But Is It Gay Enough?: <em>The Imatn Game</em>

Contents:

• THE IMATN GAME DIRECTOR FENDS FILM'S LACK OF GAY SEX SCEN
• THE IMATN GAME DIRECTOR MORTEN TYLDUM: WE DIDN'T NEED GAY SEX SCEN
• BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH TALKS ABOUT GAY SEX SCEN (OR LACK OF) THE IMATN GAME
• ‘THE IMATN GAME’ DIRECTOR ON LACK OF GAY SEX MOVIE AND WORKG WH BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH
• <I>THE IMATN GAME</I>'S ALAN TURG -- A GAY MAN FOR ALL SEASONS
• BUT IS IT GAY ENOUGH?: THE IMATN GAME
• ‘IMATN GAME,’ ALAN TURG AND THE CHEMIL WAR ON U.K.’S GAYS
• OSRS: ‘THE IMATN GAME’ FALLY PLAYS THE GAY CARD
• OSRS: ‘IMATN GAME’ DIRECTOR ON WHY THE FILM DIDN’T PORTRAY AN ALAN TURG GAY RELATNSHIP

THE IMATN GAME DIRECTOR FENDS FILM'S LACK OF GAY SEX SCEN

If I have a gay character a movie, I need to have a sex scene — jt to prove that he’s gay? His whole relatnship, how he falls love and the importance of him beg a gay man, was all about secrecy.

The only reason to have a sex scene the film would be to satisfy crics who feels that every gay character needs to have a gay sex scene. ”The Imatn Game is up for eight Osrs, cludg bt picture and bt actor for Benedict Cumberbatch, who has ed the film to support a mpaign to get other gay men arrted durg the same perd pardoned for their crim. It’s kd of prejudiced to say that if you have a gay character a movie, you need to show explic gay sex.

They were both outsirs: she beg a woman, he beg this socially awkward gay man. It wasn’t jt that he was a closeted gay man — he was also a man who had a md that worked differently.

THE IMATN GAME DIRECTOR MORTEN TYLDUM: WE DIDN'T NEED GAY SEX SCEN

Get our ee weekly email for all the latt cematic news om our film cric Clarisse LoughreyGet our The Life Cematic email for eeBenedict Cumberbatch has fend the cisn not to clu overt gay sex scen his latt movie, The Imatn Brish actor plays geni breaker Alan Turg who helps the Alli feat the German Nazis World War II, only to be crimally prosecuted for beg a homosexual when he is ught wh a 19-year-old man crics have asked why sex do not feature the film but acrdg to Cumberbatch, is "not an exploratn of someone's sex life".

"He's chemilly strated bee he adms to beg a homosexual; he talks about entreatg a young man to touch his penis. "If you need to see that to unrstand that he's gay, then all is lost for any kd of subtle storytellg. The many fac of Benedict Cumberbatch Show all 12Director Morten Tyldum also mented on the lack of gay sex, addg that was a "very nsc choice" as Turg's sexualy was "jt one part of the character that [he] wanted to reveal" Knightley, Allen Leech, Matthew Goo and Rory Knear also star alongsi Cumberbatch the film, which is already beg tipped for an is due for release UK cemas on 14 November.

BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH TALKS ABOUT GAY SEX SCEN (OR LACK OF) THE IMATN GAME

Later, he pneered digal putg and artificial telligence before killg himself 1952 followg his nvictn for gross cency – that is, gay sex. But mak his gayns unambiguoly clear and shows how his adolcent sire for another boy is bound up secrecy, reprsn, shame and grief – a tragic ndn but one that also fuelled his tellectual foc and self-sufficiency wh such tremendo plex chicken-and-egg relatnship between persecutn and perceptn is at the heart of queerns, but gets ltle regnn the tim of bland pop monoculture and the LGBT mastream’s yearng for normaly. “The Imatn Game” stars Benedict Cumberbatch as Alan Turg, a World War II Brish mathematician famo for crackg Nazi Germany’s Enigma , but ultimately punished by the ernment for his homosexualy.

Somethg that’s been a pretty hotly bated topic around this film is the explic exprsn of homosexualy. So you have that and to add somethg any way, we felt, would be disrpectful to this character beg gay.

It’s almost like addg an unnecsary sex scene for a heterosexual character…like bee he’s gay, we have to have that. He was a clost gay man dog the whole World War, which was really part of the whole [film]. "Once I beme a wrer I would go to my agents once a year and say, 'Hey, there's this movie I really want to wre about a gay English mathematician who ms suici after the Send World War, '" Moore remembers.

‘THE IMATN GAME’ DIRECTOR ON LACK OF GAY SEX MOVIE AND WORKG WH BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH

(It's one of history's awful ironi that the general public found out Turg was gay, by way of an cency trial brought by Brish thori, long before they found out he was largely rponsible for outsmartg the Nazis. Rather, Moore says, he's meant to symbolize "the stutnalized homophobia of the day, to show that this wasn't some ravg lunatic who arrted persecuted Alan Turg.

<I>THE IMATN GAME</I>'S ALAN TURG -- A GAY MAN FOR ALL SEASONS

It’s this gets sticky is when to the fate of Turg himself, who was gay when was still illegal and nvicted for gross cency, opted for chemil stratn rather than imprisonment, and died a year later, probably by his own hand, while sufferg this digny. The Imatn Game marks the return of spoiler-gate, that endls argy-bargy between crics and rears about how much rmatn is too other problem wh The Imatn Game is that tri to have s gay martyr ke and eat . (Image cred: The Weste Company)Director Morten Tyldum And Benedict Cumberbatch Had To Come Up Wh Alan Turg’s Voice And MannerismsSo much of Alan Turg’s life has eher been ma classified rmatn (due to the nature of his work durg the war) or was left out of the history books, partly due to him beg ostracized for beg homosexual.

