Alan Cumming: favourite charity, and 'Any Day Now' interview

Alan Cumming's Favourite Charity
Actor Alan Cumming appeared on today's "Anderson Live" and talked about his favorite charity, Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. The charity mobilizes the unique abilities within the entertainment industry to mitigate the suffering of individuals affected by HIV/AIDS, and increases public awareness and understanding of the disease through the creation and dissemination of educational materials.
Check out what Alan had to say about this organization backstage at "Anderson Live," and to find out more about Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, visit BroadwayCares.org.
Source: Anderson Live

Alan Cumming Has Never Been Better
The story of Any Day Now may take place in the past, but the discrimination against same-sex families it depicts is unfortunately still all too real.

Cumming (right) and Dillahunt prepare for battle.

George Arthur Bloom lived in Brooklyn in the late 1970s, back when it was a rough-and-tumble area. He was inspired by a larger-than-life character everyone seemed to know, Rudy, who developed a fatherly relationship with, as filmmaker Travis Fine puts it, a “kid who was terribly handicapped, both mentally and physically” and whose mother was a drug addict. Bloom turned Rudy’s real-life experience into a screenplay, which almost got filmed several times during the ensuing years (at one point Tommy Lee Jones and Sylvester Stallone were attached to it). Then it went nowhere, Bloom gave up, and it sat in a drawer until his son, an old high school friend of Fine’s, showed the director the script.

The movie that came of it, Any Day Now, which hit theaters this winter and garnered awards on the festival circuit, follows The Good Wife’s Alan Cumming as Rudy, Raising Hope’s Garret Dillahunt as Paul, the closeted attorney who becomes his partner, and Isaac Leyva as Marco, a teen with Down syndrome who’s abandoned by his mother and taken in by the men. They all must fight a biased legal system so the couple can adopt Isaac, a heart-wrenching storyline that will resonate with many of the 2 to 6 million LGBT people who say they’d like to adopt.

“The story of Any Day Now may take place in the past, but the discrimination against same-sex families it depicts is unfortunately still all too real in some parts of our country,” says GLAAD president Herndon Graddick.

It’s real too for kids like Marco. As of 2011 there were 104,236 children in foster care awaiting adoption, many of them considered special-needs children because they are black or Latino, are older than infants, or have some form of mental or physical disability. “What the film’s remarkable performances and eloquent script reveal, though, is how unjust and hurtful to same-sex couples and children that discrimination really is,” Graddick adds.

Cumming, whose performance is riveting and one of his most inspired, talks about making the film.

I found Any Day Now just completely absorbing and really moving. And I notice people just seem to really have a gut reaction to the film. Why do you think it reaches people that way?
I think that we see the story of people who are damaged and devastated by bigotry and prejudice and ignorance. And we understand how wrong that is because we’ve invested in these characters and we want them to be together. And then I think in a larger way, we know that the reason that happened is because that bigotry and that prejudice still exist in our society. And I think we are so moved by it because we know that we are complicit in that because we are all members of that society.

This is a story about many things — about family, the foster care system, and coming out, but at the heart of it, it’s a love story between your free-spirited Rudy and Garret’s buttoned-down, closeted Paul. How did you develop the sort of chemistry that viewers see between you and Garret on-screen?
We just had to fake it, because we didn’t know each other. It was very well-written. and obviously Garret is a really brilliant actor and we luckily felt very comfortable with each other and got on. And I think that’s half of it. Once you feel comfortable with someone you can just dive in. But you’d imagine we’d have lots of time to talk and get comfortable with each other. No, we were practically in bed on the first day.

One of the other parts of the film that we don’t see a lot of — but is so true — is that there’s so much difficulty over same-sex couples trying to adopt. But the reality is there are a ton of children and teenagers, especially with physical or mental disabilities, that will just languish in the system.
Absolutely right. And that to me is the biggest idea—because everyone falls in love with Isaac. Garret says at one point, “I’m just hoping that this child doesn’t slip through the cracks in the system,” and sadly he does.

Tell me about working with Isaac.
Oh, it was great. I loved it. I mean people think…you’re going to make a movie with someone who has a learning disability, what’s that going to mean? I had no idea. But I just went into it…with an open heart. And he was just an absolute darling and so lovely.… He’s got kind of openness to him and…he’s not at all jaded. Everything there’s pure, and it kind of reminded me of what acting should be like. Everything’s really on the surface and completely authentic.

What’s the most critical thing for you to get across with this film?  What do you want people to take away from it?
I want people to…have a real emotional experience and an emotional connection. But really…I want people to go away and think, Wow, look at the effect of prejudice and ignorance and bigotry, and look at how much our society is still engendering and encouraging that.  

