Eric Cervini: Last News

When he was an undergrad at Harvard, author and historian Eric Cervini’s first encounter with queer history surprisingly did not come from a book.

Marc Malkin Senior Film Awards, Events & Lifestyle EditorFinding LGBTQ actors to cast in the new history docuseries “The Book of Queer” wasn’t that difficult.No, producers didn’t ask the actors about their sexuality.“If you’re casting for a show called ‘Book of Queer,’ and you’re saying in the audition process, ‘Is there any particular reason you want to be on this show?,’ they’re going to tell us,” series creator Eric Cervini tells me. “Of course, we weren’t discriminating, but it was kind of self-selecting.’”The five-episode “Book of Queer,” which premieres Thursday on Discovery+, features multiple stories about queer history and queer individuals, including Greek poet Sappho, Alexander the Great, King James, Joan of Arc, Akhenaten, Leonardo Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Alan Turning, Josephine Baker, Stormé DeLarverie, Sylvia Rivera, Eleanor Roosevelt, Gilbert Baker, Harvey Milk, Marsha P.

Marc Malkin Senior Film Awards, Events & Lifestyle EditorAmazon Studios and Brad Pitt’s Plan B Entertainment are developing a limited series based on “The Deviant’s War: The Homosexual vs. The United States of America,” historian Eric Cervini’s New York Times bestseller.

The Book of Queer, all five episodes of which will premiere during Pride month. Produced by B17 Entertainment, the new series is a documentary with staged reenactments, a show intent on being as entertaining as it is educational.The series aims to “celebrate the LGBTQ+ community and their contributions throughout history” — “from Ancient Egypt to the Stonewall Riots” — largely by taking an approach “blending comedy with social impact.” The Book of Queer uses witty recreations “to bring each of the stories to life with a modern tone, and features interviews with revered queer historians and experts who are as colorful as the rainbow flag.”An ensemble cast made up exclusively of LGBTQ-identified actors is tasked with carrying out the recreations as they work to portray nearly 200 historical figures.Keeping them in line and on fact will be more than a dozen historians, including Lillian Faderman, Blair Imani, Michael Young, Susan Stryker, and Pulitzer Prize finalist Eric Cervini, who curated the narratives.Meanwhile, color commentary comes from narrators Margaret Cho, Dominique Jackson, Leslie Jordan, Ross Mathews, and Alex Newell.Each episode culminates in an original song and music video, created and performed by queer pop artists, including Betty Who, VINCINT, Shawnee Kish, Mila Jam, and Kaleena Zanders.“Throughout the centuries, LGBTQ+ stories have been kept under wraps for far too long,” says Howard Lee, president of TLC Streaming and Network Originals.

Homo historian, Dr. Eric Cervini, has already amassed a following on social media for his intelligent and articulate videos explaining Queer history, but now he is determined to educate the LGBTQI community with his LGBTQI Film and Book Club for the Quarantine era – ‘Quarantini’.