Sorry, but to me it just brings up disgust. I’m a man, was born that way. I just DON’T want to watch two men kissing. But then, I could never be an actor.
I asked that, yes, but I am not a “he,” thanks.
Ignoring for the moment that the two things are not in the slightest comparable, no I would not do it mainly because there are serious health risks in ingesting feces. Cite from the CDC
Good god. I asked a question about how an actor could perform a part that would go against what they normally would consider repulsive. I wanted to get an insight into their mindset and what they do to prepare for the role. I wanted to know if some actors turn down certain roles because they just can’t overcome their personal feelings about the act they have to perform. I gave examples about some things that other people are able to do that I think are disgusting and I’m being attacked. The Pink Flamingos comparison is relevant because there is no way in hell that I can imagine eating dog shit just for a movie role. There is no amount of mental exercises, imagery or fantasizing that could make me want to do it. The fact that some actors can do it speaks volumes for their acting ability (or their lack of taste buds). I also said I don’t like liver and broccoli. I must be the most awful person on earth.
To those of you who responded with constructive and informative responses, such as Skammer, RealityChuck and Carnick, thank you. You have given me some interesting insight. I never went beyond the community theater because I just did it for fun, not as a career, and I wanted an idea of how the professionals did it.
To those of you who fixated on my examples…never mind.
I’m going to ask the mods to lock this thread because some people are too easily offended.
Valid point. You also probably couldn’t be a dancer if you have very rigid boundaries about personal space because dancers have to touch each other. Fair enough.
The OP asks “Isn’t there a level of revulsion they have to overcome?” Answer: “revulsion” is highly subjective, and someone trained to set aside their own preferences and boundaries could get past it.
Some people couldn’t get past it, and they probably wouldn’t enter into a profession where it would come up.
I think the problem is that your title and your posts keep fixating on the gay thing.
Much better had you said, “I’m sure that most actors are, sooner or later, called upon to do things within their roles that they find distasteful or against their character. How do nice people play thugs? How do women who are champions of women’s rights play battered prostitutes or abused wives? How do nice men play abusive husbands and pimps? How do people with no children play parents? How to people eat things against their usual diets, like bugs or even dogshit? How do people convincingly kiss or simulate sex with people they’re not attracted to? What makes actors able to act not just the stuff that comes easy, but the stuff that’s difficult and perhaps even a little repulsive for them?”
No need for your personal disgust with man lips to even enter the thread. You chose to emphasize that over and over, and even to make it your title.
I would assume that in Pink Flamingos, it wasn’t actual dog shit. I imagine your special effect people could come up with something with flour, sugar, and chocolate that looked close enough but was actually quite tasty.
OTOH, there was the Herschel Gordon Lewis film where a girl was supposed to have her tongue ripped out (they didn’t call him “King of Gore” for nothing). It was supposed to be a raw lamb’s tongue (bad enough), but the tongue was purchased several days in advance and was improperly refrigerated and had begun to rot. Legend has it that they dosed it with Lysol, put it into the girl’s mouth and shot the scene.
Look at the title again. It says
and my OP gave two, count ‘em two, examples of gay men playing straight roles and one example of straight actors in gay roles. I spoke as a straight man trying to figure out how a straight man could kiss another man for a role or a gay man could kiss a woman for a role. I couldn’t do it and wanted to see how they could.
Acting as a thug or battered person or whatever is pretend because they are not really beating people up or getting abused. Locking lips with another guy is not being done with CGI. That was Heath and Jake doing it. Since I have not seen anything about either one coming out of the closet I wanted to know how they prepared for the role, what motivated them, did they have to do any mental tricks? What did Rock Hudson have to do to get himself into the job when he had to kiss Doris?
I saw an interview with John Waters wherein he claimed it was actual dog shit. He wasn’t saying it transgressively, but with a shrug, as if they were all young and footloose and it was no big deal to any of the cast or crew.
[QUOTE=RealityChuck]
I would assume that in Pink Flamingos, it wasn’t actual
Sorry to disappoint you but it was real.