Speaking of, you and your husband, Grant, got married earlier this year in New York. What are your thoughts on the recent marriage equality successes?
I think it’s great that we have a president who is very vocal in his support of equality and gay rights. I think the last election is really exciting in that it showed that the country was rejecting all that sort of prejudice and fear-based prejudice. We’re still the second-class citizens. And people still can be fired for being gay and people are gay-bashed.… So, you know, I don’t mean to be ungrateful but I don’t see why I should be so grateful for my rights. I think that’s what we should all remember.
Source (including image, and extended interviews): Advocate

Alan Cumming: interviews and review

Alan Cumming updates Cabaret

Host Alan Cumming poses at the BAFTA Los Angeles 2012 Britannia Awards at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on Wednesday, Nov. 7, 2012, in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP)

 
From Times Union:

Stunning talent, a likable personality and lots of embarrassing but hilarious personal anecdotes were packed into Alan Cumming's cabaret show, Sunday night at Club Helsinki.
Though he's gone on to triumph in television and film, it was a Broadway role — the emcee in "Cabaret" — that made Cumming famous. He offered one selection from that show, "Mein Herr." Otherwise, the material was all quite recent and not apparently extracted from any musicals, except a medley from "Hedwig and the Angry Inch."
So much for my comments after Charles Busch's recent show at the same venue, that cabaret always means nostalgia. The themes of Cumming's songs and stories were utterly now. They included gay sexuality, body modification (plastic surgery and regrettable tattoos), and American consumerism, among other stuff of today's world.
It's too much to say that it all came out as lovely poetry, even if there were some darned funny rhymes along the way, such as those in "Taylor, the Latte Boy," a song Cumming borrowed from Kristin Chenoweth. But even when Cumming was telling elaborate and explicit stories of drunken nights, bad breakups, and rude awakenings to middle age, he wasn't harsh and comically offensive, say like Chris Rock. Maybe along with his Scottish brogue came his gentle and eloquent way with words.
It's another matter entirely to find good songs that cover the same ground, but Cumming certainly did so. Several selections were by his fine accompanist, Lance Horne. And among Cumming's other talents, he can also write words and music. A showstopper was his "Next to Me." A kind of ode of gratitude for his husband, it starts as a ballad and ends with a belt.
Cumming has an impressive vocal technique, with a hearty and masculine forte and a fine controlled pianissimo. He handled long phrases and jumps of register with unexpected ease while his diction — for all those words about modern life — was always crystal clear.
Besides that opening from "Cabaret," the most familiar material in his set came at the end. The first encore was a medley of songs by Katy Perry and Adele, with Lady Gaga's "The Edge of Glory" as a refrain. That was followed by Annie Lenox's "Why?"
Bringing a star like Cumming to the intimate venue in Hudson will be tough to top. It's going to be fun to see what the producers of Helsinki on Broadway can come up with next.

Cabaret review
Alan Cumming
When: 7 p.m. Sunday
Where: Club Helsinki, 405 Columbia St., Hudson
Duration: 70 minutes, no intermission

Source (including photo): Times Union



Alan Cumming, an actor for all ages

Scottish actor Alan Cumming says, in a way, he is aging in reverse. (CBS News)

(CBS News) If you haven't seen Alan Cumming in "The Good Wife," don't worry: You've almost certainly seen the 47-year-old actor in something else at the movies, on stage or on TV. Serena Altschul has a Sunday Profile:

Alan Cumming ia an actor for the ages . . . all ages. Whether he's playing to kids looking for a few laughs, or adults looking for action or drama.
So when Altschul sat down with Cumming, she had a lot of ground to cover, from "Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion" to playing a computer programmer in the James Bond film "GoldenEye." ("It was such fun - Boris Grishenko"). Or "Josie and the Pussycats," in which both Cumming and Altschul appeared.
When Cumming is asked a simple question, you never know where it'll lead.
"Your body of work," Altschul began, "when we look at all of the - "
"Are we talkin' about my body already, Serena?"
"We had to get there eventually, didn't we?" she laughed.
Every week on TV, Cumming plays Eli Gold, a bare-knuckles political consultant on "The Good Wife."
"What's it like for you getting into his character - he's explosive, he gets angry, he really gets in there. Is that fun to play him?" Altschul asked.
"I like him," Cumming replied. "The good thing about him is he's very repressed. I love having a laugh with the crew between takes, and then when I do him I'm very . . . a lot of eyebrows!"

