Filmmaker/Actor/Teacher Anthony Meindl: "I Was Very Ram-a-Lama-Ding-Dong"
DENNIS ANYONE? with Dennis Hensley
Release Date: 03/11/2020
DENNIS ANYONE? with Dennis Hensley
Dennis is joined via Zoom by filmmaker Mike Mossalam and actor Amin El Gaman two of the men behind the new queer rom-com Breaking Fast, about Mo, a devout Muslim doctor in Los Angeles (Haaz Sleiman) who begins a relationship with a All-American-type actor (Michael Cassidy) during the month of Ramadan. MIke is the writer-director of the film and he talks about what inspired him to write it, the challenges of shooting a movie with lots of delicious food scenes and how his love of musical theater found its way into the story. Amin plays Mo's best friend Sam and talks about what drew him to the...
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Dennis connects via Zoom with actor-writer-director Tom DeTrinis to discuss his one-person show Making Friends, which is available to stream at the IAMA Theatre company website through January 11th. Tom talks about the central theme of the play, specifically his anger and where it comes from, how his road rage figures in, and why he chose to mount the show virtually instead of waiting until it's safe to do live theater again. He also talks about how AOL chat rooms fed his teenage horndog instincts, the inspiring older gay role models he found when he discovered theater as a tween, and the...
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Dennis connects via Zoom with Deven Green and Ned Douglas, creators of the new Revry game show Versus, where contestants answer questions about their own social media feeds, play silly games like Roosters vs. Snails and try to make sense of what's coming out of emcee Deven's mouth. Deven and Ned talk about how they came up with the idea for the show, how Revry got involved and how they produced the entire thing themselves from writing to shooting to editing to composing the music. They also talk about why they make a good time, staying creative during these surreal times and the free online...
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Dennis is joined via Zoom by Hugh Nini & Neal Treadwell, the real-life couple behind the remarkable new book Loving: A Photographic History of Men in Love 1850s to 1950s, a gorgeous collection of vintage photos they've collected of male couples in love. Hugh and Neal talk about the day they discovered their first photo, the rush of discovery that comes with every new find, the way their collection quietly grew without anyone else really knowing about it, and what went into choosing the cover photo and the title Loving. The couple also talk about their "50/50" test, which determines whether...
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Dennis connects via Zoom with Sean Dwyer, an L.A.-based writer-producer whose Christmas-themed movie Holiday Rush is currently streaming on Netflix. The film is about a successful New York radio personality and father of four who, just a few years after the death of his beloved wife, abruptly loses his job and has to reimagine his whole life. Sean talks about the origins of the story, shooting a holiday movie in the spring, casting Romany Malco from A Million Little Things as the lead...and scoring singer Darlene Love for the role of the grandmother--and getting her to record a new version of...
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Dennis connects via Zoom with his yoga pal and author Paria Hassouri to talk about her new memoir Found In Transition: A Mother's Evolution through Her Child's Gender Change. which documents her journey and her family's journey through the process of her teenage daughter Ava's gender transition. She talks about her initial reaction to her daughter saying she was trans, which was skepticism, and recalls the family Thanksgiving dinner early on when Ava wanted to wear a dress. She talks her own resistance to Ava's first therapist, who was trans, how Ava's journey brought up her own body issues...
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Dennis connects via Zoom with director Jon Lawrence Rivera and producer Jon Imparato, two of the creative forces behind the new play "March." "March" is not a Zoom-happening. It's an actual live theatrical experience presented in the parking garage of the LA LGBT Center to an audience watching safely from their cars. The play is set in a post-Trump, dystopian, anti-queer future and focuses on three LGBT characters running and hiding and fighting for their lives. Jon and Jon talk about what made them crazy enough to mount a live show during a pandemic, how they crafted the script from the...
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While driving cross country, actor and filmmaker Nicol Paone joins Dennis via Zoom to talk about her debut film as writer-director, the ensemble holiday comedy Friendsgiving. She talks about the getting the inspiration for the movie from a real-life experience, how she got the movie made and working with the cast, which includes Malin Akerman, Kat Dennings, AIsha Tyler, Jane Seymour, Christine Taylor and Chelsea Peretti. She also talks about how getting to step behind the camera changed her approach to her acting career, the challenges of working with a baby and the importance of food...
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Dennis talks via Zoom with actor-singer-writer David Pevsner about his film "Musical Comedy Whore," which is now available on DVD and streaming. It's a filmed version of his stage show about the period of time when he was working as both a musical comedy performer (Party, Naked Boys Singing, When Pigs Fly) and an escort. He talks about what it was like to live that double life, what turned him of about it and the feeling of connection he would often feel with his clients. He also talks about getting over shame and what he's learned about himself and others from posting sexual pictures and...
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Dennis connects via Zoom with singer-songwriter-actor Levi Kreis from his home in Knoxville, Tennessee to talk about his latest EP Bad Habit and his upcoming series of virtual concerts (October 20th, November 18th and November 15th). He talks about drawing from his experience as a recovering addict in writing the song "Bad Habit" and shooting its accompanying video. He also discusses his cover of George Michael's and the controversy it stirred up on line. He talks about being outed as gay at his Christian college while signed to a gospel record label and having his whole life blow up...and...
info_outlineDennis visits the Hollywood Hills home of Anthony Meindl the writer-director and one of the stars of Where We Go From Here, a new film that just hit Hulu about people in three different places--Orlando, Paris and Binghampton, NY--whose lives are affected by gun violence. Anthony talks about what made him sit down and write the film, putting his own experiences into the film's gay relationship, appearing nude in the film and shooting in Paris in French without speaking the language himself. He also talks about his work as an acting teacher, how he got started, why he believes his philosophy connects, having schools in ten cities around the world, what it's like when one of his students hits the big time and how the world has changed for aspiring gay actors. He also discusses growing up gay in Indiana as the son of German immigrants, getting bullied for being gay and pulling a John Cusack in Say Anything move to try and win over a dude named Tim. Other topics include: coaching Camilla Cabello on the set of Cinderella, carbon offsetting your flights when you travel, getting shut down in Altadena, his first dirty magazine, playing the title character in Hard Hat Harry, getting shamed in school for watching Helter Skelter on TV and how he feels about dating actors.