2011: My List of Top 5 Quinto-fied Moments

2011 has been a year of many outstanding Quinto events!

Zachary Quinto kept himself suitably busy throughout the year, working his biceps in various mediums on stage, in TV and films, on the social networks as well as behind the scenes.

It has indeed been a stellar year for Zach and the Before The Door team as they embarked on some wonderful things that elevated their profiles in so many different ways.

Here is My Top 5 List of Quinto-fied Moments in 2011:

#1 - Sundance and "Margin Call"

In January, together with writer-director J.C. Chandor, Zach and the Before the Team took their first full-length movie "Margin Call" to the Sundance Film Festival. The crew of cast members like Oscar-winners Jeremy Irons, Kevin Spacey and A-listers Paul Bettany, Stanley Tucci and Demi Moore came along for the official worldwide premiere at the Eccles Theatre.

At this important indie film fest held at Salt Lake City, they managed to sell the intelligent (although a little harder-to-love) financial apocalyptic movie "Margin Call" to distributors, Roadside Attractions and Lionsgate. In fact, "Margin Call" was one of the first few films to be sold early during the Sundance - a deal that was highly indicative of more good things to come!

When the movie was released in the States, it was also distributed online - a decision called "day and date video on demand" release. I thought this was a superb and brave strategic move that proved to be viable, and it certainly made the movie more available to viewers who are in tune to the current digital age. And I also thought it did well to fight some effects of piracy in the States with the speedier, digital distribution - where one need not leave the comfort of one's home to catch an indie movie playing maybe a couple of cities away!

After its commercial release in the States, "Margin Call" began to garner lots of positive reviews from critics and smarter audiences, who appreciated the more realistic story-telling to the Wall Street events which mirrored the last few hours before the downfall of investment bank, Lehman Brothers. And there were even murmurings of Oscar nominations.

What a buzz for a first BTD-produced feature film! Even as a fan, I feel proud of what they were able to achieve with an indie film based on a topic that is usually difficult to grasp by layman audiences.

I have to admit - I have not watched "Margin Call" yet. It has finally screened at theatres in Singapore this week, and I have booked tickets to watch it on the big screen (YAYYY!) next Tuesday!

#2 - "Mr Murder Is Dead" and Nerd HQ

I will always be panda-face-sad that I was unable to go to SDCC in 2011. Sadly, sometimes practical life and issues do take precedence on things nerdy. :(

At SDCC 2011, a graphic novel called "Mr Murder Is Dead" (written by Victor Quinaz and illustrated by Brent Schoonover) made its Mr-Spooky debut. It was a long time coming.

Ever since the collaboration between Before The Door and indie publisher Archaia was announced, fans have been eagerly waiting to purchase a copy of the pulp-noir fashioned graphic novel. And we were certainly not disappointed with the final product - which had a compelling "story-within-a-story" and was absolutely beautiful to look at.

SDCC 2011 was also the year when off-site events took root via Zachary Levi's setup, The Nerd Machine. Zac and his team has decided to gather fans and run various paid events (all proceeds go to charity Operation Smile) like gaming competitions, parties, panels and signings at "The Nerd HQ", which was located at the Gaslamp District.

One of the panels had the BTD team, Victor Quinaz, Brent Schoonover, Michael McMillian and Archaia's Editor-in-Chief Stephen Christy spend some fun time talking geek to ardent fans and supporters. And it was also a good time to see Zach looking totally adorkable in a pair of suspenders!

#3 - Zach's Coming Out In New York Magazine

Quietly, in his own time and in his own style, Zachary Quinto talked about his sexual orientation during his interview with New York magazine. The article was printed in the issue dated October 24, 2011.

To many of his intuitive fans, this was no surprise. His critically acclaimed and realistic take on the role of Louis Ironson in the Tony Kushner play "Angels in America" was one major hint by itself. And Zach was no stranger to playing gay roles in the past.

In the New York magazine article, Zach said, "... as a gay man, it made me feel like there's still so much work to be done, and there's still so many things that need to be looked at and addressed."

Coincidentally, I caught wind of this soon-to-be-published article the same week I was in New York for NYCC and had planned to meet Zach in person at a signing held at the Village. Our little group who were at NYCC applauded his coming out in the classy low-key manner that is just "So Zach", and promptly sent him our support on Twitter.

Soon after, Zach posted a message on his own blog stated that the suicide of gay teen Jamey Rodemeyer, who was cruelly bullied in school, motivated his decision to go public about his sexual orientation.

I know that Zach's coming out as a talented and well-known actor, will have positive, far-reaching effects for people out there struggling in their own individual search for acceptance and their sexual identity.

Kudos to Zach for that.

#4 - Chad Warwick, A Rubber Suit and "American Horror Story"

It has been awhile since we could catch Zach in a TV series ever since NBC's "Heroes" was cancelled. So when we heard that he has nabbed a guest starring role as Chad Warwick - the "better" half of a gay couple - in FX's psycho-sexual spooky new series "American Horror Story", we all almost wanted a haunted mansion of our own.

'Coz I'm sure that if a tall, slim, latex-suit-covered dude slinking around an old mansion was actually Zach Quinto in BDSM disguise, we wouldn't find it creepy, right? RIGHT?

For most of its first season, "American Horror Story" was a gory, shock-and-thrill ride which was over the top but yet, gratuitously fun to watch. As we have come to expect, Zach was charismatic as Chad, using his pliable voice to good effect - ranging from dripping sarcasm to a mix of sad and self-conscious loneliness of one who is unloved.

There was one bad thing about Zach's appearance in "American Horror Story" though. Watching Chad on screen just makes us miss seeing Zach as a regular in a TV series even more!

#5 - Fans Go Woof For "Dog Eat Dog"

In November 2011,one of Zach's film-maker friends Sian Heder, decided to use Kickstarter to make a short film entitled "Dog Eat Dog".

The short film is loosely based on the anecdotes that emerged from Zach's attempt to adopt a dog from a local pound many years ago.

Zach's fans + supporters were invited to take part in funding the film's production costs as 'backers' for the project. And there were several levels of backers with monikers like 'Mates' and 'Besties'. Each level carried different funding opportunities and goodies - like film credits, signed DVDs and scripts, and even a personalized recorded message.

The top level of backers were offered the title as Producers and there were three precious spots - two of which were taken by my Twitter buddies - @eserei27 and @lindsaysfnm! Both of them spent a memorable day on set in LA with Zach, Sian Heder and the crew ... and a few pairs of cute furry pawed feet!

(And if you are wondering -- yes! there will be a Producer's set report coming up real soon! Keep an eye on this blog!)

Originally, the Kickstarter project aimed for a goal of USD 7,500 but with more than 300 over backers, the financial support quickly arrived to a total of over USD 30,000!

The power of Quinto-dom. 'Nuff said!

Meanwhile, I have asked some ZQ fans to let me know what their best Zach moments were in 2011.

Look out for what some of them said in the next blog post!!

And to my bicepstuous inspiration Zachary Quinto, Before the Door team, SArmy, ZQC, all my readers and friends (er... frenemies included):

Have A Fantastic New Year!!
And I hope that 2012 will be all that you wish for!