Why In & Out Remas a Good-Hearted Gay Film

Contents:

• 25 YEARS LATER, 'IN & OUT' REMAS A GOOD-HEARTED GAY FILM AHEAD OF ITS TIME
• MY WIFE THOUGHT I WAS GAY; KEV KLE HAD TO PLAY STRAIGHT ON HIS FIRST DATE.
• HOW IN & OUT “BLEW THE ROOF OFF THE THEATER” 20 YEARS AGOSCREENWRER PL RUDNICK ON HIS GROUNDBREAKG G-OUT EDY, OM S UNUAL ORIGS TO S LIGHTFUL LEGACY. (BARBRA’S A FAN!)BY GAR PIRNIASEPTEMBER 20, 2017PL RUDNICK SPEAKS WH DIRECTOR FRANK OZ AND PRODUCER STT RUD WHILE FILMG "IN & OUT" 1997.FROM PARAMOUNT PICTUR/EVERETT COLLECTN.SAVE THIS STORYSAVESAVE THIS STORYSAVEWHEN TOM HANKS WON THE BT-ACTOR OSR FOR PHILALPHIA 1994, HE GAVE AN IMPASSNED SPEECH ABOUT HIS HIGH-SCHOOL DRAMA TEACHER, RAWLEY FARNSWORTH—REFERRG TO FARNSWORTH AND A FORMER CLASSMATE AS “TWO OF THE FT GAY AMERINS.” PERHAPS HANKS DIDN’T REALIZE THE ATTENTN THAT WOULD BRG TO HIS MENTOR. THE SPEECH SPIRED PRODUCER STT RUD TO DREAM UP IN & OUT, RELEASED SEPTEMBER 1997. THE FILM STARS KEV KLE AS 40-SOMETHG HIGH-SCHOOL ENGLISH TEACHER HOWARD BRACKETT, WHO IS ENGAGED TO THE LONG-SUFFERG EY (JOAN CACK). WHEN ONE OF HIS NOW-FAMO STUNTS, CAMERON DRAKE (MATT DILLON), WS AN OSR, HE THANKS BRACKETT FOR BEG “A GREAT, GAY TEACHER”—ACCINTALLY OUTG HOWARD THE PROCS.RUD TAPPED SISTER ACT, ADDAMS FAY VALU, AND FIRST WIV CLUB SCRIBE/PLAYWRIGHT PL RUDNICK TO TRANSFORM HIS IA TO A SCREENPLAY. “AT FIRST I WAS A LTLE RISTANT,” RUDNICK, WHO’S OPENLY GAY, TELLS VANY FAIR. “THEN I ASKED STT: ‘WHAT IF THIS ALL HAPPENED TO A MAN WHO IS GETTG MARRIED?’ OH, SUDNLY I ULD SEE.“I WAS PECIALLY EAGER TO DO A G-OUT STORY THAT WAS NO WAY TRAGIC,” HE NTU. “I THOUGHT EVEN WHILE THERE ARE STORI ABOUT PEOPLE FACG TERRIBLE REJECTNS OM THEIR FAI AND MUNI—AND THOSE ARE ENTIRELY VALID—I WANTED TO TRY SOMETHG THAT WAS MORE ALONG THE L OF G G OUT AS A ROMANTIC-EDY VICE.”PL RUDNICK SPEAKS WH DIRECTOR FRANK OZ AND PRODUCER STT RUD WHILE FILMG "IN & OUT" 1997.FROM PARAMOUNT PICTUR/EVERETT COLLECTN.HE PURPOSELY SET THE MOVIE THE MIDWT, FICTNAL GREENLEAF, INDIANA—“A NSERVATIVE, FAY-ORIENTED SMALL TOWN—THAT SEEMED ALMOST MORE OF A CHALLENGE THAN ANOTHER STORY SET ON THE EAST COAST”—AND DIDN’T HOLD BACK ON S G-OUT NARRATIVE, EVEN THOUGH HE REALIZED THAT MIGHT E AS A SHOCK TO UNSPECTG DIENC. “I KNOW A LOT OF PEOPLE WHO SAW THE TRAILERS ASSUMED THAT WAS GOG BE A MISTAKE—THAT HE’D REALLY BE STRAIGHT, AND THAT WOULD BE THE SOURCE OF THE MOVIE’S EDY,” RUDNICK EXPLAS. “SO WHEN THEY WENT TO THE MOVIE AND REALIZED NO, NO, NO, THIS IS A MOVIE ABOUT A GAY MAN, THAT WAS A SURPRISE.”IT’S NOT QUE AS SURPRISG