But Cumming always comes back to the theater - this year, in a provocative one-man production of "Macbeth." After all, it was theater that first made him a star in this country.
He played the Master of Ceremonies in "Cabaret" in 1998. "It was an amazing thing for me. It kind of completely changed my life," he said.
Cumming and Altschul sat down in the same building where he performed in "Cabaret." In the late '70s it was the notorious club "Studio 54." It has since become a theater.
"Cabaret" became a nationwide sensation, and Cumming won a Tony Award. "You know what I thought was amazing? I would go to somewhere in the middle of America - this is before I'd done films that they knew - and I'd go into the cafe and they'd say, 'You're the "Cabaret" guy.' And I'd say, 'Oh, did you see the show?' And they're like, 'No.'"
Cumming was raised far from the big city lights, in a smallish town in Scotland.
"It wasn't a town," he said. "I grew up in a country estate."
"Country estate" sounds like the setting for an idyllic Scottish childhood. It wasn't.
"I have so few memories of my childhood," he said. "It's really weird, it's because I didn't want to make them memories because it was so painful."
Cumming says he and his big brother were terrorized by their father, who tended the forest at the estate.
"My childhood wasn't happy. My dad's very, you know, troubled person and violent and stuff like that. And I think in a funny sort of way I had a very - it sounds weird, but a very balanced childhood. I had my father telling me I was worthless and my mum told me I was precious.
"And so, you know, I didn't believe either of 'em!"
Read more at CBS News (includes extensive picture gallery)



Alan Cumming -- (TCM Podcast) December 2012

Actor Alan Cumming is the guest for the first TCM Podcast for December, 2012, discussing his love of classic films, working with legendary director Stanley Kubrick and Alan's new film Any Day Now opening Friday, December 14th.

Source: Turner Classic Movies

Alan Cumming: 'Any Day Now' interview, CBS appearnace

In the 1970s, a gay couple fights a biased legal system to keep custody of the abandoned mentally handicapped teenager that comes to live under their roof. Video courtesy of Music Box Films.

When Alan Cumming first read the script for "Any Day Now," some lines gave him pause. "I thought, 'Ew, that's a little overly sentimental,' " he says. "Do I really need to say that?"

Set in 1970s Los Angeles, the film concerns a gay couple: Rudy, played by Mr. Cumming, is a drag-queen cabaret performer; Paul (Garret Dillahunt) is an assistant DA. They keep their relationship closeted as they fight to adopt a boy (Isaac Levya) with Down syndrome after his drug-addicted mother goes to jail.

Getty Images

Actor and singer Alan Cumming

The Scottish actor, 47, is best known for his stage work—he won a Tony for "Cabaret"—but also for film and TV roles (he's currently on "The Good Wife").
One of the most striking moments in "Any Day Now," which won several audience awards at film festivals, is when Mr. Cumming sings Bob Dylan's gospel-influenced "I Shall Be Released." The performance was so emotional that the filmmakers decided to tone it down in editing. Audiences tear up anyway.
The film will be released in 18 cities on Dec. 14. Edited from an interview.
Did you worry the script was too melodramatic?
After the first reading, I was like, "Oh, that can be a little schlocky or tacky." And even when we were on the set, I'd say, "Do I really need to say that?" And Travis [Fine, the director] would say "No." Now, some of the emotional parts are heartbreaking, but not overly manipulative. So, it was always a worry—and rightly so—at the start. I realized that what you do in early drafts is you overwrite.
So you'd suggest revisions?
Yes. I felt when we got to the script we started to shoot with, it was in good shape, but then you've got to see it in the room with other people and it feels different. Garret and I were both so impressed with Travis saying, "You know what? Don't say that." He was working too hard, milking a scene too much. The whole thing was a real lesson in economy.
Were you concerned Rudy was too flamboyant?
Yes, I was worried about how I made the character more effeminate-y, that's not a word. It's always a worry when you do something clichéd and perhaps not the most positive representation of a gay person. Yet also, there was this toughness to [Rudy]. Even though he was a drag queen, I thought he is tough. Drag queens are some of the toughest people I've ever met. Because if you're a man and you're going to parade around in high heels and a wig, you'd better be.
You look very skinny in this film. Did you lose weight for the role?
I had just decided to stop drinking for a while. Then I realized in all the pictures I looked at that everybody was much skinnier in the 1970s, because probably they all smoked and there wasn't such a proliferation of processed foods. So, I was losing weight and I thought that the not-drinking would kind of help with that. And I went to the gym a lot. [After shooting was complete] I took my mother on the Queen Mary across the Atlantic. And I realized there was no way I could spend a week at sea with my mother without alcohol involved.
Tell me about when you sing "I Shall Be Released."
It's an amazing thing to be able to do as a performer, to sing a beautiful song like that, but also to imbue it with such emotion and pain. That communicates so much to the audience without actually being part of the story. Of course, it was like, "No pressure!" I was feeling very vulnerable singing in that way. The really scary thing was that I didn't know the song, so [Mr. Fine] sent me a video from YouTube of Bette Midler singing it in a bathhouse with Barry Manilow playing the piano for her. It was all about the level of how much she would lose it. [After editing], you see me trying so hard to keep it together. That's more moving than someone losing it.
It sounded sort of Elton John-ish.
I know what you mean. But I didn't mean to. Unless I am impersonating someone, I just kind of do it. That's interesting. It's the right period. I heard the Jerry Garcia one, too. I heard a few, and was like, I can't deal with this. When it's Bob Dylan, Jerry Garcia and Bette Midler—and then you have to actually do it in a way that's you and in character and all that—so I just stopped. I made sure I knew the vague tune. When the day came to do it, I wanted it to be heartfelt and raw and kind of spontaneous.
Had you ever worked with an actor with Down syndrome before?
No. It was another one of these things where I thought, I have no idea what this will mean to the day-to-day work. I had no idea what type of relationship I would have with him. The first day I met him, he was excited because he had seen "Spy Kids." We chatted, and he told me about his favorite film, which was "High School Musical." He sang this song in its entirety just looking in my eyes, and it was just amazing. I just fell in love with him that afternoon.
Source (including video and photo): Wall Street Journal 

