If you dont live in Los Angeles, you might never have heard of the Mattachine Steps. In 2012, the outdoor staircase in Silver Lake was dedicated to the late Harry Hay, who co-founded the Mattachine Society an early gay rights organization in 1950.
In Andy Vallentines feature directorial debut The Mattachine Family, Thomas (Nico Tortorella) considers the steps, and later how his own group of friends, or more found family, connects to that history. The options and the lives available to queer people in 2023 are much more diverse and varied than they were in 1950, but finding the answers youre looking for can still be just as complex.
The film follows Thomas and his friends as they navigate their relationships, but specifically focuses on the issue of fertility and the paths to parenthood that exist for LGBTQ+ people. When Arthur, Thomas and his husband Oscars (Juan Pablo Di Pace) foster son, returns to his birth mother, Thomas decides he wants to give fatherhood another try. But, after watching how the loss of Arthur affected Thomas, Oscar isnt so sure.
Wow. Doing a chemistry read over Zoom must be surreal. I guess weve all gotten used to it at this point, but it still feels surreal.
Tortorella: There isnt that real energetic exchange. You can play it as an actor, right? But I cant feel your waves. I cant feel your heart over this. And thats so much of what being an actor is. It really sucks that weve gotten to this point. I cant remember the last time I auditioned in a room for anything. The last handful of things Ive gotten cast for have been over [Zoom]. You show up to work, and all of these people are cast off of a camera at the house, and you get to meet them for the first time in person. Its not just the actors meeting each other, its the directors meeting the actors for the first time. Its everybody meeting everybody together for the first time. It either works or it does not at all, and Ive been on sets where both of those things are true. Its weird. Its a weird time.
Role: Josh
