Posted by April MacIntyre Dec 30, 2010, 0:21 GMT
Sounding off on why he isn't the darling of casting agents in the USA and the UK, British actor Rupert Everett bloviated about homo-versus-hetero power in Hollywood, and the usefulness of being able to stay in the closet, if you can get away with it.
Christine Ebersole and Rupert Everett - 11th Annual Broadway Barks - Arrivals - Shubert Alley,44th Street and 45th Streets between Broadway and 8th Avenue - New York City, NY, USA © Sylvain Gaboury / PR Photos
The 50-year old actor, who explains in the BBC Radio 4 audio file below that he could not stay closeted, speculated on why he faced career discrimination he compared to similar actors such as Colin Firth and Hugh Grant.
Everett came to the conclusion that the reason he was shunned from roles was because he was gay.
"I never got a job there, and I never got a job here, after [coming out]," he said. "I did a couple of films, I was very lucky at the beginning of my career... and then, I never had another job here for ten years, probably, and I moved to Europe."
And Hollywood? Hardly the home of the purported Velvet Mafia, but a conservative place run by heterosexuals, according to Rupert.
"I think show business is ideally suited for heterosexuals, it's a very heterosexual business, it's run mostly by heterosexual men, and there's a kind of pecking order."
Gay actors Neil Patrick Harris, Sir Ian McKellen, John Barrowman, Richard Chamberlain, Jane Lynch, Nathan Lane, Sean Hayes, Rex Lee and many many others seem to get work regardless of the roles they play. Many top studio executives, writers, agents, directors, below the line crew, casting directors and publicists in Hollywood are gay.
Yet conservative bloggers and media constantly harp about Hollywood's "gay agenda" in programming, especially shows like comedy "Modern Family."
So who is right?
Everett thinks Hollywood is flat out conservative: "The audience has a completely perception of the performers than the business... But the business is what makes the stars, really. There are lots of women and lots of men in the business that the powers that be decide are the right people and they'll stand with them for quite a long time."
Hollywood keeps betting on lovable losers who are box office stink-bait, like Jennifer Aniston, says Everett: "Jennifer Aniston will just have one too many total flops. But she's still a member of that club. And she will still manage to ...like a star forming in the universe ...a whole lot of things swirling around and suddenly solidifying into yet another vital tasteless romcom: a little glitter next to the Crab Nebula."
He also had some comments for Colin Firth:
"Colin Firth I dont think was at all good in "Mama Mia"...I would have thought it was a sort of career-icide...on the other hand, his performance in "The Single Man" was the best performance of his life..."
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