TO HOWARD’S FAY AND IENDS, WHO QUTN HIS HETEROSEXUALY AFTER THE SPEECH. AT HOWARD’S BACHELOR PARTY, HE WANTS TO WATCH QUEER IN BARBRA STREISAND’S FUNNY GIRL; HE ALSO GETS TO A FIGHT WH A IEND WHO CLAIMS THAT YENTL “SUCKS.” EVEN 20 YEARS LATER, THE JOK STILL H: “I FOUND THAT EVEN AMONG VERY YOUNG GAY MEN, BARBRA ENDUR,” RUDNICK SAYS. “THERE ARE OTHER GAY INS WHO ARE NO LONGER AS FAIAR; I THK BARBRA DON’T GO OUT OF STYLE.” (WHILE RUDNICK HASN’T MET STREISAND HIMSELF, HE HEARS SHE WAS ENTERTAED BY THE FILM.)DIRECTOR FRANK OZ STACKED THE ST OF IN & OUT WH BABY-FACED, SOON-TO-BE-FAMO ACTORS—CLUDG LREN AMBROSE (SIX FEET UNR), ZAK ORTH (WET HOT AMERIN SUMMER), AND SELMA BLAIR (CEL INTENTNS)—AS WELL AS STAGE STALWARTS LIKE J. SMH-CAMERON (RECTIFY) AND BECKY ANN BAKER (GIRLS). SCREEN VETS DEBBIE REYNOLDS AND BOB NEWHART ROUND OUT THE ROSTER. “WHEREVER YOU LOOKED, THERE WAS SOMEONE LIC,” SAYS RUDNICK. “NO ONE DROPPED THE BALL.” RUD AND RUDNICK PAID BACK OZ, WHO IS STRAIGHT, BY GIFTG HIM WH A “STARTER GAY-MAN K”—WHICH CLUD “SOMETHG WH A RABOW ON ,” A V.H.S. PY OF BEACH, AND A ST RERDG OF GYPSY.THE MOVIE WAS RELEASED DURG A WATERSHED ERA L.G.B.T.Q. HISTORY. ELLEN DEGENER ME OUT HERSELF APRIL OF 1997; TWO MONTHS LATER, TRISTAR RELEASED MY BT FRIEND’S WEDDG, FEATURG RUPERT EVERETT A MAJOR GAY ROLE. A YEAR AFTER THAT, WILL & GRACE BUTED ON NBC. “REMEMBER, THIS WAS A MOVIE THAT WAS MA AFTER THE PEAK OF THE AIDS CRISIS,” RUDNICK SAYS. “IF THERE WAS ANY BENEF OM THE AIDS CRISIS, WHICH IS AWFUL TO SAY, THERE WAS AT LEAST THIS NEW SENSE OF VISIBILY, AND A SENSE THE LIV ULD NO LONGER BE HIDN. THERE WAS A CREATIVE TSUNAMI A WAY, THAT SENSE OF ‘NOW’S THE TIME.’”OF URSE, SPE ALL THAT, NOT EVERYONE WAS READY FOR THE FILM. RUDNICK SAYS A KISS BETWEEN KLE’S CHARACTER AND A GAY REPORTER PLAYED BY TOM SELLECK “BLEW THE ROOF OFF THE THEATER,” SPIRG PASSNATE RPONS BOTH NEGATIVE AND POSIVE; ONE SCREENG, HE WATCHED A TEENAGE BOY TRY TO CLIMB BEHD HIS GIRLIEND SO HE WOULDN’T HAVE TO WATCH . RUDNICK ALSO REMEMBERS A WOMAN WHO RAVED ABOUT THE MOVIE ON A TT-SCREENG RD, BUT SHE WOULDN’T REMEND THE FILM TO A IEND: “NO, AGAST GOD’S LAW,” SHE WROTE.“THAT’S THE KD OF THG YOU EHER FD TRAGIC, HEARTBREAKG, HATEFUL, OR HILAR, AND I THOUGHT ALL OF [THE] ABOVE,” RUDNICK SAYS NOW. “IF WE GAVE HER EVERYTHG A HOLLYWOOD MOVIE EDY ULD OFFER AND SHE STILL HAD THIS RIDUAL RISTANCE TO , THAT SEEMED, AMONG OTHER THGS, SANE. THAT’S WHAT THE MOVIE WAS GETTG AT.”TWO S LATER, MARRIAGE EQUALY IS THE LAW OF THE LAND AND G-OUT NARRATIV ARE NO LONGER SHOCKG—BUT MID-BUDGET