So I’ve started watching this show now that I get the channel that it’s on (but alas, only for a month!)
Anyway I really like it so far. I like the characters, I think it’s funny, and I’m impressed at how bold it is. (And is it just me or are all the guys really hot?!)
So I was looking at a website that has cast bios… and it says that only two of the cast members are openly gay.
Which leads me to wonder… how many of them are gay (openly or otherwise)? I know that straight actors play gay roles fairly regularly (hell, didn’t Peter North start out doing gay porn? But then I don’t know if he’s actually straight or not)… but these roles are pretty… extreme? I would be surprised if many straight actors would take a role that had them doing what amounts to gay soft-core porn on a weekly basis.
Well, not long after the American series began, a piece in Time or Newsweek noted that after kissing scenes, several of the actors immediately went for mouthwash.
So, while the straight actors in the cast may have LEARNED to fake enjoying such scenes for the cameras, and have undoubtedly learned to mouth the politically correct platitudes, many of them are STILL grossed out by the scenes they have to play.
Actually, there are three openly gay cast members now- one just came out. They’re Peter Paige (Emmet- he’s nowhere near as swishy when not in character, incidentally), RandY Harrison (Justin- he’s even swishier when not in character- totally the weak link in terms of acting talent on the show), and Robert Gant (Ben, the studly HIV+ professor from second season- also a practicing lawyer in real life, incidentally).
If the mouthwash story is true, they really need to change their line of work or “just say no” to roles that gross them out. That sounds more like posturing than concern for hygiene.
I don’t think the show will ever win any awards for great writing or great acting, but it is innovative in being the first show to portray gays far from asexual fashion accessories. On Will & Grace you’ll never see Will or Jack really liplock another guy, but on QaF you even know who the tops/bottoms/and versatiles are.
Some gays have criticized the show for portraying gays as promiscuous. Certainly the guys on the show get more action than any gay guys I’ve ever known, but who’s gonna tune in to see gay guys balancing their checkbook and making cacciatore? They’re no more promiscuous than the girls on Sex and the City or the Fonz, just a lot more graphic.
I saw Hal Sparks interviewed on some show recently. Cute guy, but damn… boy’s a complete idiot. (Never surprising with actors, but still disappointing.) He spoke about his devout Buddhism for a while, then about his enormous ego for a while (uh, Hal- you do realize that the purpose of Buddhism is to annihilate the ego? that’d be roughly equivalent to discussing your devout Christianity and your immense sex drive in the same interview), then worked in 32 “you know I’m actually straight” references throughout the talk. (He was also on FRASIER the other night in what was little more than a walk-on modelled after David Spade’s “and you are” character from SNL).
Gale Harold, otoh, who is straight in real life and dated Laura Linney, gets absolutely sick of the question “what’s it like being a straight actor playing a gay horndog?” and while he seems to be either sullen or doped up he seems way more intelligent. I didn’t realize how good an actor Paige was until I saw him out of character and realized how much he isn’t Emmett.
I hope no one took this thread as being judgemental in any way. I like the show. If some of the actors are straight, I’m really impressed. Both that they are so convincing and that they are open enough to playing a role like that. It just surprised me, especially in an industry that can so easily lock you into being typecast for the rest of your career.
Not sure what your problem is, Royal Berk. I was asking a question. You seem to be trying to imply something about my “belief system”? http://tinyurl.com/49ef i’m the one looking at the camera.
I certainly took no offense, and I’m both a fan of the show and gay. If I were an actor, I’d have no problem playing a straight character, but I’m not sure that I’d want to have sex scenes as graphic as the straight actors on QaF have to do, and typecasting really is a concern. I think that they probably feel “Well, it’s on Showtime, which is only in a few hundred thousand households, so most people will never even see it.”
I understand the British version is even racier. For example, the character on whom 18 year old Justin is based in the American version is 15 in the English original. (Is the British version set in London or another major city? The one here is set in Pittsburgh, which if you’re not familiar is a major northern industrial metropolitan center but far lesser than NYC, LA, or Chicago.)
IIRC, it was a quote (in Newsweek) from the actor who played Michael’s chiropractor boyfriend. One person, not several. He later claimed that the quote was meant sarcastically since the question of how a str8 actor handles playing gay or kissing another man is stupid.
Sampiro: The British version was set in Manchester, a large city in NW England.
Yes, Nathan was fifteen ( played by the 18-year old Charlie Hunnam; if you want any more information about him, matt_mcl is the person to ask). In the series, Nathan’s father rams Stuart’s new car and them verbally attacks him: “He’s 15! 15! How could you?” [Stuart seduced Nathan in the first episode]. Stuart replies, “Well, my new car’s only 6 months old and you’ve just buggered that.”