Contents:
- ERIC DANE ON ‘EUPHORIA’ CHARACTER’S DOUBLE LIFE: “I’M ACUTELY AWARE THAT I’M A STRAIGHT ACTOR PLAYG A GAY CHARACTER”
- MD THE MEDIA: EUPHORIA'S DEPICTN OF A HIDN GAY INTY, AND S CONSEQUENC
- EUPHORIA EXPLOR CAL JABS’ SEXUALY WH TRAGIC GAY ROMANTIC BACKSTORY
- IS JAB ELORDI’S NATE JABS GAY EUPHORIA?
ERIC DANE ON ‘EUPHORIA’ CHARACTER’S DOUBLE LIFE: “I’M ACUTELY AWARE THAT I’M A STRAIGHT ACTOR PLAYG A GAY CHARACTER”
On graduatn night, Cal and Derek celebrate at a gay bar outsi of town, where they share a dance and their first kiss.
If Marsha hadn’t lled that morng wh the news that she was pregnant, Dane believ he and Derek would have been together, and Cal uld have been a happy gay man, fortable his own sk and not livg a lie. I don’t know if Derek was as gay as Cal was. He’s no longer accepted by the straight muny and not accepted by the gay muny.
“I’m acutely aware that I’m a straight actor playg a gay character, ” Dane reflects. “The gay muny has been super supportive.
MD THE MEDIA: EUPHORIA'S DEPICTN OF A HIDN GAY INTY, AND S CONSEQUENC
While Euphoria's first season tablished Cal as an outwardly succsful man wh a secret life, the send season spent two episos lvg to Cal's backstory and then the breakdown he experienc, which clud a spectacular tellg off of his fay, when he n no longer nceal his inty as a gay man any longer. As an adult, he's married, had two sons, and done well bs, yet he's hnted by the possibily that someone uld disver that he's gay.
In season two episo three ‘Rumatns: Big and Ltle Bullys‘, which dropped on NOWTV the UK this week, the show’s rint villa Cal (Eric Dane) was given a gay orig story worthy of s own movie. Gay. In a stirrg sequence set at a gay bar jt outsi their hometown, the two boys celebrate their recent graduatn and mourn their rapidly approachg separatn for llege wh an INXS-soundtracked slow dance, eventually givg way to a passnate kiss.
EUPHORIA EXPLOR CAL JABS’ SEXUALY WH TRAGIC GAY ROMANTIC BACKSTORY
And knowg what we know about how (and who) Cal turns out to be — a philanrg hband who’s ma a hab of secretly filmg his illic enunters wh young gay men and trans women — ’s easy to fill the gaps that separate that life-changg ‘80s moment om prent-day. Cal gets piss-dnk on a benr, dangeroly swerv traffic, and returns to the gay bar where he had his first same-sex kiss, only to try to start a brawl. Even his rawt moments — like the briefly tenr dance he shar wh a stranger at the gay bar, while remiscg on the one he shared wh Derek 25 years prr — are weighed down by his current realy.
IS JAB ELORDI’S NATE JABS GAY EUPHORIA?
Ultimately, he’s still a ragg dnk a gay bar, terrorizg unspectg patrons; he’s an agonized bull nng around a very lite cha the scen do allow for are nuance and clary, acknowledgg that even the worst of have ep-seated pa whout tryg to turn Cal to a good person to make that pot. He returns to the same gay bar 25 years later not to pick up someone new, but to repture those feelgs he had wh one boy over two s ago. At the gay bar, his fellow patrons wer away om him fear.
Dpe this, Cal was actually secretly bisexual, and had feelgs for Derek but never acted on them, most likely due to his homophobic father.
Cal Jabs is a plex man who's lived his entire life as a lie, pretendg to be someone he's not due to his upbrgg wh an homophobic father.