HOLLYWOOD FILMS FEATURG THREE-DIMENSNAL GAY CHARACTERS ARE STILL SRCE. ONLY A SMALL ACTN OF 2016’S STUD FILMS FEATURED L.G.B.T.Q. CHARACTERS AT ALL, ACRDG TO A RECENT GLAAD STUDY; THE DIFFICULTI OF GETTG GAY-THEMED MOVI MA ARE WELL DOCUMENTED, EVEN WHEN THOSE MOV HAVE TY BUDGETS AND ROBT BOX-OFFICE NUMBERS. (IN 2005, BROKEBACK MOUNTA GROSSED $178 LN WORLDWI; MOONLIGHT, AGAST A $4 LN BUDGET, GROSSED $65 LN WORLDWI.)MOST POPULARRILEY KEOUGH ON GROWG UP PRLEY, LOSG LISA MARIE, AND INHERG GRACELANDBY BRT HENNEMUTHBILL MAHER BEEFS WH “PREACHY, MAN-HATG” BARBIE MOVIEBY SAVANNAH WALSHJAMIE LEE CURTIS DIGS HERSELF OUT OF COMMENTS ABOUT SAG-AFTRA STRIKEBY EVE BATEY“IT’S BEEN PROVEN TIME AND AGA THAT MOVI ABOUT GAY LIV AND GAY CHARACTERS N BE SUCCSFUL EVERYWHERE, AND NOT JT ON THE AST,” RUDNICK SAYS, “YET THE STUDS N BE VERY RISTANT. IT’S STILL NSIRED A TOUGH BET, AND I THK THAT’S WHY A LOT OF PEOPLE TAKE THAT MATERIAL TO TELEVISN, PECIALLY TO BLE—THE NORMAL HEART WAS FILMED BETIFULLY BY RYAN MURPHY FOR HBO. BUT YOU THK, WHY HADN’T THAT BEEN MA SOONER? YOU’LL TAKE A CHANCE ON THE 5 LNTH SUPERHERO FILM, BUT YOU WON’T TAKE A CHANCE ON A GREAT GAY FILM LIKE MOONLIGHT? YOU WONR, HOW MANY HS DO YOU NEED?”AT S RE, THOUGH, IN & OUT IS REALLY ABOUT ACCEPTANCE—OF ONELF AND OF OTHERS. “I WANTED TO MAKE SURE BY THE END OF THE FILM, HOWARD BRACKETT WAS SURROUND BY LOVE AND ACCEPTANCE, PECIALLY OM HIMSELF,” RUDNICK SAYS. “IT’S WHY ENDS WH THAT DANCE. WE PLAYED AROUND WH MULTIPLE ENDGS: DID HOWARD NEED A BOYIEND AT THE END? DID HOWARD NEED TO GET MARRIED? NO. WHAT HOWARD NEEDS IS TO BE HAPPY AND TO LOVE WHO HE IS AND TO REALIZE EVERYONE AROUND HIM LOV HIM AS WELL AND CHERISH HIM.” RUDNICK IS PROUD THAT HIS FILM ALLOWS DIENC “TO LGH WH GAY CHARACTERS STEAD OF AT THEM.” AND HE’S RIGHT—EVERYTHG OM KLE STTTG TO “MACHO MAN” TO JOAN CACK BAWLG HER WEDDG DRS AND SAYG, “FUCK BARBRA STREISAND,” IS GAY EDY GOLD.“WHENEVER I SEE ON HBO, I GET UGHT UP,” RUDNICK SAYS. “I WA FOR KEV TO DANCE, AND I WA FOR JOAN HER WEDDG GOWN. I LOVED WORKG ON THAT MOVIE.”8 MOVIE STARS WH UNBELIEVABLE CONTRACT CLS1 / 8CHEVRONCHEVRONFROM SCREEN GEMS/EVERETT COLLECTN.SAMUEL L. JACKSONWHEN YOU’RE ONE OF THE HIGHT-GROSSG ACTORS THE WORLD, YOU’RE ALLOWED TO TAKE A GOLF BREAK. SAMUEL L. JACKSON LOV THE SPORT SO MUCH THAT ALL HIS NTRACTS, HE HAS A CLSE THAT ALLOWS HIM TO GOLF TWICE A WEEK DURG MOVIE SHOOTS.GAR PIRNIA
• KEV KLE GAY RUMORS?ONLE POLL SHOWS 70 PERCENT DON’T BELIEVE HE’S GAY
• KEV SPACEY: I N’T TELL WHETHER MEN ARE GAY JT BY LOOKG AT THEM
• IS KEV KLE GAY?

