Contents:
- ‘HANDSOME DEVIL’ IS THE KD OF MOVIE JOHN HUGH WOULD’VE MA IF HE WERE IRISH, GAY, AND VERY INTO RUGBY
- GAY CHARACTERS DON’T NEED TO HOOK UP JT BEE THEY’RE GAY, HANDSOME DEVIL POTS OUT
‘HANDSOME DEVIL’ IS THE KD OF MOVIE JOHN HUGH WOULD’VE MA IF HE WERE IRISH, GAY, AND VERY INTO RUGBY
It was to feature two teenage boys, whose sexualy would never explicly be revealed, and the backdrop would be a fee-payg gby-obssed Irish school wh a culture of unthkg homophobia.
The 40-year-old actor, bt known for playg Moriarty the BBC drama seri Sherlock, me out as gay 2013. “That’s not bee I’m gay or straight. ”It’s certaly te that Stt is an actor of great range and talent: one mute starrg as a gay rights activist Pri, the next takg on the part of an MI6 spook the Bond film Spectre, or playg barrister Anthony Juli the David Hare-scripted Denial.
“Your homo- or heterosexualy is neher a virtue nor a flaw. ”Would he like to see an openly gay cultural figure such as Jam Bond or Doctor Who? “Visibily and diversy is massively important but there’s no pot wrg a terrible gay- or female-led drama if ’s not thentic, ” he says.
GAY CHARACTERS DON’T NEED TO HOOK UP JT BEE THEY’RE GAY, HANDSOME DEVIL POTS OUT
”He has ltle time for the media tryg to lump together the experience of “gay” actors: “You don’t pare Sylvter Stallone and someone who is the Twilight movie bee they’re straight, ” he says. Both he and Butler, who also wrote the script, felt was important to tackle the issue of homophobic bullyg regularly receiv “eply affectg” letters om teenagers stgglg wh their inty and he wants to be able to tell them that “g out is nothg to do wh sex. ” By dog , he says, “your burn has bee your gift”, who attend a private school Ireland not unlike the one picted Handsome Devil, was lucky enough never to have been the target of bullyg, but he veloped an ear for hered homophobic language: the boys the film unthkgly make an overly mp “Oooohhhh” sound to note supposed “gayns” whout que knowg what they’re dog.
The rult, “Handsome Devil, ” turned out pretty spectacular, blowg dienc away at TIFF wh the heartbreakg story of Ned, a gay, Smhs-obssed who velops an tense iendship wh his boardg school roommate. Also, although I loved Amerin high school edi such as the films of John Hugh, the homophobia them is a ltle hard to endure 2017, so is fun to update that sub-genre.
I was gay, and I loved sport and found hard to rencile what I thought were two patible aspects of myself. This warm and tenr Irish drama about homophobic bullyg a boardg school is simple and lighthearted on the surface, but the msage is no ls pertent and pellg - on Disney + UK on Friday, July 29th; also available on other platforms.