Among the various post-strike coverage, I found an AP article that looks at US networks adapting UK series. While I was familiar with most of what the article had to say, it certainly got my attention when it asked, "So can an Americanized version of Torchwood be far behind?" Of course, that got me thinking -- who would I cast in an Americanized Torchwood?

I guess I should add a disclaimer that I'm playing this exercise from a fantasy world where a network that adapts Torchwood for US audiences would be run by it-getters who realize their audience is a queer and queer-friendly one and will, hopefully, cast for that audience.

Captain Jack Harkness

Captain Jack is the toughest character to re-cast. That's partly because it's hard to imagine anyone but John Barrowman in the role, but also because it's a particularly demanding one. Jack is smart, dashing, charming ... oh, yeah, and irresistibly hot to boot. Jack can wear his arrogance on his sleeve and make it seem cute, but he also bears the burden of trying to guide humanity through the key period that is the 21st century.

Cheyenne Jackson comes to mind as one performer who can handle all those qualities. Judging from what I've seen of him from clips of Xanadu: On Broadway and on The [title of show] Show he can certainly play Jack's humorous side and I've been thinking Jackson is due to be cast in an action hero role. Besides, considering how breakthrough the character is, I like the idea of having another openly gay actor in the role.

Another out actor that comes to mind for the role is Robert Gant who also can deliver a mix of looks, charm and humor. I haven't seen Gant in any action-oriented roles, so his upcoming spy movie Kiss Me Deadly will give us a clue. However, as much as I like the idea of having an openly gay actor in the role, I can also see Nathan Fillion playing Captain Jack with a lot of the same qualities he brought to Firefly as Captain Mal Reynolds.

Of course, the biggest problem with adapting Torchwood -- its connection to the Doctor Who franchise -- is condensed in the character of Jack Harkness. In this Torchwood is Jack still a reformed time-traveling con artist? Is there another Doctor out there in the universe of the Americanized Torchwood?

Gwen Cooper

Gwen is supposed to be an everywoman character who the audience can identify with -- fallible and not an expert like the rest of the Torchwood team. She's supposed to bring a perspective that doesn't come easy to the rest of the crew, a quality not as tangible as Tosh's computer expertise or Owen's medical training. Who can make Gwen's failings a relatable quality rather than a reason for irritation? Dipping once again into the pool of actors from Joss Whedon shows, I can imagine Amber Benson adding a touch of vulnerability that'd get us wanting to see her learn from her mistakes and from being around Captain Jack.

On the other hand, instead of tempering Gwen's tendency to screw up with vulnerability, I could see Katie Finneran playing to Gwen's willful side. We saw her play an FBI agent on The Inside and on Wonderfalls she made her character's failings as part of her complexity. Similarly, I can see Clea DuVall bring a dynamic where Gwen's mistakes make her seem less incompetent and more like someone still in training. (Work with me, here, I'm trying to like Gwen.)

GLASS (Gay Adolescent Social Services) is a Los Angeles based non-profit organization that delivers social and health care services to self-identified Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender (GLBT) and HIV/AIDS impacted youth.

This past Sunday in LA, 450 people attended the GLASS "Home for the Holidays" brunch. Among the guests were a veritable who's who of out gay and lesbian celebrities. Wilson Cruz, T.R. Knight, Alec Mapa, Rex Lee, Robert Gant, Peter Paige and a host of others all showed up to lend support to GLASS and help raise funds for the 19 foster group homes that GLASS runs for at-risk LGBT youth. The pics here are all courtesy QueerDiva and photographer Tony Dimaio.

Nelson Melegrito (QueerDIVA), T.R. Knight & Marc Cherry

JD Disalvatore, Wilson Cruz & Charlie David (more after the break!)