25 YEARS LATER, 'IN & OUT' REMAS A GOOD-HEARTED GAY FILM AHEAD OF ITS TIME

A midwtern teacher qutns his sexualy after a former stunt mak a ment about him at the Amy productn, box office & pany Vios2More like thisReview Hilar pictn of prejudice agast homosexualsIn & Out starrg Kev Kle, Tom Selleck and the town of Greenleaf, Indiana is a movie about the way we thk about (at least an exaggerated kd of way) is excellent as the teacher who has a hard time g out and beg tthfull to his soon-to-be wife Cack. Selleck giv a good performance as the TV-reporter who tri to make Kle e out about his homosexualy, beg gay himself knowg that nial isn't the right answer.... The implitn here, of urse, is that Will and Grace are no more gay or Jewish than actors playg rol wh those intifiers, who are not those thgs real life.

It’s a plat still lodged agast mastream queer films today—why do Hollywood still sist on nsirg straight actors for gay rol when there is an endls list of eligible queer actors?

Box office succs, no doubt, but the mentaly that an creasg number of queer moviegoers tend to hold where they won’t support films starrg straight actors as gay characters n also cloud our visn of enjoyg gay films that hold up spe their flaws.

MY WIFE THOUGHT I WAS GAY; KEV KLE HAD TO PLAY STRAIGHT ON HIS FIRST DATE.

Released 25 years ago this week, In & Out stars Kev Kle as Howard Bracken, a high school English teacher Greenleaf, Indiana who is outed as gay by a former stunt, Cameron Drake (Matt Dillon), durg his acceptance speech for the Amy Award for Bt Actor. The film’s edic premise was based on Tom Hanks’ real-life Osrs acceptance speech 1994, where he won for playg a gay man wh AIDS Philalphia. Referrg his speech to a former teacher and classmate as “two of the ft gay Amerins, two wonrful men that I had the good fortune to be associated wh, ” In & Out imag a fictnalized acunt om the perspective of one of those men, who didn’t believe himself to be gay until that very moment.

