Arts & Entertainment
A non-binary Cuban artist is born again in Spain
Nonardo Perea suffered persecution in his homeland
MADRID, Spain — Nonardo Perea lives in Michel’s body. He uses it at will to be vulgar, angelic or diabolical, male or female. Nonardo can be whatever he wants. Michel, shy and withdrawn, hides behinds that alter ego that lends him his face and hands to show the world his claims as an artist.
Nonardo is an invention that comes to life in photographs, video art, performances, stories, installations, journalistic articles, ceramics, and whatever other format is possible, since Nonardo long ago lost any limits. His mind lost that ability as he reinvented himself as an empirical artist, as no one ever gave him the opportunity to attend art school.
He has been greatly misunderstood, mainly because his pieces overflowed with eroticism and Cuba is still too prudish to appreciate his queer art and his other works the regime has labeled as “politically incorrect.” Michel and Nonardo were discriminated against by society and the dictatorship that governs the country and represses anyone who does not agree with its dogmas.
Nonardo nevertheless overcame those barriers and began creating, without anyone’s guidance. He was first a writer and received some tools once he graduated from the Onelio Jorge Cardoso Literary Training Center in Havana. He won several competitions, such as the 2017 Franz Kafka Prize for his work “Los amores ejemplares” and the 2012 Félix Pita Rodríguez Prize for the novel “Donde el diablo puso la mano.”
In the visual arts, where he is usually very restless, he won the third prize for photography at the GendErotica Festival for “La casa por la ventana 2014” with his Vulgarmente Clásica project. He participated in the Bienal 00, organized by independent artists, with his “En la cama con Nonardo” project and presented Vulgarmente Clásica at Madrid’s La Neomudéjar Museum in 2019.
Nonardo belongs to the San Isidro Movement, a group of independent artists and intellectuals who fight for a democratic Cuba. That battle has also been fought through his art and in pursuit of LGBTQ rights, such as marriage and adoption rights for same-sex couples, and an end to gender violence that remains a problem on the island.
Due to his work and political activism for a truly democratic Cuba, Nonardo suffered police harassment and Cuban state security agents threatened him with jail. Fearing for his life, he took refuge in Spain, a country where he feels he has been reform and from which he speaks with the Los Angeles Blade.
LOS ANGELES BLADE: Those who follow your art on social networks and off of them know you as Nonardo, but few know that your real name is Michel. How and why was Nonardo Perea born?
NONARDO PEREA: I remember starting my writing career and I needed another name that was not so common. I did a big search and I didn’t like any of them. I wanted a unique name if possible. One afternoon I was sitting in the living room of my house with my father and I told him about the need for a name. It was he who proposed Nonardo. At first it sounded a bit ugly to me, but then with Perea it seemed a little better. It had strength. I liked it because it began with “no”, denial, and was followed by “nardo”, flower, that is, Nonardo had a lot to do with me. Since then I started using it for all of my work, both literary and audiovisual.
BLADE: How does your artistic training take into account that you are an empirical creator?
PEREA: My artistic creation from the beginning was always very complicated, taking into account that I had to abandon my studies at an early age for inclusion reasons, so I have no academic training; then add to that that I am a very obvious gay. At one point in my teens I was seen as a person who was too feminine. The fact of looking like a woman was a problem when trying to fit in a macho and homophobic society. Where I first tried to break through was in writing. I started by attending literary workshops, where I won several contests quite quickly. I was never exempt from criticism and rejection of the themes that my narrations addressed, which almost always focused on LGBTQ issues and dirty realism. Many times I felt that being the way I am made many uncomfortable. But despite the rejections and bad times that I lived in various periods of my life, I continued doing narrative, and I also began to write articles about social issues for the Havana Times digital newspaper. Then, over time, I had the opportunity to apply to a video journalism workshop in Prague organized by the People in Need organization, and thanks to a woman I love very much, Clara González, who saw some potential in me, I was accepted to participate in the course, in which I learned some video editing, and received help with equipment that helped me to start doing audiovisual work with better quality. All my creative works have been done empirically, and above all I am an artist who works based on improvisation.
BLADE: You have ventured into artistic genres as different as writing, journalism and acting. How do you define yourself as an artist and why?
PEREA: I am a person who cannot be inactive. I spend every day of my life thinking about doing something new. Sometimes I have so many things on my mind, and the fact that I can’t do everything I want to do makes me feel a bit frustrated. I have no words to define myself, I can only say that in some way my creative processes have helped me to cope with the life that I had to live, everything I have done and do has served as a way of escape from reality and everyday life, I could no longer live without creating.
BLADE: In a recent interview you precisely declared that your art was a process of liberating yourself. What exactly do you free yourself from when you create?
PEREA: I free myself from the day-to-day, the everyday, my fears and censorship.
BLADE: In most of your visual works you work with your own image. Why?
PEREA: I use myself as an artistic object because in Cuba I lived in solitude for a long time. I somehow isolated myself and created a space of comfort in my home, a place where I felt more free. The confinement somehow helped me to stay away from society that did not tire of making me feel bad about my obvious homosexual condition in much of my youth. My literary proposals and art in general, on the other hand, were not taken into account. I always perceived that most people underestimated me, and proposing someone to collaborate with me on erotic photographs without receiving anything in return was complicated, and still is. I have control over my body. If I want to undress in a photo or in a video, even if I feel sorry, I strip myself of complexes and do it. If I want to take a photograph that is too vulgar, I also do it. I do not have to request permission from anyone to do so. I don’t put up barriers. I take a risk, then I think that they say what they want. I understand that I am doing a job where I express my personal and social problems, as a human being.
BLADE: You identify yourself as an androgynous person. How many difficulties has that brought you considering that you have lived most of your life and developed your work in Cuba, a country where macho and homophobic ideals still predominate?
PEREA: I consider myself a non-binary androgynous person, because I do not identify with any sex. I can feel at ease as a girl as well as a boy. I have no problem with male or female pronouns. I do not like to victimize myself, but I can tell you that the road has been very difficult, and it has been not only for me, but for many other gays and lesbians who have chosen not to hide their sexual identity in their lives and have had to fight against the world. Being who I am in Cuba has not helped me much in terms of being able to be recognized for my work, but being who I am has helped me to strengthen myself and to understand that I do not need the approval of any institution to continue creating. I am a Cuban artist and like it or not, a large part of my work was created in Cuba.
BLADE: Many Cuban artists prefer to separate their creations from politics and even refuse to give their true judgment on the situation on the island. However, your work has a high dose of activism against the dictatorship and in defense of LGBTQ rights. What consequences, professional and personal, has being an artist labeled by the Cuban regime as “counterrevolutionary” brought you?
PEREA: The main consequence is that I had to go into exile; leave the country where I was born, abandon my mother and family, my friends, my dogs and a lifetime. But I think it had to be that way. There was no other way than to say goodbye, because under no circumstances was I going to allow my creative processes to stop, and above all I was going to continue doing my activism. I know that perhaps I was not going to be able to withstand so much pressure from state security agents, who wanted me to collaborate with them to expose my colleagues from the San Isidro Movement. If I returned to Cuba right now, I don’t know what my life would have been like from that moment on. If being a counterrevolutionary means saying what I think, and being in favor of oppressed minorities, and being against a dictatorship that has left Cuba and its people in a nameless misery for 61 years, then I am a counterrevolutionary and with great honor. I have nothing for which to thank that country, where I was always seen as a freak, and what little I got was thanks to my effort and dedication, because while in Cuba I received criticism and obstacles for everything, for this reason they are collecting what they sowed with me, they do not expect roses from me.
BLADE: In Cuba, to be accepted as part of the official LGBTQ movement you have to share the ideology of the dictatorship, the same one that put equal marriage to a popular vote and represses independent activists. In your opinion, what are the dangers of “politicizing” the struggle of the Cuban gay movement?
