Designer Tom Ford's directorial debut, is the next gay film coming to your local theatre

There's a new gay film coming to your local theatre soon.  A SINGLE MAN recently debuted at the Venice Film Festival, then caused a stir at the Toronto International Film Festival, where it garnered rave reviews and got distribution care of the Weinstein Company.

The film is directed by designer Tom Ford and stars Colin Firth as a closeted gay man in 1962 who tries to continue on with his life after the sudden death of his long time partner.  It's based on a short story by iconic gay writer Christopher Isherwood (who also penned Berlin Stories, from which Cabaret was based).

The film costars Julianne Moore, Matthew Goode, Ginnifer Goodwin and that tasty Lee Pace.  

Time magazine has already referred to Colin Firth's role as "the part of a lifetime".  Firth already won the Best Actor Award at Venice, and there's sure to be more to follow.

Keeping with true independent form, Ford financed his first feature himself, and the film was shot in 21 days.  After the sold out screening at Toronto, there was an all night negotiation session before Weinstein's company swooped up the rights,  looking to cash-in on the Mad Men craze, since this has similar production design, look and feel.  IndieWire called the film, "striking!".   BBC reports that the main character, "lives in s spotless world of pressed Italian designer suits, fresh linen and minimalist Scandinavian furniture."  Variety reports it sold for seven figures.

The script was written by an undiscovered screenwriter, David Scearce, who is actually a lawyer who runs an animal rescue shelter.  He loved the short story so much, he wrote the script on spec, then sent it to Isherwood's lover, Don Bachardy, who gave it his blessings.  The script was then passed on to CAA, a big agency in Hollywood.  Ford was searching for a good first project, and the match was made (Ford went on to rewrite and has a co-writing credit).

Here's the trailer:

Here is an interview with Colin and Ford at the Venice Film Festival:


Here is a Q&A with Tom Ford, Colin Firth and Julianne Moore from the screening at Toronto: