drew: I mean, your TV resume is incredible. You’ve directed so many specific episodes that I’m obsessed with. Your episodes of Looking are some of my favorite episodes of that show.
Jamie: Oh thank you!
Drew: I think most people now acknowledge that But I’m a Cheerleader is a masterpiece — at least the people who would care enough to discuss it. And also the cast — I mean the cast at the time was amazing — but looking at the cast now it’s staggering. Because you have legends like RuPaul and Mink Stole and then obviously Natasha and Clea, but then also Michelle Williams, Melanie Lynskey, and Julie Delpy. I feel like every time I watch it I forget someone and I’m like oh right they’re in it this is amazing. I don’t even know if I have a question. The cast is just so amazing.
Jamie: At the time Michelle Williams was on Dawson’s Creek but she was always really cool and soulful and better than that show. She really wanted to be the lead of But I’m a Cheerleader but she couldn’t because of the show. But she said she’d literally do any other part. She said she’d fly in on the weekend and do a cameo.
Drew: That’s amazing.
Jamie: And I took a film class at NYU with Julie Delpy, so she agreed to do it. And RuPaul I just thought would be so great as an ex-gay. It just made me laugh. And he was such a delight. I mean, he’s such a smart person. At the time, I didn’t know if he was trans because he really was a pop star who was very successful as Ru, the glamorous woman. I’d never seen him out of drag, but then he came into the office and was masculine presenting. And I think he was excited to show that side of himself. He asked who was going to play his gay love interest and when I said Eddie Cibrian he was like oh hell yes I’m doing this movie.
Drew: (laughs)
Jamie: He was so excited.
Drew: The movie opens with shots of cheerleaders’ butts and boobs and that reoccurs when Megan is thinking about sex. I think it’s really interesting how you take these classic male gaze objectifying images but filter them through a lesbian lens. Do you have thoughts about what it looks like for lesbian filmmakers to shoot sex scenes and to portray horniness?
Jamie: I love it all. I’m so into it. My dream is to direct porn. I feel like so many queer filmmakers don’t want to show their lust. I know there’s sexism in the world and I understand that actresses get annoyed that everyone is lusting after them and objectifying them because it’s mostly men. But I’ve gotten into fights with actors on set before where I’m doing gay desire and they want to shoot it like friends. And I’m like you’re not fucking friends. You’re not! That’s my whole junior high experience: No, I don’t want to be friends with you. I actually want to have sex with you. So it is different. And I do think it’s important for women to show lesbian desire and show that women want to have sex and that women are really into boobs and women are taking sneak peeks. All that stuff is all very real. We haven’t had the chance to display that much but I don’t think it’s shameful. It’s biology. And people should get over it. I mean the DP was like Jamie I feel disgusting you’re making me shoot up these girls’ skirts and I’m like whatever!
Drew: I love that.
Jamie: Also I was so happy about that opening song, “Chick Habit.” The French version is originally by Serge Gainsbourg who is known for all the sex he had and the fact that there was this LA female artist who had covered it was so perfect. But I had to get permission from the Gainsbourg estate and the music supervisor warned that it was going to be really expensive because Serge Gainsbourg is like the Bob Dylan of France. And obviously we had like two cents. So we wrote a letter to the estate and his family said: Look, we meet every year and read the letters and watch the films. And if we think dad would like the film then we let people have the song. Well, we loved your movie and dad would’ve loved your movie. Yes.
Drew: That’s incredible.
Jamie: I know I was so happy. I was like the Gainsbourg family is incredible. I love them.
Drew: When you were creating the sex scenes were you responding to what you were seeing? I mean, the 90s were obviously an incredible decade for queer cinema, but was there anything that you felt embodied that hornier gaze?
Jamie: Not enough and I was mad about that! The L Word came after But I’m a Cheerleader and that was something that show did super well. It really went for it! It was kind of nuts about sex and I liked that.
I actually wanted a more sexual scene in the movie. I thought there was going to be full nudity but when I got to set Clea and Natasha were like hell no you never talked to us about nudity. And I was like yeah but you’re my friends! Obviously if you’re having sex you have to have your clothes off. And they were like hell no Jamie we aren’t going to show you anything. I was so mad!
Drew: I guess it’s a good lesson that even when they’re your friends you have to ask in advance.
Jamie: Yeah exactly.
Drew: I mean, you do a pretty great job still making it sexy despite them being clothed.
