Darryl Stephens in "Boy Culture"

The film adaptation of Matthew Rettenmund's critically-acclaimed novel Boy Culture—first mentioned on these pages in September 2005—opens in New York City, Los Angeles and San Francisco today.

Q. Allan Brocka directs an ensemble cast that includes current Advocate cover-boy Derek Magyar, Jonathon Trent and Darryl Stephens, the Noah's Arc alum and gay indie prod "it" boy of the moment. Most interesting about Darryl's star turn as Andrew: In the novelization, his character is white. Author Matthew Rettenmund frankly discusses the none-too-subtle changes during an interview with Darryl:

Darryl Stephens is not who I had in mind when I wrote about a sexually confused, all-American jockboy named Andrew, the kind of guy who could win a jaded hustler’s heart while being a walking contradiction. When he was first cast in Boy Culture, I wasn’t happy—I was afraid that changing something as crucial as the character’s race meant he would never fit into my original story, which was so focused on what’s wrong and what’s right with white gay culture. What was director Allan Brocka thinking?

Turns out he was thinking big, bigger than my already grandiose plan to comment on all the other white gay boys out there, on love and on the prerequisites for a meaningful relationship. Allan wanted to comment on all those things without limiting himself to white people. I guess in my liberal zeal to lovingly criticize the status quo, I had neglected to include a large portion of the gay community in my loving critique.

Darryl says his performance as Andrew can be a composite for black gay men in general:

Andrew also feels a bit out of place. It wasn't something I was acutely aware of, but I think Andrew—as I saw him—was a bit self-conscious about his new life in Seattle with all these white boys. He came from a very black suburb, and while I don't think he was necessarily uncomfortable, I think he felt like more of an observer, that he was kind of feeling his way around this new white gay world. It wasn't even conscious. I just think that he played a little stand-offish because I couldn't see this Andrew assimilating quite as easily as the corn-fed white boy in the book.

The Andrew in the book would have been very aware of his effect on gay white men, where the Andrew in the film was still sitting back, observing and figuring out how to navigate through all of that. With that, I think he comes off quiet and sort of distant.

Darryl Stephens also weighs in on the cancellation of Noah's Arc. The actor is not surprised the show and its demise was not reported more in gay media, which he says "largely ignored" the series. "I'm not sure if that's because the show is kind of fluffy—and doesn't have the hardcore sex of Queer As Folk—or if it's because the whole cast is black and they don't see 'gay people' as being interested in black people. It's been interesting. Many of the fans that I hear from are straight black women. So I would almost expect to be hearing more from Essence about the show than from Instinct."

Speaking of ... Instinct recently reviewed Boy Culture in a splashy photo editorial. Four stars out of five. As David Mamet wrote in Glengarry Glen Ross, "Maybe it means something. Maybe it doesn't."

Check HERE for Boy Culture screenings.

Toward The Spotlight: An Interview With Boy Culture's Darryl Stephens [Boy Culture]

You May Have Missed ...

A Conversation with Darryl Stephens [R20] Darryl's "Boy Culture" [R20] Noah's Arc Has Sailed [R20] What Does the Future Hold for Noah's Arc? [AE] Have Black Gay Roles Gone Beyond the "Sassy Sidekick"? [R20] Patrik-Ian Polk in "Genre" [R20] A Very Beautiful Darryl Stephens [R20] A Tale of Two Boys [R20] A New Look? [R20] Much more in the Noah's Arc index

Comments

[Andy in Seattle]

Boy Culture, filmed in Seattle, had a preview showing at a local film festival, and I can report the film is an interesting look at the lives of several gay men with a complexity that surprised me, coming from the director of "Eating Out."

Stephens gives a strong performance, and shows remarkable depth in material that offered him more than the "fluffy" (his words) Noah's Arc. He deserves much attention and credit for this film's artistic success.

[j. brotherlove]

It seems like a million years since I've heard about Boy Culture. Good to see it hitting larger distribution.

I'm interested to see Stephens in a fully fleshed out role.

[Franklyn Smith]

Good point Andy. I saw this film at a special screening several weeks ago and was pleasantly surprised. Brocka's work has been uneven.

Darryl Stephens is a good actor and these types of roles demonstrate his skill set. Noah's Arc certainly gave him the exposure but acting really wasn't a requirement on that show.

[John]

I'll pass on this movie, but, the authors thoughts are candid and quite refreshing for a change as he was honest, like most they are "liberal" in name only. Men of color are still invisible to many gay white men it seems in real life and in fiction. If, you are an avid reader and like gay themed books, seldom do you see any sort of interaction between races on any level and most of the black books get old after a while with the use of the n-word over and over again as if that's all our realities, so, you are left with slim pickings One author comes to mind who is great at putting people of color in his books that have some depth, Chris Kenry is a white guy who gets it, the rainbow of gay life is fantastic in all colors, maybe one of these days his books can make it to the big screen.

And, then there is the Noah's Arc comments, just pains me that its off, even though it was all "fluff." I guess that since I've never seen a single episode of "Queer as Folk," it must really had some great writing since its apparently still so popular. I guess that since I read that there blacks were more or less invisible in it, in a city that has more than one black person, it never ranked up there as "Must see TV!!!"

