what about the ones that are gay ....but you have a feeling but they out run the radar
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The Secret Lives of Queer Leading Men
How Howard Bragman, Hollywood’s coming-out guru, helps gay actors tell the truth
“As far as I know,” says Dale Reynolds, a Los Angeles–based actor and journalist who founded a gay actors support group in the late 1970s, “he’s the only one doing this.”
Many gay actors aren’t signing on for Bragman’s services, which Jason Stuart, chair of the Screen Actors Guild Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Committee, believes is a little nuts. “I’m a working actor and comedian in Los Angeles,” says Stuart, who, after some soul-searching, came out on Geraldo. “As far as I am concerned, I’m a major success. To base your whole career and life on becoming a megastar like Brad Pitt is ridiculous.”
Kevin Scanlon
Actor Dale Reynolds, who founded the Alliance for Gay and Lesbian
Artists, says his casting-director friends refused to hire him.
Kevin Scanlon
Actor Jason Stuart,
of the Screen Actors Guild Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Committee, says
gay actors should
live openly.
The publicist hasn’t brought out an A-list, gay male actor — yet. But Bragman says that day is coming, and after the first superstar decides to reveal himself, a fundamental shift in American acceptance of gay leading men may not be far behind. He’s currently working with a famous musician who’s still closeted from the public, but who will come out next year. And the manager of one major movie star approached Bragman a year ago and asked about his client’s possibly going public, but the actor still refuses to pull the trigger.
“I felt a little frustrated with that superstar,” Bragman says in reflection, “because it had to be ‘handled.’ ”
In 2009, this situation seems incredible to those who have watched the tremendous success of Neil Patrick Harris, who became a star on Doogie Howser, M.D. Harris came out nearly three years ago. His recent widely accepted and positively reviewed hosting of the Emmys seemed almost like a globally televised message from one side of Hollywood to another: It’s okay to cast leading men who are gay, so get over it, studio heads. Harris continues to win audiences over, playing womanizer Barney Stinson on the CBS hit show How I Met Your Mother.
Public-opinion surveys reveal that Americans’ acceptance of gays and lesbians has dramatically increased since the 1970s. Adolescent boys and girls are coming out during middle school in such places as rural Arkansas and Texas, far from the gay urban enclaves of San Francisco, West Hollywood and New York City. But the Hollywood machine — studio heads, agents and casting directors — is a surprisingly conservative entity. Its power players think Americans can’t handle gay actors in straight–leading man roles. Their greatest fear is not some sort of social upheaval but that audiences would be uncomfortable seeing a known gay actor like Cheyenne Jackson kissing or fondling Kate Winslet, and box-office earnings would nose-dive.
But the entertainment industry remains intensely schizophrenic on the topic. Only a year ago most of Hollywood was publicly appalled by Proposition 8, the anti–gay marriage ballot measure that passed in November. Heavy-hitter Pitt and Oscar-winning director Steven Spielberg contributed $100,000 checks to the “No on 8” campaign, and dozens of Hollywood big shots, like Rob Reiner and Barbra Streisand, attended an A-list “No on 8” fundraiser at the Beverly Hills home of billionaire grocery magnate Ron Burkle. Yet the big studios and their mostly male chiefs — and the scores of socially liberal men and women who play key roles as casting directors and agents — have together created a kind of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, which places enormous pressure on gay, male actors to remain in the closet.
“It kills your soul,” says one young, gay actor in L.A., who requested anonymity. “It’s an insane job [to stay in the closet]. I see the destruction of my close friends. It keeps them closed-hearted. But they get so wrapped up in their success, and they think it’ll make everything better. Then they get [that success], and they become very angry.”
Bragman, though, is there to give them an expert’s thoughts, a plan — and a nudge.
It’s late afternoon a few days before Labor Day weekend, and Bragman is in his neatly organized Hollywood Hills home, working at a large, antique wooden table in a room decorated with black-and-white pictures of his extended family. He stares at e-mails and takes calls from journalists, clients and his assistant, Jesse Danzig, who’s working several miles away, at Bragman’s business office near the Beverly Center. Dressed in gray slacks, blood-red leather shoes, and a brown and white–striped shirt, Bragman has been up since 5:45 a.m.
