What 40 years of celebry terviews tght me about attus towards gay men | Tim Walker | The Guardian

Contents:

• ‘BROS’ STAR LE MACFARLANE TALKS MASCULY AND GAY INTY
• JSE WILLIAMS WEIGHS ON BEG A STRAIGHT MAN PLAYG A GAY CHARACTER BROADWAY'S TAKE ME OUT
• WHAT 40 YEARS OF CELEBRY TERVIEWS TGHT ME ABOUT ATTUS TOWARDS GAY MEN

‘BROS’ STAR LE MACFARLANE TALKS MASCULY AND GAY INTY

)In “Take Me Out, ” which is set the mid-1990s, Williams, 40, plays Darren Lemmg, a superstar baseball player who out as gay. While Broadway has largely cid agast racial impersonatn, when to matters of sexualy, genr and disabily nversatns around which actors should play which rol rema, who is openly gay, said that an actor’s sexualy pertas ls than other factors.

“If there’s anybody the gay muny that thks that role should be played by a gay person, they have an argument, ” he said. “I really wanted the challenge of tryg to do my bt at the role, ” he Jse Tyler Fergon (“Morn Fay”), the openly gay actor who plays oppose Williams, that’s enough.

Now, more than a later, the actor will make his theatril film but — the first-ever gay rom- om a major stud (the ma st is entirely ma up of LGBTQ actors). He stars Universal’s Bros, om Billy Eichner (also the first openly gay man to -wre and star his own major stud film) and director Nicholas Stoller (Neighbors).

JSE WILLIAMS WEIGHS ON BEG A STRAIGHT MAN PLAYG A GAY CHARACTER BROADWAY'S TAKE ME OUT

Their meet-cute happens at a gay club, where a shirtls, ripped, baseball-hatted Aaron mak cheeky nversatn wh the phy and perennially sgle-on-purpose Bobby. “When I first read the Bros script, I really nnected wh Aaron on the ia of, where do his masculy f to the gay spectm?

Macfarlane says he me of age, and to the bs, at a time when gay men felt the ways which they were allowed to exprs themselv, and search for succs, were very narrow. “There was somethg about growg up the ’90s, our ias of masculy me om Abercrombie & Fch or Calv Kle ads, and that was very nfg to gay people of a certa age, ” he says, also rellg how an after-school viewg of the Chippendal dancers on The Phil Donahue Show exemplified the emphatilly mascule msagg of the time.

WHAT 40 YEARS OF CELEBRY TERVIEWS TGHT ME ABOUT ATTUS TOWARDS GAY MEN

His cisn to open up about his sexualy sparks a firtorm of homophobia and racism the sport, particularly his own locker room.

But Williams is also engagg wh another proment topic of discsn — whether straight actors should play gay characters. You were talkg about the inty issu that the play wrtl wh, and your character, Darren, has two big thgs that he's alg wh terms as a biracial baseball player who out as gay.

Dealg wh tolerance and and the racism and homophobia that e up the play, do you have to parse the nuanc between those two thgs or is all one big meltg pot of horrible people? Thanks to the shownners drivg thentic stori, filmmakers buckg s-old heteronormative paradigms, actors embolned to live more hontly and platforms bankrollg so much of , beg gay, queer, transgenr or any other other has never been more wily embraced the entertament s gural Pri issue, The Hollywood Reporter homed on the talent and makers helpg boost visibily and creatg opportuni for members of the extend LGBTQ muny.

After more than a of Watch What Happens Live Wh Andy Cohen, where he beme the first openly gay host Amerin late night, Bravo's exec turned talent tackl all kds of media (SiriXM show Rad Andy, multiple books), while upliftg and advotg for the LGBTQ muny. I'LL FEEL GOOD ABOUT HOLLYWOOD'S LGBTQ REPRESENTATION WHEN "As much reprentatn as there is, there are very few big gay love stori. Puttg his stamp on The Ln Kg — he played Timon to great acclaim the billn-dollar-earng Disney reboot — the out-and-proud funnyman will next play Matt Ddge  Amerin Crime Story: Impeachment while his upg Judd Apatow-produced feature at Universal is set to be the first gay rom- om a major stud.