Gun Hill Road Papi Esai Morales on CBS "The Talk"

CBS The Talk hosted Esai Morales who's latest film “Gun Hill Road”, directed by Rashaad Ernesto Green will premier Aug 5th in LA and NYC. “Gun Hill Road” is a drama based on a true story, which explores the dynamic in a Puerto Rican family in the Bronx when its father, played by Esai, returns home from prison after a 3-year absence and discoverer's that his child who he thought of as his son when he left, is now his daughter.

Gun Hill Road Director and Actors True Transgender Metal

The New York Times ran an amazing article "When They Play Women, It’s Not Just an Act" By Erik Piepenburg about the phenomenal new release "Gun Hill Road"


"What sets this movie apart is it has transgender actors playing transgender roles" Erick explains "but this hasn't always been true."

Indeed there have been a multitude of cisgender actors cast in movies which misrepresented and in some cases where problematic for transgender and transsexual people.

Gun Hill Roads transgender lead actress Harmony Santana a NYC native was precisely who director was looking for. He understood from experience trying to cast cisgender gay actors there was a intangible ingredient missing. He learned from trial and error he needed a sister who shares our road less traveled and finding Ms. Santana was a gift from above! She was early in transition having come up the hard way still living in a homeless shelter for LGBT youth even as the movie was being filmed living the experience.

And complementing the metal of the movie is the NYT author's grasp on our issues as he as he explores the results that drag and exploative movies have had on the Transsexual and Transgender community by interviewing another well know transgender actress Laverne Cox.

My heart went to my throat as the author's article went further examining transgender roles by interviewing Israel Luna director of the movie "Ticked Off Tra##ys With Knives" which was intensely protested by the transsexual and transgender community.

It is a sad commentary that TO#WK movie would be held as a standard for transgender movies but in truth Erik did us a solid in contrasting that movies problematic senseless violent exploitation of transgender people with the true transsexual metal Gun Hill Road.

Hopefully in the future we will see many more movies like Gun Hill Road on our shared road less traveled.

Read the NYT article in full HERE.

GUN HILL ROAD the BEST Transgender FILM you may ever SEE!

Nitty gritty real life ghetto transgender reality.

Source: imdb.com Starring Esai Morales (La Bamba, "Caprica") and Judy Reyes ("Scrubs"), and introducing Harmony Santana, Gun Hill Road will open theatrically on August 5, 2011.

SYNOPSIS: After three years in prison, Enrique (Esai Morales) returns home to the Bronx to find the world he knew has changed. His wife, Angela (Judy Reyes), struggles to hide an emotional affair, and his teenage son, Michael (Harmony Santana), explores a sexual transformation well beyond Enrique's grasp and understanding.

Unable to accept his child, Enrique clings to his masculine ideals while Angela attempts to hold the family together by protecting Michael. Still under the watchful eye of his parole officer (Isiah Whitlock, Jr.), Enrique must become the father he needs to be or, once again, risk losing his family and freedom.

Can a fathers fierce love for his family overcome his street-hardened ideas about manhood and end the vicious cycle controlling his life? Writer/director Rashaad Ernesto Greens first feature film is an intricate portrait of a family divided told with sensitivity, gentle humor, and a deep understanding of the environment that shapes its people.