[Andy in Seattle]

I understand your point, John, and I must admit I blanched at the author's comments in Rod's article.

While seeing someone take your novel and change things (albeit the race of character or any other thing that's different than how the you created it) might be understandably troubling, his "liberal zeal" to critique the "gay community" was revealed to be not just colorblind but ignorant; let's hope it was a "teaching moment" for author Rettenmund.

What I was happy to see was that the director didnt stunt-cast Stephens simply to color-up the cast and then ignore said aspect, nor did the revised script make too big a deal of his race. He mentions it directly in one scene, but not as a major plot point. The interaction between his character and the main character, X, is energized by the tension of their attraction rather than the different hues of their skin. His character is an important side of the love triangle in the film, and Stephens makes it quite watchable.

Casting directors please take note and give this guy more equally challenging work. And writers please check your "liberal zeal" for any unawarenesses and myopic exclusions.

[franklyn smyth]

John, no one said that "Queer as Folk" was an attempt as serious television. Even Darryl Stephens says that the show basically was non-stop sexcapades.

That's also more or less why the (white) gay community grew tired with the show. There was no substance. It's the same point with black gay culture now--there are more creative options but little substance. There are several magazines and they are basically fluff and the film options are pretty much associated with the down low.

You can't have it both ways. You criticize predominately white gay films and books for ignoring black gay men and then when they are honest, deliberate attempts to incorporate us into the picture--such as the film adaptation of Boy Culture--you dismiss it out of hand.

[John]

Thanks for filling me about the "plot" of the movie Andy, its ironic that some writers can't see beyond their own narrow minds when it comes to character development, there have been many great movies made from books where the character was depicted one way, and the screen writer was able to change it and make the character deeper.

And, Franklyn, the movie was "dismissed" as its a plot and subject that I have no interest in, kind of like how I had no interest in "Dream Girls." I don't expect much from white gay men when it comes to trying to incorporate the black experience into their lives via books, movies or web sites, they don't have to since most writers write about what they know and experience in life, and it does not bother me. My point was, I found it refreshing that the author admitted he was peeved that his fantasy world was made better by a director who saw the bigger picture, not the writer of the book.

[franklyn]

John, I totally misunderstood you. We are on exactly the same page.

Apology accepted? ;)

[Matthew Rettenmund]

Hm, I looked back and nope, I definitely explained myself very clearly...not sure why anyone would take from what I said that I was liberal in name only or that my objections to Darryl's casting (initially) were racist. I understand that it feels like "hey, why can't there be more people of color represented in all the arts???" but on the other hand, is a book with all white characters by definition racist and exclusionary? Am I a racist for writing what I knew at that time? Certainly not. But even more so, the point I was making was that I wrote Boy Culture in part as a CRITIQUE of white gay male culture. I wanted it to be all-male, all-white so I could address issues I felt and feel that community has, being incestuous, using each other, trying desperately to seem impenetrable (literally), and also to write about the positives. So when I found out a character's race was being changed, my assumption (hey, I wrote the book, I'm entitled to a good-natured panic attack) was that it was being changed just for the sake of having a person of color, and possibly showed the director didn't get my level of criticism. I was worried that we'd get a rainbow but no rain. But as I wrote in my interview, Allan more than got where I was coming from and expanded on all my observations and made a great movie. But no John, the director absolutely did not make "my fantasy world better"...that deliberately misreads my book and my comments to be that Boy Culture is some kind of mindless, Anglo-Utopian fantasy world. It's the furthest thing from that. Too many assumptions based on the trends that are undeniably out there, not enough of an attempt to check out the material at hand. All that said, I appreciate Rod's post and appreciate the feedback. We've heard from a lot of audience members and the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive across races and genders. I hope anyone thinking in advance that the source material is not going to speak to them will give the movie a look. And for the record, if anyone wants to make my book Blind Items: A (Love) Story with an all-black cast (the second lead is already black, so we can make him white), I'd be thrilled! Call me!

[John]

Wow! I have to admit that I'm impressed and quite pleased that you came here and clarified what you meant about the casting change and your point on how the movie should be viewed. The usually gay white male book/movie writer/director, is to dismiss anything that a person of color may think about a certain work since most figure we don't read books or go to gay themed movies, so, to see that you don't fit that role is quite refreshing. It seems that if you are a person of color, like myself, and you are an avid reader of gay novels, its the same old plot, blond, blue eyed, shallow, narrow minded muscular boy/man and everyone who looks like them and their wonderful lives that seem to never cross or even see a person of color, and that's why I thought the movie would be on that same level, and not of any interest to me as I have seen, heard and saw that same plot all my adult gay life.

While, I still don't think its anything that I would see, maybe the book might be worth a read if the characters have the depth of what I see in your reply and honesty in your feelings and will add it to my list of books to buy.

Like I said, I will read works by gay white men if they have characters that reflect real life, and have a writer who is one of my favorites, and hope someone will put some of his works to a movie, Chris Kenry.