The true story of Gray Gardens’ twinky homosexual handyman is being was a film, mom darling
In the great tradition of “movies that make you gay,” few stand as tall as the 1975 documentary Gray Gardens.
Of course, movies don’t have the ability to turn people gay, but there’s a special power in a movie like Gray Gardens, an idiosyncratic documentary that practically counts as homework (the funny kind!) for the modern queer — a movie we should know.
Following the strange everyday life of “Big Edie” Beale – the aunt of former first lady Jackie O – and her grown daughter “Little Edie”, Gray Gardens welcomed viewers to the titular estate in the East Hamptons, a run-down house where the women in poverty and (as some would call it) delusions lived.
Over the decades it has become a real cult hit, around which friendly gays will build their entire personality. And among the many fascination of the loyal fandom is the Handyman of Beale, who makes occasional appearances throughout the doc.
Dubbed “The Marble Faun” by Little Edie, viewers spent years contemplating the young man’s identity. But in the 2000s he resurfaced and the world finally got to know Jerry Torre.
Sometime after the events of Gray Gardens, Torre moved to Saudi Arabia where he worked for a palace garden – a job secured through Jackie O’s second husband, Aristotle Onassis. Back in the States, he drove cabs in New York City and ran an art transportation business while pursuing his own passion as a sculptor. He has lived happily with his partner Ted O’Ryan Sheppard for many years.
All of this and more – including memories of his time with the Beales – is told by Torre in his fascinating memoir, The Marble Faun Of Gray Gardens, co-authored with film historian Tony Maietta.
Now Torre becomes the focus of his own film in an adaptation of his famous book. As Deadline reports, The Marble Faun Of Gray Gardens is being adapted into a feature film by Unger Media, which tells the story of “a gay teenage runaway from Brooklyn who portrays Big Edie and Little Edie as misguided guardian angels in his life – and beyond. “
Sounds like another future gay classic to us!
The adaptation is scripted by Leo Geter (who has written scripts for shows like Longmire and The Closer), who is producing along with Torre, Maietta, Jonathan Unger, the CEO of Unger Media, and actor/comedian Drew Droege, who shares that he is “a longtime Gray Gardens fan”. and that Torre is “profoundly inspirational to me as an artist and a queer person.”
Deadline is currently casting for the role of Torre. He was only a teenager when he met the Beales, so we’d expect a young aspiring actor to take on the role of The Marble Faun.
Our two cents? Rising star Daniel Zolghadri has been great in coming-of-age movies like Eight Grade and Funny Pages and could fill the bill. As for Big Edie and Little Edie, Jessica Lange and Drew Barrymore’s appearances in the 2009 HBO film are still not over, so why not bring them back?
Or heck, maybe Jinkx Monsoon is available?