“I wouldn’t say anything, and not tip your hand,” Bragman tells a client, who replies. The publicist offers more advice — “It sounds a little esoteric for me, to be honest” — and soon hangs up. He relishes his role as a straight-talking public-relations whiz. “People are uncomfortable with the truth, and they don’t want to hear the truth. But they’ll always get truth from me. I figure that’s what they’re paying me for.”
24 comments
People are in fact becoming much more tolerant out in flyover country (where I live).
A gay athlete's or politician's (or coworker's -- assuming 'out' doesn't mean 'in your face')orientation has utterly no bearing on their job.
However, that's not quite the case for an actor trying to portray a character in a het romantic relationship (if a significant part of the story), it most definitely has some bearing on the job, requiring an extra level of suspension of disbelief above and beyond the norm when viewing the performance. 'Bigotry' has nothing to do with it.
Yes, some actors might pull it off, but concern on the part of casting directors and producers is hardly irrational..
Thanks for the interesting article. I'm glad to hear that you are supportive of trans issues, but wanted to add my support to the earlier comment regarding trans pronouns etc. partway through the article. Simple rewording which respects the trans person's preferences about pronouns etc is almost always possible. Here (just to spell it out) it would have been more appropriate to say: "The phone interrupts him � it�s someone calling about one of his newest clients, Chaz Bono, child of Cher and Sonny Bono. Raised as Chastity, Bono is making the personal and public transition to becoming a transgendered man, and may become the best-known American person to do so. Bragman has been working closely with Bono, advising him to disclose his gender reassignment, but says, �We�re keeping our powder dry until the time is right, and our time is not right yet.� Other than that... thanks very much for the article, and for including trans issues!
Excellent article. It would be interesting to see if any studies could be done on the true perception of the audience. It's fascinating, for example, that Adam Lambert now has women throwing their panties at him onstage after he's come out officially. I believe many women "get it" that they'll never sleep with that star or celebrity whether they're straight or not, but have fun playing the game. Straight men, however, might have a harder time accepting a gay man as romantic straight lead. On the other hand, younger straight men now, to a large degree, don't seem to care who you sleep with. They're even open to the idea of having a gay fling or even romance. So, a lot of Hollywood's perceptions are dated as far as the younger demographic goes (which is ironic, considering that's their target market).
Hi Know It All,
It's funny...gay audiences are not turned on by straight sex, but we get over it, get into the characters, and watch the movie. You've fallen for the outdated notion that gay sex is somehow ugly or wrong or unnatural, where that's the furthest thing from the truth. It may not be something you like, which is fine. But don't push that attitude on us and try to make us feel inadequate, or give it as a reason for us to stay in the closet and deny our full, true selves. We'd never demand that from you, and we expect the same courtesy.
Righto,Patrick
GREAT ARTICLE...well done...could have done without ending it with a Perez Hilton Quote...he is such a scumbag for the gay community and you just gave him PR that he craves.
I DON'T WANT TO KNOW WHO IS GAY OR LESBIAN. WATCHING A MOVIE LOVE SCENE, WHEN YOU KNOW THEY ARE GAY/LESBIAN, RUINS THE WHOLE THING. ALL YOU CAN THINK OF IS HIM SUCKING SOME GUYS DICK OR HER LICKING SOME DAMES CUNT!! HOW CAN THEY EVEN STAND TO KISS EACH OTHER FOR THE MOVIE??
If this is some attempt to restore Mr. Bragman to respectability among the gay and lesbian people he betrayed with his embrace of Doug Manchester, please forget it- it is as cheap and hollow as Mr Manchester's insulting offer.
Mr. Bragman has betrayed himself, his spouse, and every LBGT citizen in California, if not the world.
His embrace of Mr. Manchester proves that there may be a shortage of out gay men in Hollywood, but the supply of prostitutes remains ample.
The odd thing about the ridiculous argument that a gay male actor can't be "convincing" as a leadin man is this: An ACTOR is supposedly praised because he is convincing in a role that is DIFFERENT from who he is in life.
So, what could be a better display of acting talent, then, than a gay person convincing audiences that they are romantically interestd in a member of the opposite sex?
Kate Winslet won the Oscar! She's as A-list as they come. How's that a poor example? :)
In terms of Chaz Bono and transgender folks, I have the utmost respect for him and the transgender community, and I've written about their struggles for other publications. But thanks for the reminder.
