Michael Cae was told gay rol would kill his reer as an actor | Metro News

Contents:

• MICHAEL CAE ON GAY ROL: "IT WAS A B DICEY TO DO"
• MICHAEL CAE WAS ‘WARNED AGAST’ TAKG GAY ROL THE 1970S
• MICHAEL CAE WAS TOLD TAKG GAY ROL WOULD BE A ‘REER KILLER’
• IS MICHAEL CAE GAY?
• MICHAEL CAE SAYS HE WAS ADVISED AGAST PLAYG GAY CHARACTERS
• MICHAEL CAE: ‘MY FATHER THOUGHT I WAS GAY’
• MICHAEL CAE WAS ‘WARNED AGAST’ TAKG GAY ROL THE 1970S

MICHAEL CAE ON GAY ROL: "IT WAS A B DICEY TO DO"

"It was a b dicey to do, " says 85-year old screen legend Michael Cae as he rells playg gay men the films California Sue and Deathtrap. In an terview wh Rollg Stone, the veteran London actor relled how people clared that  might kill his reer to play gay characters - "and what are the girls gog to thk of you?

People will thk you’re gay. The actor had que a few gay iends so he studied them and their movements and speech for his rol the above-mentned films.

We got a note back om Hollywood sayg, ‘Leadg man looks gay — wears glass, oks and shops groceri. In the late ’70s and early ’80s, Cae acted  California Sue and Deathtrap, two films which he portrayed gay characters.

MICHAEL CAE WAS ‘WARNED AGAST’ TAKG GAY ROL THE 1970S

He explaed that he never had a problem playg a gay character, spe the stigma at the time. Many of my iends were gay, so I’d studied them and their movements and speech, so I basilly knew what I was dog. You were one of the first major actors to play gay rol,  movi like California Sue and Deathtrap.

Michael Cae has revealed he ignored warngs that playg gay characters might kill his reer.

The former heartthrob, bt known for films like Alfie and The Italian Job, took on two major gay rol at a time when homosexualy on screen was still a big taboo.

MICHAEL CAE WAS TOLD TAKG GAY ROL WOULD BE A ‘REER KILLER’

Cae played a gay antique aler Sidney Cochran 1978 edy California Sue, and and playwright Sidney Bhl 1982 thriller Deathtrap, which he locked lips wh Superman star Christopher Reeve. Michael Cae was warned gay rol uld be a ‘reer killer’.

But Michael Cae was still beg warned that people would thk he was gay if he took on a role of a different sexualy the late seventi. Christopher Reeve and Michael Cae shared their first on-screen kiss 1982 film Deathtrap (Photo by Warner Brothers/Getty Imag)And so he refed to heed the advice and beme one of the first well-known actors to take on a gay role  1978 edy California Sue, and aga 1982 thriller Deathtrap. He played a bad boy love tert the 1999 film "10 Thgs I Hate About You, " and he played a charmg gay wboy 2005's "Brokeback Mounta.

The latter particular was treated as a strike agast him by a lot of ic book fans, as the film's queer storyle ma the subject of a lot of mockery and homophobic parodi mastream media.

IS MICHAEL CAE GAY?

Is Michael Cae Gay? As much as some voic the field of munitn and ter have speculated if Michael Cae is gay, there is no kd of evince that n rroborate this.

MICHAEL CAE SAYS HE WAS ADVISED AGAST PLAYG GAY CHARACTERS

Yet, as often happens wh artists of this field, the mors that Michael Cae is gay are persistent, which is surely annoyg. Although Michael Cae has never admted to beg gay, the media always nsirs the likelihood of one day reportg on the other. People will thk you're gay.

He add that the two were so fltered over performg the kiss they uldn't remember their l: ‘Many of my iends were gay, so I'd studied them and their movements and speech, so I basilly knew what I was dog. Sir Michael Cae has shared that earlier his reer he was advised to turn down rol where he played a gay character. While out promotg the new film, Cae told Rollg Stone that he was advised to turn down rol the film Deathtrap and California Sue bee the character he was portrayg was gay.

Here he is a gay antique aler, a marriage of nvenience to Maggie Smh’s Osr nomee, but unwillg to nceal his sexualy. In an terview wh Attu, Bety and the Beast director Bill Condon mentned that the movie clus what he lled an "exclively gay moment"—and an stant, the whole narrative about the saft movie Disney has ever produced was immediately rhaped. A gay moment?

MICHAEL CAE: ‘MY FATHER THOUGHT I WAS GAY’

You know how works by most tertg thg about the amount of scty Bety and the Beast has endured over this "gay moment" is that the scene qutn is barely even regnizable as a "gay moment. The release of Bety and the Beast happens to dovetail almost exactly wh the 35th anniversary of Deathtrap—another movie that unexpectedly went unr the microspe when word of an "exclively gay moment" got out. And if there's anythg to learn om Deathtrap, 's that when to acceptg "gay moments" on film, sadly, not much has 1982, no one would have pegged Deathtrap as a movie that would end up plantg a flag an ongog cultural battleground.

And to celebrate their triumph, they kiss—stirrg up a hor’s nt of moviegoers who were passnately opposed to watchg two men very ia of treatg homosexualy as a plot twist has some thorny implitns, sce hg on the ia that would never even occur to an dience that a person might be gay—but over the urse of s first hours, Deathtrap do a lot of extra legwork to ensure that the possibily never cross dienc’ mds. Sidney is married to a woman, and mak a risive reference to a neighbor who might be gay. Gay and Lbian Center attempted to mount a stage revival of Deathtrap 2012 that would have clud a kiss, Ira Lev’s tate revoked the rights to the play.

In Murr Most Queer: The Homicidal Homosexual the Amerin Theater, Jordan Schildcrout reunts a nversatn Christopher Reeve once had wh the film scholar Vo Rso.

MICHAEL CAE WAS ‘WARNED AGAST’ TAKG GAY ROL THE 1970S

You n see the impact of that lson on movi as ser-md as Philalphia and as othy as The Birdge—each of which, s pictn of a homosexual relatnship, liberately steers away om actual, physil was the long-term legacy—but how wispread was that ial disgt to the Deathtrap kiss?

After some light banter, Wygant tak a roundabout stab at askg Reeve how he felt about playg a gay man Deathtrap: "Chris: Are you prepared for all the jok about, 'Now we know why Superman fli?

"Your character Deathtrap has homosexual tennci. For all the blter around the big kiss, Deathtrap isn’t really a movie about a gay relatnship; ’s a movie about a seri of latg and implsible twists.