Jamie: I tried. The DP suggested we light it really dark so people will think there’s stuff happening and I thought that was a good idea. I knew we were successful when the ratings board gave us an NC-17. I was so mad. I called the ratings board people and was like what is in the film?? It’s like a G rated movie! You’ve gotta be kidding me! And she said, well honestly there’s a couple things but the main problem is the sex scene and I was like, why there’s literally no nudity in it. And she said, well it’s so dark and I’m sure there are a lot of things going on in the darkness. You’re going to have to light it up and resubmit it to me so I can check the shots.
Drew: (laughs) Wow.
Jamie: And I was like well that’s great! That means people think really crazy stuff is happening. It worked. A good piece of music and some dark lighting? It was all fine.
Drew: And in this movie Graham is SUCH a heartthrob. We didn’t get that a lot twenty years ago. When you were a teenager was there anyone? Did you have a celebrity crush?
Jamie: Yes. It’s funny my girlfriend is a little older than you and she’d never heard of this movie but people my age who like butch girls were obsessed with Little Darlings.
Drew: I haven’t seen that! But I’ve heard other people reference it in this exact context. (laughs)
Jamie: You need to watch it. Kristy McNichol is like smoking fucking hot. She is Clea DuVall. Kristy McNichol was my generation’s Clea DuVall. And she later came out, but only like five or ten years ago.
Drew: So the last thing I wanted to ask you about… I know you directed the pilot for A League of Their Own and you probably can’t say a lot about it, but I was wondering if you could say anything.
Jamie: Yeah! The original A League of Their Own is so amazing and it was very intimidating to walk in the shoes of that movie at all. But I always knew those characters were queer and it was something that wasn’t explored in the movie and it’s heavily, heavily explored in the TV show.
Drew: That’s great to know.
Jamie: There is girl kissing. There is transness. These are real stories of queer people who were involved in the league in the 40s. It’s all based on the 90 year old women who were brave enough to talk to us and who are still talking to us in the development of the series. They have so many fabulous stories to tell about all these queer kids from around the country and Canada coming together for this women’s baseball league. They were all hooking up. It’s a big part of the show.
The But I’m a Cheerleader 20th anniversary director’s cut comes out on digital December 8th.
“Addicted to Fresno” Is Your Next Favorite Movie from Jamie Babbit and Natasha Lyonne
Director Jamie Babbit, who brought Natasha Lyonne down from the heavens and delivered us But I’m A Cheerleader has once again bestowed upon the lady-loving community a dark and twisted comedy: Addicted to Fresno. At once completely deranged and oddly sweet, Fresno follows two sisters in a codependent relationship in which Martha (Natasha Lyonne) habitually picks up the pieces behind recovering sex addict Shannon (Judy Greer). And in case you were wondering, yes, Lyonne plays a lesbian.
images courtesy of MPRM Entertainment
The film premiered on September 3rd at the SVA theater in New York as part of NewFest, in partnership with OutFest and the Film Society of Lincoln Center. The screening of this particular film kicked off an effort to showcase more films by queer women. While queer women are certainly represented on screen, it’s really the brains behind the whole outfit that make the film uniquely suited for this mission. Babbit’s wife, Karey Dornetto, wrote the screenplay.
Jamie Babbit (left), Karey Dornetto (center), and Natasha Lyonne (right) behind the scenes. image via MPRM Entertainment
Both Babbit and Dornetto have established themselves in the industry without pigeonholing themselves as queer artists. Babbit directed eighteen episodes of Gilmore Girls; Dornetto started out as a staff writer for South Park. It is precisely because of their diverse and varied resumes that the writing and direction of the queer relationship in this movie is just so perfectly NBD. There’s nothing sensational or special about the courtship between Martha and her wry karate instructor, Kelly (Aubrey Plaza). It’s just as awkward and confusing as any other dating-your-physical-trainer scenario might be. Okay, there is that one scene with all the lesbian softball players fondling massive purple dildos. That did happen.
image via MPRM Entertainment
Fresno is a perfect example of how women are an underappreciated and untapped source of cutting edge talent. Sure, the dick jokes abound, but I can’t remember the last time I heard a dick joke that was actually funny until I saw this movie. Given the opportunity, women can make (and are making) indie content with mainstream appeal. At the Q&A after the September 3rd screening, Jamie Babbit made certain to thank Gamechanger Films, which finances woman-directed films in an effort to close the gender gap in filmmaking. An admirable mission, and one that brought us this spunky little gem.
A murder, Fred Armisen, a bar mitzvah and Molly Shannon. What more can I say? The movie is a barrel of laughs, and the cast is chock full of comedy royalty. After what feels like a marathon of raunchy humor and aggressively casual sex, the film has some trouble tying up its loose ends, but it’s well worth the ride. You can download Addicted to Fresno on iTunes, stream or rent it on Amazon, or catch it in theaters beginning October 2nd.
