Allen is charming as the gay P.I. hired to investigate the death threats being made against gay activist and muckraking journalist John Rutka (Jack Wetherall of Queer As Folk fame), and as the suspenseful mystery unfolds, viewers will find themselves on the edge of their seats.

Third Man Out will be making its television debut in September on here! TV. I spoke with Allen shortly before that.

AfterElton.com: Third Man Out screened in July at the Philadelphia International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival. Were you there for the screening, and if so, what was that experience like for you?
Chad Allen: I was there, actually. It was the world premiere of the film. It was a blast. I have to tell you that the Philadelphia International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival is just a fantastic film festival all the way around. The people who run it are just fantastic. The audience genuinely loves film. They enjoyed our movie and we enjoyed showing it to them. It was a great experience. It also screened the following week at the Los Angeles Outfest, and that was it, since the film already has a home and doesn’t require the festival circuit to find distribution. We did a couple of festivals to get the word out and to get publicity and the movie is about to air on its home, here! TV.

AE: Third Man Out is based on Richard Stevenson’s Donald Strachey mystery novel of the same name. Had you read any of the books in the series prior to signing on to do the movie?
CA: The only book I’d read prior to signing on was Third Man Out. I liked it. I particularly loved the relationship between Donald and Timothy. I felt like there was some work to be done to complete the transition from book to film. For instance, in the book series, Donald is a forty-something year old guy (laughs). I knew there was some work to do on Donald if it was going to work with me as the actor. Everybody agreed that was the thing to do. Once I actually signed on to do (the other) movies, I got to read all the other books and see what was in store for the rest of the series. It’s been cool.

AE: Strachey comes from the tradition of downtrodden P.I.s of fiction and film. Do you have a favorite detective from that genre?
CA: I grew up watching Columbo films, so I’m really close to those stories. A lot of our film is a bit of an homage to Nick and Nora.

AE: The dog and everything.
CA: There are a lot of little elements. I must have watched that film twenty times before we made Third Man. It’s a fantastic picture and those actors are incredible. I really encouraged Sebastian (Spence), who played Timothy, to watch it as well. I would love for this to be a gay Nick and Nora. We almost shot it in The Thin Man’s schedule. They shot it in ten shooting days. We shot Third Man in twelve. Didn’t quite make it, but almost (laughs).

AE: I’m really glad that you mentioned the relationship between Donald and Timothy, because it is very sweet and feels real. Third Man Out has an erotic, yet tasteful, love scene between the two of them. What was it like to film such a scene?
CA: It was the first gay character I’ve ever played in my life. For me, it was amazing, because I’ve been out forever and it was something that I always wanted to do and, for years, was told that I just wasn’t gay enough for any characters (laughs). It was really exciting, after doing hundreds of love scenes, the first being with Helen Hunt, so to finally be doing it with a guy was really exciting for me.

To be paired up with Sebastian, who is straight, and sort of nervous, but completely gracious about the whole thing, was also kind of interesting because the tables were turned. I thought it was a beautiful scene. Nobody was interested in making any kind of gratuitous love scene, gay or straight. We wanted make something that matched up with the film. I think it’s a respectful, interesting, fun noir thriller and we wanted the love scene to match it. It’s one of my favorite sequences in the whole movie, and the kidnapping montage that goes along with it. I was really impressed with (director) Ron Oliver’s work in that.

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