Patrick
It's easy for people to say "come out, come out" but these people have mortgages and car payments and perhaps they are taking care of their parents and siblings. They can't afford to lose money. Perhaps I'm naive but, I just don't think it's all that important for someone to announce their sexual orientation to the world, and personally, I don't care!!!
As for worrying about box office decline . . . it can't get much lower with the drivel being put out these days so I don't think the honchos need to worry. (And Kate Winslet hasn't had a hit since "Titantic" so that was a pretty poor example!!)
Hollywood is completely out of touch with reality. They don't like openly gay/lesbian actors. They don't like openly conservative actors. They don't like openly Christian actors. They don't like non-white actors. The funny thing is that most Americans are probably more accepting and tolerant than Hollywood.
I'm REALLy surprised at Paris Barclay for saying that. I thought he had his act together. But apparently many directorial (and other behind the scenes) talents don't. Could it be that Barclay, Holland and Roos are re-living painful coming-outs of their own and are projecting their fears onto everyone else? If they are there's no excuse for it.
Really, really sad.
I'm enjoying this article, but it could do a little better with regards to trans folks - using proper pronouns is really important, and it's really invalidating to see the article referring to Chaz Bono with "woman" where the word "person" would do. Same goes for using "she" instead of "he," and Chastity instead of Chaz.
Great article. I think if your a good actor or actress it doesn't matter who you sleep with. Also actors as well as sports figures are role models. I think people should come to terms with themsleves. The world is changing and era of purple marriages and hired beards needs to go bye bye.
Thanks for the nice words everyone.
I'm a little surprised no anonymous actor or producer or whoever has written in this comments section that the closet in Hollywood is still necessary.
I attended a SAG function the other night, and some of the panelists were basically saying that if an actor wanted to be a leading man, they have to consider staying the closet. Director Paris Barclay, in fact, ended up defending Todd Holland, a fellow TV director who said gay actors should "stay in the closet" if they want to make it in Hollywood.
It was a strange night. Even more so since no one backed up their points with hard data--i.e., 68 percent of America (just a number I'm throwing out there) hates gays and lesbians, according to the such-and-such poll. There was none of that. Just guesses and hunches and nothing scientific.
Hollywood has some major catching up to do. No wonder the studios rarely make a decent movie these days. The studio heads and others are completely out of touch with their audience, no one is taking any risks, and no one really knows what the rest of America wants, believes, or cares about. With this kind of working atmosphere, it's hard to believe that the gay closet will end any time soon in Hollywood.
Righto,Patrick
Quite true about the Disney chief. That's a biggie. And equally big is Chris Colfer, who plays the gay kid on "Glee." He's gay -- and out -- in real life.
Despite any number of stragglers the closet is collapsing. Not just in Hollywood. Everywhere.
Might be nice to include an update with the news that the new head of Walt Disney Studios, Rich Ross, is an OPENLY GAY MAN.
Good job. A tough subject handeled with sensitivity and frankness. I have been around for quite while and can attest to how hard it is talk about this in the 'hood. I personally tried to get some actors I know to talk about this for this piece, and even assured confidentiality, they declined. This is more than the ususal closet issue.
This is one of those upside down descrimination cases. The public image of a profession and a surround "Hollywood" as liberal and free wheeling -when the reality is just the opposite. Ironically, this only closes the closet door more tightly.
This is so prevalent that an older actor I spoke to, who is firmly retired, largley due to age related health issues, would not speak to Patrick under any circumstances due to a fear about how his work might be viewed retroctively. That's right - how he might be viewed in films and TV he already did a number of years ago.
This is, I believe, all of a piece with the still very lopsided presence of women and people of color throughout the industry. This is still a bastion of the white male, despite certain well known exceptions. The vast majority of players are white males. No offense guys - some of my best friends are white males, but a lot of you all are a well known of bastion of a certain kind of conservatism, even if many to most of you don't realize it.
It is telling that one of the actors speaks of women having less fear of casting him. Fact is, that Patrick is dead on when he uses the ephit "faggot" as an exemplar of the problem. Too many adults are driven and haunted by school yard taunts into adulthood and unto death. Most of us doin't even realize how much the ghosts drive us.
I think the military will probably get freere of this "don't ask don't tell" stigma sooner than Hollywood. That was certainly true in racial and gender issues.
Nice article. Things have changed quite a lot since I wrote "Open Secret: Gay Hollywood 1928-2000."
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