Queer Hollywood was out in force at American Cinematheque's Egyptian Theater last month for the world premiere of Margaret Cho's latest concert film, Assassin, the first theatrically released original film from Here! Networks. Assassin is being released simultaneously in theaters throughout the US and TV via video-on-demand and satellite. The network's proceeds from the theatrical release are being donated to the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.
During the question-and-answer session following the premiere, Cho expressed how happy she is to be part of the queer community. I told her I'm curious to know how she defines herself, sexually.
"I don't know if I do," Cho responded. "Maybe I do, and maybe I don't. To me, anybody's gay, and it goes beyond bisexuality because I think there's more than two sexes. So to me, gender has very little to do with what my attraction to a person would be. It's so much more."
"Have you had a serious romantic relationship with a woman?" I asked.
"Yes," she said, "and serious ones with men, and serious ones with people in-between. I've had quite a lot of very intense love affairs that don't define themselves as much as they should."
I wanted to make sure I understood her. "Do you think it's most likely that your great love in the future would be with a man or with a woman, or do you think it's really unknown?"
"It's a real unknown," Margaret confirmed.
The first celebrity down the red carpet was actor David Milburn, who's about to go before the camera in Here! Network's original film Air Force 2 Down, co-starring Mariel Hemingway. Milburn described himself as a huge Cho fan.
Chastity Bono dropped a hint during our red-carpet interview that she may soon go before the camera, and I took the opportunity to ask her how her mother, Cher, is doing. Great! Does Chastity see her very often? Yes, now that Cher isn't working as much. Chastity was at Cher's farewell concerts at the Hollywood Bowl this summer, and confirms that those concerts were indeed Cher's last at that scale, but don't be surprised if we get to see her in smaller venues. Maybe Vegas?
Actor Alec Mapa walked the red carpet with former Miss Universe Brook Lee. Mapa said of Cho, "I marvel at her bravery." He can be seen in the third season of UPN's Half and Half and in the upcoming film Hard Pill .
Also on the red carpet were former Queer Eye for the Straight Girl gal pals Robbie Laughlin and Honey Labrador, who explained that their new show for Q Television network, Xcess Access, begins airing in September. Any day now, Labrador may announce an expanded production deal with Q Television to include an additional show.
Reichen Lehmkuhl of CBS' Amazing Race fame, currently on Kill Reality on E!, was on hand with John Alati. You may have heard that the reality-TV hunk was discriminated against by a born-again Christian printer who refused to continue printing Reichen's beefcake poster after learning he was gay. Reichen said that the printer received thousands of e-mails in protest.
Cho is off to the Toronto International Film Festival for the world premiere of her new film Bam Bam and Celeste , "a fag and fag-hag" movie also starring Bruce Daniels, Alan Cumming, Jane Lynch and Kathy Najimy. According to IMDB, in Bam Bam and Celeste, Celeste (Cho) and Bam Bam (Daniels) "escape their Midwest hometown on an epic road trip to New York City. There they take on their high school nemeses, now the dictators of the world-famous Salon Mirage, and discover that true beauty lies within."
That will be then. This is now, so why Assassins?
"I wanted to do something that was really volatile," explained Margaret. "Humor has the ability to alleviate pain and give us hope for the future."