Yes, it was actual dog feces. Divine was well known for her willingness to do anything.
Ha - you assume wrong. So very wrong. Pink Flamingos isn’t a Hollywood piece filled with “movie magic”. It’s a feature-length stunt made by a then underground director (John Waters) for only 12,000 70’s dollars. The dog feces eating finale was relatively well-publicized, and was filmed, without cutting, starting from before the dog took the crap to when the actor put it in his mouth, swallowed it, and gaped his maw at the audience.
When I was acting I had to kiss a guy that I can honestly say crossed the line from being not attractive to me being yucky. he was nice enough, he was just really scarggly, and a little smelly. And it was supposed to be the be all end all for my character.
It was acting.
But I would not eat dog feces or a pig’s anus.
It’s just kissing for goodness sake, and it’s just lips. I am sure most of us have kissed (or done a lot more) with people that were not our cup of tea.
So pucker up!
You started a thread about how people handle parts counter to their sexual orientation. Then you ask if there’s a level of repulsion to overcome. Then you say you’re disgusted by it and you wouldn’t eat a bug or dog shit either. Then, when you don’t get the answers you want, you decide to have the thread closed because people are too easily offended. Riiiight.
You seem to just assume kissing a man is repulsive, disgusting, like eating bugs & dog shit, and wonder how actors deal with this.
Well, maybe they don’t think it’s repulsive, disgusting, like eating bugs & dog shit, and it’s a moot point. Actors don’t always feel the same way about it as you.
I was born a man, and I do like kissing other men. Why are you speaking on behalf of men?
Frankly, I think people were a bit heavy handed with the OP. It is, in fact, normal for a straight man to experience some level of repulsion at the notion of kissing another man. A straight man can’t help that any more than a gay man can help his attraction to other men. He was very careful to disclaim any and all potential offense. I wish people had made this into an interesting discussion about how an actor pulls this off.
I never claimed to speak on behalf of all men. I spoke on my own behalf. I am sure that somewhere in this world there are people who could not under any circumstances kiss a member of the same gender (I’m talking passionate kisses here, tonsil hockey, not a little peck). If this is not an issue for actors and actresses, then so be it.
I do not assume that kissing a man is repulsive to other people, only to myself. I have said that repeatedly throughout this thread. If you like kissing other men, have a great time! If you like eating broccoli or liver, have a great time! If you feel like kissing women, have a great time!
I don’t give a rodent’s rectum about people’s personal sex lives. I was asking about how actors are able to portray something that is opposite of their orientation without being bothered by it. You mean to tell me you don’t know any gay men who think that the idea of kissing a woman is gross? My uncle said that he tried it once and felt sick afterwards because it didn’t seem right for him and it was unnatural. Was he wrong for feeling that way? No. It just wasn’t something he could get past. Apparently this is not an issue with actors.
OMG Liberal, I could kiss you for saying that (as long as you’re not a guy, of course 
).
This was supposed to be a simple question and answer sort of thing about the acting craft and it immediately got turned into, “How dare you be disgusted with that?” Again, to all people who answered my initial question, thank you for answering. Everyone else needs to lighten up.
I have kissed females before, usually as part of a game of truth or dare. That is not something I would do under normal circumstances but in that situation I had no problem with it because there was no question of attraction, desire, being turned on or anything else.
One time at a convention I frenched a lesbian friend. Neither of us have any attraction whatsoever to the opposite sex but decided to do it because we both consider ourselves great kissers and thought we should compare. (of course, we weren’t completely sober either) She said I kiss too wet, but then what does she know. Like the above, this had nothing to do with desire or attraction. It was more like a competition.
If I was going to be paid to be in a movie with the stipulation that my character was a ladies man getting all kinds of action, I’d do it in a heartbeat.
I don’t know that I would find it repulsive to the extent of nauseating or anything. I’m sure it would be discomforting. But for that kind of money, I’d be willing to whore myself pretty much any way they wanted it. Still, I’m not sure accomplished actors do it for the money since they likely have enough already. Maybe it’s for love of the craft. Of course, you never know. They could be broke despite appearances to the contrary.