You may know Lee Daniels as the director of the Academy Award nominated Precious (excuse me, Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire), and the recent box office success The Butler (excuse me, Lee Daniels' The Butler), as well as the all-time bad classic The Paperboy, in which Nicole Kidman saves Zac Efron's life by peeing on him, and that's not even the oddest thing about the film. Say what you will, Lee Daniels has the distinction of being the most successful openly-gay, African-American film director working today.
Did you read the Lee Daniels interview in the latest issue of Out Magazine? I think it's in the same issue in which Josh Hutcherson says that he would not rule out some hot man love in the future. In the interview, Daniels lays out his plans to star Alex Pettyfer in an "interracial love affair action movie." Daniels had previously made no secret of the fact that Alex was his first choice to star in The Paperboy (dodged that bullet, Alex) and cast him is the small role of a racist, murdering rapist in The Butler. Of his plans for this as-yet-unnamed film he says, "Alex Pettyfer is in it, [but] I have to find the right black guy opposite him. He's so hot, isn't he? So hot. And so aware of his hotness in a way that's so…I love him to death." He also says, quite bizarrely, "We don't find out they're gay until the end of the movie." Hey Lee, how about a spoiler alert next time?
I don't think you'd be shocked to learn that I'd love to see this movie, but I wonder if it is something that can really happen in the current Hollywood atmosphere. Daniels seems overly confident to me. "I don't think I'm going to have a problem now. I made a $100 million for The Butler. I'm in a rare group. So this is something I feel good about." Good luck, Mr. Daniels. I'm pulling for you. Personally, I think you're ca-razy if you think it's going to be that easy. But I guess we'll see.
