from Canadian Dedication Page, Courtesy A Toronto Fan
читать дальше "E-Now" is a half-hour entertainment magazine program that airs weekly on Canada's CTV network. The program's co-hosts are Carla Collins (CC) and Dan Duran (DD). At the top of the show, there is an audience tease of the segments that are to be aired in that episode. When the "E-Now" camera visited the "Queer As Folk" set, the players were in the studio filming a scene on the Babylon dance floor. Each of the actors were still in costume when they joined CC, in what appears to be the production office's lunchroom, for their one-on-one interviews. Footage from previously-aired episodes of the series was used throughout the segment.
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DD(VO): ...Carla goes on set to get the straight story about "Queer As Folk".
[Wide two-shot: Carla and Peter Paige are seated at a table. Peter, who is wearing a black, sleeveless T-shirt with a chest-wide iridescent, lipstick, lip print on its front, is guardedly chuckling. Having just completed his taped interview, the camera continues to roll, while CC feigns astonishment at Peter's profound observation that he has just committed to videotape.]
CC: That's the sound bite of the century—"Queer As Folk" is the gay "Shaft!"
[Motioning, with her right arm, to Peter's unseen fellow cast mates, who are awaiting just off-camera for their turn with Carla, she continues...]
CC: I don't know what you clowns are gonna answer, but, ...why don't you just go home?
[CC and DD are seated at a desk on the "E-Now" set.]
CC: Based on the controversial, award-winning British TV hit, "Queer As Folk" takes a bold, sexy look at the contemporary, gay lifestyle in Northern America. Shot in Toronto, "Queer" is raising even the most liberal of eyebrows, thanks to its graphic portrayal of gay sex and romance. I paid an eye-opening visit to the tightly-closed set and got one of the "Queers" to introduce us to the other "Folks" on the show.
[Super: Queer As Folk Showcase (2000 – Present)]
[At Woody's, Emmett has just met Dr. David but is distracted by an unseen Matthew McConaughey look-alike.]
[Hal Sparks provides the voice-over introduction for each of his cast mates.]
[Super: Peter Paige "Emmett Honeycut"]
HS(VO): This is Peter Paige. He plays my friend, Emmett. He's the resident queen of the group.
PP: Certainly, every portrayal you see of a group of gay men has this sort of outrageous queen running around. But, what I love about Emmett, and what I think sets him apart, from most of those portrayals, is that he is a real person and that he doesn't hate himself.
[At Babylon, having spoken to Blake in the club's washroom, a rejected Ted ascends the stairs to a curious Emmett.]
[Super: Scott Lowell "Ted Schmidt"]
HS(VO): This is Scott Lowell. He's the loveable, likeable, sad sack-ee, Ted.
SL: You know, I loved the character. I related to him so much. I understood him so much, and felt that he had a real universal appeal beyond the gay world. I felt, you know, everybody knows Ted—has felt like Ted—is Ted.
[Seated with wide-eyed Daphne, Justin explains how he made the transition from "tight end" to "wide receiver".]
[Super: Randy Harrison "Justin Taylor"]
HS(VO): This is Randy Harrison. He plays Justin, the bane of my existence. But, you know—he grows on you.
RH: It was a great break for me. I had just graduated from school—from theatre school—and this was one of the first auditions I got. And I was thrilled, by the opportunity, to be able to do it.
[In Marvin's hotel room, a nude Brian arranges his check-out and sends Marvin packing—to his other life.]
[Tight close-up. Super: Gale Harold "Brian Kinney"]
HS(VO): Gale Harold plays the role of Brian and they couldn't be more different if one of them was oil and the other one was evil.
GH: He doesn't care—apology never comes into it. So, he has the energy that just drives him forward and I think that that can be really captivating.
[Michael assumes a prone position on Dr. David's table and advises him that it's his favourite position. Crack!]
[Super: Hal Sparks "Michael Novotny"]
HS(VO): And I'm Hal Sparks. I play Michael—and quite well I might add.
HS: I think a Canadian is responsible for the big wave of gay television right now. It's Scott Thompson from "Kids In The Hall". Because when "Kids In The Hall" was on HBO, it was the hip thing to watch.
[Buddy Cole receives a large ACME boxed, delivery which contains a rather startled leather man.]
[Super: The Kids In The Hall CBC (1989 – 1994)]
HS(VO): College kids all over the place were watching and they were OK with Scott being gay and playing a gay character—playing a straight character, playing men and women and it was just hip to like it. So, he was part of that and that made it easy. He never kissed anybody but had he done it, nobody would have blinked.
PP: I certainly think it's helped us being in Canada. I don't know that we got the show more or less right because we're in Canada. But, on a lot of different levels as actors, I think by, sort of, pulling us all out of our own lives, and sticking us up here. We didn't know anybody else, we all sort of, you know, had to hunker down together and, 'Well alright, we're going to make this crazy TV show.'
CC: Are you being recognized and is you family still speaking to you or loving you even more or...
RH: Yeah, my family is great and everyone I know is very positive about it. I mean, you know, my parents would prefer not to watch me have sex. But, any parent would be like that.
CC: And that's a good thing, Randy. Cause really if your parents were like, "Oh, boy! I think it's another sex scene...Aunt Martha get in here!"
CC: Two directions I want to go here, you know, when you talked about the cinematic history of, you know, blacks, gays and obviously, there was "Ellen", most recent times.
[Ellen, with her arm around her shoulder, attempts to steal a quick kiss from her friend, Paige, who turns her cheek.]
[Super: Ellen CTV (1994 – 199 ]
CC: Then it's just over to "Will and Grace" where it's not about that. And I just adore that show, and I think that it's another plateau.
[A squatting Jack McFarlane invites an unreceptive Will Truman to place his head between Jack's knees.]
[Super: Will and Grace NBC (1998 – Present)]
CC: Then you get "Queer As Folk". Is this—are you at the extreme limit or what's next?
HS: No, I think, the next level is acceptance. That, you know what, you don't need a token gay person. Or, you don't need a gay show. You have a show that involves all types of different people. Some of the people, may be gay, some of them may be straight. It's nobody's business.
PP: If you look at the portrayal of blacks in cinema. They started as servants and minstrels and "steppin' fetch-its" and then came the, sort of, came the Sidney Poitier 'Sainthood years'. And then came the "Shaft" years where they were like, "Screw you. Look at this!"
[Off camera, CC is heard imitating a wah-wah guitar sound, used in the "Shaft" theme, as Peter continues...]
PP: Exactly, 'This is it...this is who I am...this is what I'm about...if you've got a problem with—pphttt.'
[While driving with Michael, in his freshly defaced Jeep, Brian yells at the top of his lungs, "Faggot!"]
[Two-shot of CC and DD who are seated at a desk on the "E-Now" set.]
CC: And good news for the "Folks". "Queer As Folk" has been renewed, by the powers that be, for another, naughty season. "Queer" airs on Showcase, Monday nights at 10:00.