PEREA: The danger is in seeing how it becomes politicized. While in Cuba, I never stopped going to the marches staged by CENESEX (the National Center for Sexual Education) and I will not forget how Mariela Castro (CENESEX’s director and the daughter of former Cuban President Raúl Castro) herself politicized those mini-carnival marches with slogans in favor of the five spies imprisoned in the Empire (a reference to the U.S.), and with cries of “socialism yes and homophobia no.” I do not remember seeing any gay or lesbian carrying a sign demanding equal marriage, or demanding freedoms, or a law against gender violence. It is really pathetic considering that the system itself is the number one cause of the persistence of homophobia and constant abuse of people from the community, mainly transgender people, in Cuba, a country where your rights are constantly violated, either because of race or sexual orientation. Those marches were politicized by CENESEX itself in favor of a supposed socialism, which has never worked and will never work because that is a hybrid between communism and underdeveloped capitalism, and we all know that it is nothing other than a dictatorship, and of the crudest in history because it has managed to last for 61 years. If Mariela Castro and all her loyal followers politicize the march for their benefit, I don’t see why the community cannot independently arm its own fight in favor of the most basic rights of the LGBTQ community in Cuba.
BLADE: In what way has the forced exile that you have faced in Spain changed your work?
PEREA: Right now I continue to do what I want to do, regardless of being in Spain. I still feel that I am in Cuba. My vision as an artist has not changed much. I’ve only been here a year and seven months, although I believe that wherever I am, in some way my work will be linked to that of the island because I have not yet cut that umbilical cord that links me to the place where I was born and took my first steps. It is true that one acquires other mechanisms of creation and invoicing in the work while abroad, but at the moment I do not think that the focus of my work has changed much because of being in another country. Of course, here in Europe there are other problems that I may be able to take advantage of, but be that as it may, they will be appreciated from the perspective of an exiled Latin American artist.
BLADE: On a personal level, what has it been like to be a gay immigrant in Europe?
PEREA: I am very grateful for Spain, mainly for Madrid, which is the place where I have lived since I arrived in 2019. At the moment, I have not felt discriminated against because of my sexual orientation or because I am a foreigner. I have received emotional and legal support from the NGO Rescate, which welcomed me and where I have received the care that I never had in my own country. With all the social and political problems that may exist, it is in this country where I have somehow been able to know what true freedom is.
BLADE: What can we expect from Nonardo Perea in the near future?
PEREA: I am in another difficult moment in my life right now, because I cannot find a job, and I do not receive any money for my artistic work, so what I do is for the love of art and because I cannot stop building my own world. The COVID situation has managed to make things more difficult, not only for me but for everyone, but taking into account that I am an exile and that I have been here for a short time, it is very complicated. Even so, I eventually continue to make video art for the Vulgarmente Clásica audiovisual project, which I have been doing for several years. And more recently I started with a new project, “Maricón Tropical: Living in Madrid”, this one is a bit more comprehensive not to call it ambitious because I insert various artistic manifestations: Performance, audiovisual, literature, drawing and photography, and it is focused on my new life as an exile in Madrid, everything seen from a self-referential point of view, as are almost all my proposals.
BLADE: If you had to create a work that describes your life right now, what would it be like?
PEREA: I consider that my life, my true life, has started now, what it was before was not. For the purposes I was born on March 19, 2019, when I set foot in Spain. All the past is left behind. I want to imagine that the past was a bad dream. My “Maricón Tropical: Living in Madrid” project is a work that somehow reflects that past, which is unfortunately impossible to forget and it is also good that people know what that other life was like, but I focus more on the present, my current problems as a person who faces a new life as an adult who feels like a newborn. I can only tell you that my life’s work is in progress.
Movies
‘Becoming a Man in 127 EASY Steps’ changes the narrative when it comes to LGBTQ storytelling
Trans filmmaker and performer Scott Schofield dazzles in this one-person special, raising the bar when it comes to telling our stories
There is a sameness to filmed solo performances: a performer with a microphone, a minimalist backdrop, and a linear delivery. Designed more for economic efficiency than emotional expression, the form works, but it rarely surprises.
“This is gonna be a little…different,” Emmy-nominated actor/writer/producer Scott Turner Schofield declares at the top of his new one-hour special, Becoming a Man in 127 EASY Steps. It’s now streaming on Kinema.
Co-Directors Andrea James and Puppett adapted Schofield’s long-running live performance into a work that understands structure as art. Built around 127 discrete stories — originally selected live and never told in the same order twice — the film resists linear autobiography. Each story stands alone; they arrive out of order, sometimes raw and live, sometimes boldly cinematic; and no one story is positioned as definitive. That structure is the thesis: identity is not linear, nobody is just one thing.
What happens after transition has never been very interesting to mass media — is it because that would be too human? Rather than staying stuck in the amber of the moment of transition, this film invites you to sit with a person who has lived far into a future most trans people can’t imagine. It’s a detailed, balanced portrait, with humor sharp enough to puncture reverence and tenderness strong enough to survive it.
The approach places Becoming a Man in 127 EASY Steps in a lineage closer to Jon Leguizamo’s solo works than to a Netflix stand-up special. Like Leguizamo’s best pieces, Schofield’s film uses performance as a vehicle for history, embodiment, and cultural critique, expanding the language of solo storytelling rather than flattening it for easy consumption.
Speaking of Leguizamo, as an actor, Schofield moves effortlessly through humor, absurdity, grief, tenderness, and philosophical reflection, but the delivery remains grounded. His charm is indelible and irresistibly watchable.
Literate without being precious, Schofield’s writing lands its insights through specificity rather than thesis statements. The funniest moments aren’t jokes about gender; they’re observations about being alive, from an off-the-wall perspective. A vegetarian lasagna recipe doubles as a guide to emotional readiness; a Croatian skinny-dipping misadventure becomes accidental “feminist fieldwork.”
One line, recalling a formative childhood memory, crystallizes the film’s emotional intelligence: “Uncle Bill’s death gave me one free day of childhood,” Schofield exclaims, recalling the first time he got to wear boys’ underwear underneath borrowed clothes after an unexpected tragedy. “One day, when I knew that, no matter what I looked like on the outside, I was who I was supposed to be underneath.” The audience bursts into laughter, but that sentence dismantles half the culture war arguments about gender. Soundbites like these are an enjoyable refrain throughout the hour-long film.
Allen Martsch’s animation in “Step 127” lifts the piece to another level. Swirling in images that harken back to Hedwig and the Angry Inch’s touching but somehow spiritual illustrations, Schofield refuses both the Hero Myth and the Everyman narrative: “I can’t identify with either one of those men. Neither one feels quite right.” Instead, the piece insists on process, on what it means to keep becoming without knowing the ending — turning page after page.
There is rage here, and grief, and of course it is intensely political — even more so, at this moment in history. But those emotions arrive through specificity rather than slogans. When Schofield says, “It’s not death I want. It’s change,” he’s naming a fact most trans people recognize, whether they admit it or not.
Trans man leads remain exceedingly rare in narrative cinema. Films like Close to You, starring Eliot Page, mark important progress by placing a trans man at the emotional center of a fictional story. Becoming a Man in 127 EASY Steps offers transmasculine interiority in a different register — non-fictional and self-authored — pushing representation forward in another crucial way.
The film’s existence is itself a low-key indictment of the industry in which trans actors remain marginalized. Becoming a Man in 127 EASY Steps’s production budget was crowdfunded, listing 378 community supporters in its credits. Any critique of the film is due to its lack of resources: it needs a better sound mix, two balconies of audience for the introductory monologue, and a slicker presentation overall. One can’t help but ask: what could this have been with the resources routinely afforded to far less ambitious (straight, cisgender) solo projects?
The answer feels obvious. This is an HBO special in every way but platform. It is expansive in form, rigorous in thought, and generous with its audience. It does what the best solo performance films do, using one body to tell a much larger story, without simplifying it. The question is not whether the film belongs on a larger platform. It plainly does. The question is: why isn’t it already there?
It arrives instead on Kinema, an emerging streaming platform built to support independent film through live and virtual screenings, community engagement, and social justice fundraising.
Becoming a Man in 127 EASY Steps deserves to be seen, not as a niche artifact, but as a benchmark for what filmed performance can be. It deserves the scale, seriousness, and cultural placement that straight cisgender solo works enjoy.
Instead, it arrives carried by community, and quietly raises the bar for what filmed performance can be.
Watch Becoming a Man in 127 EASY Steps now on Kinema. Find out more at 127steps.com.
