Production company Parts and Labor has announced “Keep The Lights On” director Ira Sachs’ next project — an NYC-set romantic drama entitled “Love Is Strange," starring Michael Gambon and Alfred Molina as a gay couple. Molina has a varied resume including roles in “An Education” and current Sundance entry “Emanuel and the Truth about Fishes,” while Gambon is best known for his role as Dumbledore in the latter 'Harry Potter' films. So Dumbledore is gay! Or at least, the actor who played him after Richard Harris will pretend to be in this one film.
The premise finds Gambon and Molina newly married after a 28-year-long relationship when one partner unexpectedly loses his job at a local Catholic school. Forced to give up their apartment and live separately, one man moves in with his nephew in Brooklyn while the other shacks up with two gay cops next door.
Sachs’ last project, “Keep The Lights On,” is currently nominated for Best Picture by the 2013 Independent Spirit Awards, while Sachs is nominated for Best Director. The critically-celebrated film is similarly about a gay New York couple, so “Love Is Strange,” doesn’t mark much of a departure for the filmmaker. That said, 'Lights' zeroed in on a young couple in a fledgling relationship, while the focus here is on a more established bond between two older men that comes under pressure, which will likely yield different textures and results. Either way, we'll be curious to see what Sachs delivers. [Deadline]