Ryan Reynolds knows the gays love him already for all the shirtless woodchopping he did in that Amityville Horror remake. And he confidently glided through a gay role in the oddball indie The Nines, refusing to turn it all into caricature and lowest common denominator stereotype. Now comes his first comedy drag role to flesh out that queer-cred resume. He’ll play a man who decides to disguise himself as a woman in order to make friends with his ex-girlfriend and win her back. There’s no title yet and no female lead cast as of this moment, so it’s at least a year or so away from your multiplex. And sure, the straight-guy-in-a-dress thing’s been done before, but rarely by a man who looks this good when he’s not in heels.

His moments as indie film’s best-kept secret may be numbered thanks to his star turn in this summer’s adorable sleeper hit (500) Days of Summer. And that weird supporting role in G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, while not contributing anything artistic to the world, definitely raised his mainstream profile in a way he hasn’t experienced since his days as a kid on the sitcom Third Rock From The Sun. That means he’s on a roll, and if you can’t get enough of the talented young actor, keep your eyes peeled for his third film of 2009, Uncertainty. It’s set to open this month in limited release, and it’s directed by Scott McGehee and David Siegel, the filmmaking partners behind the gay-themed The Deep End (McGehee is the queer one of that gay-straight alliance). What’s it about? The mysterious trailer reveals almost no clues. So it can be said with certainty that it’s totally uncertain.

Biopics about inspirational blind musicians and famously lost female aviators (or even gay rights pioneers) can become tired after awhile. True-life stories of relatively obscure art-world personalities who commit his-and-hers suicide, however, are packed to the brim with all sorts of morbidly fascinating details that don’t require too much faithful translation when brought to the big screen. Enter Bret Easton Ellis and Gus Van Sant, who’ll be working together on a script called The Golden Suicides, about the 2007 deaths of New York art scenesters Theresa Duncan and Jeremy Blake. The story’s rarefied atmosphere and high-life tragedy is the perfect fit for Ellis, whose own fiction could have included these people if they weren’t already real. And Van Sant’s due for something more arthouse and less multiplex after his recent Milk success. When it sees the light of day in 2011 (2012?) we’ll find out if it’s a match made in misery-loving heaven or just a big indie bummer.

They’re bringing back that notorious Broadway disaster Carrie. The one that was based on the Sissy Spacek-starring ’70s horror film. Nope, not making that up. There are rewrites and revisions already underway, but no real concrete details yet. And really, it’s not a moment too soon. Because in the current climate in which bringing just about every popular movie to the musical theater stage is standard practice, and with Carrie’s legend having only grown since its early demise, why not give audiences a chance to see what they’ve been denied? Meanwhile, it’s now the Spice Girls turn to have their own stage calamity, as casting has begun in the U.K. for a Mamma Mia!-style jukebox show based on the story of the girl-power quintet’s rise to fame. Not that Romeo is predicting or even hoping for a Carrie-like failure; it’s just that when you get all the free Posh you need in the tabloids, why would you buy a ticket to see someone impersonate her?

Madonna is going to direct again. What, you say you didn’t know she’d already directed one feature film? Well, she did. And it was called “Filth and Wisdom.” It was bad. Came out in 2008. A handful of people saw it. So she’s giving it another go. After promising not to be in the film, the former Mrs. Guy Ritchie has received generous help from her filmmaking ex-husband in finding a cast for the currently titled W.E., a romantic comedy with roots in the relationship between Britain’s Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson. Meeting with respected U.K. actors Mark Strong and Toby Kebbell (both from Ritchie’s cool crime-comedy RocknRolla), the singer is also seeking a big name to help boost the film’s budget. In other words, she’s going to have to get Guy to call Gerard Butler for her, too – and that this movie is at least a couple of years away from any ticket-purchasing opportunity.

If you want to know more about the bad old days and how homosexual citizens of the United States had to live extremely discreet lives not so long ago, you should really read Neil Miller’s disturbing book Sex Crime Panic: A Journey to the Paranoid Heart of the 1950s. Filled with instances of incarceration in prisons and mental hospitals for no other reason than being discovered as gay, it’s non-fiction that will shake you up. And soon it will be Peter Paige’s (“Queer As Folk”) third feature film as a director. The indie drama Paige is helming will be titled simply Sex Crime Panic and will follow the harrowing story of a group of men suffering under American anti-gay laws half a century ago. And, OK, sure, maybe that doesn’t sound like much fun to watch, but when did important history lessons ever promise you a rose garden? Casting now, the film shoots mid-2010. That gives you plenty of time to read that book first.

The “Hitler was gay” crowd is going to like this one. Homosexuals sporting shaved heads who also have a fondness for swastikas have generally been the sole provenance of avant-garde Canadian filmmaker Bruce LaBruce, but it looks like the shiny leather boot is now on the other foot. At the recent Rome Film Festival, critics and jury members alike went gaga over Brotherhood, a film generally considered to be the best of the fest. Director Nicolo Donato sets his story in present-day Denmark, where neo-Nazis perpetrate violent crimes against gays and foreign immigrants. So naturally things get a little awkward when new recruit Lars (Thure Lindhart) finds that he has feelings for gang leader Jimmy (David Dencik) – and that those feelings wind up being mutual. Given its timeliness – to say nothing of the film’s sex and violence – Brotherhood looks like a good candidate to get a U.S. release; look for it to hit art-house screens, or at least stateside film festivals, sometime in 2010.

Heather Matarazzo is a brave young performer, and not just because she came out of the closet. She played the aggressively nerdy (and horribly dressed) Dawn Wiener in her film debut, the modern classic pain-comedy Welcome to the Dollhouse, and she screamed and screamed while her blood rained down onto another naked woman who paid to torture her in Hostel 2. Now she’s playing US Weekly cover staple Jessica Simpson – sort of. Matarazzo has signed on to play the lead role in Magnus!, a new film from gay Fat Girls director Ash Christian. And while Christian says that it’s not exactly Simpson’s life story, Matarazzo will play a trailer-trash gal who loves singing and gets cast in a local production of Jesus Christ Superstar. Romeo’s already intrigued, but the casting of the hilarious Jennifer Coolidge as Matarazzo’s mom makes for the perfect cherry on top. Shooting starts in late November, which means Magnus! should be ready to hit all the queer film fests next summer, just in time for Simpson to start a tabloid feud with everyone involved.