Doug Spearman has been either in front of the camera or behind it for several decades. His starring role in LOGO’s popular hit series “Noah’s Arc” catapulted him to national visibility. Spearman’s first feature length film, Hot Guys with Guns, premiered as part of the 2013 Chicago International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival this past November. This “buddy” film centers on “Nick and Nora Charles” type-characters investigating a series of sex crimes in West Hollywood.
What was the leap from acting to directing like for you?
It was not a big leap; in fact, acting was more of a leap because what the world doesn’t realize is that I’ve spent most of my life directing television commercials and theater. In my day job, I had a dual career co-starring in small parts in big things and big parts in small things and a lot of stage and theater as an actor and “Noah’s Arc” came along and it was the first time I was really visible on a national level. People think my acting career began when I started “Noah’s Arc” in 2004, but I’ve been acting since 1969 and I’ve been directing since 1977.
How long did it take you to bring the elements together from concept to finished production?
Movies take forever! (Laughs) I come from television and television tapings are very fast. Movies sometimes feel like you’re trying to melt an iceberg with a Bic lighter. I got the idea for Hot Guys with Guns in 1999; outlined it in 2005, constantly evolving the characters in the story. I wrote the first draft of the script in September 2007 and actually drafted it as a television series and then in 2008 it went through the Writer’s Lab at Outfest and then it stayed in my computer for a couple of years and I did a couple of drafts tinkering around with it. And summer before last I saw a friend’s movie at Outfest, I Do, and realized he and I were writing out movies at the same time and I thought, you know what his movie is on screen and mine is on my laptop and that has got to change.
How has the overall reception to “Hot Guys” been?
Amazing! People are really surprised and laughing. Some people have been a little shocked and annoyed by it because it doesn’t fit the mold of a tender “coming out” story of a 21-year old Iowa farm boy. But it is patterned after very recognizable archetypes we see on television and film all the time—the black-white buddy comedy or action movie and people love that. It is a popcorn movie. A movie made to be really enjoyed with a subtle political message. People think it is funny that the characters are so “over the top.” LA got the movie really well, but I live in a place where “over the top” is normal.
