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Published on 6/27/08
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“I wanted to make a John Waters film meets The Brady Bunch—with a hard-on,” says Todd Stephens. Mission accomplished: Another Gay Movie, the 38-year-old indie director’s newest release, is an outrageous twist on the teen-sex genre. And it’s like nothing queer cinema has ever seen before.
The plot concerns four cute young pals—a jock, a brainiac, a flamer and a eager beaver named Andy—who vow to lose their virginity over the summer. As the frisky foursome figures out whether it’s better to give or to receive, there’s enough tastelessness to shock Mrs. Brady and make Mr. Waters proud, including enemas gone bad and an oh-my-God-it’s-Dad encounter at a glory hole.
The raunchy romp is Stephens’s third cinematic project. His first, the 1998 coming-out story Edge of Seventeen (which he wrote and produced), was an art-house hit. But he experienced a sophomore slump with 2001’s Gypsy 83.The tale of two misfits infatuated with Stevie Nicks failed to find an audience. “People liked the movie and it won awards,” he says. “But distributors told me it wasn’t gay enough.” In response, he decided to write an over-the-top script, and working from his West Village apartment, he and his boyfriend Tim Kaltenecker came up with Another Gay Movie.
Hetero teen classics provided the duo with much inspiration, and audiences will easily recognize references to Scary Movie, Revenge of the Nerds, Porky’s and, of course, American Pie. In one scene, horny Andy shtups mom’s quiche lorraine (how gay!) while trying out another sensation from behind. “There I was on set with my pants pulled down,” recalls local stage actor Michael Carbonaro (Jewtopia). “I’ve got a quiche up against my groin and a toilet tube up my ass with a gerbil tail wiggling around. Was I embarrassed? I should’ve been.”
Like the movie’s other three leading actors, Carbonaro is discreet about his real-life sexuality. “I’m not gay, but I know a lot of the other actors are, because I slept with them,” he wisecracks. The suspects are plentiful, as the cast includes such queer icons as comedian Scott Hall and drag entertainer Lypsinka as Andy’s parents, Herculean porn star Matthew Rush as a thickheaded cyberdate, Irish talk-show host Graham Norton as a teacher with an S/M bent, and Survivor champ Richard Hatch playing himself and providing shock value with a full-frontal nude scene. (There’s plenty more flesh on parade, and the film is being released unrated rather than risk being slapped with an NC-17.)
So far, the movie has provoked laughs galore on the film fest circuit, including a boisterous showing at last month’s New Festival. However, not everyone is enamored with the double-headed dildo stunts or the jokes concerning NAMBLA and child-molesting priests. “When we showed in Seattle, one critic said, ‘This is the most filthy and disgusting film I have ever seen in my life’—which I thought was brilliant,” Stephens notes.
But the director is also quick to point out the movie’s more redeeming qualities. “I feel like part of the message is that being gay is okay,” he says. “I set the movie in a perfect, candy-coated suburban world where nobody is teased or beat up, and where the gay kids want to get laid just as much as the straight boys.” Stephens also champions safe sex—condoms play supporting roles, and there are a couple of scenes that skewer barebacking and party-drug overindulgence.
We might be seeing more of Andy and his sexed-up chums in the future. Another Gay Movie ends ripe for a sequel, and Stephens mentions a spring-break adventure as a possibility. In the meantime, he’s developing another project, Flamingos, either as a movie or a TV series, set in a gay retirement home in Florida. His teen flick may be outlandish, but focusing on an older queer demographic is potentially even more daring.
“I really like the idea of exploring things that haven’t been explored,” he says. “Like double penetration, and senior citizens.”
Another Gay Movie opens Friday 28 at the Quad Cinema. See also the review.
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