NEW YORK - The film “Wonder Boys” and the TV show “Queer as Folk” are among the nominees for the 12th Annual GLAAD Media Awards.
The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation each year honors people and projects in the media and entertainment for their fair, accurate and inclusive representations of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered community.
GLAAD plans to give special recognition to the CBS reality show “Survivor,” which featured openly gay corporate trainer Richard Hatch, and NBC’s “The West Wing,” which regularly addresses discrimination issues against gays and lesbians.
The awards will take place in four ceremonies to be held in New York on April 16; in Los Angeles on April 28; in Washington, D.C., on May 12; and in San Francisco on June 9.
Blair Witch prequel for 2002
LOS ANGELES - There will be a third “Blair Witch” movie, despite lackluster interest in last fall’s second installment of the horror franchise.
Artisan Entertainment plans to go ahead with a “Blair Witch” prequel, said Amir Malin, who heads the independent distributor that acquired “The Blair Witch Project” at the Sundance Film Festival in 1999.
After the movie became a sensation that summer, Artisan announced it would release a sequel in late 2000 and the prequel by fall of 2001. In a phone interview, Malin said Artisan now plans to take more time on the third movie, with hopes to get it in theaters by 2002.
The prequel will tell the early history of the witch legend at the center of the previous two movies.
“Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2” took a drubbing from critics last October and grossed just $26 million domestically, less than a fifth of the business the first movie did.
Artisan still will turn a good profit on the sequel, but the returns might have been greater if the movie had not been such a rush job, Malin said.
“We set a target to have it in theaters for Halloween of 2000,” Malin said. “Had we had more time with the film, it would have been more successful.”
‘Will & Grace’ star named Fun Fearless Female of 2001
NEW YORK - Cosmopolitan magazine has named Debra Messing its Fun Fearless Female of 2001. Messing, star of NBC’s “Will & Grace,” is on the cover of the February issue, now on newsstands.
Cosmo editors chose the 32-year-old for her “professional and romantic résumé,” which includes her Emmy nomination for best actress in a comedy and her recent marriage to actor Daniel Zelman.
Rounding out the magazine’s list of women “who wowed us with their awesome achievements”: actress Bo Derek, author Helen Fielding (“Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason”), singer Heather Headley (Broadway’s “Aida”), MTV reporter Ananda Lewis, actress Drea de Matteo (HBO’s “The Sopranos”), “House of Style” host Molly Sims, actress Julia Stiles (“Save the Last Dance”), singer Vitamin C and “Survivor” Kelly Wiglesworth.
The winners will be honored at a luncheon in New York City on Jan. 29.
Messing has been nominated for a Golden Globe as best actress in a musical or comedy series. The awards will be presented Sunday night.