HOW IN & OUT “BLEW THE ROOF OFF THE THEATER” 20 YEARS AGOSCREENWRER PL RUDNICK ON HIS GROUNDBREAKG G-OUT EDY, OM S UNUAL ORIGS TO S LIGHTFUL LEGACY. (BARBRA’S A FAN!)BY GAR PIRNIASEPTEMBER 20, 2017PL RUDNICK SPEAKS WH DIRECTOR FRANK OZ AND PRODUCER STT RUD WHILE FILMG "IN & OUT" 1997.FROM PARAMOUNT PICTUR/EVERETT COLLECTN.SAVE THIS STORYSAVESAVE THIS STORYSAVEWHEN TOM HANKS WON THE BT-ACTOR OSR FOR PHILALPHIA 1994, HE GAVE AN IMPASSNED SPEECH ABOUT HIS HIGH-SCHOOL DRAMA TEACHER, RAWLEY FARNSWORTH—REFERRG TO FARNSWORTH AND A FORMER CLASSMATE AS “TWO OF THE FT GAY AMERINS.” PERHAPS HANKS DIDN’T REALIZE THE ATTENTN THAT WOULD BRG TO HIS MENTOR. THE SPEECH SPIRED PRODUCER STT RUD TO DREAM UP IN & OUT, RELEASED SEPTEMBER 1997. THE FILM STARS KEV KLE AS 40-SOMETHG HIGH-SCHOOL ENGLISH TEACHER HOWARD BRACKETT, WHO IS ENGAGED TO THE LONG-SUFFERG EY (JOAN CACK). WHEN ONE OF HIS NOW-FAMO STUNTS, CAMERON DRAKE (MATT DILLON), WS AN OSR, HE THANKS BRACKETT FOR BEG “A GREAT, GAY TEACHER”—ACCINTALLY OUTG HOWARD THE PROCS.RUD TAPPED SISTER ACT, ADDAMS FAY VALU, AND FIRST WIV CLUB SCRIBE/PLAYWRIGHT PL RUDNICK TO TRANSFORM HIS IA TO A SCREENPLAY. “AT FIRST I WAS A LTLE RISTANT,” RUDNICK, WHO’S OPENLY GAY, TELLS VANY FAIR. “THEN I ASKED STT: ‘WHAT IF THIS ALL HAPPENED TO A MAN WHO IS GETTG MARRIED?’ OH, SUDNLY I ULD SEE.“I WAS PECIALLY EAGER TO DO A G-OUT STORY THAT WAS NO WAY TRAGIC,” HE NTU. “I THOUGHT EVEN WHILE THERE ARE STORI ABOUT PEOPLE FACG TERRIBLE REJECTNS OM THEIR FAI AND MUNI—AND THOSE ARE ENTIRELY VALID—I WANTED TO TRY SOMETHG THAT WAS MORE ALONG THE L OF G G OUT AS A ROMANTIC-EDY VICE.”PL RUDNICK SPEAKS WH DIRECTOR FRANK OZ AND PRODUCER STT RUD WHILE FILMG "IN & OUT" 1997.FROM PARAMOUNT PICTUR/EVERETT COLLECTN.HE PURPOSELY SET THE MOVIE THE MIDWT, FICTNAL GREENLEAF, INDIANA—“A NSERVATIVE, FAY-ORIENTED SMALL TOWN—THAT SEEMED ALMOST MORE OF A CHALLENGE THAN ANOTHER STORY SET ON THE EAST COAST”—AND DIDN’T HOLD BACK ON S G-OUT NARRATIVE, EVEN THOUGH HE REALIZED THAT MIGHT E AS A SHOCK TO UNSPECTG DIENC. “I KNOW A LOT OF PEOPLE WHO SAW THE TRAILERS ASSUMED THAT WAS GOG BE A MISTAKE—THAT HE’D REALLY BE STRAIGHT, AND THAT WOULD BE THE SOURCE OF THE MOVIE’S EDY,” RUDNICK EXPLAS. “SO WHEN THEY WENT TO THE MOVIE AND REALIZED NO, NO, NO, THIS IS A MOVIE ABOUT A GAY MAN, THAT WAS A SURPRISE.”IT’S NOT QUE AS SURPRISG TO HOWARD’S FAY AND IENDS, WHO QUTN HIS HETEROSEXUALY AFTER THE SPEECH. AT HOWARD’S BACHELOR