Billy's Hollywood Screen Kiss | |
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Directed by | Tommy O'Haver |
Produced by | Meredith Scott Lynn |
Written by | Tommy O'Haver |
Starring |
Sean P. Hayes Brad Rowe Richard Ganoung Meredith Scott Lynn |
Music by | Alan Ari Lazar |
Cinematography | Mark Mervis |
Edited by | Jeff Betancourt |
Distributed by | Trimark Pictures |
Release date
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Running time
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92 min. |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Box office | $2,070,399 |
Billy's Hollywood Screen Kiss is a 1998 American independent, gay-themed romantic comedy film written and directed by Tommy O'Haver and starring Sean P. Hayes, Brad Rowe, and Meredith Scott Lynn. The film was a breakthrough performance for Hayes, who would go from this film to his role as Jack McFarland on the hit television show Will & Grace.
This film is a remake of writer/director O'Haver's earlier short film Catalina.
Billy Collier (Sean P. Hayes) is an aspiring photographer in Los Angeles who has had little artistic success and much romantic frustration. He comes up with the idea of recreating iconic screen kisses from Hollywood movies (such as Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr's in From Here to Eternity) using drag queens in the female roles. While out for coffee with his roommate Georgiana (Meredith Scott Lynn), he meets Gabriel (Brad Rowe), the server. That night at a party, Billy's friend Perry (Richard Ganoung) agrees to finance Billy's Screen Kiss project and Billy serendipitously runs into Gabriel. Billy recruits him to model and the two develop a friendship (although Gabriel says that he has a girlfriend in San Francisco).
Billy quickly becomes infatuated with Gabriel, but cannot figure out if Gabriel is really straight; Gabriel does little to help, continually sending ambiguous signals. At Perry's invitation, the two attend an exhibit by photographer Rex Webster, who tries to poach Gabriel as a model (and potential trick). Webster offers to take Gabriel to Catalina Island for an underwear ad shoot, sparking Billy's jealousy. Back at Gabriel's place, Billy and Gabriel seem to be getting closer but their rapport is interrupted by a phone call from Gabriel's girlfriend Natalie.