Alan Cummings to appear on CBS SUNDAY MORNING (Dec 2)
Actor-writer-director Alan Cumming has few memories of his childhood – the result of a troubled household, he tells Serena Altschul in a wide-ranging interview to be broadcast on CBS SUNDAY MORNING WITH Charles Osgood.

His father was violent, while his mother overly praised him, and so as he grows older he feels like he’s recapturing his past with a newfound playfulness, he tells Altschul.

“I think, in a funny sort of way, I had to grow up,” he says. “I had my life backwards, in a way. I mean, I think a lot of people have this kind of quality. And as they grow older it gets more muted, and with me, it’s kind of the opposite way.”

Cumming, a star on the hit CBS series THE GOOD WIFE, tells Altschul that because of his father’s behavior, he has few memories of growing up in Scotland. “It’s really weird,” he says. “It’s because I didn’t want to make them memories because it was so painful.” Cumming adds, “Well, I had my father telling me I was worthless and my mom told me I was precious. And so, you know, I didn’t believe either of them.”

Theatre classes gave him a way out, he says. He’s parlayed that early experience into a career that spans Broadway, TV and theatrical films. He’s also been open about his life, he tells Altschul. Cumming is now married to Grant Shaffer, a graphic artist.

He says when people think of him they associate an easiness and openness, someone unafraid to talk frankly about his life. “I think that people connect to that and I think they like me for that,” he says. “It’s been a good thing for me to be as open as I have been – and to be out in that way.”
Altschul's interview with Cumming will be broadcast Dec. 2, 2012 on CBS SUNDAY MORNING (9:00 AM, ET) on the CBS Television Network. Rand Morrison is the executive producer.

Source: BroadwayWorld

Alan Cumming: 'Captures' web show, 'Any Day Now' interview panel and advance screening offer

Web show “Captures” actor Alan Cumming and fashion photog Sebastian Kim
A new web series takes you “behind the images” with interviews with famous shooters: Capture is a fresh and informative look at the art of photography, its producers say.
The latest episode of the show on the YouTube Reserve Channel features fashion photographer Sebastian Kimm, and actor, director, and photographer Alan Cumming.
In each episode, Reserve Channel says, “celebrity lensman Mark Seliger invites a fellow photographer and celebrity photography-buff into his NYC studio to share the story behind their images and discuss their common passion.”
The full episode is below, courtesy of Reserve Channel
Published on Nov 15, 2012 by reservechannel 
Capture's Mark Seliger sits down with actor, director, and photographer, Alan Cumming and renowned fashion photographer, Sebastian Kim. No stone is left unturned as they discuss everything from nudity and Woody Allen to Instagram and George Clooney.
Directed by Barney Miller and produced by Cap Gun Collective.

Capture
A fresh and informative look at the art of photography and the stories behind the images. In each episode, renowned celebrity lensman Mark Seliger invites a fellow photographer and celebrity photography-buff into his NYC studio to share the story behind their images and discuss their common passion.

