Plenty of you who read this blog are probably young enough that you don’t even remember who Pedro Zamora is — he was part of the cast of The Real World: San Francisco, an HIV-positive gay man who was arguably the first to put a face with the disease on a national scale. That was nearly 15 years ago, and Pedro died of AIDS in 1994, at the age of 22.
Now, MTV and Logo are airing a film about his life, written by Oscar winner Dustin Lance Black (the guy who wrote Milk), and they’ve cast actors to recreate the iconic Real World lives of Puck, Rachel, Judd and Pam. Ya know, from back in the time when the show meant something other than how many 19-year-olds could get naked in a hot tub.
The biopic debuts April 1. Trailer is above.
Uhm… wasn’t ryan white the first to put a face to the disease on a national scale?
Or are you just referring to the fact that he was the first gay man to…
You’re right Abbi! Remember when Elton sang at his funeral? So sad.
I would just like to say, I love everything about this damn blog/the writers.
The movie industry is taking a huge turn for the better. It’s nice to see them use their power for good.
Totally agree! Now only if the rest of the country could catch up!
i remember watching that season and felt bad when he died. pedro was not the first to put a face to AIDS but the first gay man who did so, and i think it was brave of him. the real world was fun back then – when the cast all had real jobs (not the lame ass gigs mtv gives them now) and the houses were not brothels. i think the last decent season might have been london. i can’t even stomach the skanky famewhores that are on that show today.
I remember when I watched this season thinking, “One day, I would like to be on Real World.” But I was 10 years old at the time and knew I had to wait 8 years to be old enough. And I figured that the show would be canceled by then. BOY WAS I UNFORTUNATELY WRONG!! But that season was so so good. It just went down hill from there…
I can’t believe it has already been 15 years…a while back MTV made a great tribute to him. I am excited to see the new movie. The dialogue btw Pedro and his roommates (especially w/ Rachael) was incredible and did so much for educating America’s youth about AIDS. It is a shame that the Real World has become purely about sex and drinking over the last few years.
I’m just damn relieved that people remember Pedro. I was feeling very old for a moment.
Sigh… I am so old.
I watched the first few seasons… NYC, California the one at the beach.. and then California SF. Its so depressing to see how twisted the whole concept became through the years.
When in season 2 & 3 they kicked someone out of the house for being jerks. Now you become the star of the show if your the asshole or the raging wh*re.
A whole generation of people who think it is great, to lack any kind of decent behavior. No manners. That everything you do can be explain away by saying “I am just being me”. IE: Paris Hilton. She is the perfect example of her generation.
Hell yeah, I remember this season. Puck was such a gigantic dick to everyone. Wasn’t that the first season of The Real World?
No, the first season was in New York, with July:) and Eric:). Best season ever. San Fran was season 2. Puck was a tiny cock, and Rachel and that blond chick were idiots. Pedro was a good guy, but I did find it out of the Real World realm that Puck had to leave because Pedro was offended by his gross behavior. Although I could not live with him, the experience was all about living with those different than you and that bothered me.
While it’s true that the point of the show was to live with people different from you, Puck was less than human. He wasn’t just gross and offensive. I’m pretty sure the things he would say to Pedro were downright abusive. I don’t think we saw all of what actually happened between them.
ohhh I loved Pedro!
I just cooled it, and the next real world is going to be in Cancun… how’s that for reality, eh?
I was about 10 when that season was on. I think I started watching because there was a girl named Rachel and I thought it was the coolest, haha! I’m not sure if I even knew what AIDS was, but Pedro will forever be remembered!
I was quite a Real World fan in the olden days. The SF season was definitely the best. I actually saw Pedro and his partner Sean walking around the Castro in SF after the season began showing. Of course this was before the season ended, because he died the day after the last episode aired.
Why are they making fictional movies out of reality TV??? Just go watch the Real World reruns. This is stupid.
dude, they make movies out of everything. why are you surprised?
I agree, I mean, making a movie out of a reality tv show? MTV sucks so much now its sickening. I miss when it was actually MUSIC television and they actually played music and had count downs and had funny vj’s. MTV is just complete and utter trash now, I don’t even check to see whats on it.
Wow! I sang at his memorial service that they aired on mtv. A teacher at our middle school was friends of his and they asked our choir to sing an the service on the beach. I will never forget that! The street in front of the school is called pedro zamora way.
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