But another reason uld be how much Knightley was vted Alan Turg’s story even before the project was announced, as she revealed to Collir:I read an article about five years before, and gone ‘How on Earth do I not know more about this person and why have I never heard of this before and why is he not a Brish hero and why isn’t he a plete gay in?

For all of the distctly drawn perd piece-ns of The Imatn Game, wh s English ra, tweeds, tea and unrstated heroism and humor, the film holds bracgly morn them that make both mastream and groundbreakg s portrayal of the life of one gay story of Brish mathematician, cryptanalyst and puter scientist Alan Turg who played a key role crackg Nazi Germany's Enigma is a h take on what means to be a homosexual when you're also smarter than everyone else and have the skills to end a world war. Contemporary issu like Aspergers, bullyg, discrimatn, vlence and women's rights and oh, a ltle thg like the disvery of puters crowd the gay rights story here but by no means overshadow s subtle theme of strength and digny for the LGBT muny and the world at Turg is prented The Imatn Game as a difficult hero whose homosexualy rms but do not fe him and ed helps him bee one of those people who no one imag anythg of who do the thgs no one n image.

BUT IS IT GAY ENOUGH?: THE IMATN GAME

This was a sort of gay rights movie but also a thriller, Turg was the father of puter science and a gay man - so we wanted to draw on all the facets of this life to appeal to morn dienc - as well as World War Two enthiasts, puter theorists, gay advot - all kds of Were there discsns gog to this on how much to emphasize his sexualy? NG:That Alan Turg was a gay man is a very important part of his story - but he was also a -breaker and a mathematician. We were tryg to f all of this to a two hour movie - pecially sce this is a movie that revolv around Turg's time durg the war at Bletchley Park, and while he did nfi wh some of his iends about beg a homosexual he himself later scribed the place as a 'sexual sert.

GM: One of the thgs we wanted to show is that for Turg his experience as a gay man Bra at that time was foundatnal to his mathematil, his philosophil work, his puter work. He was an outsir - he was outsi the societal mastream -he had the ias that no one else when we talk about the Imatn Game self -- which a nutshell is Alan's ia that we are only what we n nvce someone else that we are -- we are human to the gree that we n nvce someone else that we are human -- and I thk for a statement like that to e om a closeted gay man Bra the 1930s - was so foundatnal to his theoretil and mathematil work and that was what we were tryg to show the Before I saw The Imatn Game I expected to see an element of shame or huiatn Turg's revelatn of or persecutn for beg gay and jt wasn't there - talk about that? He was so fiant about and I love that about Jt as seeg Selma is important for younger Ain Amerins to see what their grandparents and great-grandparents went through the 1960s, The Imatn Game is showg younger gay men and women what homosexuals endured the not so distance past.

‘IMATN GAME,’ ALAN TURG AND THE CHEMIL WAR ON U.K.’S GAYS

GM: When we look at prejudice that certa groups have received the past we ually talk about terms of dividual acts of prejudice, dividual acts of homophobia, dividual acts of racism, but one of the thgs that was so tertg about this story was Alan's character and the character of Joan Clarke whom Keira Knightley plays - they both faced this sort of stutnal sexism. The aren't characters who are facg and prevailg agast specific dividual acts of homophobia and persecutn - was at an stutnal level. Gay men were stutnally discrimated agast Bra at the time, jt as women were stutnally discrimated agast.

OSRS: ‘THE IMATN GAME’ FALLY PLAYS THE GAY CARD

The veat (and spoiler, if you don't know the tails of Turg's life): at the very end of the movie, after Turg is outed as gay, he is chemilly strated and then (though this is mentned only a text note on screen at the end) ms suici. While was very clear to as adults that his sad fate had everythg to do wh the homophobia of that time, and almost nothg to do wh his personaly or brilliance (I say "almost nothg" bee I don't know whether and how his social skills played to his outg/sentencg) I'm not so sure that would be clear to our kids. Nothg mentned was 100% explic and no visuals are provid, but has several hts at sex, both M and F as well as M and M (the ma character, as we fd out, is homosexual).

It's a fe movie, but the marketg team cid to foc more on the war part of the movie, when realy, much of the movie was about Cumberbatch's character navigatg through homosexualy. War, crimalizatn of homosexuals, Turg's own acceptance and stggl wh society ncerng his own sexualy, and the grave nsequenc of knowledge vs rponsibily. The overlyg theme is homosexualy, that was a word I didn't unrstand at the time, but if you're unfortable wh showg your kids a movie that als wh such issu.

Also, 's got homophobia as a theme as well, while the film self treats 's homosexual characters as human begs, some of the people the film don't do so. It's pretty subtle wh the homosexualy theme, but the theme of homophobia might be a b much for younger dienc. In the procs Alan is found to be gay and is arrted and later chemilly strated and kills himself.

OSRS: ‘IMATN GAME’ DIRECTOR ON WHY THE FILM DIDN’T PORTRAY AN ALAN TURG GAY RELATNSHIP

How uld possibly matter that he was also gay?

A climactic scene featur Benedict Cumberbatch (as Turg) tearfully explag he chose chemil stratn over two year jail time as his punishment for beg charged "gross cency" for homosexual ntact. He had to fd himself as a homosexual a society dog s bt to csh homosexualy out of existence; and ls acute, though equally persistent as a problem his life, he had to f to an amic system that did not su his particular le of thought.