PARTY, HE WANTS TO WATCH QUEER IN BARBRA STREISAND’S FUNNY GIRL; HE ALSO GETS TO A FIGHT WH A IEND WHO CLAIMS THAT YENTL “SUCKS.” EVEN 20 YEARS LATER, THE JOK STILL H: “I FOUND THAT EVEN AMONG VERY YOUNG GAY MEN, BARBRA ENDUR,” RUDNICK SAYS. “THERE ARE OTHER GAY INS WHO ARE NO LONGER AS FAIAR; I THK BARBRA DON’T GO OUT OF STYLE.” (WHILE RUDNICK HASN’T MET STREISAND HIMSELF, HE HEARS SHE WAS ENTERTAED BY THE FILM.)DIRECTOR FRANK OZ STACKED THE ST OF IN & OUT WH BABY-FACED, SOON-TO-BE-FAMO ACTORS—CLUDG LREN AMBROSE (SIX FEET UNR), ZAK ORTH (WET HOT AMERIN SUMMER), AND SELMA BLAIR (CEL INTENTNS)—AS WELL AS STAGE STALWARTS LIKE J. SMH-CAMERON (RECTIFY) AND BECKY ANN BAKER (GIRLS). SCREEN VETS DEBBIE REYNOLDS AND BOB NEWHART ROUND OUT THE ROSTER. “WHEREVER YOU LOOKED, THERE WAS SOMEONE LIC,” SAYS RUDNICK. “NO ONE DROPPED THE BALL.” RUD AND RUDNICK PAID BACK OZ, WHO IS STRAIGHT, BY GIFTG HIM WH A “STARTER GAY-MAN K”—WHICH CLUD “SOMETHG WH A RABOW ON ,” A V.H.S. PY OF BEACH, AND A ST RERDG OF GYPSY.THE MOVIE WAS RELEASED DURG A WATERSHED ERA L.G.B.T.Q. HISTORY. ELLEN DEGENER ME OUT HERSELF APRIL OF 1997; TWO MONTHS LATER, TRISTAR RELEASED MY BT FRIEND’S WEDDG, FEATURG RUPERT EVERETT A MAJOR GAY ROLE. A YEAR AFTER THAT, WILL & GRACE BUTED ON NBC. “REMEMBER, THIS WAS A MOVIE THAT WAS MA AFTER THE PEAK OF THE AIDS CRISIS,” RUDNICK SAYS. “IF THERE WAS ANY BENEF OM THE AIDS CRISIS, WHICH IS AWFUL TO SAY, THERE WAS AT LEAST THIS NEW SENSE OF VISIBILY, AND A SENSE THE LIV ULD NO LONGER BE HIDN. THERE WAS A CREATIVE TSUNAMI A WAY, THAT SENSE OF ‘NOW’S THE TIME.’”OF URSE, SPE ALL THAT, NOT EVERYONE WAS READY FOR THE FILM. RUDNICK SAYS A KISS BETWEEN KLE’S CHARACTER AND A GAY REPORTER PLAYED BY TOM SELLECK “BLEW THE ROOF OFF THE THEATER,” SPIRG PASSNATE RPONS BOTH NEGATIVE AND POSIVE; ONE SCREENG, HE WATCHED A TEENAGE BOY TRY TO CLIMB BEHD HIS GIRLIEND SO HE WOULDN’T HAVE TO WATCH . RUDNICK ALSO REMEMBERS A WOMAN WHO RAVED ABOUT THE MOVIE ON A TT-SCREENG RD, BUT SHE WOULDN’T REMEND THE FILM TO A IEND: “NO, AGAST GOD’S LAW,” SHE WROTE.“THAT’S THE KD OF THG YOU EHER FD TRAGIC, HEARTBREAKG, HATEFUL, OR HILAR, AND I THOUGHT ALL OF [THE] ABOVE,” RUDNICK SAYS NOW. “IF WE GAVE HER EVERYTHG A HOLLYWOOD MOVIE EDY ULD OFFER AND SHE STILL HAD THIS RIDUAL RISTANCE TO , THAT SEEMED, AMONG OTHER THGS, SANE. THAT’S WHAT THE MOVIE WAS GETTG AT.”TWO S LATER, MARRIAGE EQUALY IS THE LAW OF THE LAND AND G-OUT NARRATIV ARE