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Montreal's tales of the city Armistead Maupin's wildly popular miniseries shoots in town by MATTHEW HAYS
It might have seemed natural, then, that PBS would jump at the chance to back a sequel to the miniseries. After all, Tales of the City was merely the first of six books in Maupin's popular series, so there was plenty of material for further teleplays. But PBS was decidedly noncommittal. Perhaps it was the Republican victory in Congress and the ensuing attack on PBS and the National Endowment for the Arts, but brass at the American government-funded network were terribly reluctant to further their involvement. The PBS chill was disappointing but predictable. The brilliance of Armistead Maupin's work is his ability to weave characters of varying sexual orientations, seemingly effortlessly, in an ongoing soap opera. The books revolve around the lives of tenants at a run-down apartment block in San Francisco in the '70s--and with more than a few of them gay, easily freaking out the TV suits. But PBS's loss is Canada's gain. With Working Title/Propaganda films again involved, the sequel More Tales of the City (budgeted at $10 million plus) is being shot primarily right here in Montreal with the backing of Showtime, Britain's Channel 4 and local La Fête Productions. Original cast members Olympia Dukakis, Laura Linney, Thomas Gibson and William Campbell have all returned, and there is much Canadian talent to be seen in the series, including Jackie Burroughs, Diana Le Blanc and Colin Ferguson. Pierre Gang, director of this year's Best Original Screenplay Genie Award for Sous-sol, is directing the miniseries, with local luminary Kevin Tierney producing. "PBS was unbelievably stupid to pass on this event," Armistead Maupin says on the set of More Tales. "They had a real opportunity and they passed on it. It's certainly taken us longer to get this off the ground, but it will be worth it." Maupin is wallowing in the glory of having another instalment of his wildly successful bestselling series brought to the screen. As with the original, More Tales will be scattered with star-studded cameo appearances. Today, the A-list-gay party sequence is being filmed; several local queer members of the arts and media have been invited to be extras. Playwright and screenwriter Michel Marc Bouchard (Lilies), novelist and screenwriter Will Aitken (Rowing Through), director Jeremy Podeswa (Eclipse)--and yours truly--have all been dolled up and told to act like gay Republicans at a party. The scenes being shot focus on the four A-gay hosts, played by Larry Sanders's Scott Thompson, legendary cult director Paul Bartel, Frasier's Dan Butler and Stratford Festival veteran Brian Bedford. The scene in which we play party revellers has the four fellows standing on a balcony exchanging valuable gossip. Toward the end of the scene, they spot a hot young man jerking off in a window across the way. They are soon cheering him on and fighting over the inadequate number of binoculars they have to ogle him with. During breaks, Thompson is--by far--the loudest person on the set. This is not a bad thing, as Thompson is also utterly hilarious. "It's very weird that I'm here as an A-gay," he offers, "I've really always been a Z-gay." Thompson is soon explaining to Bedford his role on The Larry Sanders Show. Bedford doesn't offer up much guilt about the fact that he simply doesn't watch TV and hasn't seen it. Garry Shandling wanted Thompson to play a gay character on the mock-TV-talk show, and Thompson agreed, but said he'd also like the character to be openly Canadian. "That was something Gary had to think about," the former Kid in the Hall says, "but finally he agreed." Thompson explains that Butler is on Frasier, also a terribly popular series, but Bedford draws blank there as well. Maupin, meanwhile, is musing aloud as to exactly who he'll cast as the stud who's jerking off across the way. "We were thinking of one of the Baldwin boys," says Maupin. "What about Billy Zane?" someone offers. "Not a bad suggestion. We were also thinking of Dean Cain [TV's Superman]--but he simply can't act." More Tales of the City will air in the summer of 1998. Armistead Maupin will be signing copies of his work at L'Androgyne (3636 St-Laurent) this Sunday, Aug. 10, at 8 pm. Free. |
Everyone assumed PBS had scored a major coup three years ago when it co-produced and aired Tales of the City, based on Armistead Maupin's wildly popular collection of stories about life in the '70s in San Francisco. The six-hour miniseries gained valuable press and held solid ratings; TV critics raved over the show, calling it one of the most intelligent miniseries ever produced. The show gained further kudos when it won a prestigious Peabody Award in 1994.