Christopher Landon Gives Us a Piece of His Mind: Thirty Bucks' Worth
Interview by Brandon Judell
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The late Michael Landon's little boy Christopher has grown up, come out, and
become a respected screenwriter. He's now 25 years old, 5 feet 10, has written the
sensational screenplay for Larry Clark's vastly under appreciated
Another Day
in Paradise, and currently has a project with HBO.
But what PopcornQ is calling him up about is his contribution to Strand Releasing's
Boys Life 3. Christopher wrote the screenplay for the touching "$30," a tale
of a closeted 16-year-old whose macho dad drives him to a female prostitute
(Sara Gilbert) to lose his virginity. The experience surprisingly leaves the
boy with his virginity intact and a whole lot of gay pride.
After PopcornQ found out Michael Landon had never paid for Christopher to have sex
with a woman, we explored other topics.
PopcornQ: Did you ever hang around with Jason?
CL: No, I never even met him.
PopcornQ: You two do seem to hang around in two totally different circles. But are
you going to meet him and the other directors involved in Boys Life 3? Is
there going to be a premiere?
CL: I guess so. I don't even know if he's even going to be there. They
mentioned something about a little screening. A party or something. Hopefully
all the filmmakers will be there.
PopcornQ: One would think coming out wouldn't hurt a screenwriter's career. True?
CL: True. It didn't affect my career. I think it only affects actors'.
PopcornQ: From being around the business so long, would you advise most actors not to
come out?
CL: Unfortunately, yes. I think sexuality plays a key role with actors, their
performances, and how they're perceived by their audiences. If someone is a
sex symbol with hordes of women lusting after them, if they suddenly come out
and say, "Well, actually I'm gay," it's going to taint the audience's
experience. The fantasy of someone like a Tom Cruise and a Brad Pitt and all
those other actors is that the audience members think, Somehow I could
actually have that person.
PopcornQ: That's never stopped gay men from hungering after straight men onscreen.
CL: Oh, yeah, that's a whole different fantasy. [Laughs]
PopcornQ: So you're working on a project with Clive Barker [the filming of a
collection of Barker short stories to be helmed by various gay directors].
CL: I was. Unfortunately, that project is officially not happening. It was
sort of a legal issue. What happened was we were moving forward. It was a
very risque, very violent, very sexual film and Clive struck a very big, big
deal with Disney. They took the rights to a children's series that he's
developing right now. And basically he came back to the producers, including
Bill Condon, and said, "I can't have my name on this project any more. I'm
kind of in Disney's hands right now." He's sort of trying to reinvent
himself. He's officially buried the horror writer, and he's now trying to be
more of a sort of fantasy and children's author. So he said, "You know, you
can keep the rights but you have to remove my name." Well, once we removed
his name, it destroyed the project.
PopcornQ: I'm shocked about Mr. Barker. I've been interviewing him for decades and
he came out to me years ago in an article for Ten Percent. It's strange to
see that he's doing this turnaround. But it's understandable, I guess.
CL: I'd be a liar if I said I wasn't disappointed. I understand he's actually
trying to move into a new direction which creatively is important for him.
But it was hard because we were very pleased with what we had written, and it
was going to be something incredibly new that no one had ever seen before.
PopcornQ: Is there a chance that maybe within ten years or so, if Disney gives you a
pact, you might renovate your past also?
CL: Probably not. It's never been about money.
PopcornQ: Now that you're getting all this press, the Advocate article, etc., has your
life changed at all from this recognition?
CL: Not at all. It really hasn't. By and large, it's been a very positive
experience. But as far as career goes, I've had a few borderline casting
couch experiences because of it. [Laughs] That's about it. It really hasn't
done anything for my career. My work has to stand on its own two legs.
PopcornQ: But are you being pushed, because of name recognition, into becoming a
gay spokesperson? Are you being asked to make speeches?
CL: I was approached a few times. I've just been very honest about it. My
coming out article was to preempt any other sort of nasty tabloid articles.
And I felt comfortable and I was ready to do something like that. But I
wasn't about to become an activist and a spokesperson for the movement. I
just wanted to still have my ... to a certain degree, maintain my
anonymity. To maintain my own private life.
PopcornQ: So Chastity [Bono] doesn't have to worry that you'll go after any of her jobs?
CL: Certainly won't. Not at all.
PopcornQ: Ending our interview on a private note, one article said you were single.
Can we assume that's still the case?
CL: Oh, no. I'm in a relationship again.
PopcornQ: So that was an old article.
CL: Right.
PopcornQ: So your fans should just admire you from afar.
CL: [Laughs] If they're going to do that at all, yes. I'm happily married.
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