KIT COLTRANE is a Baltimore hon with an Irish heart. A graduate of the Baltimore School for the Arts and Johns Hopkins University, Kit has done any number of odd things—liturgical dance, organ tuning, teaching preschool, directing Shakespeare, selling espresso machines—and is currently managing in the elevated dining industry. She lives in Baltimore with her partner, a massive mug collection, and an ever-expanding mocktail bar, and she can often be found dining out in elaborate attire.

Excerpt from Eight Weeks in Paris by S.R. Lane

BREAKING: Lost novel of Belle Epoque Paris, The Throne, comes to the silver screen with an A-list cast. But will on-set drama doom the filming of this gay love story before it starts?

Read on for an excerpt from
Eight Weeks in Paris from S.R. Lane!

Chapter One

grapevine.us/2024/01/12/the-throne-live-action-cast

10:44 am

BREAKING: Nicholas Madden cast in live-action
adaptation of LGBTQ masterpiece The Throne

Nicholas Madden was cast this morning as “Frederick” in period piece The Throne, confirming rumors to that effect.

Cast alongside him are Sir Reginald Jarrett as “Hubert,”
Andrée Belfond as “Jehanne” (it’s been so long since the French gamine has been on our screens!), and Jason Kirkhall as “Ambrose” (an odd choice, as Kirkhall is best known for his superhero franchises, but he can be versatile...if one overlooks his long nights out).

We expect some drama out of so capricious a cast—lest we forget Kirkhall’s flighty liaisons with starlets and K-Pop singers, and Sir Reginald Jarrett’s infinite on-demand supply of apricot tartlets. But even they are put to shame by Madden’s legendary strops, his short-fuse temper, and his rank distaste for misbehaving costars. As the man critics have dubbed the Big Bad Wolf of Hollywood, Madden hits all the stops in the actor bingo, from “extraordinarily talented” to “a proper prick, actually.”

Madden’s fan base, trusting in their idol’s penchant for dramatics, has set up an online clock ticking down to the first on-set breakdown (see it for yourself here).

Despite these apparent drawbacks, The Throne—with Priya Chaudhuri set to direct and the Henderson siblings producing—may well turn out a number of award-worthy performances. Chaudhuri, to whom official recognition is long overdue, is a hot bet for Best Director noms next year. The Throne might become her golden ticket into Hollywood history...if Kirkhall can keep it in his pants and Madden can keep it together.

Set in turn-of-the-century Paris, The Throne was for decades a lost novel. Rediscovered in the early nineties, it was heralded as a masterpiece of LGBTQ literature. The love story at its core is frequently cited by modern critics as a rare early portrayal of a non-tragic gay relationship—though its depiction of bohemian queerness during the Belle Époque is not without its flaws and prejudices.

With Madden cast as one of the two mains, only “Angelo,” the novel’s most complex and controversial figure, is left to cast.