What a thrill to discover Rian Keating's spirited 1986 interview with "Parting Glances" director Bill Sherwood and producer Paul Kaplan. "Parting Glances" -- about two lovers in NYC dealing with the imminent departure of one of them on a two-year work assignment in Africa -- changed my life when I first saw it as a teenager living in Arizona (wishing I were a New Yorker with a gay lover of my own).
Even though AIDS was all we heard about in the 1980s -- and the film didn't shy away from the grim reality of the disease -- the film was the first time I felt like I could have a "normal" life as a gay man, with a successful career, cool friends and a loving relationship rather than surefire gloom and doom.
The smart and clever dialogue made me feel like I was hanging out with a bunch of people I knew -- or people I dreamed of knowing, as a Debbie Harry-obsessed kid in the suburbs of Phoenix -- and the cast had some fun surprises, including a very young Steve Buscemi, Kathy Kinney (Mimi from "The Drew Carey Show") and hunky co-leading man John Bolger, who is The Scarecrow Ray Bolger's great-nephew.
I knew Sherwood died of AIDS in 1990. Sad to read that Kaplan, the film's executive producer, was also taken by the disease the year after at just 36.
Paul A. Kaplan, 36, a Theatrical Producer (Nov. 28, 1991)
Bill Sherwood: June 14, 1952 – February 10, 1990
Get a slight Matt Rettenmund vibe off the late director, who also grew up in Michigan. What a shame we didn't get to see what he would have come up with next. RIP.
Watch:
Read all "Parting Glances" posts HERE.
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