But I’m Jamie Babbit: The Autostraddle Interview
Jamie Babbit is somewhat of a queer icon. She is our collective root. What would it be like to be a baby lesbian if there was no But I’m a Cheerleader? How could we properly function as a queer society? What would we dream about had we no Clea Duvall smoking a cigarette?? Thank you, Jamie, for giving us these beautiful reveries and hopes for the future.
Babbit’s new film, FRESNO, premiered at SXSW this weekend and I sat with her before it happened, so this interview is sort of out-of-date, but it’s whatever. During the interview I learned a few key points:
(1) Jamie Babbit works with all of her wives.
(2) Jamie Babbit has been trying to put dildos in her films for YEARS.
(3) Jamie Babbit did not want to hang out in Cleveland for long enough to make a movie.
Below is the interview, once you’ve finished reading, please tell me what you’ve learned.
Photo credit: the CW Austin
…in San Francisco, they did a special night honoring Natasha Lyonne.
Oh, really?
Yeah. It was at the Castro Theater, and they did a Rocky Horror Picture Show staged version of But I’m a Cheerleader with a drag ensemble.
Oh my god!
We should mention too that people can get the rights to do But I’m a Cheerleader: the Musical. So many queer college kids are going to flip a nut over that.
I know. It will be so cool. Okay, let’s do this thing. So let’s start by you telling me about Fresno.
So Fresno is a movie that is a comedy. I really wanted to do another movie with Natasha, because now that she’s healthy and sober and working, I wanted to re-team with her.
[JB’s dog begins barking emphatically.]
Boris really wants to get in here too. He got put out because he was bad, and now he’s going to get brought in because he’s bad. Boris, please don’t ruin my interview. So basically, I knew we wanted to do a comedy and I also knew that I really wanted to work with my girlfriend, Karey. And she had never written a movie before, so she was really excited to write an indie movie. And so we knew we wanted to work together. So she pitched me like five ideas. The first one was a road trip movie, and I was like, that’s the most unvisual thing in the world. And plus, every director knows it’s horrible to shoot in a car. So I was like, I don’t want to do that. But anyway, we finally settled on Fresno. It’s a story about two sisters. And it kind of takes off where But I’m a Cheerleader ended, where if But I’m a Cheerleader is about Natasha going to rehab, this story is about someone coming home from rehab. And it’s about how your family, you’re still in the same dynamic you were in when you were in rehab. And you have to come back from rehab and re-establish your family dynamic. Because the dependent addict sister and the codependent sister who enables her — that dynamic is still in play. It’s basically from the view of the codependent sister who has always enabled her sister and taken care of her sister and tried to prevent her horrible life from happening. And it’s kind of from that point of view, and that character is played by Natasha. It’s about untangling from your family bullshit.
Photo credit: the CW Austin
That’s a good one-liner.
Untangling from your family bullshit. I agree.
Well, we got what we need. So, another question – on Instagram, I did see lots of pictures of dildos. Just wondering how that factors in.
We actually had dildos in But I’m a Cheerleader, and they got cut in the editing room because people were freaked out. So we decided to really embrace it this time. I feel like the world is ready for lesbians and dildos. There’s a scene in the movie that has hundreds of lesbians and hundreds of dildos.
Beautiful. Hundreds of lesbians. You’re good for taglines. So you shot Fresno in Fresno?
We shot it in Los Angeles. Originally it was called “Cleveland” and we wanted to shoot it in Cleveland. I’m from Cleveland. Then we went to Cleveland and we realized Cleveland is not a good place to shoot a movie. And I really didn’t want to spend that much time in Cleveland, to tell you the truth. So a weekend was long enough to understand that I didn’t want to shoot there. So I decided that I’d actually rather shoot in LA and just think of, what is the Cleveland of California? And based on research, that’s Fresno.
Beautiful. And that’s premiering at SXSW.
It premiers March 14 at SXSW, and we’ll be hoping to secure a distributor there. But in the meantime, we’ve applied for every gay festival known to man, so we’re hoping that we get to play that round also.
Are there many queer elements in the movie, or do you just get extra points?
No, I get no extra points. One of the sisters is a lesbian, which is Natasha. And her girlfriend is Aubrey Plaza.
Oh, this whole time I thought Aubrey Plaza was the sister.
No, Aubrey Plaza’s the girlfriend of Natasha! And they have really good chemistry. They’re a very cute couple. And I already told Aubrey that she has to do the cover of OUT Magazine, and she was like, “I’m very excited if Natasha does it with me.” So they were super cute together. And the lesbian sister is Natasha because I only cast her to play lesbians, which she said is very hard on her sex life. And Judy Greer plays the other sister, the addict sister.