Source: Newsline

Napa Film Fest - The Actors: Alan Cumming, Garret Dillahunt, Jeff Grace, Madeline Zima, Vanessa Ray
Alan Cumming, Jeff Grace, Madeline Zima, Vanessa Ray and Garret Dillahunt, moderated by Pamela McClintock Senior Film Writer at Hollywood Reporter

Source: YouTube 

Advanced screening of Any Day Now on 5 December
The screening is open to everyone ($30 non-members, $20 members) and includes an open bar and plenty of time to socialize. Click here to purchase tickets and learn more about Out Professionals.
Source: Passport Magazine 

Alan Cumming

 

Alan Cumming fights for the child in 'Any Day Now' Trailer
The trailer opens with a gender-bending Alan Cumming meeting a guy at a cabaret, but the frivolity appears to end there. After the pair get together with his closeted lawyer partner, Cumming's Rudy befriends a developmentally disabled adolescent who is being neglected by his mother. The story goes from there in what turns out to be a fight for civil rights and the welfare of a child.
Director Travis Fine's Any Day Now won Audience Awards at the Chicago, Provincetown, Tribeca and Woodstock film festivals in addition to other wins in Seattle and Outfest.
Official Log-line:

Inspired by a true story and touching on legal and social issues that are more relevant now than ever, Any Day Now tells a story of love, acceptance, and creating your own family. In the late 1970s, when Marco (Isaac Leyva), a teenager with down syndrome who’s been abandoned by his mother, is taken in by committed couple Rudy (Alan Cumming) and Paul (Garret Dillahunt), he finds in them the family he's never had. However, when their unconventional living arrangement is discovered by the authorities, Rudy and Paul must fight a biased legal system to adopt the child they have come to love as their own.

Music Box Films will release Any Day Now in theatres December 14th.

Read More at: Movieline 

Alan Cumming

'Any Day Now' theatrical poster unveiled
The Dec. 14 release, a dramedy based on a true story, is set in 1979 Los Angeles and revolves around a gay couple who wish to adopt a child with special needs.
The Hollywood Reporter is pleased to exclusively début the first theatrical poster for Travis Fine's Any Day Now, which Music Box Films -- the small distributor best known for handling the American release of the Swedish Girl with the Dragon Tattoo films -- will put into limited release on Dec. 14 and then push for Golden Globe nominations in the musical/comedy categories.

The film, a dramedy based on a true story, is set in 1979 Los Angeles. It revolves around a gay couple -- one member of which is flamboyant and comfortable in his skin (Tony winner and two-time Emmy nominee Alan Cumming of The Good Wife) and the other whom is still semi-closeted and not (Garret Dillahunt of Raising Hope) -- who wish to adopt a boy with Down Syndrome (newcomer Isaac Leyva) who has been abandoned by his drug-addicted mother.
The film premièred back in April at the Tribeca Film Festival, where it won the audience award. It subsequently picked up other audience awards at the Provincetown, Woodstock, and LA Outfest fests. Cumming's performance has attracted especially strong notices.
Source (including image): The Hollywood Reporter

Alan Cumming film wins CIFF award
The film Any Day Now, starring Alan Cumming and Garret Dillahunt, was one of the winners of the Chicago International Film Festival's Audience Choice Award for Best Narrative Feature. Any Day Now's plot revolves around an abandoned mentally handicapped teenager who a gay couple—a drag performer (Cumming) and a closeted attorney (Dillahunt)—take in. However, once the unconventional living arrangement is discovered by authorities, the men must fight a biased legal system to adopt the child.
The other winner in the narrative department was Quartet, directed by Dustin Hoffman [starring Billy Connolly].
The Central Park Five was the documentary winner. The film looks at the five Black and Latino teenagers who were arrested in 1989 and later convicted of raping a white woman in New York City's Central Park. Each spent between six and 13 years in prison before the actual criminal's confession led to their exonerations.
The festival ran Oct. 11-25.
Source: Windy City Media Group

Alan Cumming: Making A Difference award, BAFTA Britannia host, 'Beautiful' song vid

Alan Cumming Receives the Making a Difference Award

Published on Oct 19, 2012 by MattShepardFDN

Judy Shepard presents Alan Cumming with the Making A Difference Award from the Matthew Shepard Foundation at the 11th Annual Bear to Make a Difference Gala and Celebrity Teddy Bear Auction.


The Matthew Shepard Foundation was founded by Dennis and Judy Shepard in memory of their 21-year old son, Matthew, who was murdered in an anti-gay hate crime in Wyoming in October 1998.
To learn more about the Matthew Shepard Foundation and their work, please visit http://www.MatthewShepard.org and http://www.Matthew'sPlace.com.

