The next gay-subtext train leaves at 3:10

As though we haven't had enough gay-seeming characters or gay-subtext buddy relationships in movies lately, there's another on its way to theatres in James Mangold's remake of the 1957 Western 3:10 to Yuma. And in this case, he gets to be creepy, gay-ish, AND murderous!

That's right, in Russell Crowe's new movie, Ben Foster (Six Feet Under, X-Men: The Last Stand) plays Charlie Prince, Crowe's loyal henchman. In his review of the movie, Variety's Todd McCarthy says this about Foster's character:

"With his albino coloring, pinched mouth, reedy voice and remorseless wall-eyes, Foster's lightning-draw killer brandishes a dementia amplified by an intense loyalty to Ben that gently borders on homoeroticism; he'll do anything for his boss, for some reasons that are clear and for some that must be intuited."

How fresh does that sound? Word is he even gets mocked as "Princess" by some of the other characters. Like the rest of America, you're no doubt sick of all the gay cowboys populating the old west, heroically pushing back the frontier. How fresh to instead have a character who isn't actually gay, but has homoerotic undertones to heighten his creepy villainy! Talk about breakthrough! Maybe the movie will be really daring and having him be brutally killed in the exciting climax!

Foster has kind of become a go-to for off-kilter characters of all stripes, but his gayish ones certainly get him the most attention (remember him on Six Feet Under as Clair's bisexual boyfriend?). And sure, this character may not be gay at all, but if audiences are walking away from the movie thinking he's gay, then there's something there that merits discussion. What's up, Hollywood? Is gay-seeming the new gay? Er ... again?