Review provided by Valentin Arnold, guest to the Blade
Television
‘Pluribus,’ ‘The Pitt,’ and ‘Charlie’s Angels’ 50th anniversary among 2026 PaleyFest LA line-Up
Rhea Seehorn and Noah Wyle are among the stars who will be in attendance
Pluribus, The Pitt, and a 50th anniversary celebration of Charlie’s Angels are among the top shows announced as part of this year’s PaleyFest LA line-up, with stars Rhea Seehorn and Noah Wyle expected to attend.
Running April 4-12 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, The Paley Center for Media’s annual PaleyFest LA once again brings a collection of celebrated TV shows for special screenings and panels. Other featured shows include Nobody Wants This, Emily in Paris, Your Friends & Neighbors, and Scrubs, which is notably being rebooted and will debut Feb. 25 on ABC.
“PaleyFest LA is a one-of-a-kind celebration where iconic talent, passionate fans, and unforgettable moments all come together,” Paley Center’s president and CEO Maureen J. Reidy said in a statement. “We are thrilled to welcome audiences back to the Dolby Theatre this April and are deeply grateful to our partners at Citi and the William S. Paley Foundation for their continued support in making this festival possible.”
In addition to the festival’s contemporary focus, this year, PaleyFest LA will be celebrating the 50th anniversary of Charlie’s Angels with Kate Jackson, Jaclyn Smith, and Cheryl Ladd in attendance. That original show ran for five seasons from 1976 to 1981, laying the groundwork for the 2000 movie with Drew Barrymore, Lucy Liu, and Cameron Diaz, as well as the most recent 2019 reboot with Kristen Stewart, Elizabeth Banks, and Ella Balinska.
Check out the full schedule and participating talent below:
Saturday, April 4th at 7:00 pm – Pluribus
Big Screen Presentation of the season one finale by the Producers & Conversation with the Creatives and Stars!
Featuring: Rhea Seehorn (Carol Sturka); Karolina Wydra (Zosia); Carlos-Manuel Vesga (Manousos);
Samba Schutte (Mr. Diabaté); Gordon Smith, Executive Producer & Writer; and Jenn Carroll, Co-Executive Producer & Writer
Monday, April 6th at 7:30 pm – Charlie’s Angels 50th Anniversary Celebration (Original Network ABC and Sony Pictures Television)
The Iconic Series and Its Legendary Stars Celebrate a TV Milestone!
Featuring: Kate Jackson, Jaclyn Smith, and Cheryl Ladd
Tuesday, April 7 at 7:30 pm – Shrinking (Apple TV and Warner Bros. Television)
Screening of the Season 3 Finale & Conversation with the Creatives and Stars!
Featuring: Bill Lawrence, Co-Creator, Showrunner, Executive Producer; Brett Goldstein, Co-Creator, Executive Producer, Writer, (Louis); Jason Segel, Co-Creator, Executive Producer, (Jimmy); Jessica Williams (Gaby); Michael Urie (Brian); Luke Tennie (Sean); Christa Miller (Liz); Lukita Maxwell (Alice); and Ted McGinley (Derek)
Wednesday, April 8 7:30 pm – Nobody Wants This (Netflix and 20th Television, a Disney company)
Big Screen Presentation of an Episode Selected by the Producers & Conversation with the Creatives and Stars!
Featuring: Kristen Bell, Executive Producer (Joanne); Adam Brody (Noah); Justine Lupe (Morgan); Timothy Simons (Sasha); Jackie Tohn (Esther); Erin Foster, Creator, Executive Producer, Writer; Jenni Konner, Co-showrunner, Executive Producer, Writer; and Bruce Eric Kaplan, Co-showrunner, Executive Producer, Writer
Friday, April 10 at 7:30 pm – Emily in Paris (Netflix and Paramount Television Studios)
Big Screen Presentation of an Episode Selected by the Producers & Conversation with the Creatives and Stars!
Featuring: Darren Star, Creator, Executive Producer & Writer; Andrew Fleming, Executive Producer & Director; Lily Collins, Producer (Emily Cooper); Ashley Park (Mindy); Lucas Bravo (Gabriel); Samuel Arnold (Julien); Bruno Gouery (Luc); and Lucien Laviscount (Alfie)
Saturday, April 11 at 2:00 pm – Scrubs (ABC and 20th Television, a Disney company)
Big Screen Preview of a New Episode & Conversation with the Creatives and Stars!
Featuring: Zach Braff, Executive Producer (John “J.D.” Dorian); Donald Faison, Executive Producer (Christopher Turk); Sarah Chalke, Executive Producer (Elliot Reid); and Bill Lawrence, Executive Producer
Plus additional guests to be announced.
Saturday, April 11 at 7:00 pm – Your Friends & Neighbors (Apple TV and Apple Studios)
Big Screen Preview of a New Episode & Conversation with the Creatives and Stars!
Featuring: Jon Hamm, Executive Producer (Andrew “Coop” Cooper); Amanda Peet (Mel Cooper); Olivia Munn (Samantha Levitt); and Jonathan Tropper, Creator, Showrunner, Writer, Director, & Executive Producer
Sunday, April 12 at 7:00 pm – The Pitt (HBO Max and Warner Bros. Television)
Celebrating This Year’s Emmy and Golden Globe Award Winner for Best Drama Series! Preview Screening and Conversation.
Featuring: R. Scott Gemmill, Executive Producer; Noah Wyle (Dr. Michael Robinavitch); Katherine LaNasa (Dana Evans), Supriya Ganesh (Dr. Mohan), Taylor Dearden (Dr. King), and Isa Briones (Dr. Santos)
LA Blade will be on the scene! For more information, head to PaleyCenter.org.
Books
‘The Director’ highlights film director who collaborated with Hitler
But new book omits gay characters, themes from Weimar era
‘The Director’
By Daniel Kehlmann
Summit Books, 2025
Garbo to Goebbels, Daniel Kehlmann’s historical novel “The Director” is the story of Austrian film director G.W. Pabst (1885-1967) and his descent down a crooked staircase of ambition into collaboration with Adolph Hitler’s film industry and its Minister of Propaganda Joseph Goebbels. Kehlmann’s historical fiction is rooted in the world of Weimar German filmmaking and Nazi “Aryan” cinema, but it is a searing story for our challenging time as well.
Pabst was a legendary silent film director from the Weimar Republic’s Golden Era of filmmaking. He “discovered” Greta Garbo; directed silent screen star Louise Brooks; worked with Hitler’s favored director Leni Riefenstahl (“Triumph of the Will”); was a close friend of Fritz Lang (“Metropolis”); and lived in Hollywood among the refugee German film community, poolside with Billy Wilder (“Some Like it Hot”) and Fred Zinnemann (“High Noon”) — both of whose families perished in the Holocaust.
Yet, Pabst left the safety of a life and career in Los Angeles and returned to Nazi Germany in pursuit of his former glory. He felt the studios were giving him terrible scripts and not permitting him to cast his films as he wished. Then he received a signal that he would be welcome in Nazi Germany. He was not Jewish.
Kehlmann, whose father at age 17 was sent to a concentration camp and survived, takes the reader inside each station of Pabst’s passage from Hollywood frustration to moral ruin, making the incremental compromises that collectively land him in the hellish Berlin office of Joseph Goebbels. In an unforgettably phantasmagoric scene, Goebbels triples the stakes with the aging filmmaker, “Consider what I can offer you….a concentration camp. At any time. No problem,” he says. “Or what else…anything you want. Any budget, any actor. Any film you want to make.” Startled, paralyzed and seduced by the horror of such an offer, Pabst accepts not with a signature but a salute: “Heil Hitler,” rises Pabst. He’s in.
The novel develops the disgusting world of compromise and collaboration when Pabst is called in to co-direct a schlock feature with Hitler’s cinematic soulmate Riefenstahl. Riefenstahl, the “Directress” is making a film based on the Fuhrer’s favorite opera. She is beautiful, electric and beyond weird playing a Spanish dancer who mesmerizes the rustic Austrian locals with her exotic moves. The problem is scores of extras will be needed to surround and desire Fraulein Riefenstahl. Mysteriously, the “extras” arrive surprising Pabst who wonders where she had gotten so many young men when almost everyone was on the front fighting the war. The extras were trucked in from Salzburg, he is told, “Maxglan to be precise.” He pretends not to hear. Maxglan was a forced labor camp for “racially inferior” Sinti and Roma gypsies, who will later be deported from Austria and exterminated. Pabst does not ask questions. All he wants is their faces, tight black and white shots of their manly, authentic, and hungry features. “You see everything you don’t have,” he exhorts the doomed prisoners to emote for his camera. Great art, he believes, is worth the temporal compromises and enticements that Kehlmann artfully dangles in the director’s face. And it gets worse.
