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Gay and Gayer
Ewan McGregor and Jim Carrey bring the true story of con man Steven Russell and his former cell mate and lover to the big screen in I Love You Phillip Morris.
From The Advocate  September 23, 2008
Gay and Gayer

Ewan mcgregor looks pissed. He’s playing the title character, a prisoner, in the new movie I Love You Phillip Morris, and his character has just discovered that a fellow inmate (someone he can’t stand) has been beaten up.

He’s upset because everyone is blaming his boyfriend, Steven Russell (Jim Carrey), for the brawl. But when Morris learns that the gossip is true, that Russell really did order the pummeling, he jumps into his boyfriend’s cot and coos, “That’s the most romantic thing anyone’s ever done for me.” The actors kiss on the lips and roll around until Carrey (now out of character) says to McGregor, “You’re getting a little too excited.”

A beat-down as a romantic gesture? The film’s directors -- Glenn Ficarra and John Requa -- love it. Sitting in the steamy warehouse set outside New Orleans, Requa leans back with pleasure after McGregor and Carrey finish the scene, and Ficarra shouts, “That was great!”

Still, the make-out session needs to be shot several more times. Sometimes the kiss is more tender, other times more passionate. The one thing that every take makes clear is that I Love You Phillip Morris, which the producers hope to see released this fall, isn’t shying away from showing two men in love.

Romance behind bars may not be remarkable, but the true story the film is based on surely is: Russell was a con artist who posed as a chief financial officer, a Virginia millionaire, and other powerful figures in order to steal hundreds of thousands of dollars. Once a police officer, he was married with children before coming out of the closet. Furtive affairs finally led to a relationship with his first boyfriend (played by Rodrigo Santoro of Che), who later died of AIDS.

After a conviction for insurance fraud, Russell was placed in Houston’s Harris County Jail, where he fell quickly and completely in love with the redheaded and boyish Morris, who was incarcerated for violating probation imposed for failing to return a rental car. Russell was so in love that after Morris was released, he repeatedly broke out of prison (one time literally walking out the front door, dressed as a doctor) to be with his man.

“What makes [this movie] different from Catch Me If You Can or any other con-man movie is that it’s a love story,” Requa says. “Some of the more shocking elements of the movie -- the idea of these men trying to snatch love and bliss in the middle of the most awful environment imaginable -- are actually very funny.”

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Reader Comments

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  • Name: GREGORY
    Date posted: 2008-09-07 8:09 AM
    Hometown: CRIDERSVILLE OHIO

    Comment:

    ANY TIME I CAN SEE MORE FLESH OF BEAUTIFUL EWAN MCGREGOR, I AM ALL FOR IT. I WISH YOU LUCK WITH THE MOVIE... I AM SO TIRED OF GAY MOVIES WHERE SOMEONE HAS TO GET BEAT UP OR KILLED. PLEASE REMEMBER THAT. YOU HAVE TWO NICE ACTORS PLAYING THE LEADS I WILL LOOK FORWARD TO YOUR PICTURE. THANKS AND GOOD LUCK


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