Source: YouTube

Alan Cumming to host BAFTA's Britannia Awards
Scottish actor Alan Cumming is to return for a fourth time as host of the 2012 Britannia Awards in Beverly Hills, Calif., organizers announced.
Presented by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts Los Angeles, the event is to take place Nov. 7 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.
"I'm so happy to be back hosting my fourth Britannia Awards," Cumming said in a statement. "It's 15 years since I first came to Hollywood and what better way to commemorate that than to be hosting a celebration of the best of British and Tinseltown. I'm excited to see old friends and raise a few glasses to the best in our business -- and be a bit mischievous too of course."
"We're so pleased that we were able to secure Alan to host this year's awards. We owe thanks to the producers of 'The Good Wife' who were kind enough to rearrange their production schedule to allow for Alan to be with us," said Britannia Chairman Nigel Lythgoe, referring to Cumming's television legal drama, which shoots in New York. "We're grateful that we can do justice to the extraordinary caliber of talent represented in this year's honorees with our esteemed host and presenters."
Steven Spielberg, Harrison Ford and Josh Gad will be among those presenting awards at this year's show.
The Britannia Awards are to be broadcast Nov. 11 on BBC America.

Read more: Entertainment News 

Peppard: See Alan Cumming’s *&%# Beautiful Two by Two encore
With his semi-regular appearance at Dallas’ Two by Two for AIDS and Art, Scottish singer-actor-director Alan Cumming gives more entertainment per pound than anyone since Judy Garland. Appearing as Eli Gold on the hit show The Good Wife, Cumming is a hot commodity. His act is not for the squeamish who mind jokes about vibrators. “That’s right, I said vibrator,” he told the Saturday night Two by Two crowd at the home of Cindy and Howard Rachofsky.
And his encore song, “Beautiful” did include one really profane word—repeated 28 times in less than two minutes. If you think that word might offend, don’t watch the attached video.

Source: Dallas News

Any Day Now interview
The Huffington Post has an interview with Alan about Any Day Now here

Alan Cumming: 'Any Day Now' interviews

Alan Cumming Talks 'Any Day Now' in the Hamptons

Alan Cumming chats with Anglophenia's Tom Brook about his new film Any Day Now, a picture which he describes as a “gay Down’s Syndrome weepie.”

   
Source: Anglophenia 

Hamptons International Film Festival: Alan Cumming in attendance

Alan Cumming, a Scottish actor who tends to change accents, personas and hairstyles as often as a teenager, spoke before a live audience at Sag Harbor's Bay Street Theater on Saturday. His new film, "Any Day Now," about a drag queen trying to adopt a boy with Down syndrome, screens Sunday at 1 p.m. at the UA East Hampton.

Wearing black boots, houndstooth pants, a motorcycle jacket and a Hamptons film festival T-shirt that cheekily inserted "adult" into the title, the actor, 47, spoke to Time Out film critic Joshua Rothkopf about his eclectic career. Here are edited excerpts of the conversation.

Is that part of the way you develop characters, finding a voice?

It's rare that I use my own voice. So the accent of any character is much bigger. In America, you just speak with your own voice. American movie stars tend to be the same all the time. We like to see them again and again. If you're from somewhere else, you have a bigger opportunity to play other characters.

In your new film, "Any Day Now," your character is born in Queens, and the guy has a real honk. What about that role attracted you?

It's a story that I felt very passionate about as a human being and as an activist, to be in a story about same-sex adoption and just about being gay in general. I wanted to make him fight against what might be the archetypal idea of a gay man in the '70s that works as a drag queen. So I gave him a swagger. That's also an arsenal that he uses to get through life.

I see a thread through your films of the political and the personal. In the role of the MC in "Cabaret," at the end he removes his outfit to reveal Holocaust pajamas and a gold star and pink triangle. Was that your idea?

Yes, actually. When we did it first in London, I was playing Hamlet. And Sam Mendes asked me to do the MC and I said, "Ugh! I don't do musicals!" But he asked me again. When we did it in London, we also had a red circle for communist or socialist, anything vaguely lefty. But when we did it in New York, nobody understood what it was. Isn't that awful?

You met Jennifer Jason Leigh on that play. You created a real bond with her and the two of you did "The Anniversary Party."

It was with [the independent studio] New Line, sadly no longer with us. My favorite thing about that -- we went to Fox 2000 [another defunct indie], and showed it, and the man there cried and said, "We love this film, we love this film." And then they called me and said, "We'll pay for it if you make it a happy ending." They actually do say that. Isn't that shocking?

What was it like working with Kubrick [on "Eyes Wide Shut"]?