NO LONGER SHOCKG—BUT MID-BUDGET HOLLYWOOD FILMS FEATURG THREE-DIMENSNAL GAY CHARACTERS ARE STILL SRCE. ONLY A SMALL ACTN OF 2016’S STUD FILMS FEATURED L.G.B.T.Q. CHARACTERS AT ALL, ACRDG TO A RECENT GLAAD STUDY; THE DIFFICULTI OF GETTG GAY-THEMED MOVI MA ARE WELL DOCUMENTED, EVEN WHEN THOSE MOV HAVE TY BUDGETS AND ROBT BOX-OFFICE NUMBERS. (IN 2005, BROKEBACK MOUNTA GROSSED $178 LN WORLDWI; MOONLIGHT, AGAST A $4 LN BUDGET, GROSSED $65 LN WORLDWI.)MOST POPULARRILEY KEOUGH ON GROWG UP PRLEY, LOSG LISA MARIE, AND INHERG GRACELANDBY BRT HENNEMUTHBILL MAHER BEEFS WH “PREACHY, MAN-HATG” BARBIE MOVIEBY SAVANNAH WALSHJAMIE LEE CURTIS DIGS HERSELF OUT OF COMMENTS ABOUT SAG-AFTRA STRIKEBY EVE BATEY“IT’S BEEN PROVEN TIME AND AGA THAT MOVI ABOUT GAY LIV AND GAY CHARACTERS N BE SUCCSFUL EVERYWHERE, AND NOT JT ON THE AST,” RUDNICK SAYS, “YET THE STUDS N BE VERY RISTANT. IT’S STILL NSIRED A TOUGH BET, AND I THK THAT’S WHY A LOT OF PEOPLE TAKE THAT MATERIAL TO TELEVISN, PECIALLY TO BLE—THE NORMAL HEART WAS FILMED BETIFULLY BY RYAN MURPHY FOR HBO. BUT YOU THK, WHY HADN’T THAT BEEN MA SOONER? YOU’LL TAKE A CHANCE ON THE 5 LNTH SUPERHERO FILM, BUT YOU WON’T TAKE A CHANCE ON A GREAT GAY FILM LIKE MOONLIGHT? YOU WONR, HOW MANY HS DO YOU NEED?”AT S RE, THOUGH, IN & OUT IS REALLY ABOUT ACCEPTANCE—OF ONELF AND OF OTHERS. “I WANTED TO MAKE SURE BY THE END OF THE FILM, HOWARD BRACKETT WAS SURROUND BY LOVE AND ACCEPTANCE, PECIALLY OM HIMSELF,” RUDNICK SAYS. “IT’S WHY ENDS WH THAT DANCE. WE PLAYED AROUND WH MULTIPLE ENDGS: DID HOWARD NEED A BOYIEND AT THE END? DID HOWARD NEED TO GET MARRIED? NO. WHAT HOWARD NEEDS IS TO BE HAPPY AND TO LOVE WHO HE IS AND TO REALIZE EVERYONE AROUND HIM LOV HIM AS WELL AND CHERISH HIM.” RUDNICK IS PROUD THAT HIS FILM ALLOWS DIENC “TO LGH WH GAY CHARACTERS STEAD OF AT THEM.” AND HE’S RIGHT—EVERYTHG OM KLE STTTG TO “MACHO MAN” TO JOAN CACK BAWLG HER WEDDG DRS AND SAYG, “FUCK BARBRA STREISAND,” IS GAY EDY GOLD.“WHENEVER I SEE ON HBO, I GET UGHT UP,” RUDNICK SAYS. “I WA FOR KEV TO DANCE, AND I WA FOR JOAN HER WEDDG GOWN. I LOVED WORKG ON THAT MOVIE.”8 MOVIE STARS WH UNBELIEVABLE CONTRACT CLS1 / 8CHEVRONCHEVRONFROM SCREEN GEMS/EVERETT COLLECTN.SAMUEL L. JACKSONWHEN YOU’RE ONE OF THE HIGHT-GROSSG ACTORS THE WORLD, YOU’RE ALLOWED TO TAKE A GOLF BREAK. SAMUEL L. JACKSON LOV THE SPORT SO MUCH THAT ALL HIS NTRACTS, HE HAS A CLSE THAT ALLOWS HIM TO GOLF TWICE A WEEK DURG MOVIE SHOOTS.GAR PIRNIA

