the cinema

Why Is Tom Ford Saying A Single Man Isn’t Gay?

tomfordsuit

The reason we’ve been seeing a hetero-ified publicity stab fir Tom Ford’s very gay directorial debut A Single Man? Because Ford himself doesn’t think the film is gay.

From the man who doesn’t think much about his sexuality — but thinks very much about others’ sexuality — comes this revelation at a press screening of the film: “I wasn’t trying to make Terminator 12. But this is not a gay film. I don’t even think about that. There are so many gay characters on TV that it’s almost become a cliché.”

He is right. There are a lot of gay characters on television. Except Ford’s Single Man is about a gay college professor who loses his longtime partner. Strictly speaking, then, it’s a film about love and loss. But also: It’s a film about gay love and gay loss.

An accomplished and wealthy fashion designer and brand wizard, Ford lives outside the bubble of most gay Americans. These are the folks who don’t see their stories told in most films, because aside from Brokeback Mountain going into wide release, they don’t live in LA and NYC to catch the limited release gay art house flicks. A Single Man, then, is a film that will touch a whole generation of gay men who’ve seen their partners disappear before their eyes. And that, Ford, makes it a very gay film.

And Julianne Moore is in it. The gays love her.

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