Reverend's Reviews: Loving This Year’s Movie Award Nominees

Nothing says “Happy Valentine’s Day” to filmmakers and related film industry talent more than an Oscar nomination. Plenty of them have been feeling the love in the wake of January 22^nd’s announcement of this year’s nominees.

The 98^th annual Academy Awards ceremony is scheduled for Sunday, March 15^th. This year’s leading contender is Ryan Coogler’s vampire thriller/social commentary Sinners with a record 16 nominations. All About Eve, Titanic and La La Land previously shared the crown of most-nominated film with 14 nods each. Being heavily nominated doesn’t always translate into Oscar gold, however. Just ask Steven Spielberg, whose 1985 adaptation of The Color Purple secured 11 nominations but came away empty-handed.

Speaking of empty-handed, the musical epic sequel Wicked: For Good was totally snubbed by the Academy. This was shocking to me and many other observers, since its predecessor was nominated last year in 10 categories and won for Best Costume Design and Best Production Design. I found queer artist Paul Tazewell’s costumes even better in For Good, especially Glinda’s.  I also expected leading ladies Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande to be nominated again, and was hoping at least one of composer Stephen Schwartz's two new songs would be recognized. Some are blaming “Wicked fatigue” for these slights. I suspect the movie’s truly wicked villainess, Madame Morrible, might have had something to do with it.

In addition to Sinners, a handful of other powerful movies dominated the major award categories: One Battle After Another, Hamnet, Marty Supreme, the Norwegian drama Sentimental Value, and Guillermo Del Toro’s lavish remake of Frankenstein. Notably, Jacob Elordi was nominated in the Best Supporting Actor category for his memorable, scantily-clad turn as the Creature in Frankenstein.

There are several nominated 2026 movies with significant LGBTQ content or relevance. These include:

Blue Moon. Ethan Hawke gives a truly astonishing, Best Actor-nominated performance as the “omnisexual” 20^th century lyricist Lorenz Hart. Robert Kaplow’s excellent original screenplay is also a contender. 

Come See Me in the Good Light. American poet and activist Andrea Gibson shares their life story in this Best Documentary Feature nominee. Gibson explains how poetry intertwines personal pain and helps spread their messages about the LGBTQ community as well as human and political inequalities.

A Friend of Dorothy. The always delightful lesbian actress Miriam Margolyes headlines this contender for Best Live-Action Short. She plays Dorothy, an elderly widow in declining health whose solitary routine is unexpectedly disrupted when 17‑year‑old JJ sends a football into her garden. This leads to an unexpected connection between them. 

The Secret Agent. This tense drama from Brazil scored several major nominations including Best Picture, Best International Film and Best Actor (Wagner Moura). But it is also noteworthy for the last big-screen appearance by eccentric gay actor and longtime Palm Springs resident Udo Kier, who passed away last year.

Campier Oscar honorees this year include KPop Demon Hunters, nominated for Best Animated Feature and Best Original Song (the top 40 hit “Golden”); veteran actress Amy Madigan’s appearance as the deliciously evil Aunt Gladys in Weapons; and The Ugly Stepsister, a gruesomely satirical body horror tale recognized for Best Makeup and Hairstyling.

And the most questionable nominee this year? Avatar: Fire and Ash in the Best Costume Design category. This baffles me, since most of the costumes in this sci-fi epic (as well as its predecessors) consist of military uniforms and CGI loincloths. New villain Varang sports some fancy, Cher-esque headpieces but these are the film’s only wardrobe novelty. Shout out to Spider (actor Jack Champion) though, who presumably wore an actual loincloth.

Also showing their love to a number of movies this time of year is GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (of which this writer is a member). Founded in 2009 and consisting of over 500 members, the group annually honors the best mainstream and LGTBQ+ film, television, and Broadway/Off Broadway productions via their Dorian Awards.

The 2026 Dorian Film Award nominees were announced on January 14^th. They share a number of similarities with this year’s Oscar mentions including Sinners, Hamnet, One Battle After Another and Marty Supreme in major categories. But GALECA also nominated such Academy-neglected movies as Sorry, Baby; Hedda; Pillion; Twinless; the Kiss of the Spider Woman musical remake and, yes, Wicked: For Good!