One collaborates in this world with cynicism born of helpless futility. In Hollywood, Pabst was desperate to develop his own pictures and lure the star who could bless his script, one of the thousands that come their way. Such was Greta Garbo, “the most beautiful woman in the world” she was called after being filmed by Pabst in the 1920s. He shot her close-ups in slow motion to make her look even more gorgeous and ethereal. Garbo loved Pabst and owed him much, but Kehlmann writes, “Excessive beauty was hard to bear, it burned something in the people around it, it was like a curse.”
Garbo imagined what it would be like to be “a God or archangel and constantly feel the prayers rising from the depths. There were so many, there was nothing to do but ignore them all.” Fred Zinnemann, later to direct “High Noon”, explains to his poolside guest, “Life here (in Hollywood) is very good if you learn the game. We escaped hell, we ought to be rejoicing all day long, but instead we feel sorry for ourselves because we have to make westerns even though we are allergic to horses.”
The texture of history in the novel is rich. So, it was disappointing and puzzling there was not an original gay character, a “degenerate” according to Nazi propaganda, portrayed in Pabst’s theater or filmmaking circles. From Hollywood to Berlin to Vienna, it would have been easy to bring a sexual minority to life on the set. Sexual minorities and gender ambiguity were widely presented in Weimar films. Indeed, in one of Pabst’s films “Pandora’s Box” starring Louise Brooks there was a lesbian subplot. In 1933, when thousands of books written by, and about homosexuals, were looted and thrown onto a Berlin bonfire, Goebbels proclaimed, “No to decadence and moral corruption!” The Pabst era has been de-gayed in “The Director.”
“He had to make films,” Kehlmann cuts to the chase with G.W. Pabst. “There was nothing else he wanted, nothing more important.” Pabst’s long road of compromise, collaboration and moral ruin was traveled in small steps. In a recent interview Kehlmann says the lesson is to “not compromise early when you still have the opportunity to say ‘no.’” Pabst, the director, believed his art would save him. This novel does that in a dark way.
(Charles Francis is President of the Mattachine Society of Washington, D.C., and author of “Archive Activism: Memoir of a ‘Uniquely Nasty’ Journey.”)
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a&e features
Everyone should be a little more like Van Goth
The winner of Canada’s Drag Race season 6 breaks down her historic win and why you should embrace the shade.
Canada’s Drag Race fans rejoice: a new Queen of the North has officially been inducted into the hall of fame! After one of its wildest seasons ever, RuPaul’s Drag Race’s Canadian spinoff has officially named Van Goth, Toronto’s resident punk rock princess, as ‘Canada’s Next Drag Superstar’.
While every winner has a unique path to the crown, Van’s was a tad more chaotic than most. The performer not only made history by winning four challenges — more than anyone else in the show’s history — but was called out multiple times for alleged backstabbing and shady behavior. Yet despite these call-outs, this Queen soldiered on, using every moment onscreen to say exactly what she was thinking and eventually fight her way to the series’ $100,000 grand prize.
Canada’s newest winner spoke with the Los Angeles Blade about what it means to win one of television’s biggest awards today. Digging into her many iconic moments on the show, Van Goth spoke about how proud she was to showcase her art and why she doesn’t regret any of her ‘shady’ moments — and why queer artists everywhere could benefit from being a little more shady themselves!
“Going onto RuPaul’s Drag Race, you need a goal to hold onto,” said Van Goth, when discussing the mindset that got her to Canada’s Drag Race finale. “Winning is a bad goal — because most people lose Drag Race. That’s just the tea! My goal was that when I left [the show], you could not think about season six or the best to ever do it without [thinking of] me. And I accomplished that even before I got the crown.” It would be hard for anyone to disagree; Goth instantly caught viewers’ attention with the punk style she brought to the show’s mainstage. A mixture of riot aesthetics and classic elegance — her name is an homage to Van Gogh, after all — every turn on the runway brought a new, jaw-dropping look for viewers to fall in love with. And not only were the outfits immaculate to look at, but many held a purpose, with Van using some of her outfits and performances to bring attention to those living with HIV (she herself is undetectable).
Her advocacy and outfits were enough to grab viewers’ attention, but those weren’t the only reasons fans quickly grew intrigued by Van Goth. When she wasn’t securing wins and turning looks, the performer just couldn’t seem to stop causing drama behind the scenes.
“I didn’t make the rules for the competition. They were laid out for me, and I used them,” clarified Goth, when discussing how she’s been labelled a ‘backstabber.’ The moniker comes from the prevalence of alliances that appeared on this season, with Van breaking a majority of the ones she was a part of. With Canada’s Drag Race featuring a unique rule that allows winning queens to save bottom queens from elimination (the illustrious ‘golden beaver’), Goth had promised multiple people that, if given the chance, she’d spare them from elimination. But despite these promises, Van always knew she’d only make decisions that helped her get to the win.
“I came from a competitive sports background — I played rugby for 12 years!” She explained. “So, it was easy to tap back into that [cutthroat] mindset for this competition.” A cutthroat mindset that earned her ire from many other queens, with Sam Star publicly calling out Van Goth and claiming it was because of her betrayal that her Drag Race dreams were ruined. Goth assured that she has a great relationship now with Star and every other queen on this installment. But when asked whether she regrets any of these choices, the winner clarified, “Something that I love about my run on the show was that I was really honest, but I also was really firm in my position.”
“If someone came at me and said something that I didn’t agree with, I pushed back on it. And I really hope that artists around the world see that and know that they have a voice and it’s powerful, and they can use it.” Van Goth encourages people to see the deeper meanings of the ‘dramatic’ scenes she had on the show, to recognize them as moments where a queer person refused to stay silent and always went after what was best for them. She continued, “[If you] don’t agree with something, [you] should speak out and stand up for it! There’s so much power in what you say…[and] I feel like moving forward as queer artists, especially in this day and age, we have to really stand up for our own and what we do, and push back against the world. And still find a way to create art that gives people hope and entertainment during these dark times.”
As the interview came to an end, Van Goth shared what she hoped people learned from her time on the season. It’s easy (and admittedly enjoyable) to focus on her drama, but the performer’s mission as reigning Queen of the North is to inspire others to act as defiantly confident as she is. “I [plan to] travel, continuing to lift up local communities and continue to give people hope. To inspire artists to live their dreams, and really go for it.”
Van appears content with the knowledge that some people may not care about this goal. That many avid fans will instead focus on her alleged slights, on how she apparently ruined their favorite competitor’s chance at the crown. In regard to that point, especially, Van had one thing to say.
“They should try harder next time…and then, maybe, they would win.”
a&e features
Writing her own story arc: Stuntwoman Ellie Haigh takes on Hollywood
A candid conversation with stuntwoman Ellie Haigh on training arcs, chosen family, and what it means to take up space as a trans woman in Hollywood
If you take a peek back at stuntwoman Ellie Haigh’s pre-career upbringing, you will find a kid geeking out to Power Rangers with an overwhelming sense of possibility. Far before she was doubling actors or choreographing fights, Haigh was already building her training arc through gymnastics, parkour, martial arts, and determination. What started as a childhood appreciation for Ninja Turtles steadily evolved into a career founded on movement with intention.
Moving to Los Angeles in September 2020 (arguably the worst possible moment to set sails for the Hollywood dream), Haigh entered the stunt world with no map, no safety net. As one of – and quite possibly the only – openly trans women working in stunts, Haigh navigated an industry that is both physically exhausting and slow to change. Instead of shrinking herself to fit the mold, Haigh has instead opted for visibility and authenticity. She has quickly learned when to fight, when to teach, and when to simply take space.
In our conversation, Haigh shares on motion, mentorship, and the responsibility of this visibility. She serves on the growing pains of Hollywood and its politics, and why fantasy worlds often tell the truest stories.
What first sparked your enthusiasm and interest in stunt work? Was there a moment when you realized it could be a real career?
