'Sex and the City' Creator Plans Anita Bryant Biopic

In 1977, as now, gay rights initiatives were a contentious issue on many state ballots, and entertainers often drew harsh criticism for taking political stances. So it's no wonder HBO thinks the time is right for a biopic about Anita Bryant.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, the cable channel is developing a movie about the singer-turned-activist. 'Sex and the City' creator Darren Star is directing and co-producing the film, whose writer is Chad Hodge (best known for the CW's fugitive-family drama series 'Runaway,' whose pilot Star produced).

"She is a fascinating person on every single level," said Hodge (who, like Bryant, studied at Northwestern University) to the Reporter. "The twists and turns of her life are incredible."

The 2008 film 'Milk' stirred renewed interest in Bryant, who is seen in the Sean Penn drama in archival footage during her late-1970s crusade against gay rights laws. In 'Milk,' her activism inspires a counter-surge by gay rights activists, leading to the defeat of a California ballot measure that would have made it legal to fire schoolteachers for being gay. In her own life, Bryant's advocacy led to a boycott that brought her flourishing showbiz career to a dead halt.

Born in 1940, Bryant entered the national stage as a beauty queen. In addition to winning Arthur Godfrey's TV talent contest (the 'American Idol' of its day), she was a Miss America finalist and, by 1960, a chart-topping singer with three million-selling songs. She soon became known for singing Christian and patriotic music (especially on USO tours with Bob Hope), and she was much in demand as a celebrity endorser. Most famously, she served as pitchwoman for the Florida Citrus Commission from 1968 to 1980, a period when she was ubiquitous on TV in commercials that ended with her tagline, "A day without orange juice is like a day without sunshine." During the '70s, she also wrote several best-selling memoirs and was named the most admired woman in America three years running by readers of Good Housekeeping magazine.

In 1977, Bryant started a group called Save the Children that launched a successful referendum to overturn a Miami-Dade County ordinance prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. She took her activism to other states, including California (as depicted in 'Milk'). Gay rights activists responded by targeting Bryant with a nationwide boycott. By 1980, her concert bookings dried up, and her citrus contract wasn't renewed. Her first marriage broke up, and she declared bankruptcy. Her efforts to revive her entertainment career over the next 30 years proved fruitless. Today, at 69, she runs a ministry in Oklahoma City.

Hodge told the Reporter that he wants to speak to Bryant about the biopic and that he wants to present a balanced portrayal of her that would explain "what drove her to do the things that she did."

If HBO truly seeks a nuanced portrayal, however, Star seems like an unlikely choice as director. Not only is the creator of 'Sex and the City,' 'Beverly Hills, 90210,' and 'Melrose Place' not exactly known for subtlety and nuance, but it'll also be too easy for Bryant supporters to dismiss the film because its director is gay and Jewish.