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‘Love Is Strange' And Hollywood's Lack Of Gay Characters In Film

Will New Gay Drama ‘Love Is Strange' Shatter Hollywood's Glass Ceiling?
Noah Michelson
By 

Editorial Director, HuffPost Personal

NEW YORK, NY - AUGUST 05: John Lithgow during the The Public Theatre's Opening Night Performance Curtain Call for 'King Lear' at the Delacorte Theatre on August 5, 2014 in New York City. (Photo by Walter McBride/WireImage)
NEW YORK, NY - AUGUST 05: John Lithgow during the The Public Theatre's Opening Night Performance Curtain Call for 'King Lear' at the Delacorte Theatre on August 5, 2014 in New York City. (Photo by Walter McBride/WireImage)

“Love Is Strange” is one of the rare movies anchored by gay characters not defined by sex. The story is set in a post-gay-rights Manhattan where marriage is legal for George (Alfred Molina) and Ben (John Lithgow), longtime partners who get hitched in a local park, surrounded by their closest friends. To fund the $1.2 million drama, which Sony Pictures Classics will platform release Aug. 22, director Ira Sachs turned to his community for help. “I got financing from 25 individuals, the majority of whom were retired lesbian businesswomen,” says Sachs over lunch on a recent afternoon in the West Village. “They cared about the story, and believed it could speak to a wide audience.” Sachs says the backers have already turned a profit from worldwide distribution deals out of Sundance and Berlin.

Read more on Variety.com

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