Too Gay or Not Gay Enough?
by Mikey Rox
Sixteen years ago, actor/playwright Travis Michael Holder embarked on a cathartic journey that has finally come full circle.
His original, semi-autobiographical play, “Surprise Surprise,” – about a closeted gay actor with a much younger, disabled lover and an estranged teenaged son – is now a full-length feature releasing on DVD Aug 31.
In a recent interview, Holder – along with the film’s director, Jerry Turner – discuss the filmmaking process, what parts of the plot were plucked from real life, and why this gay-themed film got snubbed for not being gay enough.
MIKEY ROX: Your new movie, “Surprise Surprise,” is based on an original play that you wrote and starred in, in 1994. You’re quoted as saying that it’s “based on more
autobiographical shit than I’d care to admit.” Please, make my job a little easier and spill the beans now.
TRAVIS MICHAEL HOLDER: A lot of it is fiction; a lot of it is about my life. My partner Victor and I did raise the real David, at least through his teen years. His grandmother was then secretary to the head of casting at NBC and his mother was indeed confined to a convalescent hospital unable to speak or feed herself after a horrific accident when [David] was 4 years old. Ironically, his grandmother died just after the play was first written and his mother passed away the week it premiered. David and his wife Linda were at opening night and, needless to say, it was a tremendously emotional journey for him.
MR: Are you happy with the outcome? Is the film true to the vision you had of it on screen?
TMH: How can I say this… I am thrilled with the outcome, and, yes, it’s fiercely true to my original vision. The one thing Jerry, who by the way is straight as an arrow, insisted all along was that we make a film about three people trying to get to know one another and redefine what a family is in this age of social inequality and Tea Party rednecks and Prop 8 haters. My disappointment with the outcome, however, is in how that perception has been received. Jerry had suits interested in taking on the film if we went back to the house and had Jason drop his towel. They complained that no one kissed and no one got naked. Film festivals turned down screening it because it was a gay story, which it isn’t. It’s a family story. Gay is a plot point. Truly, the real David could not have been less homophobic, but making the character homophobic furthered what I was trying to say about life today and relationships.
So now that the film is being promoted as a “gay” film, gay festivals have turned it down because it isn’t gay enough. If Den had been a hot young man or Jason’s towel had dropped, they would have been interested. And I find that very sad. We as a community fight every day to be taken seriously as just people like everyone else, people deserving of respect. The fact that the film isn’t titillating enough to qualify to show at gay film festivals breaks my heart.
JERRY TURNER: I love this guy, and I couldn’t be happier that you feel the film stayed true to your vision. I really struggled with the whole “if you wanna sell it, show me some skin” thing. I think a couple of directors were fired from the play version for the same reason. They wanted the power of the penis. I can’t be naïve as a producer and say I don’t understand the logic. It’s business, but it also seemed gratuitous. It was never meant to be a video cut on Mr. Skin’s website. It does hurt that the community I was rallying for doesn’t see our film worthy of their festivals, but I do think
society at large will see it and respect what we were trying to say.
MR: Even though this film is fairly heavy – there’s a lot of drama and crying – there’s also a lot of humor, and it’s actually funny. How do you find the right balance between the darkness and the light?
TMH: Story of my life, right? If it wasn’t for my sense of humor, I would have jumped off the friggin’ Hollywood sign decades ago. As Den tells David in the movie, “Son, if there’s one thing I’ve learned in my life, it’s that behind every cloud… there’s another cloud.”
JT: Light and darkness: can there be a balance? “In life, we are constantly moving through positive and negative experiences.” I think I heard a yoga instructor say that once, or was it an evangelist from one of those far-out Christian channels? Anyway, one of the reasons I was so compelled to make Travis’ story come to life was the truth behind those words, no matter who said them. “Surprise, Surprise” told the human condition better than most scripts I’ve read. Great actors help, too.
MR: I’ve watched a lot of gay films over the years and most of them are crap –
terrible plot, excruciatingly painful “actors.” I dread watching the films before an interview because I know it’s 90 minutes of my life that I’ll never get back. But I can honestly say that the acting in “Surprise Surprise” is rather good. So I guess my question is, how do you know when you’ve got a scene that doesn’t suck?
TMH: Remember, “Surprise Surprise” had already been a pretty successful play, so Jerry and I already knew what worked and what didn’t. But most importantly, I’d say, don’t cast by “look.” Hire actors like John and Luke and Deborah and Mary Jo and Jesse and watch the scenes flow like a fine wine into a crystal goblet. We did one master shot when David and his grandmother Winnie first arrive in Den’s home that lasted about 12 minutes. Jerry told us he wanted to try to film it in one long take and we all gamely said okay, let’s go for it. The crew applauded when we were done. It was a major thrill in my life to be on that set and listen to actors of such precision actually saying my words and telling my story, the story Jerry and I set out to tell from the beginning of the dream to make it into a film.
JT: Thank you for saying that. I’m glad you don’t want your 90 minutes back. That means a lot to us. I knew that because of the small budget and, therefore, production time constraints I would need actors with strong theater backgrounds. It may seem like an antiquated notion in these times of quick pace and quicker cuts, but I needed actors that were okay without hearing “cut” after only a few lines of dialogue. In a film with only one location as a backdrop, if the plot is terrible and the actors are excruciating, you will hold the audience’s attention for as long as it takes the opening credits to end. I knew in the first week of editing that the formula worked. Now I hope that people watching the film will want to watch the ending credits as well.
Mikey Rox is an award-winning writer/journalist and the principal of Paper Rox Scissors, a marketing and advertising company in New York City. He can be reached at mikey@paperroxscissors.com. Read the entire interview with Travis Michael Holder and Jerry Turner online at www.outlookcolumbus.com.