I loved Stanley, I adored him, and we had such a laugh. Stanley, his reputation was that he was this angry man, and the set was really scary, and you'd do thousands and thousands of takes. And we did do thousands and thousands of takes, but I always knew why we were doing it. He was hilarious and fun, and we had big chats and we kept in touch afterward.

I'd auditioned for it many times, but never met Stanley. And there they were: Stanley Kubrick and Tom Cruise. And I said, "Hi, Stanley, I'm Alan." And he looked at me, all angry: "You're not American." I said, "I know, Stanley, I'm Scottish." He said, "You were American on the tape." I said, "That's because I'm an actor, Stanley." (Does the zigzag snap) And I could tell he just loved it.

You don't seem to take celebrity all that seriously.

It's such a crazy thing, it's so stupid and weird. If you take it too seriously, that way madness lies. What it means is that people are interested in you, which is flattering, but they're also interested in really stupid people as well. So it could go either way.
Source: Newsday

Alan Cumming: 'Any Day Now' at Hamptons Film Festival, and album narration for Nicholas Phan

• Any Day Now - review

Director-writer Travis Fine’s drama is set in the late-1970s in Los Angeles’ gay community, a romance between a lip-synching drag-club performer (Alan Cumming) who really wants to be a proper singer, and a closeted assistant district attorney (Garret Dillahunt). The two are drawn together to care for an abandoned teen with Down syndrome (newcomer Isaac Leyva), and pose as cousins to skirt systemic anti-gay prejudice. Strong performances from all three leads rise above this story’s preachy and melodramatic elements,  while songs performed by Cumming’s character, including the title track, serve as plot signposts.
Source: The Province  

On Friday, Alan tweeted a link to his blog:

Here I am on TV this morning, talking about STDs and penises and all sorts

The tweet included a link to Alan's latest blog update:

I am in the Hamptons, for the film festival. Any Day Now plays here on Sunday and Monday. Tomorrow I do a Q&A at the Bay Street Theatre in Sag Harbor, and on Sunday I host the Golden Starfish Awards. Earlier today, in fact, very earlier today, I went on Good Day New York to chat about the movie and the festival, penises and STDs...

Watch the video clip at Alan's blog
Source: Twitter

• Tenor Nicholas Phan's New Album STILL FALLS THE RAIN Features Narration by Alan Cumming

Named one of NPR’s Favorite Artists of 2011, American tenor Nicholas Phan returns to the music of Benjamin Britten (1913-1976) on a new album available October 9 from Avie. On the eve of the Britten centenary, Still Falls the Rain showcases both the great British composer’s remarkable gift as a collaborator and Phan’s increasingly lauded interpretative powers. The album features The Heart of the Matter, a song cycle for tenor, narrator, horn, and piano, performed here by renowned actor Alan Cumming, as well as the principal hornist of the Philadelphia Orchestra, Jennifer Montone, and pianist Myra Huang, Phan’s long-time recital partner. -
Read more at Broadway World

Alan tweeted about the album on Thursday:

Look! My first classical album! Actually it's by Nicholas Phan aka @grecchinois and I just spout some Edith Sitwell.

 

Source: Twitter 

Alan Cumming: honour at film festival

Napa festival to fete Cumming
The Napa Valley Film Festival will honor thesps Alan Cumming, Adam Driver, James Marsden and Imogen Poots at a gala tribute evening. The fest, which takes place across four cities in California's Napa Valley wine region, also announced the complete program for the Nov. 7-11 event.

In addition to previously announced pics such as the world première of wine-themed docu "Somm," "Silver Linings Playbook," "Quartet" and "The Sapphires," narrative selections include "Between Us," directed by Dan Mirvish and starring Julia Stiles and Tay Diggs, mushroom-themed romance "Now Forager" and docus "The Cardboard Bernini," "Rising From Ashes" and Freida Mock's "G-Dog."

Tributes will be presented by "Access Hollywood's" Billy Bush at a Nov. 9 gala. Cumming stars in narrative feature selection Any Day Now, while Poots stars in fest screener "A Late Quartet." 

Source: Variety

Also reported by Start Insider

Alan Cumming: 'Any Day Now' at Hamptons IFF

Any Day Now 
Alan Cumming tweeted the following announcement regarding his movie, Any Day Now, which will be shown at the Hamptons International Film Festival next month:

“@AnyDayNowMovie: Very excited to announce that Hamptons is the first fall film festival stop prior to our release. http://fb.me/28bblznui ”

Source: @Alancumming (Twitter)

Music Box Films Takes Any Day Now 
Music Box Films has acquired all US and Canadian rights to Any Day Now, directed by Travis Fine, written by Fine and George Arthur Bloom, and starring Alan Cumming and Garret Dillahunt. The film will be released theatrically in North America beginning this December.  

