Jamie Lee Curtis To Portray Sara Cunningham In Biopic Of The LGBTQ Activist Mother
The Lifetime network is getting a little more gay! Many of us turn on the channel for campy, overdramatic “cut from the headlines” films, but as of late they’ve definitely been stepping up their A-Game. This is just what we need to get our Pride juices flowing as we move toward the world’s first ever digital Pride celebrations highlighting the fearless LGBTQ community. The network has a nice history of providing us with biopics of gay icons like Britney Spears, Anna Nicole Smith, Liz Taylor, and others. It was the first network to give Corey Feldman’s Hollywood pedophile allegations a platform with its film, A Tale of Two Coreys, and recently faced some controversy when they covered the Chris Watts murder spree but failed to disclose his alleged relationship with a much younger man on screen. Now, Lifetime is going to add some more rainbows to their lineup!
According to Deadline, the network is making a biopic on the life of Sara Cunningham, the founder of Free Mom Hugs. To briefly overview Cunningham’s incredible, emotional work: She came up with the idea for Free Mom Hugs to provide support to LGBTQ youth (or anyone, really) who needed that special love, like a hug, after their parents abandoned them.
PSA. If you need a mom to attend your same sex wedding because your biological mom won’t. Call me. I’m there. I’ll be your biggest fan. I’ll even bring the bubbles.
— Sara Cunningham (@MamaBearOk) July 20, 2018
Cunningham and her crew would attend various Prides since 2014 offering up that perhaps missing touch to anyone who wanted one. Cunningham is so wonderful that she has even provided service as a “stand in mom” for LGBTQ people who have been abandoned by their parents and would like someone to represent as one during their weddings. I’m not crying, you’re crying! You know who else was crying? Long time LGBTQ activist and ally, Hollywood royalty, Jamie Lee Curtis.
The biopic is taken from Cunningham’s memoir, How We Sleep At Night which details her journey of coming to terms with having a gay son. Writer, Sally Robinson, is taking control of the script, but with some surprise excitement, Curtis pins the biopic as a passion project and will executive produce, direct, and star in the film as Cunningham! Curtis took to her social media today to let everyone know the great news and how thrilled she is to spring Cunningham’s story into live action.
We first met Curtis as the daughter of scream queen Janet Leigh. Eventually, she would be known globally as Michael Myers’ arch nemesis, a teenage babysitter named Laurie Strode in the Halloween franchise which was been rebooted, with Curtis back in the most iconic role, in 2018. There continues to be something special about the gays and their scream queens. In Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy documentary, another original “final girl” scream queen, Heather Langenkamp, who played Nancy Thompson in the Night on Elm Street series made claims that her first fans, and still most loyal, are specifically gay men who related to her. Langenkamp has regularly made minor appearances in the American Horror Story franchise, so it’s safe to say that we love our (scream) queens – and they love us just as much.
We recently covered how the actress is in our corner with Jamie Lee Curtis Has No Patience For Closeted Politicians Pushing Anti-Gay Laws. We love how she is outspoken and cannot wait to see her use her talents to highlight Sara!
There’s no word on when Lifetime’s How We Sleep at Night: The Sara Cunningham Story will air, but you can bet we’re certainly tuning in!
Writer’s Note: This is the opinion of one Instinct Magazine contributor and does not reflect the views of Instinct Magazine itself or fellow contributors.
Source: Deadline
