“God, I wish I was an actor in the 1950s,” Val Lauren laments, shaking his fist in mock anguish. “But I wish I was in the movies of the 1970s. There’s nothing like that today.” Clad in black, toting a copy of David Mamet’sNovember, a pack of American Spirit cigarettes, and a pair of chunky Wayfayers, Lauren, 38, draws inspiration from a vulnerable tribe of ’50s men—James Dean, Marlon Brando, Montgomery Clift—all pupils of Lee Strasberg’s school of streetwise realism.
“I think all actors bring a certain flavor; their personalities seep through into their characters, their life experience colors their performance,” Lauren explains, seated under the undulating canvas umbrellas of the Chateau Marmont’s patio in Hollywood. “So many actors today, they just don’t have the right flavor.”
Lauren plays Sal Mineo, the dusky, baby-faced teen idol–turned–B-movie washout on the cusp of a comeback in James Franco’s Sal. The 90-minute flick, another funky art-house project in Franco’s expanding canon, follows Mineo’s last day before he was murdered in a botched robbery outside his apartment in 1976 (for years, rumors circulated that Mineo, one of Hollywood’s first openly gay men, had been killed while cruising in West Hollywood). Lauren’s performance in Sal is magnetic; he imbues the mundane acts of phone calls, play rehearsals, and even a bathhouse shvitz with a compressed anxiety, a palpable longing to be taken seriously. “I remember exactly what James [Franco] said to convince me to do the movie,” Lauren recalls. “ ‘We’re going to make an unconventional movie about an unconventional man.’ And I was in.”
Wow, watch this short behind the scenes doc on the making of “The Gaze,” the all trans fashion campaign for And Other Stories! It’s so beautifully shot by Swedish director Ninja Thyberg. I was jet lagged and delirious. Enjoy!
Marilyn with RuPaul and Jeff Stryker during a taping of The RuPaul Show, which aired April 25, 1998. The episode, entitled “The Rupie Awards,” honored those in the adult entertainment industry. This photo was featured in Out magazine, May 1998. The RuPaul Show was a talk show that aired on VH1 from 1996-1998.
I know Adam and Gus both have boyfriends of their own. But I can’t help but ship them! Not only as bros which they are IRL but as boyfriends as well! Gah they are so cute! My little Olympic babies! I can’t imagine what it would be like if they were to hook up! Imagine the shenanigans!
“If you would’ve asked me, ‘Will you make another album?’, I don’t think I would have been able to answer,” says our October cover artist, Robyn. “Everything was kind of disintegrating for me.”
Loss, depression, and a lack of fan-worthy material kept her hidden from the spotlight for eight years. Now, the seasoned alt-hitmaker is back.
talked to @outmagazine about diverse representation + how the fashion industry needs more of it, my instagram needs more of it, the world needs MORE of it : @mrwhite_ (at Lovage NYC)
On the cover of Out magazine’s annual May Power Issue (on newsstands April 22) is one of the most powerful women in music: Beyoncé Knowles.
The singer, who defied traditional marketing tactics late last year when she released her surprise self-titled video album, is the perfect representation of what it means to be powerful. She’s poised, she’s commanding, and she does it all at her own pace.
McGinley moved to New York City to attend art school and soon befriended a gorgeous dominatrix/prostitute who lived upstairs from him. They hooked up a few times, but McGinley was hesitant to have sex with her. “She said, ‘If you don’t want to fuck me, you’re fucking gay,’ ” he remembers. “I was like Maybe. I don’t know.
“That night, we ended up at this after-hours,” he says, "And there was this really cute guy, Harry. She talked to him and we ended up back at hers. She said 'I’m going to kiss Harry and you’re going to kiss me and then you’re going to kiss Harry.’ I was so nervous my mouth was bone dry and I started making out with him and that was it. This made sense! I never hooked up with a girl again.”
![[PHOTO]— Lady Gaga photographed by Ellen Von Unwerth for Out Magazine | July 2, 2009.](https://64.media.tumblr.com/359ab2d68709ef4846338e6b1eebca5e/7cccefb0b04db51b-bc/s1280x1920/e170867ac122858e7b19fad8dcdf173a6014493c.jpg "[PHOTO]— Lady Gaga photographed by Ellen Von Unwerth for Out Magazine | July 2, 2009.")
![[PHOTO]— Lady Gaga photographed by Ellen Von Unwerth for Out Magazine | July 2, 2009.](https://64.media.tumblr.com/7cf87bf8b26fa1913454b73f841218be/7cccefb0b04db51b-45/s1280x1920/68bf6202d6cb4b2cdb8435d2a8f8736f4ba1804e.jpg "[PHOTO]— Lady Gaga photographed by Ellen Von Unwerth for Out Magazine | July 2, 2009.")
![[PHOTO]— Lady Gaga photographed by Ellen Von Unwerth for Out Magazine | July 2, 2009.](https://64.media.tumblr.com/1fb2e2cbf2a4ff58d8bd4cdffd6f3da4/7cccefb0b04db51b-fe/s1280x1920/4249a9712c133bc3cb4b5f3465004ad0e3748047.jpg "[PHOTO]— Lady Gaga photographed by Ellen Von Unwerth for Out Magazine | July 2, 2009.")
![[PHOTO]— Lady Gaga photographed by Ellen Von Unwerth for Out Magazine | July 2, 2009.](https://64.media.tumblr.com/fd08d1de739245a9185760e74a130733/7cccefb0b04db51b-f9/s500x750/9edd56d5cc9769d86bbb6c4bc383d432af87c387.jpg "[PHOTO]— Lady Gaga photographed by Ellen Von Unwerth for Out Magazine | July 2, 2009.")
![[PHOTO]— Lady Gaga photographed by Ellen Von Unwerth for Out Magazine | July 2, 2009.](https://64.media.tumblr.com/c88a47300cf9f516f61552ebb07706bb/7cccefb0b04db51b-fa/s1280x1920/2efbec78ea6cdd18f90f6e90e2fe602fd43c0967.jpg "[PHOTO]— Lady Gaga photographed by Ellen Von Unwerth for Out Magazine | July 2, 2009.")
![[PHOTO]— Lady Gaga photographed by Ellen Von Unwerth for Out Magazine | July 2, 2009.](https://64.media.tumblr.com/6c14227193a31b743b90716f8fd192b6/7cccefb0b04db51b-a3/s540x810/f86f7232b11c5add22540c2b2bf0deb60a0d2fe0.jpg "[PHOTO]— Lady Gaga photographed by Ellen Von Unwerth for Out Magazine | July 2, 2009.")
