In 'Unupled,' Neil Patrick Harris reimag life as a sgle gay man N.Y.C.

Contents:

• UNUPLED’S TUC WATKS AND EMERSON BROOKS DISCS THE EVOLUTN OF GAY CHARACTERS ON TV AND HOW THE NETFLIX SHOW AVOIDS TROP
• TUC WATKS IS THE GAY CHARACTER ACTOR OF HIS GENERATN
• IS UNUPLED THE GAY SEX AND THE CY?
• IN 'UNUPLED,' NEIL PATRICK HARRIS REIMAG LIFE AS A SGLE GAY MAN N.Y.C.
• NEIL PATRICK HARRIS ON HIS FIRST ON-CAMERA GAY SEX SCENE ‘UNUPLED,’ FAKE PENIS AND JOG ‘DOCTOR WHO’

UNUPLED’S TUC WATKS AND EMERSON BROOKS DISCS THE EVOLUTN OF GAY CHARACTERS ON TV AND HOW THE NETFLIX SHOW AVOIDS TROP

This is somethg that seri stars Emerson Brooks and Tuc Watks are aware of this and recently opened up about the evolutn of gay characters and how their show avoids trop. What’s most tertg about the seri is that ’s one of the few seri to provi an timate look at the profsnal and personal liv of gay men over the age of 40. Durg our nversatn, I asked the two about the show’s approach to s characters, and Watks provid a thoughtful rponse: We’re seeg a gay breakup edy about members of the LGBT muny.

It wasn’t long ago that we saw members of our muny as the gay clown or the terribly troubled person or the psychopath. Seri stars Tisha Campbell and Marcia Gay Harn, who learned om one another while workg on set, are among those who give memorable performanc.

It is a tale of a 40-somethg gay man who gets bldsid by his partner and now is the market for love, once pellg as the story is, the st is equally important to reel the dience .

TUC WATKS IS THE GAY CHARACTER ACTOR OF HIS GENERATN

Marcia Gay Harn as ClaireHer first breakthrough role was the Coen brothers’ Miller’s Crossg, after which she went on to do Pollock, a role that won her an Amy Award for Bt Supportg Harn’s Claire fills up Unupled’s idsyncratic quota. Jog this banner will also be MTV Entertament Studs and Jax will be playg Michael, a 40-somethg gay man who is recently sgle after gettg bldsid by his partner of 17 years.

'Dign by Maane Romagosa for ThrillistDign by Maane Romagosa for ThrillistTuc Watks would like for you to thk of him as a gay Kev Kle. Col may have broken the likable protagonist's heart, but he is no mere of Unupled's but, Thrillist talked to Watks, who is datg his former -star Andrew Rannells, about beg one of his generatn's go-to gay TV actors, g out on The Marie Osmond Show of all plac, and why trippg on a stairse changed his reer. Thrillist: You're the rare gay character actor who has nsistently played a wealth of gay rol.

IS UNUPLED THE GAY SEX AND THE CY?

Tuc Watks: It's funny you mentned that, bee I am a gay actor who's been playg gay characters sce the '90s.

When I did rol like I Thk I Do and Beggars and Choosers, people said, "You n't be a gay actor and play gay rol if you want to play a wir range of rol. There was a time not so long ago that the gay characters were the gay clown or the troubled person or the psychopath. I was a gay actor who shouldn't play gay rol if I wanted to play straight rol.

But I was also a gay actor who they weren't hirg to play the straight rol bee they knew I was gay. That's on Netflix, and 's yet to Watks and Neil Patrick Harris 'Unupled' | NetflixWhen straight actors play gay rol, we talk about what they chose to do wh their mannerisms.

IN 'UNUPLED,' NEIL PATRICK HARRIS REIMAG LIFE AS A SGLE GAY MAN N.Y.C.

Movie stars and A-list TV stars get to play a wir range, but I thk most of the stuff that I've played, whether 's straight or gay, I'm really jt playg myself, for the most part. The current climate of televisn is more about 've not only gotten to play gay rol, but characters who are fairly well-adjted, wh maybe the exceptn of The Boys the Band.

It was a different to say that a well-adjted gay person looks like any one thg, but Dperate Hoewiv and Unupled, the are people who are fortable their own sk, who have reers and are gog about their liv relatively productive ways. I grew up wh a fear of beg gay, what beg gay meant, feelg like was not an optn. I had bee a father to tws through surrogacy, and tellg the story of how I beme a father, trsic to that was that I was a gay guy who wanted to have kids but uldn't go through the tradnal way of havg children.

NEIL PATRICK HARRIS ON HIS FIRST ON-CAMERA GAY SEX SCENE ‘UNUPLED,’ FAKE PENIS AND JOG ‘DOCTOR WHO’

Everyone I worked wh knew I was gay, and that's jt about a ago. My kids actually helped me bee a ltle more fortable publicly wh who I 's another strategy that somebody your sho uld have employed along the way, which was to rist the typ of rol that you those are great rol whether you're gay or straight. If you were able to play gay rol over the years, Neil Patrick Harris occupied the oppose space.

Dpe beg a very visible gay celebry, outsi of his theater work, his most famo rol were the macho, funny, bro-type and I didn't really talk so much about procs, but I thk you make a good pot. Neil has a real facily for Galv and Tuc Watks 'The Other Two' | HBO MaxI'm sure you've wnsed a lot of actg tricks on soap operas particular bee of the pace of and the tensy of 's so great about Unupled is that there are a lot of men, bee 's a gay breakup edy, and the wrg is specific and layered so that all of the different men on the show have a unique stripe to the taptry.

He has to nont the nightmar of losg his soulmate and sudnly fdg himself as a sgle gay man his mid-40s.