You Got To Have Friends: Hit and Runway's Creative Forces Pal It Up

By Brandon Judell

It's early morning in New York's trendy Mercer Hotel's lobby. A gay man and his straight buddy are eating overpriced eggs and coffee.

The guy into same-sex orgasms is Jaffe Cohen, founding member of the Funny Gay Males and co-author of Growing Up Gay: From Left Out to Coming Out (Hyperion).

Christopher Livingston, the hetero chap with a bit of chest hair sticking out over his collar, is more famous at the moment for his lineage then anything he's accomplished. His mom's Nancy Olson, William Holden's love interest in Sunset Boulevard.

B.A.R. : Did she fool around with Holden?

Livingston: I'm sure she kissed him. I know she kissed him on- screen.

Chris's dad was president of Capitol Records in the sixties, signing up both the Beatles and the Beach Boys; responsible for Bozo the Clown; and producer of Bonanza. His uncle co-wrote the Doris Day hit Que Sera Sera, and his step-father Alan Jay Lerner gave us Camelot and My Fair Lady.

B.A.R.: Have you considered selling your sperm over E-bay?

Livingston: Could I raise money for my next film that way?

These two guys, the very Jewish, acerbic small-framed Jaffe and the hunky Chris have pulled together their talents to create the often very, very funny Hit and Runway, a comedy about the relationship between Elliot (Peter Jacobson), a small, gay Jewish guy and Alex (Michael Parducci), a straight Italian hunk who are trying to write an action screenplay together.

One of the stars is Dawson Creek regular Kerr Smith who plays a gentile waiter who gets turned on by Jews, especially loud ones. When we mentioned he also played a gay in Broken Hearts Club, Jaffe notes: "I didn't even see that. At this point, I hate to say it, I'm so uninterested in movies that are just about gay people with other gay people. I think we've said everything we need to say about how gay people treat each other. I want to see more films about hamsters."

Parts of Hit and Runway seem clearly autobiographical. Indeed, the two friends first met at New York University when Jaffe showed up in a dress to read a Christopher Durang monologue for a short film Livingston was directing. It was creative love at first sight.

"The characters look like us also," Jaffe acknowledges. "Elliot is small and wears glasses, and Alex is large and kind of puppy-doggish and SO physical." Turning to Christopher, he continues, "You look like Alex. I think Elliot is more identifiable with me, but Alex does somethings that you do. Like when Alex has an idea and asks Elliot, 'Do you like that?' with a hopeful look in his eyes."

"I would say there are a lot of similarities, "Christopher concurs. "Another is that Elliot is an optimist. He believes in what he's doing. So does Jaffe. And Jaffe, though he's not a cynic, has the same cynical wit."

"I don't think I'm cynical," Jaffe retorts. "I'm more fatalistic. I would say I'm more like 'whatever will be will be' as opposed to 'no, you create your own distinct future, and you make it happen, and you do whatever you want.' I kind of barely can envision what I want for lunch."

But what about attire? Does Chris wear extremely tight jeans like Alex with his appendage prominently displayed on the left?

"Do you want me to stand up?" Chris laughingly asks.

"No," B.A.R. laughingly lies.

What about all these gentiles attracted to Jewish boys in the film? Does his religion help Jaffe to get laid? "Enough for me to figure out that character," Jaffe shares.

But since there are clubs for chubby chasers and people into Asians, and so forth, shouldn't there be one for Christians who yearn for kosher lads?

"It's called Canada," Jaffe explains. "I'm a comedian and I travel around. I grew up in places where Jews hardly exist, or if they did, the Jews were quiet. They're not like loud New York Jews. So I discovered that in places like Canada or Ohio, where people are more shy or withdrawn, when a loud-mouth Jew comes into town, they'll just literally roll over backwards. I find that hilarious because though I love being Jewish, I never think of it as a sexy religion.

"But then with sex, it's always the opposite," he adds. "I tend to be attracted to people who are either from Finland or Jamaica. Similarly, people who are very quiet and good manners, they're just thrilled by an irreverent Jewish person. I've had enough of those experiences. I call these folks Judeophiles."

Turning to Chris, B.A.R. notes that nowadays many straight guys think their gay counterparts are having sex ten times a day with ten different guys. Is he envious of this "supposed" gay lifestyle. Or does he, being a director, have enough females at his beck and call?

Before he can reply, Jaffe butts in, "Well, first of all, he hangs out with me. So from my example, he sees being gay doesn't mean you get more sex."

"No, no, I don't feel that way," Chris finally gets to answer. "I definitely date. I definitely meet people. I actually met somebody that I'm liking a lot. To be honest with you, my parents are still married so I'm ultimately looking for a really great relationship in my life. Over the course of the years, I've been searching for that. But I've had no real problem as far as sex is concerned. I meet a lot of women so I'm not envious. Maybe in my wildest fantasies, I've thought it'd be nice to have girls like all over me 24 hours a days. That would be kind of fun but I think it would get tiring after a few days."

"He has the hots for Jeri Ryan of StarTrek," Jaffe pipes in.

But what about San Francisco? Since your film is opening there, have you had many pleasant memories in the City of Love?

Chris suddenly lowers his voice and turns quite serious, "I had a romance there. I dated this girl, yeah." But he refuses to go on.

Jaffe, not to be left out, blurts out, "I don't remember getting laid there but I do recall a hot tub in the Noe Valley. I have lovely memories of that hot tub."