I remember as a kid getting into parkour, gymnastics, and martial arts. What sparked that, this is a little embarrassing, was Power Rangers. Watching it as a kid, I remember feeling such intense FOMO. I wanted to be Kimberly, the Pink Ranger, so badly. I used to do everything I could to be her. All my hobbies just ended up relating to that in some way.
I added acting into the mix as well, and it just felt like the right path. I didn’t realize stunt work could actually be a career until I was much older, probably in high school. At that point, all my hobbies were already aligned. After high school, I was coaching gymnastics full-time and realized pretty quickly, this isn’t it. That’s when I decided to move to LA.
Are there skills from coaching gymnastics that translated into stunt work?
Absolutely. I taught gymnastics and parkour for about ten years, mostly to children. There are a lot of aspects of stunts, especially when you’re doubling, where you have to teach actors what you’re doing. Or if you’re part of a stunt team creating choreography or previsualization, you need to be able to explain movement clearly. Coaching made that much easier.
Aside from the Pink Ranger, who were some of your earliest influences?
A lot of them were fictional. Video games, superhero shows, Marvel comics, Spider-Man, Spider-Gwen. Power Rangers, Ninja Turtles. I also loved anime and still do. I remember watching characters train and thinking, “Why am I not in my training arc right now?”
More recently, I’ve been getting into swords, historical European sword work, like in The Lord of the Rings, and Japanese sword styles as well. Anything where movement is intentional and carefully thought out really inspires me.
How has the transition into Hollywood been for you professionally?
I moved to LA about five years ago, in September 2020… horrible timing. It was during COVID, and I didn’t know anyone. I’m originally from the Boston area. During the pandemic, I was furloughed from my coaching job, and it was the first time I had actually saved money. When my lease was up, I just moved.
At first, I didn’t know where to go or who to talk to. I found gyms where stunt people train, and I just showed up and trained. Over time, I made friends and built a community. Once things started opening up, I felt like momentum was building, and then the strikes happened.
Even then, I didn’t regret moving. I always planned to stick it out. Getting my foot in the door was hard, but it came down to being in the right places, building community, and being a good person. The right people eventually find you.
How has your trans identity influenced your experience in Hollywood? Have you seen the industry evolve?
My trans identity has definitely affected my work. As far as I know, I’m the only trans woman working in stunts in LA right now. There’s no blueprint for how to navigate this space as a trans woman, especially because stunt is still a pretty conservative industry overall.
Early on, I tried to be someone I wasn’t to fit in. I thought I needed to tone myself down or be more “bro-y.” It made me really unhappy, and it didn’t even help professionally. At the end of the day, I was still trans, so I had to ask myself, Who am I even doing this for?
A few years ago, I decided to be fully myself and trust that the right people would find me. That’s when I met my mentor, Jess Harbeck, a trans man and stunt coordinator. He helped me navigate the industry, got me my SAG card, and gave me my first doubling job. More importantly, he showed me that there is space for me here.
How is the current political climate – anti-trans, anti-queer, anti-anything loving and accepting – affecting you personally or professionally?
It’s infuriating, honestly. I speak out a lot online and lose followers because of it, often other stunt people. At this point, I don’t care. If someone followed me for years and that’s what made them unfollow, they were here too long anyway.
I try to stay informed while also protecting my mental health. Doom-scrolling doesn’t help anyone. I think of joy as a form of protest, choosing to live fully while still speaking out and supporting my community.
How do you balance care for the community with self-care? Do you feel a responsibility to represent the trans community?
I’m a stuntwoman who happens to be trans, and I’m more than just my trans identity. But representation matters, especially right now.
When I was a gymnastics coach, I was often the first trans person my students had ever met. Years later, many of them are outspoken supporters of trans rights. I don’t know how much credit I deserve, but I know visibility matters. People might see that I’m trans first—but then they see that I’m good at what I do, and that matters.
Do you see yourself mentoring others in the future?
Absolutely. I didn’t quit coaching because I disliked it. I quit because I needed to put all my energy into stunts. Teaching still comes up constantly in my work, and I’d love to mentor younger performers someday, especially trans women. Right now, I still have a lot to learn, but I want to be able to give others what my mentor gave me.
What’s been one of your most challenging or meaningful projects so far?
One of the most challenging experiences was working on Marvel’s The Punisher. It wasn’t physically difficult, but the logistics were exhausting, flying back and forth between LA and New York, dealing with delays and schedule changes. It taught me a lot about flexibility and endurance.
One of my favorite experiences was doubling Hunter Schafer on a short film/commercial project. I’d admired her for years, so getting to work with her was surreal. The set had such a great vibe, and it felt like a moment where I thought, This is exactly why I’m doing this.
If you could pitch your own action or fantasy film, what would it be?
I think it would be incredible to see a trans woman as a lead action star. I think it’s super important that trans women are shown that not only are we allowed to lead, but we can also be seen as strong and powerful. Strong is femme and I can’t wait to see that.
Where do you see yourself in five years?
I see myself still here, still creating. I want to be a stuntwoman, an actress, and a creator. I want to do action comedies, high fantasy, sword work, and projects I believe in. I don’t know exactly what it’ll look like yet, but I know I’ll be there.
Movies
A ‘Battle’ we can’t avoid
Critical darling is part action thriller, part political allegory, part satire
When Paul Thomas Anderson’s “One Battle After Another” debuted on American movie screens last September, it had a lot of things going for it: an acclaimed Hollywood auteur working with a cast that included three Oscar-winning actors, on an ambitious blockbuster with his biggest budget to date, and a $70 million advertising campaign to draw in the crowds. It was even released in IMAX.
It was still a box office disappointment, failing to achieve its “break-even” threshold before making the jump from big screen to small via VOD rentals and streaming on HBO Max. Whatever the reason – an ambivalence toward its stars, a lack of clarity around what it was about, divisive pushback from both progressive and conservative camps over perceived messaging, or a general sense of fatigue over real-world events that had pushed potential moviegoers to their saturation point for politically charged material – audiences failed to show up for it.
The story did not end there, of course; most critics, unconcerned with box office receipts, embraced Anderson’s grand-scale opus, and it’s now a top contender in this year’s awards race, already securing top prizes at the Golden Globe and Critics’ Choice Awards, nominated for a record number of SAG’s Actor Awards, and almost certain to be a front runner in multiple categories at the Academy Awards on March 15.
For cinema buffs who care about such things, that means the time has come: get over all those misgivings and hesitations, whatever reasons might be behind them, and see for yourself why it’s at the top of so many “Best Of” lists.
Adapted by Anderson from the 1990 Thomas Pynchon novel “Vineland,” “One Battle” is part action thriller, part political allegory, part jet-black satire, and – as the first feature film shot primarily in the “VistaVision” format since the early 1960s – all gloriously cinematic. It unspools a near-mythic saga of oppression, resistance, and family bonds, set in an authoritarian America of unspecified date, in which a former revolutionary (Leonardo DiCaprio) is attempting to raise his teenage daughter (Chase Infiniti) under the radar after her mother (Teyana Taylor) betrayed the movement and fled the country. Now living under a fake identity and consumed by paranoia and a weed habit, he has grown soft and unprepared when a corrupt military officer (Sean Penn) – who may be his daughter’s real biological father – tracks them down and apprehends her. Determined to rescue her, he reconnects with his old revolutionary network and enlists the aid of her karate teacher (Benicio Del Toro), embarking on a desperate rescue mission while her captor plots to erase all traces of his former “indiscretion” with her mother.
It’s a plot straight out of a mainstream action melodrama, top-heavy with opportunities for old-school action, sensationalistic violence, and epic car chases (all of which it delivers), but in the hands of Anderson – whose sensibilities always strike a provocative balance between introspection, nostalgia, and a sense of apt-but-irreverent destiny – it becomes much more intriguing than the generic tropes with which he invokes to cover his own absurdist leanings.
Indeed, it’s that absurdity which infuses “One Battle” with a bemusedly observational tone and emerges to distinguish it from the “action movie” format it uses to relay its narrative. From DiCaprio (whose performance highlights his subtle comedic gifts as much as his “serious” acting chops) as a bathrobe-clad underdog hero with shades of The Dude from the Coen Brothers’ “The Big Liebowski,” to the uncomfortably hilarious creepy secret society of financially elite white supremacists that lurks in the margins of the action, Anderson gives us plenty of satirical fodder to chuckle about, even if we cringe as we do it; like that masterpiece of too-close-to-home political comedy, Stanley Kubrick’s 1964 nuclear holocaust farce “Dr. Strangelove,” it offers us ridiculousness and buffoonery which rings so perfectly true in a terrifying reality that we can’t really laugh at it.