Photo credit: the CW Austin
Everything’s coming together now for me and my Instagram watching. I wanted to talk about SXSW a little bit. Because I feel like it was such a different festival five years ago, and premiering a film there five years ago didn’t mean a ton. And now I feel like is a really really cool time to do that.
Yeah. I hope so. I premiered my last comedy, Itty Bitty Titty Committee, at SXSW. And it was super fun, and I ended up winning the Grand Jury Prize which was great. But I don’t think many people in the industry saw that movie. I don’t know if it’s because it’s a radical feminist comedy, or if it’s because no one was really going to SXSW so many years ago. And that was actually 2007, so that was 8 years ago. So I think Lena Dunham and Andrew Haigh – the guy who did Looking – and Lena, who did Girls. Both of them had movies that exploded at SXSW, so I feel like that’s kind of put the festival on the map. So I’m hoping that it will be good for our film.
That Fresno will be the next explosion.
I hope so. I mean, it would just be nice to have a distributor behind it to help get it out into the world.
Absolutely. I feel like everyone that I talk to, when I say your name and Natasha’s name and then Aubrey Plaza — people freak the fuck out. So I think it’s good. You’re doing good things. And then after you premier at SXSW, are you just gay festivaling all over?
Gay festivaling, and hopefully the movie will be VOD in theaters. So we’ll see. But I’m excited to be at SXSW, because Natasha, Aubrey, and Judy are actually going to go too.
Everyone’s going? Man, that’s going to be such a great thing.
Yeah, it will be really fun.
Are you doing a big party and a panel? Are you doing all the whistles and bells?
Yeah, that’ll be that night. We’ll do a dinner that Joellen is planning.
Is it a thing that anyone who’s at SXSW can go to, or is it a special thing?
Anyone at SXSW can go to see the movie, and not everyone at SXSW can come to our dinner. There’s just not enough money in a lesbian bank account to afford that, now is there? If only 13,000 people could go to dinner.
Is there anything that you specifically want to talk about?
I don’t think so… I’m looking forward to producing and directing the FX show Married, which Judy Greer is on. And I start that in two weeks. And then I’m also really looking forward to mentoring all the AFI women filmmakers this year.
Photo credit: the CW Austin
I forgot, we were going to talk about — what is it like to work with your wife on set? Or just in general, in that capacity of writing and directing?
It was really fun in the development of the script – although maybe just more time has passed, so that’s why it feels really fun. I would say probably we did 40 drafts of the script.
Holy shit.
So I think she wasn’t quite understanding that when you live with the person who is developing and directing your script, that they have full access to get rewrites at all times. So I think that was exhausting for her. She had never really dealt with that before.
Wasn’t she also working on two other shows at the time, too?
Yeah, but so was I. So I had no sympathy. But I think being in production, she wasn’t around so much because she was working on a TV show, so she couldn’t be around as much as she wanted to be. But she was definitely around a lot in post. Actually, the funny thing – it was very lesbian – I directed it, Karey wrote it, and my ex-wife who I have two kids with produced it. So it was the three of us together.
The trifecta.
Yeah, the trifecta. So I would say it’s great, because Karey and Andrea get along really well.
And you don’t get along with either of them?
Well, it’s not that I don’t get along with either of them. But it’s just that I can be the more demanding one to both of them, so I think they commiserate in that. It’s so much work. It’s so much time. But what I like about working together is that you’re spending insane amounts of time with someone that you love and that you’re getting closer to, even if it’s hard. And if it weren’t that person, then it would be some random person that you’d be getting closer to creatively, and there’s something bonding about creatively working with someone too. So I’ve always liked that. But I’ve always worked with my wife. Always. Even from my first short film, Andrea was the producer. I’ve always worked with my wife so to me, that just feels very normal. I don’t know if it’s healthy, but it feels normal.
Well, isn’t that how it goes?
Well, I guess so. But you’re not in the music industry yet.
Yeah, that’s true. But I’m filming a bunch of things for her.
You could be her manager in a millisecond. Like her tour manager.
Might as well be.
Well, here we go. That’s how marriage is, right, Boris? Just kidding. He’s not married. I feel like we can end it.
Yeah. Cool. Gay stuff.
Gay stuff!
