Marry Me, Bryan Fuller

I don't know why it'd not occurred to me in the past, but after once again laughing my ass of at last night's episode of Pushing Daisies I decided to read up on the show's creator - as well as the co-creator of one of my favorite shows ever, Wonderfalls - Bryan Fuller. See, in last night's episode when, for a second week in a row, a Hitchcock-riff presented itself - Molly Shannon as Tippi Hedren being attacked by gulls had me rolling on the floor - I realized that Bryan Fuller is... what's the word? A Genius? God? (No offense to the boyfriend but) The Perfect Man?

So I went scouring the internet for some interviews with him and, after reading several, well, Bryan Fuller might just be the coolest man alive. And he's a gay! Here's a choice selection of quotes from him, all of which seem to have been created in a lab by scientists using some kind of genetic decoding of everything that makes me squeal with glee.

Bryan Fuller on how he got started (via Brilliant But Cancelled, 12/06):

"I never really fancied myself a writer. I was a huge, huge “Star Trek” fan, and I didn’t want to be a television writer as much as I wanted to be a “Star Trek” writer. And so I went to film school, and that was a very eye opening experience. Because I originally fancied myself as a director. And when I got there, it was just so technical. There were F-stops. And it was more than my delicate little brain could handle."

Bryan Fuller, talking about the tough time he had with the networks creating gay characters for Dead Like Me, his first show (which I ain't seen and am throwing on my queue today), and Wonderfalls (also via B,BC):

"And the very real fact, unfortunately, is that homosexuality makes people uncomfortable. As much as we’ve had “Will and Grace” and the loathsome “Queer as Folk.”... I do see the purpose that "Queer as Folk" serves. There is a chance for people to look around and say “Okay, there are gay people all around us.” But for me, I hated all the gay people on the show. If anything, I would be the character in the parking lot with the baseball bat. They were all, down the line, just loathsome people and I really resented them being at the forefront representing homosexual culture when they were all so reprehensible."

Bryan Fuller on one of the inspirations for Pushing Daisies and his preoccupation with death (via B,BC):

"This is going to sound awful, but some of my fondest memories as a child were going to funerals because that was sort of a very social event and I got to see lots of cousins that I didn’t normally see every day. And they weren’t as sick of my shit as my immediate family, so it was easier to talk to them about TV and movies and things that I was sort of fanatical about. They would sort of put up with it. So I always had good experiences at funerals...

I’m really curious about what happens next? People talk about near death experiences. And what is it that they see? Is it a bright light? Is it the Care Bear Village?"

Bryan Fuller on the amazing Katie Finneran, who was hysterical as Jaye's gay sister Sharon on Wonderfalls (via AfterEllen, 3/04):

"She just sings on screen. She has impeccable comic timing, and is just a brilliant actress across the board. Also, she had a part in Night of the Living Dead as part of the zombie barbeque. If you get eaten by a zombie in a horror movie, I'm in love with you."

Bryan Fuller on why Sharon was conceived of as a gay character and what he'd planned to do with her (also via AE):

"Todd [Holland, co-creator of Wonderfalls] and I are both openly gay, and I think we feel a responsibility to having gay characters on shows we create. I had a gay character (George's father) on Dead Like Me, and unfortunately after I left that show they made the character straight, which I did not appreciate and frankly, thought was really shitty. But that was just one of many things about that situation that was uncool...

[Sharon]’s a very conflicted character, one of those Log Cabin Republicans. We have a line in one of the episodes where she’s a part of the Conservative Ladies of America and her sister accuses her of using the Republican Party as a lesbian dating service. It’s a different angle that will give us a richer context and help you understand why someone who is so politically conservative might still be in the closet...

In the second season, however, we'll be able to explore those ideas more freely. There are things that happen in the first season, for example, that are setting up huge character arcs for Sharon in the second season. Huge! We have so many big things coming for Sharon -- we're going to be seeing a lot of the lesbian lawyer in the second season."

Oh if only, Bryan! Anyway, as gay as Pushing Daisies is - and man, it don't get much gayer than a duet between Kristen Chenoweth and Ellen Greene, right? - I'm looking forward to a gay character any day now! I know, I know, let's just get this writer's strike resolved and make sure Pushing Daisies gets a second season first. Patience!

Bryan Fuller on his religious upbringing (via SuicideGirls, 1/05):

"I was raised with some fucked Catholic shit."

Bryan Fuller on why Wonderfalls maybe didn't find an audience (also via SG):

"ABC launched Lost and Desperate Housewives like summer movie blockbusters. Most networks will choose one or two shows to get behind and spend that money on. Wonderfalls was not one of those shows because they didn’t think it had those things that would appeal to a mass audience. It wasn’t boobies on the beach. I wish they had got behind Wonderfalls a tenth of how they got behind North Shore. They didn’t see the commercial appeal because our main character, while stunningly beautiful, was a bit of a tomboy. She was never in dress and although you did see her perfect stomach with a bare midriff. With the advertising, we weren’t like “Don’t you want to fuck Caroline Dhavernas?”"

Bryan Fuller on casting Diana Scarwid (who played Christina in Mommie Dearest) as Jaye's mother in Wonderfalls (also via SG):

"A friend of mine was asking me if I was fag enough to ask Diana Scarwid about Mommie Dearest and I said, no, but I was definitely fag enough to ask her about Psycho 3. She sort of stared at me when I went “Remember when you pushed that nun down the bell tower at the beginning?” She just said, stop talking."

On being weird (also via SG):

"I’m occasionally stoned on the marijuana but that’s as deviant as I get as far as substances. I think it’s that weird things interest me. Weird shit comes out of my mouth which may seem like genius to some people but it’s just weird."

Seriously - the more I read, the more I fall in love. He obsesses over obscure horror bits, he wants to gay-bash the characters in Queer as Folk, and he imagines the afterlife to be something like the Care Bear Village. You are most definitely my sort of weird, Mr. Fuller.
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