“Perhaps the most sublime piece of popular literature America has ever produced… As with the Beatles, everyone seems to like Maupin’s Tales - and, really, why would you want to find someone who didn’t?” — Laura Miller, Salon.com
Coming to Netflix in 2019 on June 7th—a modern-day ”Tales of the City” with Laura Linney and Olympia Dukakis returning in their roles.
Joining the cast of Armistead Maupin’s Tales of the City as series regulars are: Paul Gross (Due South, Alias Grace) reprising his role as “Brian Hawkins,” ex-husband of “Mary Ann Singleton” (played by Laura Linney) and father of “Shawna Hawkins” (played by Ellen Page); Murray Bartlett (Looking) playing the lovable “Michael ‘Mouse’ Tolliver” - longtime resident at Barbary Lane and Mary Ann’s best friend; Charlie Barnett (Chicago Fire) playing Mouse’s boyfriend “Ben Marshall”; newcomers Josiah Victoria Garcia playing the role of “Jake Rodriguez,” a newer resident on Barbary Lane who is a transgender man and a caregiver for Anna Madrigal (played by Olympia Dukakis) and May Hong (High Maintenance) as Jake’s long-term girlfriend “Margot Park.”
“THE UNTOLD TALES OF ARMISTEAD MAUPIN examines the life and work of one of the world's most beloved storytellers, following his evolution from a conservative son of the Old South into a gay rights pioneer whose novels have inspired millions to claim their own truth. Jennifer Kroot's documentary about the creator of TALES OF THE CITY moves nimbly between playful and poignant and laugh-out-loud funny. With help from his friends (including Neil Gaiman, Laura Linney, Olympia Dukakis, Sir Ian McKellen and Amy Tan) Maupin offers a disarmingly frank look at the journey that took him from the jungles of Vietnam to the bathhouses of 70's San Francisco to the front line of the American culture war.”
- watch on Netflix | view the trailer with sound
In this long-awaited memoir, the beloved author of the bestselling Tales of the City series chronicles his odyssey from the old South to freewheeling San Francisco, and his evolution from curious youth to ground-breaking writer and gay rights pioneer.
Born in the mid-twentieth century and raised in the heart of conservative North Carolina, Armistead Maupin lost his virginity to another man "on the very spot where the first shots of the Civil War were fired." Realizing that the South was too small for him, this son of a traditional lawyer packed his earthly belongings into his Opel GT (including a beloved portrait of a Confederate ancestor), and took to the road in search of adventure. It was a journey that would lead him from a homoerotic Navy initiation ceremony in the jungles of Vietnam to that strangest of strange lands: San Francisco in the early 1970s.
Reflecting on the profound impact those closest to him have had on his life, Maupin shares his candid search for his "logical family," the people he could call his own. "Sooner or later, we have to venture beyond our biological family to find our logical one, the one that actually makes sense for us," he writes. "We have to, if we are to live without squandering our lives." From his loving relationship with his palm-reading Grannie who insisted Maupin was the reincarnation of her artistic bachelor cousin, Curtis, to an awkward conversation about girls with President Richard Nixon in the Oval Office, Maupin tells of the extraordinary individuals and situations that shaped him into one of the most influential writers of the last century.
Maupin recalls his losses and life-changing experiences with humor and unflinching honesty, and brings to life flesh-and-blood characters as endearing and unforgettable as the vivid, fraught men and women who populate his enchanting novels. What emerges is an illuminating portrait of the man who depicted the liberation and evolution of America’s queer community over the last four decades with honesty and compassion—and inspired millions to claim their own lives.
"I fell in love with Maupin’s effervescent Tales of the City decades ago, and his genius turn at memoir is no less compelling. Logical Family is a must read."—Mary Karr
“The unflinchingly honest, often humorous, and ultimately powerful memoir of one of the most influential American writers of our time.”- The Advocate
“A sweetly frank and funny memoir by a storyteller in the first rank.”- O Magazine
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