Guilty Pleasures, Girl Power, and Jamie Babbit: The Autostraddle Interview
feature image by Ana Grillo for Frameline
You know Jamie Babbit. She’s the director who brought you all of your favorite queer films: But I’m A Cheerleader, Itty Bitty Titty Committee, The Quiet, and her latest, Breaking The Girls. She’s directed episodes of The L Word, Girls, Gossip Girl, Gilmore Girls, United States of Tara, and Castle, to name a few. She’s also on the board of directors for Power Up, a non-profit production company whose mission is to increase the visibility of lesbians in entertainment and media. Her oeuvre is queer-conscious, feminist-conscious, simultaneously super intelligent and super fun; if her work was a lady, you’d already have proposed by now. Suffice to say, Jamie Babbit is a rock star, and Autostraddle contributor Kate was pretty giddy over the opportunity to interview her. We talked about being a queer filmmaker, guilty pleasure movies, and the complicated politics of sex scenes.
Movies like But I’m A Cheerleader and Itty Bitty Titty Committee are two of those movies that I feel every queer person I’ve ever met has seen, and has really strong feelings about. Do you feel a pressure to keep making very queer films, or is that something you readily accept?
I’m totally okay with it. I feel no pressure — in fact, I embrace subjects that I am interested in. Movie projects are a two or three year commitment so I have to be interested enough in the material in order to stay around for the three years it takes to get it going. But I’m A Cheerleader is partly my life story because I grew up in a rehab — my mom ran a rehab — so I was very invested in it. And Itty Bitty Titty Committee — I was a wannabe riot girl in the early 90s, so that was also very personal. In terms of Breaking the Girls, I always wanted to make a movie like Basic Instinct or Wild Things. I love that genre, so I was really psyched when that project came around. I don’t feel any pressure to be anything but interested in the material enough to direct it.
That passion definitely comes through. And on the other side of that, you’ve directed episodes of popular television like Castle and Gossip Girl. I always find it funny that the 16 year old me who was obsessed with Gossip Girl was the same person who three years later said “But I’m A Cheerleader is my movie!” It’s interesting you’ve had a hand in both of those things because they’re so different and yet they inspire the same kind of intense following. What is it like to strike that balance between independent film and very commercial television?
A lot of it is driven by a very pragmatic thinking and feminist thinking. When I was going to Barnard and realizing the reality of my life as a lesbian, I realized the reality of my life as a lesbian is that I’m going to be poor.
I hear that, sister.
I don’t want to be poor and I actually would like to earn a living, but I also would like to have a creative life. I have a very expensive habit, which is making independent films, and I supplement my independent film habit by working in commercial TV. It’s a nice balance that I’ve found. I learned pretty early from director mentors that I had, like David Fincher, who I worked with early in my career. He was making movies but he was also directing commercials. Gus Van Sant, another idol of mine, also directed commercials for money, but obviously made movies he cared about.
I was also very blessed that my ex-girlfriend was a very successful independent film producer, and I saw how many of the independent film directors were flat broke at 50 and didn’t have health insurance, and I didn’t want to do that. I wanted to be able to take care of myself. I wanted to have a family and support my family, and that’s all really important to me, but I also would never sell out on doing work I really care about.
And the good thing about directing television as opposed to commercials, which actually most directors do, is that I got to actually work with actors. Commercials aren’t really about working with actors; it’s more about visual pleasure, one shot at a time, and the nice thing about TV is that there’s some visual pleasure, but it’s kind of the same pace as independent movies. I’ve been blessed by making enough movies that I know how to move really quickly to keep up with the TV schedule. But I also get to work with some of the best actors, like Alison Janney or Toni Colette, people I’ve always wanted to work with, and it’s been awesome to work with them in TV.
Do you think you have a preference now that you’ve done both?
You know, I really don’t. I actually think they feed off each other. I really like TV and the immediacy of it. I like that I read the script and two weeks later I make it, and a month later it’s on the air and born into the world. I also like making movies because it’s three years in the making so you get to be obsessed with it. You get to pick every person that works on it, and you get to obsess about the details because you have a lot of time. I like them both. I wouldn’t be happy if I was just making indie movies, and I wouldn’t be happy if I was just doing TV. I like the mix.
Tell us about Breaking the Girls. Autostraddle had a lot of feelings about this film.
I’ve always been one of those lesbians that loved movies like Basic Instinct. It came out when I was in junior high, and I remember gay people in San Francisco were protesting, saying it was a horrible movie where bisexuals are evil, blah blah blah. I always loved it, and when Wild Things came out, I said ‘Oh my god, I love this movie!’ I’ve always had my guilty pleasures, and that genre is one I secretly really liked. Those movies are always polarizing, and I know that, that’s fine. But I wanted Breaking the Girls to be fun. That was the most important thing to me, that it had crazy twists and turns.
