The Powerhouse held a screening of the mockumentary Glorious Mail, on July 25th. Fabulous hors d’oeuvres were served, and domestic beers were on sale for two dollars. I had more than my fair share of each and thoroughly enjoyed the film. First sentences of dialogue were repeated in whispers around me because laughter from the punch lines carried over.

Glorious Mail was set in the fictitious town of “Sinnaville”, but was filmed in Oxford, and starred lots of familiar faces. It’s described on their website (www.gloriousmail.com) as the story of “a flamboyantly gay antique dealer, singer, and community theater actor named Cesar Nutley Willingham IV. Cesar is causing a local and federal controversy with his new mailbox which was crafted for his 33rd birthday by his lesbian artist friend, Kymeleon Cockerham. The controversial mailbox is an abstract sculpture of a man bending over with his hands on his knees and his rear end facing the curb. When Bob, the redneck, homophobic mailman delivers the mail, he refuses to open the ass-door of the mailbox and instead, throws Cesar’s mail onto the ground near the box. Some Sinnavillains see the mailbox as pure art. Others see it as “pure evil.”

Producer JD Evermore agreed to answer some questions for The Local Voice:

How long have you lived in Oxford? Do you live in Oxford now?

I lived in Oxford for a little over three years. Moved there from LA and left there about a year and a half ago. Been living in Jackson since I left and am moving back to LA on the 23rd of this month.

Can you give me an idea of the background of Glorious Mail and how you became involved with the project?

The idea for Glorious Mail was birthed by Alice Walker and me from a simple idea about a man with a controversial mailbox and grew into what it became — a movie about love, acceptance and understanding of one another, gay or straight. It was a movie made in support of all our gay friends and was also inspired by all those great mockumentarys by Christopher Guest and company. (i.e. Waiting for Guffman, Best In Show) Alice Walker and I wrote the original script for Glorious Mail, and we produced it together and played roles in the movie. I also directed and edited the movie, which was my first time doing either.

Where else have you screened the movie besides Oxford? What have the reactions been?

The movie has been in three film festivals so far, and has won awards at all three. We won 2nd Best Feature at the 2007 Appalachian Film Festival in Huntington, WV. Grey Sample (Oxford native) won Best Actor in a Feature at the 2007 BirminghamSHOUT! Gay + Lesbian Film Festival for the role of Cesar Nutley Willingham IV. Most recently, we won the TRUE GRIT AWARD (Best Feature) at the 2007 IndieGRITS Film Festival in Columbia, SC. Other than those screenings, we also screened to a packed house at Hal and Mal’s recently, and they really got it. They were laughing, clapping, whistling and cheering throughout the movie. We also had a great turnout at the recent Oxford screening, although the audience did seem a little more conservative than most of our audiences. Each screening and each audience is different, though. It’s always interesting to me to see which jokes the audience will get. The laughs are always varied and different. The one continuous comment we always get from people is how much they loved the movie and that their stomachs and faces hurt from laughing and smiling so much. Must be a good thing.

Do you have a favorite moment from production?

Favorites are always hard for me. I’ve always hated picking favorites with anything, but I would probably say my favorite moment was shooting the radio scene with Cesar and Brother Oral Buchanan (played by Mississippi actor Ritchie Montgomery) mostly because it shocked me and I didn’t know what to expect from that scene. That scene, along with most of the interviews in the movie were improved, so when the cameras rolled, no one knew what was going to happen. I would have to say my other favorite moment was in post-production when I made the final edit in the movie and I could call it finished.

What similiarities/differences do the towns of Oxford and Sinnaville share?

I think Sinnaville and Oxford are similar in many ways. For one, their courthouse and town squares look absolutely identical. Just kidding. Really, I would say the people that make up Sinnaville and their feelings toward gay people are similar to some of the people in Oxford, as well as many towns in the south and all across America. That’s why I feel this movie has such a universal appeal, even though it’s very much a southern movie. Some differences between Sinnaville and Oxford are that most people in Oxford are pretty open minded and tolerant of others lifestyle and Oxford has a much deeper talent pool than Sinnaville.

You mentioned that you were going to California to promote Glorious Mail. What do you hope the outcome will be?

I hope to have several screenings in LA soon and try to get as many industry people to come and see it and hope that at least one person will see it and decide to buy it and distribute it. Even if it gets a limited release to art house cinemas around the country, we would be thrilled. We just want to get the movie out there, however possible, for as many people to see and enjoy, and hopefully take home a new feeling of respect, understanding, and acceptance towards gay people they may or may not know.

When and where will the next screening of Glorious Mail take place in Oxford?

We are thinking of doing another screening in Oxford sometime in Late September or October. I believe it will also be playing in the Oxford Film Festival in February ‘08.

What do you hope people take away from this movie?

Gay people are people too, and we’re all a little weird and different and that doesn’t make us bad or unworthy of respect from others.

Who are some of your professional influences?

Christopher Guest - for all those great mockumentaries and all those laughs he’s inspired, and Billy Bob Thornton - because after many years in the business, he didn’t actually make it until he was 40 and had written, directed and starred in Slingblade. That gives me hope that I still have time.

What’s the last great movie you have seen?

I haven’t been to the movies lately or watched many movies lately, but I did go so Casino Royale and thought it was the best James Bond movie I had seen since I was a kid. The last couple of times I’ve been to a James Bond movie in the past decade, I’m pretty sure I fell asleep, and I don’t think that should happen in a James Bond movie.

What projects are you currently involved with?

I just finished working with Denzel Washington, Forest Whitaker, and John Heard in a movie called The Great Debaters. Denzel directed and starred in the movie and Oprah’s Harpo Productions produced it. In it, Denzel plays a professor at a small, black college in Texas in the 1930’s that inspires his students to form the school’s first debate team and they go all the way to the championships and beat Harvard for the title. It’s based on a true story and I believe it’s going to be a great movie. Other than that, I’m writing a new script with a friend that is sort of a Manchurian Candidate type of story. That’s all I can say about it, or else I may have to brainwash you. I’m also waiting to hear if I got the part in a really interesting movie with Susan Sarandon and Eva, her daughter. I will also start work on the sequel to “Waiting...” the gross-out restaurant comedy, shortly after moving back to LA. I’m happy to announce that the REDNECK customer will be back for the sequel, hopefully with his ShennaniganZ hat, key chain, and gift certificates.