That, perhaps, is why Anderson’s film has had a hard time drawing viewers; though it’s based on a book from nearly four decades ago and it was conceived, written, and created well before our current political reality, the world it creates hits a little too close to home. It imagines a roughly contemporary America ruled by a draconian regime, where immigration enforcement, police, and the military all seem wrapped into one oppressive force, and where unapologetic racism dictates an entire ideology that works in the shadows to impose its twisted values on the world. When it was conceived and written, it must have felt like an exaggeration; now, watching the final product in 2026, it feels almost like an inevitability. Let’s face it, none of us wants to accept the reality of fascism imposing itself on our daily lives; a movie that forces us to confront it is, unfortunately, bound to feel like a downer. We get enough “doomscrolling” on social media; we can’t be faulted for not wanting more of it when we sit down to watch a movie.
In truth, however, “One Battle” is anything but a downer. Full of comedic flourish, it maintains a rigorous distance that makes it impossible to make snap judgments about its characters, and that makes all the difference – especially with characters like DiCaprio’s protective dad, whose behavior sometimes feels toxic from a certain point of view. And though it’s a movie which has no qualms about showing us terrifying things we would rather not see, it somehow comes off better in the end than it might have done by making everything feel safe.
“Safe” is something we are never allowed to feel in Anderson’s outlandish action adventure, even at an intellectual level; even if we can laugh at some of its over-the-top flourishes or find emotional (or ideological) satisfaction in the way things ultimately play out, we can’t walk away from it without feeling the dread that comes from recognizing the ugly truths behind its satirical absurdities. In the end, it’s all too real, too familiar, too dire for us not to be unsettled. After all, it’s only a movie, but the things it shows us are not far removed from the world outside our doors. Indeed, they’re getting closer every day.
Visually masterful, superbly performed, and flawlessly delivered by a cinematic master, it’s a movie that, like it or not, confronts us with the discomforting reality we face, and there’s nobody to save it from us but ourselves.
Movies
Few openly queer nominees land Oscar nominations as ‘Sinners’ and ‘One Battle After Another’ lead the pack
‘Wicked: For Good’ landed zero nominations in a shocking downfall from the first film’s 10 nods
This year’s Oscar nominees feature very few openly queer actors or creatives, with KPop Demon Hunters, Come See Me in the Good Light, and Elio bringing some much-needed representation to the field.
KPop Demon Hunters, which quickly became a worldwide sensation after releasing on Netflix last June, was nominated for best animated feature film and best original song for Golden, the chart-topping hit co-written by openly queer songwriter Mark Sonnenblick. Come See Me in the Good Light, a film following the late Andrea Gibson and their wife, Megan Falley, was nominated in the best documentary feature category. Finally, Pixar’s Elio (co-directed by openly queer filmmaker Adrian Molina) was nominated for best animated feature film alongside Zootopia 2, Arco, and Little Amélie or the Character of Rain.
Ethan Hawke did manage to land a best actor nomination for his work in Richard Linklater’s Blue Moon, a biopic that follows a fatal night in Lorenz Hart’s life as he reckons with losing his creative partner, Richard Rodgers. Robert Kaplow was also nominated for best original screenplay for penning the script. Amy Madigan, as expected, was recognized in the best supporting actress category for her work in Weapons, bringing celebrated gay icon Aunt Gladys to the Oscar stage.
While Wicked: For Good was significantly underperforming throughout the season, with Cynthia Erivo missing key nominations and the film falling squarely out of the best picture race early on, most pundits expected the film to still receive some recognition in craft categories. But in perhaps the biggest shock of Oscar nomination morning, For Good received zero nominations — not even for costume design or production design, the two categories in which the first film won just last year. Clearly, there was Wicked fatigue across the board.
There was also reasonable hope that Eva Victor’s acclaimed directorial debut, Sorry, Baby, would land a best original screenplay nod, especially after Julia Roberts shouted out Victor during the recent Golden Globes (which aired the day before Oscar voting started). A24, the studio that distributed Sorry, Baby in the U.S., clearly prioritized campaigns for Marty Supreme (to much success) and Rose Byrne in If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, leaving Sorry, Baby the indie darling that couldn’t quite crack the Oscar race.
However, with the Film Independent Spirit Awards taking place on Feb. 15, queer films like Sorry, Baby, Peter Hujar’s Day, and Twinless will finally get their time to shine. Maybe these films were just underseen, or not given a big enough PR push, but regardless, it’s unfortunate that The Academy couldn’t make room for just one of these when Emilia Pérez managed 13 nominations last year.
a&e features
Vic Michaelis is a very important person
The ‘Ponies’ and ‘Very Important People’ star discusses what it’s like to make history (and great TV) as a non-binary performer today.
What does queer representation look like in 2026? It’s a complicated question, with a shockingly hopeful answer.
Harmful LGBTQ+ stereotypes have plagued mainstream media for decades, with only recent years offering big-budget projects exploring the nuances of marginalized identity. But even with this progress, the past year has left countless of these projects cancelled or delayed, with queer creatives and their stories becoming political fodder for bigots nationwide. Despite this, LGBTQ+ storytellers have persisted, continuing to tell their stories while creating new opportunities for other artists to thrive. It’s heartening to see so many queer storytellers doing this in the modern day, and it’s why Vic Michaelis’ historic filmography is more important now than ever.
A Canadian transplant, this non-binary performer arrived in LA one decade ago and took the city’s improv scene by storm. Eventually going from sketch comic to television host — though they still perform in improv clubs across LA — Michaelis has revolutionized talk shows and gained a massive following with their popular Dropout program, Very Important People. Not only that, but Vic’s newest role alongside Emilia Clarke and Haley Lu Richardson in the tense spy thriller, Ponies, means that the artist will be introduced to a bigger audience than they’ve encountered before. Theirs is a wonderfully chaotic career that keeps the performer very busy, but Michaelis still managed to sit down with the LA Blade to discuss these roles, what these projects mean to them, and how it feels to do all of this as an openly queer creative today.
“It’s so funny because it’s true, I am a talk show host…I am Vic Michaelis, and I am hosting a talk show, that is a true thing you are saying” Replied Michaelis, when learning that they’ve made history by becoming the first non-binary person to host a talk show. “All to say, it’s an honor!” Going into its third season, Very Important People perfectly matches its creators’ chaotic style of comedy. Each episode sees a different comedian get decked out in a random costume (ranging from gorgeous gowns to full hotdog prosthetics) and adopt a whole new persona for a sit-down interview with the star. It’s an irreverent premise that host and guest dive into wholeheartedly, with the performer stressing how this project mainly serves as a way to uplift the LA-based performers they know and love.
“The improv scene in LA is very tight-knit,” Michaelis explained. “And we get to see versions of these performers that we don’t [ever] get to see [onstage]. The best part of the show is watching [these people], my friends, shine in the spotlight.”
It’s this camaraderie — which has introduced audiences to numerous LGBTQ+ performers they wouldn’t have known otherwise — that has earned Very Important People widespread acclaim and garnered Michaelis thousands of fans online. And with them acting as a version of themself on the show, many watchers assumed they knew what to expect from the comedian…which is why Michaelis is so excited to shock them all with their total metamorphosis in Ponies.
While Vic is used to turning performers into monsters and aliens, their Ponies transformation sees them go from the bombastic host fans love into Cheryl: the no-nonsense, endlessly antagonistic office manager. The main foil of Ponies’ central protagonists (Clarke and Richardson), the series follows this trio as they maneuver around an American embassy in 1970s Russia. With our main duo acting as spies trying to master lethal espionage, they’re constantly forced to put up with Michaelis’ needling Cheryl…who just always happens to know more about their covert missions than she should.