Someone in San Francisco when they showed it there was like, you know, that guy in the movie was so nice and all the lesbians were evil and this is an anti-feminist movie. Usually it’s the girl who plays the boring nice wife who has all the sweet scenes and is totally boring, and I wanted the guy to have the boring flat scene and the three girls have the exciting complex roles. I don’t think the movie is anti-feminist; I think it’s three great roles for women. It’s Strangers on a Train, where the guy who plays the Madeline Zima part won an Academy Award. I think Patricia Highsmith would have liked to have written Strangers on a Train with women, [as] the butch lesbian she was, but since she was closeted and freaked out about writing anything even remotely gay, Strangers on a Train turns out to be about a bunch of guys. I also really liked the idea of remaking Strangers on a Train in a form that Patricia Highsmith would enjoy.
I’m all about making the men as boring as possible, so that’s totally fine. And I remember when I was watching it, I thought it was so much fun. It’s dark and complex but it has that summer fun blockbuster feel to it.
It’s supposed to be just a fun ride. I don’t know, that’s exactly what it’s supposed to be. And just when you think you feel like you know what the puzzle is, it’s something different. And ultimately, in the end all the puzzle leads to is [SPOILER ALERT] these two sisters who get exactly what they wanted, which is to avenge their mother.
via IFC
A lot of people wanted to know who’s gay in the movie. I think Agnes, the lead, is bi, and if anything she’s too fucked up to know what she is. I think Kate Levering’s character who says the sex with the man is disgusting – and she says at the end of the movie that she never wants to see a dick again – she’s definitely gay. I think Madeline Zima’s character is definitely gay. At the beginning we think she’s this crazy bisexual killer, but she’s a lesbian who’s put in jail by her lesbian lover. And her lover says in the last scene, she’s the only one I ever loved and I put her in jail for the rest of her life. It does end up with a tragic ending. But it’s supposed to celebrate all those ridiculous genres of movies I loved to watch. It’s a thriller, and I expected people who loved that genre to be super into it and have a good time, but I didn’t expect people who like Claire of the Moon or Bar Girls to like it, and that’s fine.
It’s funny because I feel like all of your work has that funness to it. When I mention your work to people, they always say “Jamie Babbit! Her movies are hilarious!” And Breaking the Girls is not hilarious. I mean, I laughed, but people are also getting killed and all that.
I laugh when I watch it because it’s so ridiculous. It’s not a comedy, but there’s definitely a sense of play.
What is it like directing something that is essentially not a comedy?
It’s really fun to play in that genre [of thriller]. I found it really fun to watch old Hitchcock movies. As my inspiration, I got to watch Basic Instinct and Wild Things again so it was a fun research process for me to take the elements I really liked. I had a great time with it. Guinevere Turner and I worked on the script around my kitchen table. We were just laughing and having so much fun thinking about the twists and turns, how ridiculous it was getting.
I think with American Psycho people think ‘Oh, it’s a terrifying movie’, but Gwen Turner has such an amazing sense of play. I remember watching it and thinking, ‘This is so funny’. It’s a fucked up movie, but it’s so funny.
I’m always glad to hear that people who make ridiculous movies are aware of the fact that they’re making ridiculous movies.
Oh, they’re so aware of it.
jamie babbit was awarded the 2013 frameline award | photo by ana grillo for frameline
You’ve named a lot of people as inspirations, but who are some favorites?
I go through phases. I used to be really into Cindy Sherman. I had a big Tim Burton phase. I really like Alexander Payne. I love Jane Campion. Those are artists where I’ll always be interested in what they’re up to. I love Marilyn Minter. I think she also has a great sense of play and her work is colorful – there’s a gay sense to them in a fun, twisted, fucked-up way. One of the first TV people I worked with was Ryan Murphy, who I also think has a sick sense of humor. From American Horror Story to Glee to Popular, you can see he definitely has a fucked up sense of humor like I do.
You’ve been involved in projects with lots of sexuality and sex scenes, particularly lesbian sex scenes. How do you direct a queer sex scene?
I am really into directing sex scenes. I really like it. There was a time in my life when I really wanted to direct a really good European porny movie that was about real people and real sex, because I feel like that’s something we don’t see enough. I think that’s actually something Lena Dunham does really well on Girls, really exploring the intimate and fucked up and uncomfortable and tragic and all those things about sex. I’m super into it, and I’m also kind of pervy, so I’m into it for that reason, too. As far as lesbian sex scenes go, it’s always the challenge of trying to get girls to let themselves be vulnerable, emotionally and in terms of getting their clothes off. That’s always an issue because no one wants to show anything. And there’s plenty of ways I know how to shoot around things if they’re not comfortable, but I really worship the fact that the sex scenes on Girls with Adam Driver and Lena have real nakedness, real awkwardness, are really hot but really fucked up, all those things. That’s a pleasure for any director to be able to work with that.
