Gay Hollywood: Actors and Decisn-Makers to Know 2022 - Variety

Contents:

• DARREN STAR BGRAPHY, FAY | SIBLGS, AGE, GAY | WIFE
• DARREN STAR DON'T SEE UNUPLED AS A STORY 'ABOUT GAY CHARACTERS'
• DARREN STAR ON THE STGGL OF SHOWG GAY CHARACTERS ‘90210,’ ‘MELROSE PLACE’
• DARREN BAR WIKI, GIRLIEND, GAY, ETHNICY, NET WORTH
• ‘UNUPLED’ REVIEW: DARREN STAR’S NEW NETFLIX SERI IS A FIZZY TAKE ON GAY DATG SCENE

DARREN STAR BGRAPHY, FAY | SIBLGS, AGE, GAY | WIFE

Darren Star Gay | Wife.

DARREN STAR DON'T SEE UNUPLED AS A STORY 'ABOUT GAY CHARACTERS'

Star is openly gay. Though Melrose ma headl s day for featurg an openly gay character — Doug Savant’s Matt Fieldg — among s seri regulars, this is the first time Star, who is also gay, has lnched a seri wh a queer spoke to Darren Star about how the TV landspe has changed his s as a creator; the thrills of wrg a middle-aged gay lead character; and his take on the state of teen You and your -creator, [former Morn Fay producer] Jefey Richman, both have long résumés TV, but you have not worked together before. And I had this ia about a romantic edy about a gay man gog through a breakup, and Jefey really sparked to .

For the first time, we really had an opportuny to wre a big, broad, mastream romantic edy om a gay male is part a story about a middle-aged character learng about the ntemporary landspe of queer datg. Did you have a backlog of stori that you weren't able to tell, datg back to when Matt Fieldg was the only gay character on TV?

DARREN STAR ON THE STGGL OF SHOWG GAY CHARACTERS ‘90210,’ ‘MELROSE PLACE’

But no, I don't thk there's a backlog of stori that I had a file, wag to tell stori about gay characters. To me, this show is about characters who happen to be gay, who are livg a very universal experience.

You uld be a gay man and relate to those characters. It happens to be told through the pot of view of a gay man who breaks up. That’s a big reason why we wanted a character like Claire there, but also jt to win out the world — I mean, not to make jt solely about gay men.

DARREN BAR WIKI, GIRLIEND, GAY, ETHNICY, NET WORTH

And I love wrg female characters, so I uldn't do a show like this and not have Claire — played by Marcia Gay Harn, who is jt a gift and a natnal treasure, as far as I'm ncerned. And even at the time when Matt Fieldg was on Melrose Place, there was a relatively, I would say, hypocril stance Hollywood, where gay people were livg their liv a very open way, but when me to advertisers and talkg about to middle Ameri, a rporate iron curta me down terms of sayg, "We're not really gog to dramatize the tth of your liv right now bee we're aaid of the advertisers. After gay marriage and everythg, I thk the world is more than ready to embrace a show like of the buzzit shows of this summer so far has been The Bear, set at a rtrant.

Wh the help of Netflix, Neil Patrick Harris jt blsed wh Unupled, the cute, msy, sexy, drama-filled gay romantic edy seri we've been wantg for ag now! Created by Sex and the Cy and Ey In Paris mastermd Darren Star alongsi Jefey Richman, Unupled is a much-need queer, rom- set the Big Apple that tells the story of a gay man of a certa age havg to al wh the harsh realy of beg sgle after many years of beg a long-term, monogamo relatnship.

Overnight, he has to nont two nightmar: losg the man he thought was his soulmate, and sudnly fdg himself a sgle gay man his mid-forti New York Cy. "Bis NPH (the Emmy- and Tony- wner known bt for his rol projects like Hedwig and the Angry Inch and How I Met Your Mother) the seri also stars Tisha Campbell, Brooks Ashmanskas, Emerson Brooks, Tuc Watks, and Marcia Gay Out got the chance to speak wh Unupled's st and creators to learn a ltle more about the evolutn and importance of the show! ""I thk 's jt a human story, " Richman told Out about craftg the seri wh a gay male lead alongsi Star.

‘UNUPLED’ REVIEW: DARREN STAR’S NEW NETFLIX SERI IS A FIZZY TAKE ON GAY DATG SCENE

"We happen to be gay and so we created a romantic edy wh a gay lead, but the gist of the story is 's a human beg that's gog through a very trmatic event and tryg to put his life back together over eight episos. ""I thk the dience is out there jt to want to see this story, a big mastream dience, not jt a niche, not jt a gay dience, but we wanted to make the show feel like his life and his issu are universal that everybody, gay or straight, male or female, is gonna relate to his emotnal journey, " Star add.

And I thk transcends the ia of beg a gay show or a straight show. Tuc Watks hasn’t jt seen how gay relatnships have evolved on televisn — he’s been a part of that evolutn.

On “Dperate Hoewiv, ” Watks portrayed one half of gay uple Bob and Lee, who beme rints of Wisteria Lane 2007.

But the 55-year-old actor has actually been playg gay characters sce the 1990s, when he portrayed the boyiend to Alexis Arquette’s character the 1997 die rom- “I Thk I Do.

Recently, Watks put asi some time to reflect on his firsthand experienc of playg gay rol, how took 30 years for him to star a Darren Star (“Sex and the Cy, ” “90210”) project, and the crazy thg he learned that Neil Patrick Harris n do wh his tears. A gay man beg a bubble after beg a relatnship for so long, which is the ncept for “Unupled” — has that ever been you, where you get back out to the gay world and you’re like, “Wow, gay people have changed”? I thk what is unique about “Unupled, ” is wasn’t that long ago that we were celebratg gay marriage, but what wh gay marriage?