• Happy birthday to talented, articulate, courageous, and inhumanly hunky out actor Robert Gant, who turns 39 today. Hmm ... when you're a guy who most gay men (and straight women) would kill to have jump out of their birthday cake, who do you have jump out of yours? The bulldog?
• We'd like to think that this was due in part to our relentless coverage (although rave reviews by two dark horse publications called "The New York Times" and "Variety" may have helped): Xanadu on Broadway broke the Helen Hayes Theatre's box-office record.
• The evil-kiddie thriller Joshua, starring Sam Rockwell and the fabulous Vera Farmiga (from The Depaahted and Breaking and Entering), has a gay supporting character, played by Dallas Roberts. But critic Ed Gonzalez thinks the thriller is driven by a hatred of "women, queers, and religion," and feels that Joshua's dandied, pint-sized sociopath is one left best in the celluloid closet.
  
• Armistead Maupin trash-talks John Travolta and Scientology, calling it the "biggest ex-gay movement in America."
• Freddy Rodriguez (Six Feet Under, Grindhouse) to join Ugly Betty as the new love interest I mentioned in my column. Yay! His character's name is Gio. Ileana Douglas also joins the cast as a new editor at Mode. You may remember the fabulous Douglas from her turns in Ghost World, Six Feet Under, and Cape Fear.
• In honor of Friday the 13th, here's a short film from my favorite attention-deficit, seemingly transgender, part-mannequin former model, Shaye St. John. WARNING: Shaye's mind-bending work is not for everyone and has been known to turn sane men into drooling, empty husks.
• Make sure to check my guest column for some other TV news and a bit about gay cross-country competitive racers (seriously) -- and have the BEST.GAY.WEEKEND.EVER!

Espionage and intrigue are coming soon to here! with their upcoming movie Kiss Me Deadly: A Jacob Keane Assignment. It's the first installment in a new film series starring Robert Gant as a sexy, sexy retired spy (okay, the press release doesn't specify the "sexy" part but with Gant in the lead, I'd say it's a safe bet) who is drawn back into his old life by a woman from his past (played by Shannen Doherty). Kiss Me Deadly also stars Ian Roberts, the former Australian Rugby player-turned actor who came out in 1995, as well as John Rhys-Davies.

Considering how James Bond has made audiences associate international espionage with sex and style, a gay spy story seems a natural fit for here!'s film series. Grant's character, the eponymous Jacob Keane, has a loving boyfriend, which probably means the film won't have a series of "Keane guys" for Jacob to seduce in every film. I guess I'll have to be happy just eying Gant ... and he's plenty of eye candy already.

Kiss Me Deadly will be available to here! subscribers in November. In the meantime enjoy a few more pix of Mister Gant:

Last night marked the close of the 19th year of NewFest, the New York City LGBT film festival, after 11 crazed days that offered nearly 250 films from 33 countries, a series of panels, and a few swinging parties.

The fest closed with Save Me, a film starring out actors Chad Allen and Robert Gant as men who live in an "ex-gay ministry" run by a well-meaning Christian woman, played by Judith Light. The film was definitely one of the highlights of the festival both due to its star wattage and the message of understanding that it offered to both gay and Christian audiences. And the post-screening Q&A with Gant, Light, and the film's director and producers offered even more insights, including the great news that the film will be released in October through Roadside Attractions. A bona fide gay film in theatres? Somebody pinch me.

During the Q&A, Light and Gant spoke about their involvement in the project (both are also producers), which manages to discuss the issue of "gay reparative therapy" without demonizing either the men who seek this kind of help or the individuals that claim that they can provide it.

When asked about his own sexuality and career, Gant had this to say:

"I came to terms during Queer as Folk that as much as much as I want to make a great living, and following along with the mindset in Hollywood that you can't be gay and make a good living, I decided that following the truth and being who I authentically am was vastly more important in the balance of things. And I've experienced that that has been proven true and of great benefit to me, and i wouldn't have made any other choice in the world. As a result I've realized what it means, and that's that you have to participate in that process in a different way -- you have to create things to help create your career, your future. And you can do that -- just, you have to take these things one step at a time. And I'm really grateful to have the opportunities and the forum to live my truth and be openly gay -- and who knows what's going to come from it. All i know is that I'm happy and that I wouldn't choose to do it differently at all."