“I personally have a lot of empathy for Cheryl,” gushed Vic, while detailing how it was to play such an intriguing character. “Especially in that time period! If she had been born a man, that would have been it. She is competent and capable, and would have risen far past the station that she’s in [when we meet her].” While initially presented as a one-dimensional nag, each Ponies episode dives deeper into this character; it teases not only the many skills she gave up for the sake of her husband, but just how far Cheryl will go to embrace the talents she’s been forced to hide away. And as a performer who’s made an entire talk show about bringing out the best in any kind of character, she offers a perfect avenue for Vic to show off their distinct acting style to a whole new audience on Peacock.
Cheryl gave Michaelis a chance to act in ways their fans have never seen before. But beyond that, Vic also recognizes a different significance to this role: the fact that it means thousands of new viewers will get to watch a queer person onscreen on a major network.
They detailed how they weren’t always as proudly authentic as they are now. Early in their career, Michaelis was faced with a choice: be openly non-binary, or masquerade as cisgender in an industry still riddled with biased casting directors. Quickly, and with the support of their fellow LA creatives, Vic realized not only how much their identity could mean to themself, but to so many others. “Especially being in a field that’s very dominated by cisgender white men…the representation is so important,” they explained. “And if it helps one person, then it’s been worth it. If one person feels seen, then you know it’s worth it.”
It has certainly proven itself to be worth it, as with this new role, Michaelis holds the honor of being one of the few gender-expansive performers to ever appear on a major network. And while proud of the tireless work it took to get them here, as the interview wound down, Vic made sure to shout out the many other LGBTQ+ performers creating and starring in shows across LA today. “There are a lot of incredible gender queer folks doing absolutely amazing things on the scene right now – but there’s always room for more.”
Michaelis encouraged anyone inspired by their work as an openly non-binary performer to try to find that confidence in themselves. To use their roles in Very Important People and Ponies as evidence that, no matter how much LGBTQ+ representation is attacked, remember that LGBTQ+ artists will never stop telling their stories to those who need it most. “There’s a lot of really, truly horrible, terrible anti-trans bills and anti-LGBTQ bills coming through,” said Vic. “It’s truly horrific, and it’s really scary…and I’m very proud and happy to stand with our community. [And] it really does feel like it’s not just me standing up. I get to be a part of this big chorus, standing up [for what’s right]. And it’s an honor.”
It’s an important reminder that the fight for representation is never one done in solitude. And, as Vic Michaelis is showing in their every role, it’s a fight that is only truly possible when done with and for your community…all while trying on as many costumes as possible, of course.
Movies
Rise of Chalamet continues in ‘Marty Supreme’
But subtext of ‘American Exceptionalism’ sparks online debate
Casting is everything when it comes to making a movie. There’s a certain alchemy that happens when an actor and character are perfectly matched, blurring the lines of identity so that they seem to become one and the same. In some cases, the movie itself feels to us as if it could not exist without that person, that performance.
“Marty Supreme” is just such a movie. Whatever else can be said about Josh Safdie’s wild ride of a sports comedy – now in theaters and already racking up awards – it has accomplished exactly that rare magic, because the title character might very well be the role that Timothée Chalamet was born to play.
Loosely based on real-life table tennis pro Marty Reisman, who published his memoir “The Money Player” in 1974, this Marty (whose real surname is Mauser) is a first-generation American, a son of Jewish immigrant parents in post-WWII New York who works as a shoe salesman at his uncle’s store on the Lower East Side while building his reputation as a competitive table tennis player in his time off. Cocky, charismatic, and driven by dreams of championship, everything else in his life – including his childhood friend Rachel (Odessa A’zion), who is pregnant with his baby despite being married to someone else – takes a back seat as he attempts to make them come true, hustling every step of the way.
Inevitably, his determination to win leads him to cross a few ethical lines as he goes – such as stealing money for travel expenses, seducing a retired movie star (Gwyneth Paltrow), wooing her CEO husband (Kevin O’Leary) to sponsor him, and running afoul of the neighborhood mob boss (veteran filmmaker Abel Ferrara) – and a chain of consequences piles at his heels, threatening to undermine his success before it even has a chance to happen.
Filmed in 35mm and drenched in the visual style of the gritty-but-gorgeous “New Hollywood” cinema that Safdie – making his solo directorial debut without the collaboration of his brother Benny – so clearly seeks to evoke, “Marty Supreme” calls up unavoidable connections to the films of that era with its focus on an anti-hero protagonist trying to beat the system at its own game, as well as a kind of cynical amorality that somehow comes across more like a countercultural call-to-arms than a nihilistic social commentary. It’s a movie that feels much more challenging in the mid-2020s than it might have four or so decades ago, building its narrative around an ego-driven character who triggers all our contemporary progressive disdain; self-centered, reckless, and single-mindedly committed to attaining his own goals without regard for the collateral damage he inflicts on others in the process, he might easily – and perhaps justifiably – be branded as a classic example of the toxic male narcissist.
Yet to see him this way feels simplistic and reductive, a snap value judgment that ignores the context of time and place while invoking the kind of ethical purity that can easily blind us to the nuances of human behavior. After all, a flawed character is always much more authentic than a perfect one, and Marty Mauser is definitely flawed.
Yet in Chalamet’s hands, those flaws become the heart of a story that emphasizes a will to transcend the boundaries imposed by the circumstantial influences of class, ethnicity, and socially mandated hierarchy. His Marty is a person forging an escape path in a world that expects him to “know his place,” who is keenly aware of the anti-semitism and cultural conventions that keep him locked into a life of limited possibilities and who is willing to do whatever it takes to break free of them; and though he might draw our disapproval for the choices he makes, particularly with regard to his relationship with Rachel, he grows as he goes, navigating a character arc that is less interested in redemption for past sins than it is in finding the integrity to do better the next time – and frankly, that’s something that very few toxic male narcissists ever do.
In truth, it’s not surprising that Chalamet nails the part, considering that it’s the culmination of a project that began in 2018, when Safdie gave him Reisman’s book and suggested collaborating on a movie based on the story of his rise to success. The actor began training in table tennis, and continued to master it over the years, even bringing the necessary equipment to location shoots for movies like “Dune” so that he could perfect his skills – but physical skill aside, he always had what he needed to embody Marty. This is a character who knows what he’s got and is not ashamed to use it, who has the drive to succeed, the will to excel, and the confidence to be unapologetically himself while finding joy in the exercise of his talents, despite how he might be judged by those who see only ego. If any actor could be said to reflect those qualities, it’s Timothée Chalamet.
Other members of the cast also score deep impressions, especially A’zion, whose Rachel avoids tropes of victimhood to achieve her own unconventional character arc. Paltrow gives a remarkably vulnerable turn as the aging starlet who willingly allows Marty into her orbit despite the worldliness that tells her exactly what she’s getting into, while O’Leary embodies the kind of smug corporate venality that instantly positions him as the avatar for everything Marty is trying to escape. Queer fan-fave icons Fran Drescher and Sandra Bernhard also make small-but-memorable appearances, and real-life deaf table tennis player Koto Kawaguchi strikes a memorable chord as the Japanese champion who becomes Marty’s de facto rival.
As for Safdie’s direction, it’s hard to find anything to criticize in his film’s visually stylish, sumptuously photographed (by Darius Khondji), and tightly paced delivery, which makes its two-and-a-half hour runtime fly by without a moment of drag.
It must be said that the screenplay – co-written by Safdie with Ronald Bronstein – leans heavily into an approach in which much of the narrative hinges on implausible coincidences, ironic twists, and a general sense of orchestrated chaos that makes things occasionally feel a little too neat; but let’s face it, life is like that sometimes, so it’s easy to overlook.
What might be more problematic, for some audiences, is Marty’s often insufferable – and occasionally downright ugly behavior. Yes, Chalamet infuses it all with humanizing authenticity, and the story is ultimately more about the character’s emotional evolution than it is about his winning at ping-pong, but it’s impossible not to read a subtext of American Exceptionalism into his winner-takes-all climb to victory – which is why “Marty Supreme,” for all its critical acclaim, is the subject of much heated debate and outrage on social media right now.
As for us, we’re not condoning anything Marty does or says as he hustles his way to the winner’s circle. All we’re saying is that Timothée Chalamet has become an even better actor since he captured our attention (and a lot of gay hearts) in “Call Me By Your Name.”
And that’s saying a lot, because he was pretty great, even then.
