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AE: I thought it was such an interesting contrast, and worked so well, when Captain Jack first appears, that you have these characters of Rose and the Doctor, and Rose's family and so on, that are such recognizable British modern-day characters. And then you have Captain Jack, who has this great humanity, but also has this amazing old-school, matinee-idol, American... almost like an Errol Flynn, kind of a swashbuckling quality.
JB: I'm glad you said that, cause that's exactly what Russell wanted to capture, and also when I did it, what I wanted to create was that Jack was a hero type. And I'm only saying what Russell said to me when they cast me, he said “John, we were looking for someone with a matinee idol [quality], and the only one in the whole of Britain who could do it was you, and who has that look”.

But yes, Jack's human, he's got a heart, it's very different from Rose and the Doctor, but the fact that - I mean, the British like the American kind of thing.

AE: Absolutely. It's such a great mix, I think.
JB: Yeah, it is--they love Hollywood. Our world is very small now, you know, being American, or being British--it's kind of being one and the same, except for the cultural differences a little bit. The world has gotten a lot smaller, and people travel so much more, so it's not such a jarring thing to see someone speaking with a different accent on your television.

But I mean, the popularity of the character has turned out to be huge in the UK, because I am now as we speak... Captain Jack has his own spin-off series now.

AE: Torchwood, yes.
JB: Which, I've to go to a read-through this evening. So it proves about the British public that they're not judgmental [about Jack]. And also they've kind of accepted me with open arms really because I was born over here, and spent a lot of time over here.

AE: Yeah. Well I wanted to ask you a little bit as well about Jack's bisexuality. It's interesting to me how, in terms of female characters on television and so on, there almost seems to be a higher proportion of bisexual women that are represented than lesbian women that are represented.  

Whereas when it comes to gay men versus bisexual men, there's this skepticism that certain people seem to have [about the idea] that men can be sexually fluid in that way.
JB: For a country [America] that is so progressive, and so ahead of itself in technology, in finance, in everything else, their human rights are not exactly...

Yes, you're free, and I am proud to be an American, but I'm not proud to be a gay American, because they shun me. And that's why it's [comparatively] acceptable to say you're bisexual in America. There's something that is slightly more acceptable about it, because you do have sex in the ‘normal way' as seen by the religious sect, the government sect.

But if you're to come out and say you're gay, immediately you're bad, you're evil, you're wrong, what you do is not considered correct. You might be accepted, but you're not respected. So I find [perhaps that's why for] women, there's more bisexuality represented than there is gay, you know. It's hard for me to speak for a bisexual person because I'm not. I'm a gay man, [but] in terms of acceptance, that's why I think that [someone might call themselves] bisexual, as opposed to [calling themselves] gay or lesbian.

AE: Right. Well, yeah, I was going to ask you, out of your own experience, whether you had met bisexual men, or what your particular point of view was on bisexuality. Because I find it interesting how people have such different takes on it. Certain people will say “Yes, of course it exists”, you know, whereas other people have this quite rigid view of “Everyone must basically either be gay or straight”.
JB: No, I don't...well, I don't personally believe that. As we talk, I hope that when you do write the article you don't call me a gay actor, because I'm not a gay actor. I'm an actor, who is gay. I'm adamant about that.

And, it's funny--I'll answer your question in a second--it's funny that when I do interviews with, particularly with gay publications and websites, they're the ones who always say ‘gay actor'. And what it does is it pigeonholes us. And people look at us as just being ‘A Gay Actor', whereas I'm an actor who is gay, but I can play other parts. And that's what I've been able to do in my career. So, the thing about, um, uh, with, you know... [laughs] I've gone off in a tangent now and I've forgotten what your question was. Sorry, I apologize.

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