Fans of the 2000 movie Sordid Lives are in for a real treat when gay cable network Logo unleashes the television series of the same name next week. With many of the beloved actors who portrayed the bizarre but endearing characters in the film reprising their roles in the series, no one will have to fret one bit about how faithful the show will be to its origins. Among those returning are Leslie Jordan as Brother Boy, Beth Grant as Aunt Sissy, Bonnie Bedelia as Latrell, and Olivia Newton-John as Bitsy Mae. And with openly gay writer/director Del Shores at the helm, you can be certain that his characters are seen in the very best light. I spoke with Shore shortly before Sordid Lives made its debut on Logo.
Gregg Shapiro: How did the idea of transforming the movie into a cable series evolve?
Del Shores: I guess about three years ago or maybe a little more, my husband Jason Dottley, who plays Ty in the series, suggested that I should not be finished with Sordid Lives, because so many people love the characters so much. In response to that, I started writing an on-line prequel novel, and the subscribers got a chapter a week. And it just about killed me! They subscribed, then I had to deliver every week. So finally after 22 chapters, we ended. I had a lot of material. I sold it to Logo three years ago.
Certain key actors who appeared in the movie have returned in the series to reprise their roles, including Leslie Jordan as Brother Boy.
I didn't think I could do the series without him. Leslie Jordan is so unique, perfect and specific for my material, and he is so identified as Brother Boy that I think that I would have had to hold a gun to his head and make him do it if he had refused! But he had the HBO series, 12 Miles of Bad Road, with Lily Tomlin and Mary Kay Place, so we really had to work it out. They were good enough to let us have him as a guest star. He appears in 10 episodes.
Beth Grant, who plays Sissy, is every bit as amazing in the series as she was in the movie.
Beth Grant is one of those character actresses who so immerses herself into a role that you don't see the actress. My manager said that she hadn't seen a performance like that since Jean Stapleton played Edith Bunker [on All in the Family], because you really cannot believe that that's an actress. We have a mutual admiration society for each other, we just love working together. She starred in my last play, The Trials and Tribulations of a Trailer Trash Housewife, and she won every Los Angeles award available for best actress.
You kept the series set in 1998. Was that so you could keep Tammy Wynette's passing central to Brother Boy's character?
It certainly had a lot to do with it. When I conceived the series, I started it with the day that Tammy Wynette died, because that was huge to the family and Brother Boy. In Ty's world, in the LA world, it's the day he has to deal with being gay career-wise, auditioning for his first gay play, and he has body issues. There's nudity involved. I'm sure many people are going to be happy about that!
In the series we get to meet LaVonda and Latrelle's mother Peggy, who's played by Rue McClanahan.
Rue's my kind of girl. She comes completely prepared, with so many ideas about the character, and it is a true wonderful collaboration creating that character. She's hysterical, she's bold. She has sex scenes that Logo censored recently, that I had to recut. All while wearing a church woman's hat!
There's also a wonderful array of actors playing Ty's therapists, including Margaret Cho and Carson Kressley.
Margaret was big fan of the movie. She's very tapped into the gay community.
Georgette Jones, daughter of Tammy Wynette and George Jones, portrays the ghost of her late mother in the series. How did that come to be?
I called her and she said, "My sisters and I watch your movie all the time. We love your movie, and it always reminds us of our mom's affinity for her gay fans." Tammy Wynette loved her gay fans. I said, "Well, will you do it?" She said, "I'm there, honey. Just tell me where to be, and I will be there." Not only did she play Tammy, but she sings all the songs that Brother Boy lip-syncs to. All those songs that you hear, that's Georgette Jones, not Tammy Wynette.