When “Noah’s Arc: The Movie” debuts on Paramount+/ Showtime June 20, it’s like an audience favorite that has never truly gone away.
Regarded as the first scripted television series to revolve around a group of Black gay men, the series – created, written and directed by Patrik-Ian Polk – ran from 2005 – 2006, followed by the theatrical release “Noah’s Arc: Jumping the Broom” in 2008. In 2020, the cast joined together for “Noah’s Arc: The ‘Rona Chronicles,” an hour-long special. Now the new film, celebrating the series’ 20th anniversary, brings all the characters back.
The project was filmed entirely in Atlanta several years ago, made to look like Los Angeles.
One of the main plotlines of the new film is the decision by Noah (Darryl Stephens) and Wade (Jensen Atwood) to have children, in this case twins. They are facing what a lot of couples face when they decide to have kids now – how to take care of them.
“Unless you are independently wealthy kids cost a lot of money,” says Polk. “If you are a two-income household you have to figure out how you are going to work everything out. For Noah and Wade, it’s an interesting conundrum for two men because you have the masculine energy whereas in straight couples it’s assumed that the women will be the primary caregiver for the children. When you have two men, what’s it going to be when you have two men who have careers? They are really at an interesting crossroads. They are both desperate to be fathers but also neither wants to give up their career.”
In addition to new parenthood, the movie deals with Alex (Rodney Chester) and Trey (Gregory Kieth) raising a teenager. “The little baby we met in ‘Jumping the Broom’ is now a terrible teen, a terrible trans teen,” says Polk. “I think it’s interesting playing with this idea that you think just because you have a trans child, and you happen to be a gay man who does drag like Alex does, that there is going to be an automatic camaraderie/compatibility/understanding. No – a trans teen is still a teen. They are still going to rebel against their parents like any teen would.”
For Ricky (Christian Vincent) and Chance (Doug Spearman), Polk wanted to showcase the reality of gay men moving into middle age, whether it’s dealing with health issues or other matters.
Wilson Cruz returns here as Junito Vargas and there are appearances by TC Carson and TS Madison. Jasmine Guy also has a funny cameo.
“She is a legend,” says Polk. “To get her to be in the film is a feat. Lots of film crews are heavily white men. Those straight white men went gaga when Jasmine stepped on that set. You forget – she’s not just a Black icon. ‘A Different World’ was massive. Everyone watched that show so all of those white men who were teenagers at the time, she was one of their pinups. It was wonderful to see her get that kind of love and excitement and energy.”
Polk first had the idea for the series in 2003. It was July 4th weekend, which is L.A. Black Pride, and he remembers going to the kick-off party. Walking in and scanning the crowd looking for his friends, he was struck with the idea that no one was making programming for this community. “This is a community that is viable, that have jobs and money, and people have flown in from across the country to attend this Pride.”
He decided then and there to make a show. “It was a Black ‘Sex and the City,’ and I would market it directly to the community and not to Hollywood because no one in Hollywood was going to say yes to this.”
That was a Friday night and on Sunday he put in casting notices and came up with these character ideas. Polk started writing the script on Monday and soon after he and his team shot the first short film called “No Glove, No Love.” It was about Noah and Wade coming home from a date and deciding to have sex.
“That short film blew up and I knew I was on to something. We kept it going, raised some money from a large group of successful Black gay men to shoot the pilot, kept on screening and getting all this attention. MTV/Logo came to me and said they had heard about this show I had done, and the next thing you know this series that I never thought would be on TV was on TV.”
It’s been interesting for him to revisit these characters and watch them grow. “When we started the show, these characters were in their 20s and 30s and 20 years later they are in their 40s and 50s. That is a different point of view for gay men, for anyone really.”
Polk is 25 years into this filmmaking career. When he started out he was just a young aspiring artist who wanted to see himself and people like him and his community on screen. “It was very simple – and 20 years on to have people still tell me how much the show meant to them in the journey. People tell me they were literally hiding in the closet watching the show or keeping their finger on the remote and the Last button in case someone walked into the room. That alone highlights the importance of the show and that younger gays and everyone discovered it. It is a beautiful thing when work you do has legs and people remember it and people are still talking about it 20 years later.”
Polk, who lives in Atlanta and in Los Angeles, would love to see “Noah’s Arc” become a series again. “My hope is that when we do well, Paramount+/Showtime will bring us in for a full series reboot. We are ready!”
