Weetzie Bat’s queer L.A. love-blast, Legendary’s ballroom credentials

March 11, 2020

Weetzie Bat’s queer L.A. love-blast

Filmmaker Justin Kelly has spent his growing body of work exploring the darker fringes of queer life in movies like JT LeRoy and King Cobra. So it was time for a little bit of joy. And there’s nothing quite as joyful as Francesca Lia Block’s classic 1989 YA novel Weetzie Bat. The candy-coated story of a punk-rock girl in Los Angeles named Weetzie Bat, her friends and family, her Secret Agent Lover Man, and the three wishes she’s granted, has been a beacon of glittery literary hope for queer kids for the past 30 years. Years ago there was talk of a Tim Burton version that never materialized, but this time around there’s forward momentum and a cool young cast: Anya Taylor-Joy (The Witch) as Weetzie, Nick Robinson (Love, Simon), Sasha Lane (American Honey), Keiynan Lonsdale (The Flash) and Théodore Pellerin (On Becoming a God in Central Florida). We’re guessing this will be set in the New Wave-iest version of ’80s Los Angeles, just like the book, so if nothing else, we’re probably going to be gagging over the costumes and sets.

Legendary’s ballroom credentials

If you’re like us, you followed the Twitterstorm over the new HBO Max reality competition series Legendary, which will enter the world of ballroom and judge contestants on their voguing skills. The controversy arose due to, among other things, the hiring of The Good Place actor Jameela Jamil – who is queer but not from the world of ballroom – as host. But mostly missing from this conversation has been something just as important: the show’s inclusion of ballroom veterans who aren’t as famous as Jamil but whose names deserve to be centered. So let’s talk about Leiomy Maldonado, the first openly transgender contestant on MTV’s America’s Best Dance Crew, who’s additionally a choreographer for FX’s Pose, and who’ll be a Legendary judge. Let’s also talk about Dashaun Wesley, a Pose, Magic Mike XXL and Hit The Floor dancer who’ll serve as Legendary commentator. And let’s also talk about DJ MikeQ, who’s spent years working in ballroom making music and scored the documentary feature Kiki and the Viceland documentary series My House. We’ll reserve judgement on the final product when we see it, of course, but we still have high hopes for something “truly real.”