NOT LOOKING ANYMORE
Cancelled drama provides closure with movie
When the critically praised HBO series Looking was cancelled last year after just two seasons, it was a crushing blow to the LGBTQ community.
After all, it was the first high-profile show to focus on gay men since Showtime’s Queer As Folk ended in 2005. Fans started online petitions to bring the show back, and they’ll soon get their wish. Sort of.
On Saturday, Looking: The Movie will air on HBO Canada, providing some closure to fans of the series.
“I think the interesting thing was to see these characters in the forefront,” says Frankie Alvarez, who plays Agustin Lanuez, about the appeal of Looking. “Traditionally in the past, LGBT characters have been supporting characters and they’ve been dealing with being victimized and marginalization. And what’s really beautiful about this series is they’re out and they are who they are and their gayness is just one aspect of their lives.
“They’re dealing with relationships, with their friendships, and career fluctuations, ups and downs, and I think that was quietly revolutionary.”
The film is set about nine months after the Season 2 finale and finds Jonathan Groff’s lead character, video-game designer Patrick, returning to San Francisco for the wedding of Agustin and Eddie (Daniel Franzese). While there, he reunites with the whole crew, which also includes Murray Bartlett as Patrick’s friend Dom Basaluzzo, who works in the restaurant industry.
The cast members say they learned the show would be wrapped up in the form of a movie at the same time they heard the series was being cancelled after low ratings.
“It’s sad, obviously,” says Bartlett. “We all loved the show and we could have gone on for years, as far as we’re concerned.
“But it is a lovely way to wrap up a show, actually, particularly a halfhour show. Because in the movie you get to live with these characters in a longer arc, like an hour and a half or whatever the film is, so you get to really be with them and develop stories in a longer format, which is really fantastic.”
Series director/executive producer Andrew Haigh also helmed the movie and co-wrote with creator Michael Lannan.
“What’s nice about the closure of the film is that there is a kind of resolution but it’s still open-ended,” says Alvarez. “So that if we were ever to be blessed with another opportunity in the coming years, that we could still touch on these guys’ lives.”