Here are GALECA’s film nominees in several categories. For the full listing, visit galeca.com. Winners will be announced on March 3rd. 

FILM OF THE YEAR 

Hamnet (Focus Features)

Marty Supreme (A24)

One Battle After Another (Warner Bros.)

Sinners (Warner Bros.)

Sorry, Baby (A24)

 

LGBTQ FILM OF THE YEAR

Blue Moon (Sony Pictures Classics)

Hedda (Amazon MGM Studios)

Pillion (A24)

Sorry, Baby (A24)

Twinless (Lionsgate, Roadside Attractions)

 

DIRECTOR OF THE YEAR

Paul Thomas Anderson, One Battle After Another (Warner Bros.)

Ryan Coogler, Sinners (Warner Bros.)

Jafar Panahi, It Was Just an Accident (Neon)

Josh Safdie, Marty Supreme (A24)

Chloé Zhao, Hamnet (Focus Features)

 

SCREENPLAY OF THE YEAR (Original or adapted)

Hamnet, Chloé Zhao, Maggie O’Farrell (Focus Features)

Marty Supreme, Josh Safdie, Ronald Bronstein (A24)

One Battle After Another, Paul Thomas Anderson (Warner Bros.)

Sinners, Ryan Coogler (Warner Bros.)

Sorry, Baby, Eva Victor (A24)

 

LGBTQ SCREENPLAY OF THE YEAR

Blue Moon, Robert Kaplow (Sony Pictures Classics)

Hedda, Nia DaCosta (Amazon MGM Studios)

Pillion, Harry Lighton (A24)

Sorry, Baby, Eva Victor (A24)

Twinless, James Sweeney (Lionsgate, Roadside Attractions)

 

NON-ENGLISH LANGUAGE FILM OF THE YEAR

It Was Just an Accident (Neon)

No Other Choice (Neon)

Sentimental Value (Neon)

Sirāt (Neon)

The Secret Agent (Neon)

 

LGBTQ NON-ENGLISH FILM OF THE YEAR

Cactus Pears (Strand Releasing)

Misericordia (Janus Films, Sideshow)

Sauna (Breaking Glass)

The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo (Altered Innocence)

Viet and Nam (Strand Releasing)

 

UNSUNG FILM OF THE YEAR

To an exceptional movie worthy of greater attention

Black Bag (Focus Features)

If I Had Legs I’d Kick You (A24)

Lurker (Mubi) 

The Testament of Ann Lee (Searchlight Pictures) 

Twinless (Lionsgate, Roadside Attractions)

 

UNSUNG LGBTQ FILM OF THE YEAR

To an exceptional LGBTQ-themed movie worthy of greater attention
A Nice Indian Boy (Blue Harbor Entertainment)

Kiss of the Spider Woman (Lionsgate, Roadside Attractions, LD Entertainment)

Peter Hujar’s Day (Janus)

Plainclothes (Magnolia)

The Wedding Banquet (Bleecker Street)

 

FILM PERFORMANCE OF THE YEAR

Rose Byrne, If I Had Legs I’d Kick You (A24)

Timothée Chalamet, Marty Supreme (A24)

Leonardo DiCaprio, One Battle After Another (Warner Bros.)

Jessie Buckley, Hamnet (Focus Features)

Ethan Hawke, Blue Moon (Sony Pictures Classics)

Michael B. Jordan, Sinners (Warner Bros.)

Dylan O’Brien, Twinless (Lionsgate, Roadside Attractions)

Renate Reinsve, Sentimental Value (Neon)

Amanda Seyfried, The Testament of Ann Lee (Searchlight Pictures)

Tessa Thompson, Hedda (Amazon MGM Studios)

 

SUPPORTING FILM PERFORMANCE OF THE YEAR

Benicio del Toro, One Battle After Another (Warner Bros.)

Jacob Elordi, Frankenstein (Netflix)

Ariana Grande-Butera, Wicked: For Good (Universal)

Nina Hoss, Hedda (Amazon MGM Studios)

Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas, Sentimental Value (Neon)

Amy Madigan, Weapons (Warner Bros.)

