UK: 'Burning Blue', a play about gay people in the U.S. military, has been signed up for a Hollywood film deal

Record ID: 277251

  • Title: UK: 'Burning Blue', a play about gay people in the U.S. military, has been signed up for a Hollywood film deal
  • Date: 24th August 1995
  • Summary: LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM (AUGUST 24, 1995) SCENE FROM PLAY, BLACKWOOD'S WIFE TAMMI (HELENE KVALE), GIVING HER OPINION OF GAY PEOPLE
  • Embargoed: 8th September 1995 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM
  • City:
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: Entertainment
  • Reuters ID: LVA8EGFDFHEWJ4ZMC3LXKI5KONV9
  • Story Text: "Burning Blue", a play by a former U.S. navy pilot about an investigation into homosexuality on board an aircraft carrier, has been signed up for a Hollywood film deal.
    It is American playwright David Greer's first play and it is currently enjoying a very successful run at the Theatre Royal Haymarket in London's West End.
    The play focuses on four trainee test pilots, who enjoy a close friendship which comes under merciless scrutiny when a naval investigator discovers two of them have been seen dancing together in a gay disco.
    Tim Woodward plays Special Agent Cokely, who conducts a ruthless investigation into the relationship between Matthew Blackwood (played by Robert Bogue) and Daniel Lynch (played by Antony Edridge), two promising young officers from military family backgrounds.
    Cokely asks the men's colleagues to testify against their friends, pretending that confessions have already been made.
    Ultimately the investigation has damaging repercussions on everyone who is touched by it. Both Blackwood and Lynch have long-term heterosexual relationships, but their partners are unaware of the nature of the friendship between the two men.
    Whilst the play is based on fact, the characters are composites and do not represent specific individuals.
    The play has been bought by Working Title Films, the company that produced "Four Weddings and a Funeral", and there are also plans for a Broadway stage production. Greer is working on the movie screenplay at present, and he said that ideally he'd like Robert Redford to direct it. As for casting, he thinks that the cast currently performing the play in London are probably the best actors for the job.
    Greer also said that he hopes the exposure the play receives in the United States may influence the current controversy about President Clinton's "don't ask, don't tell" policy on gays in the military and bring an end to discrimination against homosexuals who want to serve in the armed forces.
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