
One of those interviews is with film historian Matthew Kennedy (Edmund Goulding's Dark Victory), who—when I asked him how he felt about his participation in the project—responded: "I loved having the opportunity to ponder what makes Bette Davis great and why I love her. She's so much more than easily imitated grand gestures that drag queens find so hard to resist. What a pure creature of the cinema she was—imagine if she had been born before movies were invented. It's almost unthinkable. A select few stars seem made for the camera, almost as though their very existence depends on the moving image. She was one of them."

Likewise interviewed is impresario Marc Huestis, who was instrumental in facilitating the interaction between Black and Matthew Martin. "Congrats to Mike & Carole for finishing film, he offered. "Anything with/about BETTE DAVIS has to be entertaining, no?!"
But with customary aplomb, it was Peaches Christ who scored the poster pull quote: "There's a collective understanding that she is God." When I asked Joshua Grannell how Peaches became involved in the project, Joshua replied: "They emailed me about participating in the film and it was during the Midnight Mass season and I said, 'I love Bette Davis and I would love to participate and the best way to catch me is to come to the show with your camera and we'll do the interview at the Bridge Theatre.' That's what they did. They set up the camera and we did the interview. Often my brain is so dumb when I'm in drag—as far as memory goes or whatever, there's no filter over my mouth—so I'm looking forward to the screening because I have no idea what I said."

As Michael Fox has written at SF Weekly, Davis' appeal "derives from her ambisexuality in combination with such timeless personas as the holy-terror diva, the stalwart solitaire, and the camp heroine." Fox adds: "More than simply a lovefest, Queer Icon questions whether gays still need a role model like the fabulous Miss D. The film will surely find an enthusiastic audience when it plays the queer capitals of New York and Los Angeles, but [Thursday's] world premiere is bound to be an only-in-San-Francisco event. It won't be tedious, darling."
Matt Sussman concurs at Flavorpill: "That been-around-the-block moxie; that sultry sophistication; and, of course, those eyes. There are many reasons why Bette Davis was one of the greatest actresses ever to grace the silver screen, but her x-factor has long held—indeed, continues to hold—particular sway over gay men."
Queer Icon: The Cult of Bette Davis boasts its San Francisco premiere at a one-off screening at the Roxie Film Center on Thursday, July 2, 2009, at 6:00, 8:10, 10:20PM. Tickets are $15 and can be purchased in advance at www.blacksummers.com. Photos courtesy of Black Summers Productions, LLC. Photo of Matthew Martin as Bette Davis courtesy of Marc Huestis.
2 comments:
Michael, can't wait to see this film. Before I discovered the full range of auteur cinema, I discovered the films of Bette Davis and watched everything of hers I could find during my queer suburban adolescence in the 70s.
Also, distressing news today that David Hudson's IFC Daily is ending. Without David's invaluable work I would probably never have linked to this and countless other great sites. How will cinephiles manage without him?
Curiously enough, when I got together with Joshua Grannell (Peaches Christ) to talk about Queer Icon and All About Evil, we likewise touched upon the fact that this summer's edition of Midnight Mass is reputedly the last. But only insofar as we understand it. It will achieve new incarnations that we can only anticipate.
I imagine the same is true for David Hudson and the Daily project. I look forward to what he comes up with next as it will undoubtedly raise the bar. To date, what Dave taught so many of us was a necessary rigor to keep abreast of film journalism as a concerted effort to escape the solipsism of our individual keyboards. Until he returns, in whatever new from of the Daily he conjures up, perhaps we can keep each other abreast of all the news that's fit to link? If you've not already checked it out, you might want to visit Girish Shambu's eponymous site. He frequently gathers links, albeit veering towards the academic. Dave's particular gift of equalling the playing field was near genius.
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