HBO Plans Biopic About Anti-Gay Activist Anita Bryant

A biopic of antigay activist Anita Bryant is in the works and being developed by HBO, reports the Advocate.

The untitled film will be directed by gay Sex and the City creator Darren Star, who will also executive produce. It is being written by Runaway creator Chad Hodge.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, Hodge, who is looking to talk to Bryant about the project, said he is going for a "nuanced" portrayal of her and "what drove her to do the things that she did."

"She is a fascinating person on every single level," said Hodge. "The twists and turns of her life are incredible."

Bryant, who was born to a religious Oklahoma family in 1940, once finished as second runner-up for Miss America. In 1959 and '60, she became a pop star with three million-selling records. After marrying and settling in Florida, she reverted to Christian music and began endorsing companies like Coca-Cola, Kraft Foods and Holiday Inn.

Her most famous celebrity endorsement was her TV commercials for the Florida Citrus Commission, closing each ad with the tag line, "A day without orange juice is like a day without sunshine."

Bryant published several best-selling books and won Good Housekeeping's "Most Admired Woman in America" poll for three consecutive years.

In 1977, she switched to political activism, launching a crusade to repeal a new Miami-Dade County ordinance prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.

"As a mother, I know that homosexuals cannot biologically reproduce children; therefore, they must recruit our children," she has said.

In turn, the gay rights movement boycotted Bryant, which prompted the end of her pitch contract with the Florida Citrus Commission and the decline of her career and bankruptcy.

In the video below Bryant was struck in the face with a pie by a gay activist in Des Moines in 1977.  

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