Tab Hunter Confidential | Automat Pictures

 

TAB HUNTER CONFIDENTIAL

Throughout the 1950s, Tab Hunter reigned as Hollywood’s ultimate male heartthrob. In dozens of films — and in the pages of countless movie magazines — Tab’s astonishing looks and golden-boy sex appeal drove his fans to screaming, delirious frenzy, making him the prototype for all young matinee idols to come.

Bristling against being just another pretty face and wanting to be taken seriously, Tab was one of the few to be able to transcend pin-up boy status. He earned his stripes as an actor to become a major movie star and recording artist.

But throughout his years of stardom, Tab had a secret. Tab Hunter was gay, and spent his Hollywood years in a precarious closet that repeatedly threatened to implode and destroy him. Now, Tab’s dramatic, turbulent and ultimately inspiring life story has become an explosive documentary feature directed by Emmy award winning filmmaker Jeffrey Schwarz.

The film has the unique advantage of exclusive, unprecedented access to Tab Hunter himself who shares first hand, for the first time, what it was like to be a studio manufactured movie star during the Golden Age of Hollywood and the consequences of being someone totally different from his studio manufactured image. We trace Tab’s dizzying rise to Hollywood super-stardom, his secret life in an era when being openly gay was unthinkable, and his ultimate triumph when the limelight finally passed him by.

Punctuating Tab’s on screen presence are rare film clips and provocative interviews with friends and co-stars including John Waters, Clint Eastwood, George Takei, Debbie Reynolds, Robert Wagner, Portia de Rossi, Noah Wyle, Connie Stevens, Robert Osborne, and dozens more.

Tab Hunter Confidential is an important piece of Hollywood’s hidden history that is more relevant than ever in today’s obsessive, star-driven, sexuality speculating media.

DIRECTOR/PRODUCER
Jeffrey Schwarz

PRODUCER
Alan Glaser

PRODUCER
Neal Koenigsberg

CO-PRODUCER
John Boccardo

CINEMATOGRAPHER
Nancy Schreiber, ASC

EDITOR
Jeffrey Schwarz

COMPOSER
Michael “The Millionaire” Cudahy

DESIGN & ANIMATION
Grant Nellessen

“…a magnificent documentary.”
— Quentin Tarantino

“Solid and informative…”
— The Hollywood Reporter

“A savvy, rollicking, eye popping film.”
— Vanity Fair

“A colorful, entertaining & lively documentary.”
— Variety

For public screening inquiries:
Jeffrey Winter / The Film Collaborative
jeffrey (at) thefilmcollaborative (dot) org

For official presskit & stills:
thefilmcollaborative.org/films/tabhunterconfidential

For press and all other inquiries:
Lotti Pharriss Knowles, Associate Producer
laser (at) silcom (dot) com