I was curious to see if the actor was gay IRL and he is obviously. I´m just wandering, if a straight man can play a gay guy so well. I picked him for being gay before it was even hinted as a storyline. Bearing in mind, I haven´t seen Brokeback Mountain.
shareMatt Bomer....haven’t watched a lot of his work, but he plays straight....probably helps that he’s a decent looking chap....
shareI meant straight playing gay. I have seen plenty of great gay actors playing straight well enough. Neil Patrick Harris played a straight guy pretty damn well on HIMYM.
shareSorry, reading comprehension failed me today....
Check out The Birdcage, and, as you mentioned, Brokeback Mountain, a pretty good film that probably should’ve bested Crash for best pic...
The Birdcage is a little over the top, but i think it’s damn funny...
A good enough actor can basically play anybody, unless they are directly counter to that actor's physical reality. It would be hard to buy Chris Farley as Superman, for instance...
But most of the things you're thinking of as being gay - mannerisms, gestures, choice of language, tone, and so forth - are all learned characteristics. Think of any stereo- or archetype - nerd, jock, loser, emo, hipster, effeminate, intellectual, professorial/academic, country boy - and it comes with a set of characteristics that can be affected or put on, because most of them are learned. No baby "naturally" grows up with a swagger, grin, and Texas drawl. But, if that kid grows up hanging out with other cowboy types, well, there you go.
So, any actor is just observing people like the character they're playing and putting that out there. Naturally, actors have their own histories and in-grown affectations, so it's easier for them to inhabit somebody nearer to themselves, but it doesn't rule out playing against type or putting on certain characteristics.
"Naturally, actors have their own histories and in-grown affectations, so it's easier for them to inhabit somebody nearer to themselves". This is kind of what I was thinking without saying. Sal´s character just seemed gay before it even became a storyline or even before they began to drop hints, when it finally came out that Sal was gay, I wondered if the actor was really gay himself just because of how incredibly real it seemed and lo and behold, he was.
shareI saw Queer As Folk on Showtime in its entirety because I was in art school when it came out and nearly all my friends were gay, (still are). It was a big deal at the time, nothing like that had ever been on television. Only 2 of the main cast were actually gay in real life and I’m being completely honest in the fact that I believed they all were, particularly the main ‘alpha’ character, he was straight but dove into sex scenes with such vigor and enthusiasm there was never a shadow of a doubt that he was gay. I was shocked to find out he wasn’t.
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