I watched In & Out for the first time about a month ago and would be lyg if I said I didn’t watch wh bated breath for all the ways this gay edy film that was so obvly ma for straight dienc didn't age well. The fight for gay rights was an entirely different place, pecially Hollywood, where the thought of stg gay actors gay rol was surely on no one’s radar.

Whether ’s the fact that the film was perhaps mentg however subtly on Hollywood’s tenncy to shower straight actors wh aclas for gay rol (Cameron sr his Osr for playg a gay soldier what looks like a precursor to Brokeback Mounta) or Joan Cack’s brilliant performance as Howard’s fiancée who promptly has a breakdown when he announc he’s gay at the altar (“Fuck Barbra Streisand! ”), In & Out don’t so much make a mockery of gay people but allows them to be their te, unabashed selv, even if those selv happen to le up wh “tired” gay stereotyp. Although do rporate homophobia when Howard’s stunts beg potg out his effemate mannerisms or when he ends up beg fired over his newfound sexualy, the film remds that those gay stereotyp only beme “tired” once straight people started g them agast .

In & Out flips that narrative by tellg the dience that gays are, for lack of a better term, here and queer and they better get ed to . It would have been so easy to have Howard’s queerns be the punchle of every joke like most gay reprentatn up until this pot, but stead, the film mak society the punchle for not nsirg that there is more than one way to be a man. Whether ’s the soundtrack’s repeated e of The Village People’s “Macho Man” or Tom Selleck’s legimately pellg portrayal of a gay tabloid reporter followg Howard and his story, In & Out subverts all.

KEV KLE GAY RUMORS?ONLE POLL SHOWS 70 PERCENT DON’T BELIEVE HE’S GAY

Ined, an era of “Don’t Say Gay” where rights for queer and trans people are still unr attack the Uned Stat, the film’s penultimate scene—where the high school’s graduatg class, as well as Cameron and several proment muny members, stand up for Howard beg gay the face of his firg—reads as at least a ahead of s time.

Perhaps helps that In & Out was wrten by a gay man (Pl Rudnick), but the film appears to have aged regardls a way that most films of s kd aspire to - socpolil mentary that might have seemed darg at the time that now reads as ahead of the game. When he won the Osr for Philalphia, one of the people he thanked om the podium was Rawley Farnsworth, Hanks’ old high school drama teacher, whom he lled one of the two “ft gay Amerins, two wonrful men that I had the good fortune to be associated wh, to fall unr their spiratn at such a young age.

KEV SPACEY: I N’T TELL WHETHER MEN ARE GAY JT BY LOOKG AT THEM

It’s important to keep md how risqué was 1997 for a straight actor of Kle’s pedigree to portray Howard, a closeted gay teacher a small Heartland town who’s about to get married to his beloved (Joan Cack). After Howard out to his fay and iends, he’s kvetchg about his suatn to Tom Selleck’s cheerfully opportunistic gay TV reporter; he looks down at his hand, which is emotg limp-wristedly as if operatg penntly om his body. (Later Kle’s reer he played another gay man, Cole Porter De-Lovely, and was asked if was “hard playg gay, ” to which he somewhat flippantly rpond, “No.

IS KEV KLE GAY?

) And yet, Kle is often que lovely and very funny In & Out, brgg Howard’s anguish to life and turng his eventual realizatn that he’s gay to a touchg moment.

In the procs, the actor ma the ia of a gay man who looked like him palatable to a mastream dience that was still, at that pot, squeamish about the subject. ” What’s movg about In & Out is Howard’s fervent sire to be a regular guy — to not be gay so that he don’t stick out his nservative muny — and as such fds Kle subtly subvertg the whole ia of what exactly is “a regular guy. In & Out, no matter how weakly, was tryg to strike a blow for clivens, wonrg how a thoughtful, unassumg gay man uld fally accept his tth a changg society.