On The L Word I directed a lot of sex scenes, and I liked it because the girls had so much lesbian sex on the show, they would just take off their clothes and say ‘Okay, what Canadian bass player am I having sex with today?’ At least we didn’t have to have five hours of conversation to convince them; they were just ready to go.
On Breaking the Girls, sex is power; the girls use sex to get what they want. Even Madeline’s character, she seems bisexual, but I think she was pretending to be bisexual at first so she could get Agnes in the pool and then she was gonna terrorize the guy out of the pool so she could have sex with the girl. I’m really interested in the politics of that.
Complicated sexuality is so interesting. Do you have any favorite directors or artists who work with similar material?
Jane Campion, for sure. The Piano has a really complicated sexual politics where it’s a story about a woman who uses sex to get her piano back. She’s essentially exploited sexually, and then she actually loves it and falls in love with her exploiter. I find that really complicated and interesting. And definitely in her newest one, Top of the Lake. It’s really complicated and fucked up; everyone’s in love with and fucking someone who’s a predator. I love how dark her sexuality is. There’s women living on a commune because they’re anti-men, but they’re having sex with the sleazy drug dealer in town.
via efilmcritic
I love survivor revenge narratives. In Top of the Lake, that’s happening in a very complex way, but it also happens in Breaking the Girls in a much more obvious way, which I loved. It’s not explicitly a survivor revenge story, but it’s about girls taking the weapons that were used against them and then turning them on the men, which I love.
I’m totally into girl revenge stories.
Which is a little sick and awesome of us, totally.
There’s a whole library of stories like that that are just really great.
So last but not least, are there any big projects coming up that we didn’t talk about?
I’m working on a new project that’s called Cleveland. I was born and raised in Cleveland. It’s about two sisters, one gay and one straight – actually a girl who’s just out of sex rehab, and it’s basically about the sisters’ friendship and their relationship. That’s back to comedy, so that’s the next thing I’m working on. It was written by my girlfriend who’s a writer on Portlandia, and she also wrote on South Park and Arrested Development. She’s another indie-tv crossover with a funny sense of humor.
I’m eventually directing an HBO pilot for Lorne Michaels. It’s another comedy that’s about two black young reporters working at a crappy newspaper in Atlanta that’s very, very funny. I’m excited about that, too.
You can watch Breaking the Girls on IFC on Demand, or on other VOD outlets, such as: iTunes, Amazon streaming, Xbox, Google Play, PS3 and Nook.
Murderous Crazy Lesbians in Pools: Breaking The Girls
Have you exhausted every option in your Netflix “Steamy Lesbian Erotic Thriller” queue? Did your DVD player commit technological suicide after playing I Can’t Think Straight for the forty-ninth time this week? Are you convinced that you might actually turn up dead in a swimming pool if you have to marathon The L Word again? Put down that Roku remote, dust off that torrent list, and get ready for Jamie Babbit’s newest feature, Breaking the Girls.
Does the name Jamie Babbit sound familiar? That’s probably because her other two films, Itty Bitty Titty Committee and But I’m A Cheerleader, were movies that your first girlfriend made you watch when she heard that you’d never seen them before. They’re staples of every vegan feminist co-op’s film library, old standards on LOGO’s daytime movie lineup, and if you haven’t seen them, here’s your very own personal recommendation to go check them out now. They’ve got that DIY campy feel that queers can’t seem to enough of, and when I heard Babbit was making a new lesbian film, I was excited to return to the magical world of claymation penis monuments and RuPaul in short-shorts.
I’ve got news for you, queers. Breaking the Girls is not the kind of movie where you are going to see RuPaul in short-shorts. Not unless RuPaul’s corpse is in short-shorts when they find him floating facedown in a SoCal jacuzzi. Breaking the Girls is a gay parade down a very different kind of street. In fact, it’s a gay parade into a pool, and then people shoot some of the people in the pool. There’s a lot of pools in this movie. And people getting shot, but mostly pools.
example of lesbian in pool during pool scene that takes place at pool
I’ll be real: Since there aren’t that many LGBTQ films out there, period, and since the selection we have is sometimes…lacking in quality and content…I tend to rewatch my favorites. And rewatch them, and rewatch them, and rewatch them. You get the idea. Breaking the Girls just doesn’t have that rewatchable quality to me. For one thing, it’s a thriller with plot twists that rely on you not knowing what in frozen hell is going on. Once you reach the A-Ha! moment, nothing is quite as satisfying – or as gay, but that’s all I can say without spoiling you.
