Last week, the organizers of the Tampa International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival (TIGLFF) gave movie fans a rare opportunity to affect a work in progress: They invited writer/director Rob Williams to Muvico Baywalk to show an early cut of his new film, Role/Play, and afterwards opened the floor to audience comments. The cool part: We'll see whether their critiques had any impact because the final version of Role/Play screens during the film festival this fall (Oct. 7-17).
Role/Play explores the relationship between two men, a soap opera actor and a gay marriage activist, who are dealing with the pressures of fame and the quest to be their real selves (they're played by very hot real-life couple Steve Callahan and Matthew Montgomery). A quiet, deliberately paced film, it's a departure for Williams, whose fizzy, farcical Make the Yuletide Gay was a hit of last year's festival.
Will Williams listen to the audience member who said that one scene went on too long? Will the addition of music add or detract? Will he change the ending? Rob (along with TIGLFF's Ken Hodges) talked about these questions and more with CL Editor David Warner for our ArtsSpeak/CLGBT podcast. Listen after the break:
This article appears in Jun 24-30, 2010.