Taking the Plunge: Glenn Gaylord: Mercurial but Well-Intentioned Jerk/Sweetheart

I love filmmakers, not all filmmakers, I love filmmakers with guts. Meet Glenn Gaylord, who in true directorial fashion, is “Taking the Plunge” on his terms!

Ignoring the suggestion of five words to describe himself (and yes, I asked for nouns in fear that people would list “sexy” or “tall” or “handsome”, all of which may be true, but ultimately insignificant), Glenn listed 13 descriptors.

Even though we’ve never met, I love the fact that we both rescued dogs, skied Heavenly at Lake Tahoe, and admit to regrets. I also loved the fact that he’s in control. (I admit I Googled “A Confederacy of Dunces.”)

But I’ll let him direct this segment of "Taking the Plunge."

Glenn Gaylord

Glenn Gaylord is an award-winning filmmaker, whose latest effort, I DO, has won 8 film festival awards and will be released theatrically and On Demand May 31, 2013. Prior to that, Glenn was the Writer/Producer/Lyricist of the indie musical, LEAVE IT ON THE FLOOR, which played at such prestigious film festivals as the Toronto, Berlin, and Los Angeles International Film Festivals.

Glenn made his feature directing debut with the comedy smash, EATING OUT: ALL YOU CAN EAT, which became the first gay themed trilogy if you don’t count the LORD OF THE RINGS saga!

A graduate of the UCLA School of Film and Television, Glenn cut his teeth directing/producing reality and documentary television for Bravo, MTV, VH1, A&E, SKY TV, and Oxygen and made his initial mark with such award-winning short films as LOST CAUSE, BOYCHICK, LITTLE BFFs, and the sitcom, LEZ BE FRIENDS.

Born in the Sopranos-esque Youngstown, Ohio, Glenn credits his experience with mob mentality in preparing him for a career in Hollywood!

Directing "I DO" at NYC's Highline Park

Who are you? List 5 nouns that define you!

Five nouns that define me? Not adjectives? – ok, I’ll give this a shot:

Iconoclast – Survivor - Dog Lover – Often Inappropriate – Mercurial but Well-Intentioned Jerk/Sweetheart – Movie Encyclopedia.

What have you done that you’re most proud of?

Professionally, I’ve made films that mean something to me, that have showcased the LGBT community in all of its diversity, from the silly but sweet raunch of EATING OUT: ALL YOU CAN EAT to the struggling yet talented outcasts of the African American ball community in LEAVE IT ON THE FLOOR to the plight of bi-national same sex couples in I DO. I have strived for a warts-n-all approach, since perfect representations are so boring.

Personally, rescuing a sweet, rambunctious Aussie Cattle Dog/Shepherd mix and giving her a truly fun life is one of my proudest accomplishments.

If you could change one thing in your past, what would it be?

The clichéd answer here is that I wouldn’t change a thing because everything that happened has made me who I am today.

And while that’s true, I would have worn a condom back when I was 17 years old and I would have told a lot of my friends to do the same. It was a time when there was no such concept of Safer Sex Education for gay people, a time when prophylaxis was thought of only to prevent pregnancy, and when the stigma of even addressing gay issues prevented important, life-saving discussions.

On a personal/client level, what drives you crazy? What gives you joy?

There’s so much that drives me crazy – bigotry, hatred, the way so much of the world treats its people as if we were all still in High School, but I honestly think things would go so much smoother if people used their turn signals and let others off elevators before boarding. Oh, and stop texting while driving!

On the flip side, I get great joy from acts of generosity. Even when I see a character on a TV show helping someone out, I become a blubbering idiot whose faith has been restored in humankind.

In no particular order, the following also gives me a perma-smile: Aimee Mann, Robert Michael Morris as Mickey in THE COMEBACK, the film PAPER MOON, a clean, uncluttered desk, typing “FADE OUT – THE END” in a screenplay, watching an audience laugh or cry as intended in one of my films, a dinner table filled with good friends, my ridiculously large, crazy family, the last line of A CONFEDERACY OF DUNCES (Google that one and it’ll make you want to read the rest), the trees lining Maple Drive in Beverly Hills, skiing Heavenly’s Ridge Run overlooking Lake Tahoe, NYC’s Highline Park, Runyon Canyon hikes with my doggy, and eating a sun-ripened Starfruit from a roadside stand in Oahu.

Given no restrictions (i.e. money/physical capabilities) – what would you most like to do?

Feed the hungry, promote world peace, blah blah blah. Pageant answers aside, I would eat your mother…no…I would eat my own mother for a vacation at the Four Seasons Bora Bora. Each room is a private hut over the clear blue water.

I would want to bring back Jose Andres’ late-great Spanish restaurant El Bulli just so I could experience the molecular gastronomic delights for a night.

I want to fly First Class on Singapore Airlines so I can have my own suite on a plane. I’ve wanted to ski at Whistler in Vancouver and in Jackson Hole, Wyoming and I wouldn’t be mad if I had the opportunity to go Zorbing in New Zealand, sing “I’m Going Down” with Bruce Springsteen onstage just so I can jump up on an amp.

And finally, I’d love to experience the impossible, which is to have my entire family of 10 all around a dinner table one more time, laughing and arguing and talking over each other.