Giovanna Mezzogiorno and Filippo Nigro in ‘Facing Windows,’ about
a man during the Holocaust who shields Jews, only to be disavowed by those he
has saved because of his sexuality.
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Friday, June 18, 2004
With “Steam,” “His Secret Life” and now “Facing
Windows,” Ferzan Ozpetek is poised to take the reins as one of the world’s
foremost directors of gay-themed films, especially as Pedro Almodovar and Gus
Van Sant seem to have deserted the field.
In “Facing Windows,” a lost, confused old man (Massimo Girotti)
is revealed to be a gay hero, who gave aid to hunted Jews during the war, even
as he was himself persecuted by those he helped for his sexual preference.
It’s a richly acted, intriguing premise informed by the deeply human
observation, which has marked all of Ozpetek’s work.
The film was inspired by a meeting with an elderly gentleman on a Rome bridge
one night. “I was with a friend and we were fighting,” Ozpetek
recalls. “This man approached us with money in his hand and at first
we thought he was some kind of con man. ‘But,’ he said, ‘I
haven’t left my home in 30 years and can’t find my way back.’ We
took him home in our car but I never asked him why he had never gone out before,
so, in a sense this film is an answer to that question.”
Ozpetek accepts the “gay” label politically, but rejects it personally: “I’ve
been with men and women and don’t feel I can be labeled, as only sexuality
exists in my private life.” He was given an award by a gay group in Via
Reggio as “Gay Person of the Year,” which he accepted before 20,000
people, but asked, “Why does this have to be ‘gay’ person?
Why not just Person of the Year?”
The success of “His Secret Life” was, however, very gratifying
to him: “I liked that a French journalist called it a truly militant
film, by virtue of its being screened in Europe for people who wouldn’t
ordinarily come into contact with this world. Its release was like a bomb,
in a good sense, particularly beloved by families and women.” Everywhere
Ozpetek went, he’d overhear women discussing it “and to hear yourself
so loved was a real drug.”
Ozpetek says it’s no longer difficult to be gay in Italy: “Unfortunately,
and I say this because a lot of people now live openly as gays and we’ve
lost that whole world of secret glances and being very discreet about sexuality.
But, of course, we all need to fight for recognition of civil unions for everyone,
not just gays.”
He describes his star, Girotti, as an icon of Italian movies, an image of
masculinity like John Wayne. He was recently asked about working with Director
Luchino Visconti and reportedly replied, “It was great. We ended up being
lovers.”
Before that, Girotti had been with women, but when Visconti proposed that
they be together Oztpetek says that he decided, “I can’t pass this
opportunity up. He’s a beautiful, very intelligent man.” They were
together for three years and then Girotti met his wife and got married.
Visconti was so jealous that their friendship ended, but years later, Girotti’s
wife insisted they become friends again, which they did. Ozpetek says, “For
a man, 86, with such a career, he could have worried about people judging him
if he admitted this, but he didn’t. This could only happen in Italy.
In America, people are too closeted for something like this.”
Broadway By the Year 1963 was dominated by three guys: Director Marc Kudisch
did a mesmerically galvanizing number from “110 in the Shade,” Noah
Racey dazzled with his exuberant tapping and Euan Morton (“Taboo”)
broke hearts with Where is Love from “Oliver.” Morton’s voice
is world class, with a hint of young Johnny Mathis in the lower register. He’s
already rejected the blandishments of his record label EMI to do a Broadway
song CD.
“I’d rather sing pop-rock originals,” says this self-confessed
party animal. “I closed the bar at the Tony Awards party. People tell
me I shouldn’t do this or that, but I’m enjoying myself and don’t
care. I like to drink, have a smoke, be with friends. I’m paid a good
deal of money to do what I love, which is essentially my hobby, so why the
hell not?”
After transforming himself eight times a week into Boy George, he’s
back in drag again, playing Holly Woodlawn in the film adaptation of her book “A
Low Life in High Heels” (once optioned by Madonna). No director’s
been set yet, but Alexis Arquette will play Andy Warhol and Morton’s
already been working with Woodlawn to get her down pat.
Racey was idiotically passed over by the Fred Astaire Awards, which crowned
Hugh Jackman Male Dancer of the Year for shaking his ass and maracas over Racey’s
actually becoming Astaire (and then some). Racey good-naturedly laughed this
off: “Hey, with all the chaos going on, if this is the worst thing that
could happen to me.” He’s doing Tony Walton’s “Where’s
Charley?” revival for Goodspeed Opera House starting July 9, and if that
doesn’t warrant a trip to East Haddam, Conn., I don’t know what
would.
If you can’t get to a tropical beach, the best substitute is John Pizzarelli’s
Bossa Nova night at Feinstein’s at the Regency. His Dad, Bucky, joined
him for some virtuosic guitar duets which thrilled to the marrow.
Guest star Daniel Jobim, the grandson of Antonio Carlos, was not only muito
belo, but proved that vocal genes run in the family, as his caressing, androgynously
whispering voice was just as sexy as grandpa’s, especially on “Meditation” and
the immortal “Girl from Ipanema.”
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