Wunmi Mosaku, Sinners (Warner Bros.)

Sean Penn, One Battle After Another (Warner Bros.)

Stellan Skarsgård, Sentimental Value (Neon)

Teyana Taylor, One Battle After Another (Warner Bros.)

 

DOCUMENTARY OF THE YEAR

Come See Me in the Good Light (Apple)

Cover-Up (Netflix)

My Mom Jayne (HBO)

The Perfect Neighbor (Netflix) 

Predators (MTV Documentary Films)

 

LGBTQ DOCUMENTARY OF THE YEAR

Come See Me in the Good Light (Apple)

Heightened Scrutiny (Fourth Act Film)

I Was Born This Way (JungeFilms / Goodform)

The Librarians (8 Above)

Liza: A Truly Terrific Absolutely True Story (Zeitgeist Films)

 

ANIMATED FILM OF THE YEAR

Arco (Neon)

Elio (Disney)

KPop Demon Hunters (Netflix, Sony)

Little Amélie or the Character of Rain (GKIDS)

Zootopia 2 (Disney) 

 

CAMPIEST FLICK 

Final Destination: Bloodlines (Warner Bros.)

Kiss of the Spider Woman (Lionsgate, Roadside Attractions, LD Entertainment)

The Housemaid (Lionsgate)

Weapons (Warner Bros.)

Wicked: For Good (Universal)

 

“WE’RE WILDE ABOUT YOU!” RISING STAR AWARD

Odessa A’zion

Miles Caton

Chase Infiniti

Tonatiuh

Eva Victor

 

WILDE ARTIST AWARD

To a truly groundbreaking force in entertainment

Ryan Coogler

Cynthia Erivo

Jinkx Monsoon

Jafar Panahi

Pedro Pascal 

 

GALECA LGBTQIA+ FILM TRAILBLAZER

For creating art that inspires empathy, truth and equity

Gregg Araki

Jonathan Bailey

Kristen Stewart

Tessa Thompson

Eva Victor

The Most Reverend Chris Carpenter is editor of Movie Dearest and chief contributor. He has been reviewing movies and theatre since 1996 and also contributes to Rage Monthly magazine (ragemonthly.com). He is a founding member and former Vice President of GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Critics (galeca.com) and currently serves as a nominating/voting member of its New York-based Theatre Wing. Reverend Carpenter has been an ordained minister since 1995.

Reverend's Movie Memories of 2025

Politics, Horror, Political Horror…and Jonathan Bailey 

Last year’s movies were a mixed bag at the box office. There were blockbusters, notably the latest Jurassic World adventure, a revamped Superman, and several Disney sequels/reboots. But there were also some big-budget flops: Mickey 17, Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere and Disney’s less successful Snow White and Tron: Ares. In hindsight, such unpredictability seems reflective of our national political and economic uncertainty these past 12 months. I was hoping/praying for a more stable 2026...and then the USA attacked Venezuela and kidnapped its president! God help us.

Despite an increase in anti-DEI and anti-LGBTQ sentiment in the US, we can take some comfort in the fact that two out entertainers went down in history by the end of 2025. That both are alumna of the hit Wicked movies seems purely coincidental.

Jonathan Bailey, who played the ultimately heroic Fiyero in the two-part musical adaptation, was named 2025’s highest-grossing actor thanks to his roles in Wicked: For Good and Jurassic World: Rebirth. He is the first openly gay actor ever to top the box office charts in a given year. Bailey was also the first openly gay contender to be named “Sexiest Man Alive” by People magazine in 2025. 

Meanwhile, queer actor-comedian Bowen Yang not only reprised his supporting role as Pfannee in Wicked: For Good but played one of the lead roles in last year’s excellent reimagining of 1993’s The Wedding Banquet. Yang made Emmy Award history in 2025 by becoming the awards’ most-nominated Asian male performer to date, thanks to his work on Saturday Night Live. He surprised everyone when he resigned from SNL after six years shortly before Christmas. I’m sure--to paraphrase Yang’s hero, Cher—we haven’t seen the last of him.

