Guinevere Turner

Guinevere Turner always had something to say, and when she was in her 20s, she finally figured out how to say it: through film. “I thought, ‘A lot of people see movies. If I want to say something, a movie is the smartest vehicle.’” Her debut, Go Fish, became a cult lesbian classic. The 1994 film, which she co-wrote, co-produced, and starred in, focused on a woman whose friends try to help her find a new girlfriend. While many fans are still discovering that groundbreaking lesbian comedy, others know Turner from The L Word, on which she served as a writer and story editor, and had an unforgettable recurring role as Alice’s girlfriend, Gabby. Turner co-wrote the films American Psycho and The Notorious Bettie Page with director Mary Harron. She can also list American Psycho and Chasing Amy among her acting credits. In her latest venture, Turner is going from being the screenwriter of a cult film, to being the screenwriter of a film about a cult: She penned the screenplay Charlie Says, an upcoming film directed by Harron. It’s about “the women who killed for Charles Manson as they serve out the first few years of their decades-long prison term.” Whether telling the stories of an LA lesbian crew or of a serial killer’s followers, Turner knows how to serve up compelling tales about real(ish) people. “The simple act of representation is powerful,” she says. “And then, of course, there are all the people who are seeing characters they’ve never seen before and learning. It starts conversations. I live for that!” —SEJ