Dorian Film Awards
‘One Battle After Another,’ ‘Sorry, Baby’ and ‘Sinners’ among 2026 Dorian Film Award nominees
Ryan Coogler, Cynthia Erivo, and Jafar Panahi are nominated in the Wilde Artist Award category
One Battle After Another, Sorry, Baby and Sinners are among this year’s Dorian Film Award nominees, celebrating the best in 2025 film, as chosen by GALECA, the Society of LGBTQ Critics.
One Battle After Another leads the pack with nine nominations, including for Paul Thomas Anderson as director of the year and acting nominees Leonardo DiCaprio, Benicio del Toro, Sean Penn and Teyana Taylor (who just won the Golden Globe for best supporting actress). Right behind the awards season juggernaut is Marty Supreme with eight nominations and Sinners with five nominations.
“Across genres and borders, LGBTQ filmmakers and performers are telling stories that are bold, personal, and adventurous — often in the face of cultural resistance,” GALECA Vice President Gerrick Kennedy said in a statement. “GALECA is proud to honor a class of nominees that don’t just reflect the moment, but challenge and expand it.”
GALECA uniquely features an LGBTQ Film of the Year award, and this year’s crop of nominees includes Blue Moon, Hedda, Pillion, Sorry, Baby, and Twinless. Ryan Coogler, Cynthia Erivo and Jafar Panahi are among the names listed for the Wilde Artist Award, while the GALECA LGBTIA+ Film Trailblazer Award features Jonathan Bailey, Kristen Stewart, and Eva Victor. Every year, GALECA also honors someone with the Timeless Star career achievement award, with previous recipients including Demi Moore and Nathan Lane.
Check out the full list of nominees below. Winners will be announcedon Thursday, March 3, at the 2026 Dorians Film Toast, where the Timeless Star award recipient will also be unveiled.
FULL LIST
FILM OF THE YEAR
Hamnet (Focus Features)
Marty Supreme (A24)
One Battle After Another (Warner Bros.)
Sinners (Warner Bros.)
Sorry, Baby (A24)
LGBTQ FILM OF THE YEAR
Blue Moon (Sony Pictures Classics)
Hedda (Amazon MGM Studios)
Pillion (A24)
Sorry, Baby (A24)
Twinless (Lionsgate, Roadside Attractions)
DIRECTOR OF THE YEAR
Paul Thomas Anderson, One Battle After Another (Warner Bros.)
Ryan Coogler, Sinners (Warner Bros.)
Jafar Panahi, It Was Just an Accident (Neon)
Josh Safdie, Marty Supreme (A24)
Chloé Zhao, Hamnet (Focus Features)
SCREENPLAY OF THE YEAR
Hamnet, Chloé Zhao, Maggie O’Farrell (Focus Features)
Marty Supreme, Josh Safdie, Ronald Bronstein (A24)
One Battle After Another, Paul Thomas Anderson (Warner Bros.)
Sinners, Ryan Coogler (Warner Bros.)
Sorry, Baby, Eva Victor (A24)
LGBTQ SCREENPLAY OF THE YEAR
Blue Moon, Robert Kaplow (Sony Pictures Classics)
Hedda, Nia DeCosta (Amazon MGM Studios)
Pillion, Harry Lighton (A24)
Sorry, Baby, Eva Victor (A24)
Twinless, James Sweeney (Lionsgate, Roadside Attractions)
NON-ENGLISH LANGUAGE FILM OF THE YEAR
It Was Just an Accident (Neon)
No Other Choice (Neon)
Sentimental Value (Neon)
Sirāt (Neon)
The Secret Agent (Neon)
LGBTQ NON-ENGLISH FILM OF THE YEAR
Cactus Pears (Strand Releasing)
Misericordia (Janus Films, Sideshow)
Sauna (Breaking Glass)
The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo (Altered Innocence)
Viet and Nam (Strand Releasing)
UNSUNG FILM OF THE YEAR
Black Bag (Focus Features)
If I Had Legs I’d Kick You (A24)
Lurker (Mubi)
The Testament of Ann Lee (Searchlight Pictures)
Twinless (Lionsgate, Roadside Attractions)
UNSUNG LGBTQ FILM OF THE YEAR
A Nice Indian Boy (Blue Harbor Entertainment)
Kiss of the Spider Woman (Lionsgate, Roadside Attractions, LD Entertainment)
Peter Hujar’s Day (Janus)
Plainclothes (Magnolia)
The Wedding Banquet (Bleecker Street)
FILM PERFORMANCE OF THE YEAR
Rose Byrne, If I Had Legs I’d Kick You (A24)
Timothée Chalamet, Marty Supreme (A24)
Leonardo DiCaprio, One Battle After Another (Warner Bros.)
Jessie Buckley, Hamnet (Focus Features)
Ethan Hawke, Blue Moon (Sony Pictures Classics)
Michael B. Jordan, Sinners (Warner Bros.)
Dylan O’Brien, Twinless (Lionsgate, Roadside Attractions)
Renate Reinsve, Sentimental Value (Neon)
Amanda Seyfried, The Testament of Ann Lee (Searchlight Pictures)
Tessa Thompson, Hedda (Amazon MGM Studios)
SUPPORTING FILM PERFORMANCE OF THE YEAR
Benicio del Toro, One Battle After Another (Warner Bros.)
Jacob Elordi, Frankenstein (Netflix)
Ariana Grande-Butera, Wicked: For Good (Universal)
Nina Hoss, Hedda (Amazon MGM Studios)
Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas, Sentimental Value (Neon)
Amy Madigan, Weapons (Warner Bros.)
Wunmi Mosaku, Sinners (Warner Bros.)
Sean Penn, One Battle After Another (Warner Bros.)
Stellan Skarsgård, Sentimental Value (Neon)
Teyana Taylor, One Battle After Another (Warner Bros.)
DOCUMENTARY OF THE YEAR
Come See Me in the Good Light (Apple)
Cover-Up (Netflix)
My Mom Jayne (HBO)
The Perfect Neighbor (Netflix)
Predators (MTV Documentary Films)
LGBTQ DOCUMENTARY OF THE YEAR
Come See Me in the Good Light (Apple)
Heightened Scrutiny (Fourth Act Film)
I Was Born This Way (JungeFilms / Goodform)
The Librarians (8 Above)
Liza: A Truly Terrific Absolutely True Story (Zeitgeist Films)
ANIMATED FILM OF THE YEAR
Arco (Neon)
Elio (Disney)
KPop Demon Hunters (Netflix, Sony)
Little Amélie or the Character of Rain (GKIDS)
Zootopia 2 (Disney)
GENRE FILM OF THE YEAR
28 Years Later (Sony)
Bring Her Back (A24)
Frankenstein (Netflix)
Sinners (Warner Bros.)
Weapons (Warner Bros.)
VISUALLY STRIKING FILM OF THE YEAR
Avatar: Fire and Ash (Disney)
Frankenstein (Netflix)
One Battle After Another (Warner Bros.)
Sinners (Warner Bros.)
Train Dreams (Netflix)
FILM MUSIC OF THE YEAR
KPop Demon Hunters – Marcelo Zarvos, EJAE, Mark Sonnenblick, Danny Chung, Vince, Kush, Lindgren, Daniel Rojas, et al. (Netflix, Sony)
Marty Supreme – Daniel Lopatin (A24)
One Battle After Another – Jonny Greenwood (Warner Bros.)
Sinners – Ludwig Göransson (Warner Bros.)
The Testament of Ann Lee – Daniel Blumberg (Searchlight Pictures)
CAMPIEST FLICK
Final Destination: Bloodlines (Warner Bros.)
Kiss of the Spider Woman (Lionsgate, Roadside Attractions, LD Entertainment)
The Housemaid (Lionsgate)
Weapons (Warner Bros.)
Wicked: For Good (Universal)
“WE’RE WILDE ABOUT YOU!” RISING STAR AWARD
Odessa A’zion
Miles Caton
Chase Infiniti
Tonatiuh
Eva Victor
WILDE ARTIST AWARD
Ryan Coogler
Cynthia Erivo
Jinkx Monsoon
Jafar Panahi
Pedro Pascal
GALECA LGBTQIA+ FILM TRAILBLAZER
Gregg Araki
Jonathan Bailey
Kristen Stewart
Tessa Thompson
Eva Victor
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