There has been more consensus than usual regarding the best films of 2025 among critics and critic groups. Several of them deal with timely political themes, and an unusually high number of selections sit squarely in the horror genre.

Here are my personal choices. As is my custom, I have joined together movies of equal quality that also share themes, genres and/or talent. And, as usual, there were a few end-of-the-year releases I wasn’t able to watch before my deadline. Chief among these are the acclaimed Marty Supreme and James Cameron’s latest, Avatar: Fire and Ash.

1. One Battle After Another (Warner Bros). Uber timely and bracingly topical, Paul Thomas Anderson’s dramedy follows a group of revolutionaries, led by a terrific Leonardo DiCaprio, over two decades as they confront corruption in the upper echelons of our good ol’ US of A. Watch out for the evil Christmas Adventurers Club! This political yet personal epic is deservedly sweeping critic groups’ awards. 

2. Eddington (A24). Dark auteur Ari Aster’s latest garnered as many detractors as admirers, and possibly more detractors. Similar in some ways to One Battle After Another, this is an even more satirical depiction of COVID-era divisions in our country. I greatly appreciated how Aster succeeds in making both far right and far left extremists look equally insane.

3. Hamnet (Focus Features). I’ve never seen a movie reduce an audience to sobs, myself included, as this lovely exploration of loss and grief did. Inspired by an incident in the lives of William Shakespeare and his wife, it is ultimately a cathartic take on how we all strive to find meaning in the wake of death. Jessie Buckley is exquisite in what I consider the year’s best female performance as Agnes, with queer-friendly Paul Mescal playing opposite her as Will.

4. Sinners (Warner Bros). While this is best or most simply defined as a vampire-filled horror movie, there is a lot more going on beneath its surface. Written and directed by Ryan Coogler and starring Michael B. Jordan in dual roles, it also deals with racism, enculturation, sibling love, and the enduring power of music. 

5. A House of Dynamite (Netflix). Arguably the most intense 112 cinematic minutes of last year. Oscar-winning director Kathryn Bigelow and an impressive all-star cast count down to an anticipated nuclear attack on Chicago from different perspectives. Something of a pre-disaster disaster movie, one can’t help but think “What would I do?” in such a frightening scenario.

6. The History of Sound (MUBI) and On Swift Horses (Sony Pictures Classics). The two best gay-themed movies of 2025. These sexy, achingly beautiful tales of gay longing are set in different time periods but share several dramatic similarities. They also boast gorgeous leading men Jacob Elordi, Will Poulter, Diego Calva, Josh O’Connor and Paul Mescal (again), all of whom are beautifully photographed.

7. Companion (Warner Bros), Good Boy (IFC & Shudder) and Weapons (Warner Bros).  After Sinners, these are the next best out of a very strong year for horror films. Each has a unique premise and is told from an unusual perspective, with a dog playing the lead in Good Boy! While they have necessary unsettling moments, these movies are cleverly written and completely engrossing. And all hail the big- screen return of Amy Madigan as instant camp icon Aunt Gladys!

8. I Was Born This Way (Jungefilm & W/Love Productions). The best documentary I saw last year celebrates the life, music and ministry of Bishop Carl Bean. He journeyed from disco-era singer of the title song to founder of both the Minority AIDS Project in LA and the Unity Fellowship Church. Revealing and inspiring.

9. The Life of Chuck (NEON). 2025 was a big year for Stephen King stories on the big screen. We got The Last Walk, The Monkey and a new version of The Running Man, as well as TV’s It-inspired series Welcome to Derry. The best of them all--and one of the best Stephen King adaptations ever--was this metaphysical, mathematical, and genuinely moving tale illustrating how each of our lives “contain multitudes,” to quote the movie’s potent citation of queer poet Walt Whitman.

10. Blue Moon (Sony Pictures Classics) and Nouvelle Vague (Netflix). Has director Richard Linklater made a bad movie yet? He turned out not just one but two great period pieces/character studies last year alone. Linklater’s longtime muse Ethan Hawke is astonishing and currently my pick for best male performance of 2025 as the real life, sexually conflicted composer Lorenz Hart in Blue Moon. In his Nouvelle Vague, Linklater playfully recreates the filmmaking architects of the French “new wave” of the 1950s-60s, and appropriately does so in both French and black & white.

