The Hollywood Liberal

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Thursday, May 18, 2006

H.L. Attends Movie Premier in Hollywood

Hate Crime

I attended the L.A. Premier of the new movie Hate Crime last night in Hollywood. The event started off with the cast of the movie showing up and having pictures taken by many photographers. We then proceeded into the theatre where the film's director Tommy Stovall made some introductions. Ebony Tay, who wrote and performed the main song in the movie, got up and did a short set on acoustic guitar including the song that she performed in the movie called “Jesus was Crucified by a .45” After this, the movie, which starred Seth Peterson and Bruce Davison, rolled.
Two gay men live in a suburban home in Texas, and Chris, the uptight son of a fire and brimstone preacher, moves in next door. Chris soon confronts his neighbor Robbie, played by Peterson. The tension between all involved soon explodes into a series of events that draw the movie to a powerfully thought-provoking and controversial ending. My personal favorite scene cuts back and forth between a church service that preaches God is love, and is all about peace and understanding, and another service in which the Preacher, Pastor Boyd (Davison) is giving his most fervent "God will send you to hell for eternity" sermons. The film was shot in Dallas, which is Director Stovall’s home town
Longtime readers of The H.L. know that I watch movies for a living, so I have a pretty good barometer for the good ones, and Hate Crime is definitely one of those. One way I can tell how good a film is, is to see how long it takes before I look at my watch to see how much time is left. I didn’t do that once during Hate Crime, which is rare these days.
After the end credits rolled, the cast came up on stage for a Q&A session, followed by an after-party at a nearby restaurant where I met Tommy Stovall and Executive Producer Marc Sterling.
Hate Crime will be playing at The Sunset 5 in Hollywood for at least the next week and premiers are set up in other towns. Check out the website, and go see it.