Ask the Flying Monkey: Why Don’t More Gay Movies Star Gay Actors?

This week: Who’s really the most powerful gay guy in the world? Is Mark “Money for Nothing” Knopfler homophobic?

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Q: Recently, I've been reading about the movie Role/Play starring real-life boyfriends Matthew Montgomery and Steve Callahan and it got me thinking about gay-themed movies in which the gay leads, romantic or otherwise, are portrayed by openly gay actors. So far I've come up with seven other movies: Adam & Steve, Back Soon, Eating Out 3, A Four Letter Word, Long Term Relationship, Save Me, and Shortbus. Are there any others out there? -- Aaron, Chicago

A: There are surprisingly few.

Generally speaking, the lower the budget, the more likely the actors are to be gay and out. Why? Well, not to be unkind to some very talented indie actors, the bigger the budget, the wider the pool of actors the producers have to draw on – including “name” actors, who are almost essential in getting a greenlight for any movie with a budget over, say, a million dollars.

And unfortunately, even today, most gay “name” actors are either not out or not willing to play gay roles, for fear of being pigeon-holed. Are there any “leading” movie actors who are openly gay?

Indeed, as near as I can tell, of the top 37 top-grossing “gay” movies of all time, according to BoxOfficeMojo.com, only one, the top-grossing movie, stars an out gay actor in a leading role: Nathan Lane in The Birdcage – and Lane also wasn’t out at the time of the movie, and this isn’t exactly a “romantic” role. (Rent, which is number 14 on the list, stars Anthony Rapp who is openly bisexual, but he plays a heterosexual in the movie.)

Nathan Lane in The Birdcage

So who are we left with? Perhaps the highest-grossing and most well-known are Ang Lee’s 1993 movie The Wedding Banquet, which grossed almost $7 million in 1993 and stars the out Mitchell Lichtenstein, and Gods and Monsters, which grossed $6.5 million and stars Ian McKellen.

Torch Song Trilogy stars Harvey Fierstein. (And can I just say? Fierstein is something of a personal hero of mine, but I’ve met other personal heroes, only to discover they’ve jackasses in person. So if Fierstein is a jackass in person, don’t tell me, I don’t wanna know!)

Andersen Gabrych (left) and Chris Stafford in Edge of Seventeen

Movies where both the leads are gay? Well, Edge of Seventeen’s Andersen Gabrych was out and Chris Stafford was … cagey, at least at the time of the movie’s release. Several of the cast members on Noah’s Arc: Jumping the Broom are gay, although truthfully, with some of that cast’s caginess, I’ve gotten tired trying to figure out exactly which ones they are.

And let’s not even get started on the various actors in Another Gay Movie, okay?

Tanner Cohen, the star of Were the World Mine, is gay, and his co-star, Nathanial David Becker, well, different media have reported different things about him (and neither he nor the World publicist responded to our request for a clarification).

Tanner Cohen (left) and Nathaniel David Becker in Were the World Mine

Aaron, apart from the movies you mention, that’s all I got. I suspect readers will have others to contribute in the comments. (Although please limit your choices to actors who are publicly out, not just “rumored” to be gay).

Either way, this question depresses the hell out of me.

Next page! The country's most powerful gays.