Honorable mentions, in alphabetical order: Aichaku, Chainsaws Were Singing, Dust Bunny, Frankenstein, Griffin in Summer, Kiss of the Spider Woman, Roofman, Train Dreams, 28 Years Later, The Wedding Banquet and Wicked: For Good. 

At the bottom of my list are these 2025 movies that, even if they aren’t absolutely awful, nonetheless fell short of expectations:

1. The Conjuring: Last Rites (Warner Bros). This spooky franchise hit its artistic bottom here, but inexplicably became its most financially successful entry. I doubt it will be the last in the series as intended, which is truly scary.

2. Night Always Comes (Netflix). I love actress Vanessa Kirby, and she made a fine Sue Storm in last year’s The Fantastic Four: First Steps. While she’s typically good in this, the plot is a dreary exercise in self-perpetuating dysfunction with Kirby’s character making one frustratingly bad decision after another.

3. Wolf Man (Universal Pictures). The title character has long been my favorite old-school movie monster so I was really looking forward to a modern-day take on him/it. Needless to say I was disappointed. Not only does the creature bear little resemblance to the original, the movie is just plain boring.

4. Mission: Impossible-The Final Reckoning (Paramount Pictures). I was also looking forward to this closing chapter of the Tom Cruise-led series since the last film, 2023’s Mission: Impossible-Dead Reckoning, was thrilling. While not without some exciting set pieces, this was essentially a 3-hour vanity project for Cruise. I won’t complain about the two extended sequences in which the admittedly in-shape star is clad only in boxer briefs (one of which I've lovingly featured above) but it all seemed narcissistic.

5. Captain America: Brave New World (Disney/Marvel Studios). Marvel did well artistically with the aforementioned Fantastic Four: First Steps as well as Thunderbolts*. However, this was a strange entry in the Captain America canon because it served more as an overdue sequel to 2008’s largely forgotten The Incredible Hulk. And not to sound ageist, but Harrison Ford came across as too old and feeble to play the Commander in Chief. Yes, even older and more feeble—but at least saner—than his real-life counterpart.

Happy New Year!

The Most Reverend Chris Carpenter is editor of Movie Dearest and chief contributor. He has been reviewing movies and theatre since 1996 and also contributes to Rage Monthly magazine (ragemonthly.com). He is a founding member and former Vice President of GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Critics (galeca.com) and currently serves as a nominating/voting member of its New York-based Theatre Wing. Reverend Carpenter has been an ordained minister since 1995.

Reverend's Interview: Bryan Fuller is Giving Us a Dust Bunny for the Holidays

Santa Claus isn’t the only one coming to town this month.  You’d better watch out for a very large, very hungry, very scary Dust Bunny!

Out TV series creator/writer/showrunner Bryan Fuller is making his feature film debut on December 12^th with the nationwide release of Dust Bunny.  Set in a decaying apartment complex on the edge of New York City’s Chinatown, it is a dark, surreal, yet fun fable told through the eyes of 10-year-old Aurora. She is convinced there’s a monster living under her bed, one that devoured her foster parents in the middle of the night. 

Isolated and frightened, Aurora becomes fixated on her reclusive neighbor, a wounded hitman she secretly follows through the city.  After witnessing him kill a dragon-like creature on a rooftop, she decides he might be the only one capable of saving her. As the two form an unlikely bond, her neighbor--who is himself being hunted by professional killers tied to his past—uncovers a chilling pattern: Aurora’s previous foster families have all mysteriously vanished. But when one of the neighbor’s wannabe assassins is swallowed whole by something beneath Aurora’s bed, he realizes her fears may be grounded in something very real…and very dangerous.

Dust Bunny boasts a fantastic cast led by Mads Mikkelsen as “The Intriguing Neighbor” and amazing newcomer Sophie Sloan as Aurora, with Sigourney Weaver, David Dastmalchian and Rebecca Henderson in wild supporting roles.