Any Day Now has been well-received on the festival circuit, winning audience awards for Best Picture at each of the four festivals it has entered, including the Tribeca Film Festival, Outfest and the Seattle International Film Festival. Additionally, Cumming won the Best Actor Awards at Outfest and the Seattle International Film Festival. 

Inspired by a true story, Any Day Now tells of a gay couple in the 1970s that takes in an abandoned mentally handicapped teenager and becomes the family he's never had. When their unconventional living arrangement is discovered by the authorities, the men must fight a biased legal system to adopt the child they have come to love as their own. While touching on legal and social issues that are more relevant now than ever, Any Day Now also addresses universal themes of love and acceptance. 

The deal was negotiated by Preferred Content's Christine D'Souza and Kevin Iwashina with Music Box Films' William Schopf and Ed Arentz. 

"This is a story that has waited a long time to be told. With Travis Fine at the helm, the film is as powerful as it is memorable and it features outstanding lead performances headlined by the brilliant Alan Cumming and Garret Dillahunt," says Arentz. "We couldn't be more proud or excited to release this motion picture." 

Bill and Ed have an exceptional reputation for bringing high quality, thought-provoking cinema to moviegoers. I'm thrilled to be working with them and the entire team at Music Box Films to share 'Any Day Now' with audiences across North America, adds Travis Fine. 

Music Box Films plans a late 2012 release to highlight Cumming's performance for year-end awards consideration. 

Source: Coming Soon 

Alan Cumming: Macbeth reviews and audiobook, and Any Day Now awards

Macbeth

On 16.6.12 the NatTheatreScotland ‏@NTSonline tweeted:

‪#NTSMacbeth Social media call users meet @alancumming @ Tramway http://instagr.am/p/L0K0zVmo8y/

Source (with photo): Twitter  

Real Radio also tweeted:

Hear @Alancumming talking about @NTSonline production of ‪#Macbeth on our bulletins throughout the day. Looks good!

 Source (with photo): Twitter

Macbeth reviews are coming in:
Edinburgh Guide 

The Guardian    


The audiobook version of Macbeth is now available to pre-oder - see here for details

 

Any Day Now

Any Day Now captured the Golden Space Needle audience award for best feature and its star Alan Cumming was named best actor Sunday at the Seattle International Film Festival.

Any Day Now, directed by Travis Fine, is set in the late 1970s. When a mentally handicapped teenager is abandoned, a gay couple takes him in and becomes the family he's never had.

Read more at Yahoo!Entertainment

 

 

 

Alan Cumming to star in Travis Fine's film

Alan Cumming, Garret Dillahunt, Isaac Leyvastar and Frances Fisher will be starring in the period drama Any Day Now, written, produced and directed by Travis Fine.

The film completed principal photography in Los Angeles and is in post-production. Produced by Kristine Hostetter Fine and Chip Hourihan, the film is produced by Anne O'Shea and Maxine Makover.

Set in the 1970s and inspired by a true story, the film chronicles a gay couple who take in a teenage boy with Down Syndrome who has been abandoned by his drug addicted mother. As the teen discovers the strong bonds of family for the first time in his life, disapproving authorities step in to tear the boy from the stable environment he has known. As the gay men fight to adopt this special needs child, they wage a battle against a system stacked against them.

“I'm a fan of the gritty, character-driven dramas that were made during the 1970's. Any Day Now offers me an opportunity to revisit that time period cinematically, address social issues that are just as relevant today as they were 35 years ago and explore characters who discover love in the most unlikely of places,” said Fine.

Cumming plays Rudy Donatello, a drag performer who makes the decision to take the abandoned child into his life. Dillahunt portrays Paul Fleiger, a Deputy District Attorney, who risks his career to fight for the men he loves. Fisher plays a family court judge who is tasked with rendering a decision in the adoption case. Any Day Now introduces Isaac Levya, an actor with Down Syndrome, who makes a debut as Marco, a boy abandoned by his mother only to be taken in by two strangers who provide a safe, stable and loving home.

Set in 1979 and based upon a script written over 30 years ago by George Arthur Bloom, the film explores a wide canvas of issues that are l relevant today from caring for special needs children to gay adoption and equality.

The film is executive-produced by Wayne Smith & Dan Skahan, a gay couple who have fostered more than 30 children and spent ten years fighting the Florida ban on gay adoption.

Source: Business of Cinema

Same story, more info at Hollywood News