As a special treat, there’s some tropes being recycled here that leave a taste in my mouth that’s all too familiar. You know, that mentally-ill-to-the-point-of-danger-lesbian-character taste? Not dissimilar to the taste of suicidal-rejected-by-straight-girl-lesbian-character, or lesbian-as-a-result-of-abuse-or-assault-or-fucked-up-family-situation-character taste, actually. Breaking the Girls has a little bit of all of these in their palate, and together they’re not terribly easy to swallow.
It’s hard to get around the fact that the only character who is self-identified as a lesbian is also batshit crazy, and she straight up murders people to win the love of her straight crush. That obviously backfires, since everyone knows that we can’t have nice things, even in fictional depictions of lesbianism where, oh, you know, our narratives don’t have to follow conventional stereotypes. Crazy, right? Breaking the Girls is a thriller, though, so even murderous crazy lesbians have more on their plate than meets the eye. Unfortunately, what’s going on below the surface (of the pool HAHA) isn’t really a rallying call for healthy sexuality either. There’s about a hundred tired stereotypes to keep the plot afloat (in the pool HAHAHA), so if you can stand all the daddy issues and straight couple afraid of queer desire, you’ll still have fun.
just being a batshit murderous lesbian next to the pool
I’ve said it about five times, but I’ll say it again: Breaking the Girls is a thriller, so it’s not meant to fill you with the warm and fuzzies. People are going to die, relationships are going to be dark, and you’re not going to totally get it until the end of the movie. If you’re looking for a lesbian movie to watch while you cuddle your girlfriend (or cat) and think about how wonderful and pretty the world is, this is not your film. If you’re looking for proof that the cute girl you have sex with in a pool is also a nutjob who wants to brutally murder people in your social circle, this is probably your film.
This is a good movie for summer because there’s lots of pool scenes, and you’ll want to go swimming afterwards. There’s actually a sex scene in the pool, even if you later realize that one of two fairly tame lesbian sex scenes in the movie (and don’t worry, there’s a much more graphic sex scene involving straight people) is actually about one of the girls using the other. Depictions of healthy sexuality, where art thou?
did i mention the sex scene is in a pool
This is also a good movie for summer because it’s the kind of movie that you want to see at a theatre with a lot of popcorn and a boob to consensually accidentally touch. You want to eat sno-caps and bump elbows with your crush and share one of those ridiculously oversized sodas that come in limited edition plastic cups. You want to walk her back to your place while you make fun of the predictable plot and have cutesy banter and then, after you kiss her on your staircase, you’ll want to go swimming. In a pool.
You can catch Breaking the Girls at a queer film festival near you, such as my very own philthy city’s Philadelphia QFest on July 12, LA’s Outfest on July 20, and in New York City on July 26. If you’re stuck at home, you can also find it on a bunch of video on demand providers, like iTunes, Amazon, Xbox, PS3, Google Play, and Nook. You could even watch it in your pool.
Jamie Babbit’s New “Breaking the Girls”: Coming to an LGBTQ Film Fest Near You
Hey muffins, there’s a suspenseful little thriller making the rounds at some LGBTQ film fests this summer and we think you might want to check it out. Breaking the Girls is directed by your very own Jamie Babbit (But I’m a Cheerleader, The Quiet and Itty Bitty Titty Committee) and co-written by Guinevere Turner (The L Word, The Notorious Bettie Page, and American Psycho). It stars Agnes Bruckner (Anna Nicole) and Madeline Zima (Californication) as the strangers whose intense chance meeting leads to a deadly pact. A DEADLY PACT. Let’s take a look at some of the synopsis:
In a thriller reminiscent of the best of Alfred Hitchcock and inspired by Patricia Highsmith’s Strangers on a Train, Madeline Zima and Agnes Bruckner star as Alex and Sara, best friends who share everything until one of them reveals a twisted sense of loyalty. […] Out of her elements and emotionally distraught over the betrayal, Sara knows that if she wants to survive, she is going to have to fight back with an equally cunning and deadly plan of her own.
I feel like hot lesbian pool sex will never not be hot.
Breaking the Girls is showing at Philadelphia’s Qfest July 12 and will have its LA premiere at Outfest on July 20. It’s also screening in NY on July 26 and will be available on IFC On Demand. In addition, VOD outlets include cable providers, iTunes, Amazon streaming, Xbox, Google Play, PS3 and Nook. Basically everywhere; you could possibly even hallucinate it screening on the side of your toaster. BUT DON’T because it’ll look better on a larger screen.
Kate will be reviewing Breaking the Girls super duper soon, so be on the lookout for that. Happy LGBTQ Film Fest Season!
exclusive first look at the movie poster, y’all
Madeline Zima.
Agnes Bruckner
Shanna & Tiya.
All Photographs by Ryan Aylsworth. Copywrite Myriad Pictures.