Bryan Fuller, the film’s writer-director, got his start in the entertainment industry as a writer on TV’s legendary Star Trek series Voyager and Deep Space Nine. He next created or co-created such memorably offbeat shows as Dead Like Me, Wonderfalls, Pushing Daisies (which won multiple Emmy Awards), Hannibal (which also starred Mikkelsen) and American Gods. Fuller is openly gay and most of his work features a notably queer sensibility.

In the movie’s press notes, Fuller shares the very personal motivation behind Dust Bunny: 

“Our heroine, Aurora, wished for the monster under her bed to eat her parents. ‘They weren’t very nice to me’ is all the explanation we get as to why Aurora wished her wish. A little background: I grew up with an abusive father, and I would have been content to have him eaten by a monster. There are all sorts of reasons your average child might, in a blaze of anger (or less), wish their parents dead. From no cha-cha heels at Christmas to curfews to things less common and cruel. I want the viewer to have their own take on why Aurora did it. Or more specifically, why they would do it. I know I had my reasons.”

Reverend recently spoke with the very thoughtful, very funny Fuller via Zoom. Note: Some questions and responses have been edited for length and/or clarity.

Bryan, I’m truly honored to have this opportunity to speak with the creator of what I feel are several of the best, if sadly short-lived, TV series of the 21^st century so far.

Oh, thank you! 

Absolutely. Can you tell me a little bit about what’s your method or your sensibility when it comes to choosing or developing projects?

I love storytelling and I love characters and I love thematics. There’s something about if a story or a narrative has the opportunity for me to break off a bit of my soul, and put a horcrux into it, to give me a barometer of what an audience would want from that story. I definitely have to be the first person in the audience that wants to see this story, so I can’t imagine working on something that I wouldn’t watch. There’s plenty of movies where I’m like “I don’t know if I’m the audience for this; I may enjoy the experience but I also don’t necessarily know how to steer something like that.”

I’m primarily a genre storyteller because I like those extra colors in my Crayola crayon box to color with. I think that there’s something about horror, science fiction, fantasy that gives you an opportunity for an analysis of certain thematics that do feel distinctively queer. The things that I’m attracted to have a queer sensibility to them. How I like to tell stories and the aesthetics and the way that I enjoy telling a story feel very queer to me. For things like Dust Bunny or Pushing Daisies that may not have queer narratives, they are certainly queer in design and characterizations that feel like that part of my psyche is being serviced in a way.

I would say the easiest answer (to your question), particularly for this publication, is “What is the inherent queerness of this story and what is my relationship to the perception of that queerness?” Sometimes that queerness is asexual and sometimes it is sexual. There’s something about the asexual romance of Pushing Daisies, or the blossoming of an asexuality into a sexual romance of Hannibal, or the explicit sexuality of something like American Gods, where I got to do barebacking, flaming ejaculation kind of sex scenes--that you’d be hard pressed to find anywhere else—but in a fantasy story of sorts. I do think my guiding principle for a lot of my taste is rooted in my queerness.

Thank you, that’s an excellent response and helpful. It’s funny, just thinking about and reflecting on Dust Bunny I wrote “fairy tale meets anime meets horror movie meets survivor story, with a musical number thrown in”! I loved the dancing nuns.

(Laughs) Do you remember that song from the 70’s? I know you grew up Catholic. I was raised very Catholic so I’ve been fantasizing about robbing a church (which Aurora does in the film) for most of my life.

Of course! (laugh) Congratulations on Dust Bunny.  I thoroughly enjoyed it and found it visually stunning, as well as so compelling and interesting. I’m so happy that it is an original story of yours that you got to direct, because I had read that you were working on adapting a novel or doing a remake or something. I’m so glad that this is the film for your first feature on the big screen. How does that strike you or how does that feel?

Thank you, thank you. You know, we were developing this story for (the TV series) Amazing Stories and we were having trouble pushing it through the process. It had so many of the things that I loved growing up and watching the (Steven Spielberg) Amblin’ brand in the 80’s, whether it was Poltergeist or Gremlins or The Goonies or E.T.  All of them had a sense of someone who didn’t feel like they belonged in the world in which they were living, and a guest from another world coming into theirs and showing them how they belonged. Not necessarily in the world that they’re struggling to belong in but what other worlds and relationships they can belong in. That also feels distinctively queer. 

