I know it’s a little early, this being January and all, but I can’t imagine that anyone in the next 11 months will inspire me more than a certain mysterious, reclusive, masochistic, San Francisco based, male-to-female transsexual writer.
I am speaking of course of… Larry Wachowski.
You were expecting me to say someone else?
Now Larry Wachowski would qualify to be my hero based on his accomplishments in the previous millennium alone. By 1999 he, along with his brother Andy Wachowski, had already directed Bound, a film with a lesbian love scene featuring Gina Gershon and Jennifer Tilly that was choreographed by Susie Bright. The two had also directed one of the defining movies of the decade, The Matrix, which was produced by Joel Silver. My mild obsession with Joel Silver produced action movies was the only proof of my heterosexuality prior to losing my virginity in 1989.
This alone puts Larry Wachowski high up on my list of heroes, but what puts him over the top is the fact that after the success of The Matrix, he divorced his wife, married his Dominatrix and the two of them moved into a 1.3 million dollar mansion in San Francisco.
Let’s do the math folks: successful writer-director, married to a Dom, living in San Francisco. Minus the whole gender identity thing, he’s basically living my dream.
Reading this Rolling Stone article about Wachowski was weird. Most of the stuff I read about BDSM and transgender issues is FUBU (for us, by us). These things are so rarely discussed in the mainstream press and I’m so used to hearing about it from insiders that it’s odd reading outsiders explain it to the masses.
I can’t wait until the cineastes start re-evaluating the Wachowski Brothers films based on Larry’s gender and dominance issues. Not that it‘ll be that much of a stretch. I’m mean, a couple of macho, working class boys from Chicago decide to make a lesbian noir thriller for their first movie? Then the fact that the entire cast of the Matrix looks like they’re on their way to the Madame S Fetish Ball.
Also, as I won’t stop reminding you, I met Susie Bright last year and she worked with Larry Wachowski on the afore mentioned Bound. I met Bridgett Harrington two years ago. She did a movie with transgender porn star Buck Angel who is the ex husband of Wachowski’s Dominatrix/wife, Ilsa Strix (how two people with vaginas can be legally married in this country both perplexes me and gives me hope). All this is meaningless, but even to be tangentially connected to a story this juicy on the six degrees of separation is good enough for a starphuckre like me.