Judging by the love scenes between Karyn Dwyer and Christina Cox in the Canadian comedy Better than Chocolate, if you come down with lesbian bed death in Canada, it's because you partied till your parts gave out. But that's just the movies, as we all know. What if you actually met these young Canadian actresses in person? Would they sizzle? Or fizzle? A sizable portion of Los Angeles's breathtakingly chic lesbian population found out in the flesh when Better Than Chocolate premiered at Outfest Under the Stars, a gala outdoors screening at L.A.'s John Anson Ford theater.
The buzz started before the show as fest fans eyed the Ford's gates, where limos disgorged a stream of chic passengers. But no Canadian movie crew; just more well-kept women who joined the hundreds already strolling the grounds, sampling upscale picnic suppers as the velvety L.A. night settled in.
Dwyer and Cox finally stepped into the spotlight two hours later, after the screening of their rollicking girl-girl comedy. The femme audience was already on its feet. Wearing leather pants and strapless tank tops, hair slicked straight back, the two young women, each surprisingly diminutive, leaned into the force of the applause. The close-range gushing and mushing had to be postponed until the post-screening bash at L.A.'s 360 club, where Better Than Chocolate's creative team holed up in a booth, autographing a stack of the film's racy posters. That's when we caught up with the crew for an exclusive Advocate Grill:
1 a.m. Saturday morning, July 17
Fielding questions, shaking hands, posing for photos, Better Than Chocolate's principals never stop passing and signing posters hand to hand. They've worked together so long, they're on collective autopilot. Screenwriter Peggy Thompson, a cheerful redhead with big glasses and leopard-skin print Capri pants, explains: "Ever since we screened at the Berlin film festival, we've been traveling everywhere like a big dysfunctional family."
The only out lesbian on the crew, Thompson is amazed that she and longtime producing partner Sharon McGowan, who is heterosexual, ever got this movie on the screen. "If we'd realized how hard this was gonna be," she says, "we wouldn't have done it. For years, Sharon had to go out every six months and take meetings, and we'd always hear the same thing: 'We can't make this; the combination of sex and comedy is too weird.'"
The tide turned, says Thompson, thanks to the seemingly unrelated bravery of an American television star. "God bless Ellen DeGeneres! She came out, and three days later, we had a deal."
Still, the deal stretched only to a minimal budget and a quick and dirty 22-day shooting schedule. Fortunately, top Canadian director Anne Wheeler signed on. Next came the challenge of finding two actresses who could make the story come alive with practically no preparation.
Sipping a Coke, Cox takes over the storytelling. In person she's cool and deliberate, with a palpable physical presence that harks back to her history as a gymnast and dancer. "Karyn and I read for our parts on the same day," Cox remembers. "We were literally in the waiting room on the same day. Karyn was being called in for the part that I read, and they went, 'No, no, no, you'd be better to read for [the film's protagonist] Maggie.' It might have worked out for us because they saw us in the same half hour and thought, They'd make a cute couple." Cox laughs. "Maybe we lucked out 'cause they were really tired!"
Speaking of cute, did Cox work out for her part in the film? "Actually I worked under for that," says the former TV action star. "[My size in this film] was a bit big for me. I didn't think my character, Kim, was up running five miles a day like I do. She's driving in a van. She's not getting up for a jog every morning."
Across the table, Dwyer is enjoying the admiration of the women who crowd in to say hello. Although she's quick to say she's not as glamorous as her costar, Dwyer in person is strikingly attractive. A rising young theater actor in love with her craft, she doesn't so much talk as surrender to waves of enthusiasm that visibly travel from her warm brown eyes down to her red-lacquered toes. "Oh, not at all," she says, asked if playing gay gave her a moment's pause. "Anyway, I'm known for playing the outsider." What appealed to her was exactly the mix that spooked financial backers for so long the mix of sexiness and comedy. "I'm known as more of a serious actress in Canada, so this was a different journey for me." The lack of rehearsal time didn't faze her: "My philosophy of acting is, Just jump in," says Dwyer. "What you see up there on the screen is my heart."
Moments later, a publicist beckons, and Better Than Chocolate's traveling crew begins filing out to the van, the hotel, and, tomorrow, another stop in the promotional tour. Now that the night is almost over, fatigue begins to show. Still, says producer Sharon McGowan, every screening of this film brings its own reward. "When we premiered in Berlin, the audience clapped for half an hour," she says. "We thought they'd never stop. Afterward women were coming up, saying, 'It's like you made this film for us!'" MacGowan smiles. "Well,we did."