I also loved fairy tales growing up. I love the Disney extrapolations of the fairy tales. I loved Ichabod Crane and the Legend of Sleepy Hollow, and that there were these gateway horror stories being sold to children that were scary and thrilling. Now we are so sensitive to traumatizing children but I do think there’s a lot of fun in scaring kids. I did it a lot when I was a kid. We would always ambush people in cemeteries in cloaks. The kids I was babysitting when I was like 12 years old, we would design haunted houses for their friends that would come in. I would leap through a window and grab the kid and pull them out screaming into the yard. (laugh) I love that kind of fun of telling a spooky story, and it is fun first for me. Even when Hannibal got very dark, I saw it as a black comedy and there was something about those storylines and the extremities that I just innately found a sense of humor in. Also, I think cannibalism is hilarious. As a pescatarian, people being served up in a way that they would serve others up, I find delightful. (Both of us laugh)

The idea of this being my first movie and also something that feels like the movies that I enjoyed as a kid, and wanting to share that experience with both younger audiences and the adults who are taking those kids to those movies, was really exciting. I think that was kind of the impetus for me, to bring the joy of the audience experience that I remember to modern audiences who may not have been around in the 1980’s to see all these fantastic films in the theater.

Talk to me about working with Mads Mikkelsen, who you’ve worked with a few times now on different projects. What’s your working relationship or your friendship like? Is he kind of your muse?

Mads is so cool. When I met him, I was like “Oh, I get it; he’s a movie star.” He’s like Danish George Clooney and he’s got the rizz, as they say, for days. But so many of his characters that we see him play in American movies are villains, whether it’s a James Bond villain (Casino Royale) or an Indiana Jones villain (Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny) or a Marvel villain (Doctor Strange). In Star Wars: Rogue One, you assume he’s a villain but he ends up being the greatest hero of the rebellion. So, there is a contained quality to a lot of his American performances that are directly in contrast to some of his Danish roles, where he plays more of a fool or is a very stoic hero.

I wanted the (Dust Bunny) audience to see just a little bit more of my friend, who has a charismatic personality, is a family man, who doesn’t have all the gravitas of all these weighty, villainous roles that populist audiences associate him with. I wanted everybody to see more of the guy I know as my friend but also just realizing, with his professionalism and his dedication and how good he is at his job, that it was undeniable that he was the guy. I pitched him the story at the premiere of Rogue One (in 2016) and he was like “Great, I’m in.” And then the movie lived and died at various studios who wanted various kinds of actors in the role. We finally found a studio (Lionsgate) that would make the movie with Mads. 

About Mads’ character, Resident 5B or “The Intriguing Neighbor,” what can gay viewers deduce or conclude about his character? Is he gay? Is he queer? Is he open to interpretation?

What I love about queer analysis of movies is that if you give us an inch, we’ll take a mile. And if there are no indicators of sexual desire or opposite sex attraction, we plant a flag and claim that character as our own.  You certainly can--because there is no real romance in (Dust Bunny)--project that onto Mads’ character.

This is not necessarily a queer narrative, although it did recently screen at Outfest. I would say if politics are proceeding along the line that some would hope that they would proceed and it becomes illegal to be gay again, the smoking guns of my homosexuality will be Dust Bunny and Pushing Daisies. Despite not having actively queer characters in them, they are distinctively queer worlds from a queer person. That’s the immersive experience or the aesthetic that also invites the audience to project themselves onto the characters. If you want to project a queerness onto Mads, it’s there. If you want to project a queerness or outsider-ness to little Aurora, for all of us queer kids who grew up in tricky households, you can. I say if you see queerness it’s there, it’s yours. Claim it!

The Most Reverend Chris Carpenter is editor of Movie Dearest and chief contributor. He has been reviewing movies and theatre since 1996 and also contributes to Rage Monthly magazine (ragemonthly.com). He is a founding member and former Vice President of GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Critics (galeca.com) and currently serves as a nominating/voting member of its New York-based Theatre Wing. Reverend Carpenter has been an ordained minister since 1995.