Paul Rudnick, “Playing the Palace,” 2021

Paul Rudnick, author of the novel “Playing the Palace,” and the teleplay for the HBO film “Coastal Elites,” in conversation with host Richard Wolinsky.

Playwright, screenwriter and novelist Paul Rudnick’s latest novel, “Playing the Palace,” is the story of a gay man living in New York who falls in love with a gay Prince of Wales, and what ensues. His recent film, “Coastal Elites,” with Bette Midler, Dan Levy and others, is a contemporary account of life during the first half of 2020 when the awfulness of Donald Trump met the awfulness of the Covid-19 pandemic, seen as five separate monologues.

Paul Rudnick has a long career as a playwright, with such plays as “Jeffrey,” his view of the AIDS epidemic and how an HIV-negative man deals with the crisis, “I Hate Hamlet,” and “The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told.” His screenplays include “Addams Family Values,” “In and Out,” and “Sister Act.” He is currently working on a musical version of “The Devil Wears Prada,” based on the screenplay, for which he was one of several script doctors.

Paul Rudnick is also the author of film reviews by Libby Waxman-Gellmer, which have appeared in both Premiere Magazine and The New Yorker.

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