DAVID APPLEBY/20TH CENTURY FOX

Coming Attractions
	A burly war epic and a gay TV channel. Next year should be fun
	By RICHARD CORLISS AND JEANNE MCDOWELL

Posted Sunday, October 3, 2004
movies
RIDLEY SCOTT'S 1,001 ARABIAN KNIGHTS
Ridley Scott has a gift for taking old movie ideas and investing them with chic menace—until they not only look new but also upend the whole genre. Alien reinvented the monster movie; Blade Runner set the style for science-fiction dystopia; Thelma & Louise slapped lipstick and a scowl on the face of the buddy movie; Black Hawk Down was a war movie that was all war. Scott doesn't often linger in the same genre; his restless intelligence is ever on the prowl. As he tells TIME, "A friend of mine says, 'Art's like a shark. You've got to keep swimming, or else you drown.' Keep bouncing around. People always ask me what's the plan. There is no plan. I go to what fascinates me next."

So when Sir Ridley sets out to film a story of the Crusades, movie minds perk up. Kingdom of Heaven, written by current hot scripter William Monahan, is set in Jerusalem in 1187, between the Second and Third Crusades. It spins out a clash of personalities, cultures, regions and religions. What fascinates Scott this time is the pure, severe code of the knight. "The knight was the cowboy of that era," he says. "He carried with him degrees of fairness, faith and chivalry—right action. I think right action is what it is really all about."

Scott's backers at 20th Century Fox are probably thinking more of box-office action. When Hollywood looks ahead, it nearly always uses a rearview mirror. What's Next is usually a sequel to What Worked. In this skeptical light, Kingdom of Heaven can be seen as a recipe of familiar faces and tropes. Hire Ridley Scott to direct a burly period epic that pits an obscure hero against historical figures (think Gladiator, then substitute the Holy Roman Empire for the plain old Roman one). Cast Orlando Bloom as a young smithy who boldly challenges the nobility and Liam Neeson as the rebel hero's stalwart father figure (as he was for Leonardo DiCaprio in Gangs of New York). Add Jeremy Irons for tone and Eva Green (The Dreamers) for the mandatory romance. Stir.

The movie, which is due to open May 6, has already stirred some controversy. Five scholars of various faiths, given a purloined copy of the script by the New York Times, reached opposite and predictable conclusions. The Catholic thought it was fair; the Muslim cried foul. Whatever the truth of the film, it's bound to provoke extreme reactions at a sensitive time.

"I'm a moviemaker, not a documentarian," Scott says. "I try to hit the truth. And as Bill Monahan was a journalist, he always tried to read the primary documents. It's tricky, because you weren't there and you're not talking to anyone who was there. Therefore, what you are going to put down on paper is sensitive conjecture. We try to show both sides in a very balanced light. We employed Muslim actors in three major roles. Ghassan Massoud, who plays Saladin, is a Muslim scholar, and he was very happy with the balance."

Political heat is not going to scare Scott away from a project he has considered for 30 years. "I was brought up on Ingmar Bergman," he says, "and in The Seventh Seal and The Virgin Spring, he brilliantly touched on areas where you can talk about religion without any discomfort."

It sounds very high-minded, and we'll bet Sir Ridley makes that old armor shine like titanium. But if his knights don't enliven your film summer, you can always joust with George Lucas' Jedi in the last installment of a certain other epic.
— By Richard Corliss

television
A NEW CHANNEL THAT WON'T TELL IT STRAIGHT
Once the great blinking blue unifier, television is now firmly in the niche business. After years of targeting pretty much every other group—women (Lifetime), young men (Spike TV), African Americans (BET) and insomniacs (C-SPAN—we kid!), it's inevitable that there would be a channel aimed specifically at gay and lesbian viewers. LOGO is scheduled to debut in 10 million to 15 million homes with digital cable in February, and is being touted by its creators as a cultural turning point. "It's a channel whose time has come," says Brian Graden, MTV and VH1's entertainment president, who helped develop the new channel. "Finally every voice will be accepted in the media landscape."

Yeah, yeah, yeah. The sentiment is almost as sweet as the business prospects. With an estimated $485 billion in annual purchasing power, the country's 15 million-strong gay audience represents an alluring target for programmers and advertisers who, Graden says, have so far been enthusiastic about committing ad dollars to LOGO. And despite some protests from such conservative voices as the American Family Association, the cable venture is good to go with a mission that is simple and straightforward: entertainment.

Programming for LOGO, which will debut mostly in urban markets like Los Angeles, New York City and San Francisco, will include a variety of reality shows, movies such as Gods and Monsters and An Early Frost, and gay-themed specials like the annual GLAAD Media Awards. One potential new series, My Fabulous Gay Wedding, would follow a couple from wedding planning to the altar. Cher and her daughter Chastity Bono are producing Family Outing, which will chronicle coming-out stories. While straight people will have a presence, LOGO looks at life with a decidedly gay lens, with no apologies. "Our approach is to have a diverse portfolio of shows that reflects our real lives," says Graden.

But don't look to LOGO to be only a platform for hot-button issues like gay marriage. Sure, some shows like My Fabulous Gay Wedding can't help but be political. But Graden says that the cable newcomer won't be strident or in-your-face. "The fact that we even exist is a statement that advances the political dialogue."

Groundbreaking, perhaps. But in recent years, the small screen has increasingly depicted gay characters in a number of cable and network shows including Will & Grace, Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, Queer as Folk and The L Word, the first two of which are certifiable hits. Do the nation's gay viewers want to watch a channel entirely devoted to their issues? Graden thinks so. "The gay characters on TV are not authentic representations," he insists. "We deserve to have a place of our own."
—By Jeanne McDowell

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