Eric Orner
Brings "Ethan Green" to Life
By Tim Nasson, Wild About Movies publisher
June 16, 2006
Sixteen years ago, a boy named Eric Orner, who had just graduated from Tufts University, had dreams and aspirations of becoming a cartoonist at a movie studio.
At the same time, his day job was drawing the editorial/political cartoons at New Hampshire’s daily newspaper, The Concord Monitor.
“After coming home from work, drawing political cartoons, day in and day out, of the first President Bush, I needed a new outlet. I had just been dumped by my boyfriend and while out and about at the [gay] bars, the 1270 on Boylston Street, and others like it, I observed and then drew.” And thus “The Mostly Unfabulous Social Life of Ethan Green,” was begotten.
“I have always been the creative type,” Orner says, recently. He now lives with his partner of fifteen years, Steven, in West Hollywood.
What began as a comic strip in Boston’s biggest gay newspaper, at the time, Bay Windows, has now become one of the biggest and most popular gay comic strips – ever.
So popular with readers has “Ethan Green” become, a new movie, based on the strip, is headed to a theater near you. And Meredith Baxter, (yes, one of the most famous television mothers of all time, Elyse Keaton), of “Family Ties,” plays the mother of “Ethan” on the big screen.
“The Mostly Unfabulous Social Life of Ethan Green: The Movie,” is a hilarious gay romantic comedy that follows the story of Ethan Green, an adorable 26 year-old professional 'assistant,' looking for love in all the wrong places.
Kitchy and fun, sexy and outrageous, “Ethan Green” is a sure bet, for a good time, whether you’re gay or straight, male or female. It might just make your love life look downright easy.
“I always envisioned ‘Ethan Green’ as a television cartoon,” says Orner. “And I still do. If I get my wish, ‘Ethan Green’ will become a half hour animated sitcom. That being said, I am very happy with the movie. It was a long process. While I didn’t write the screenplay, I did have input as to how the movie progressed from comic strip to screen. You have to realize,” he laughs, “you have a one and a half hour movie, based on sixteen years of comic strips.
“The producers approached me a few years ago. A small, independent movie such as this, takes a long time from planning to being released in theaters.”
The sexy Daniel Letterle, who made his motion picture debut in the 2003 gay hit, “Camp,” steps into the real-life shoes of Ethan Green’s Mostly Unfabulous Social Life.
“My social life was never exactly fabulous, and it still isn’t,” laughs Orner. “I came up with the concept and title of the ‘Ethan’ strip before the word ‘fabulous’ became such a cliché. ‘Ethan’ is a character who wasn’t the typical gay club kid, or young adult,” explains Orner. “I chose the word ‘unfabulous,’ because ‘Ethan’ is in his own little world. He is not the gay boy who buys a $500 Fossil watch or spends his weekend in Ibiza.
“The ‘Ethan’ comic strip was never autobiographical. Since I have been in a relationship for almost as long as ‘Ethan’ has been around, I can’t say he is based on me. But I drew on and still draw on experiences I had when I was single.”
Recently laid off from Walt Disney, where he was working on the ‘still in development’ “Tinkerbell” animated film, Orner is now waiting to see how “Ethan Green” does at theaters.
June 16th is its official release date in New York City and Los Angeles, but it will roll out around the country, little by little, until it has hit virtually every major and mini-major market, by the end of July, and is keeping his fingers crossed that his dream of an “Ethan Green” sitcom comes true.
“The character was created as a comic strip, and I think the possibilities are endless for an animated television show,” says Orner.
While “Ethan Green” hasn’t aged a day in sixteen years, the run, so-far, of the comic, Orner, who is now thirty-six, is working on a Graphic Novel about Boston.
“I miss living in Boston, but it will always be a part of me. And the graphic novel I am working on is something I have high hopes for.”
For a look at the official “Ethan Green” comic strip website, go to www.ethangreen.com
To check out the official website of the film, go to http://www.ethangreen-themovie.com
Top photo: Eric Orner
Middle photo: Ethan Green Movie Poster
Bottom photo: Middle - Daniel Letterle, who plays Ethan Green in the movie
Cartoon: "Ethan Green," By Eric Orner
