Paul Rudnick

COVER REVEAL!

My new novel, WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU? wil be published by Simon and Schuster on 3/25/25!

https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/paul-rudnick/farrell-covington-and-the-limits-of-style/

https://www.publishersweekly.com/9781668004678

Here’s the wonderful cover of my upcoming novel, to be published by Simon&Schuster in June. I’m wildly proud of this book, so I hope readers will enjoy it. It covers a range of subjects I’ve been wrestling with for years, and they’ve finally cohered, into a kind of epic that’s both hugely comic and deeply serious, centering on a passionate romance that spans decades, continents and every sort of upheaval and joy.

My new novel, a romantic comedy entitled Playing The Palace, will be published on May 25, 2021, by Berkley. It’s about a love affair between Carter Ogden, a gay NYC event planner, and Edgar, the Prince of Wales. And I think Meghan and Harry would approve!

I’ve got a new play called Guilty Pleasure, to be directed by the wonderful Christopher Ashley and produced at the LaJolla Playhouse. The play was scheduled for this Fall, but due to the pandemic, it will premiere next Fall.

On September 12, 2020, HBO will begin airing Coastal Elites, a script I wrote, directed by the amazing Jay Roach with a dream cast: Bette Midler, Dan Levy, Issa Rae, Sarah Paulson and Kaitlyn Dever. I wrote it to reflect everything we’ve all been going through over the past four years: the rage, anxiety, heartbreak and passionate concern for the future of our country.

I’ve tried to explore this through five smart, funny, heartfelt characters, all seeking honest answers, connection, a way to channel their fury, and above all else, hope.

I’m sorry I haven’t been updating this blog regularly but here’s some news:

Libby Gelman-Waxner’s If You Ask Me column is now appearing every few weeks on The New Yorker’s website.

I’m tweeting at PaulRudnickNY

This Wednesday, July 20th, I’m being interviewed by the wonderful Randy Cohen for his show Person Place Thing. It’s from 7 to 8:30 PM, at the Museum at Eldridge Street, a gloriously restored synagogue which is worth a trip in itself, at 12 Eldridge Street. Each guest is asked to name a person, place and thing of great personal significance, so come by and hear mine!

During the first test screening of In&Out, the audience had been recruited from all ages, races and genders. They knew nothing about the movie they were about to see. The crowd was enjoying the action, laughing and involved, until Tom Selleck grabbed Kevin Kline and kissed him. The place went wild, with approval and disgust. I watched one teenage boy try to hide behind his girlfriend, while another covered his eyes and put drinking straws in his ears (I’m not kidding.) This was unnerving, as was the response card from a woman who said that she loved the movie, the characters and the cast, until she was asked, “Would you recommend this film to a friend?” She replied No, and when asked why, wrote, “Against God’s law.”
The Broadway musical Shuffle Along portrays how revolutionary it was in the 1920s, for a show to include a kiss between an African American man and woman.
The shooter in Orlando was reportedly enraged, a few weeks before the massacre, by the sight of two men kissing.
While In&Out was in development, certain studio execs kept asking if the same-sex kiss was necessary. It was.

Some additional thoughts on the Orlando killings: as always, Republicans are only even mildly sympathetic to gay lives, once the gay people in question are dead. Over the past week, these Republicans have reverted to their ordinary bigotry, refusing to pass an anti-discrimination bill in Congress. Trump, who portrays himself as a friend to LGBTQ people, has pledged, if elected, to roll back gay marriage. He’s also congratulated himself on the massacre, using it to fuel his anti-Muslim diatribes.

I remember how, during the peak years of the American AIDS crisis, gay lives at last became visible, due to a hideous plague. Now a gunman has returned these lives, and these deaths, to the front pages.

Also: Anderson Cooper’s reporting from Florida has been extraordinary. His grief has been heartbreaking, and he called out Pam Bondi, the state’s Attorney General, on her earlier attempts to reject gay marriage and defame gay lives.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldYC0bMj9ms

Nancy Reagan’s gay friends had their revenge: they told her she looked good in these satin knickers: