The British, known globally as mostly homosexual, awarded Colin Firth the Best Actor award at last night’s BAFTAs for his role in reminiscing about gay romance.
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Of Course the British Select Gay-For-Pay’s Colin Firth as Best Actor
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David Ehrenstein
He won cause he fucking deserved it. And he deserves the Oscar too — but he doesn’t have a chance in hell what with that noxious male weepie with Jeff Bridges (easily the WORST performance of a distinguished career) having an absolute lock on the award.
Tami
I know this isn’t a popular opinion, but I will say it anyway: I’m completely against straight actors playing gay. I don’t think straight actors, for the most part, are mature enough to handle the gay aspect. Whenever an intimate scene is portrayed, you could easily see how uncomfortable they are.
I’m not againsy gay actors playing straight or straight women playing gay. I think they are more committed. I don’t see Neil Patrick Harris whining to the press how hard the straight love scenes were. Some straight actors feel the need to remind the world they are straight, when they are promoting a gay movie.
Tallskin
Tami- have you seen Colin Firth in A Single Man?
gollygeegaygoy
@ tami. I agree. trouble is, alot of gay men hate to see gay men play gay parts. If a gay man had played Harvey Milk, for instance, and as well as Sean Penn, he would, I believe, have been accused of being ‘too camp’.
delurker
@Tami: I think what you wrote is irrelevant to the post at hand.
Larry
@Tami: I saw the movie. He did such a good job that I thought he really was gay.
Chris
@Larry. Me too! It was excellent. I cried like a baby at the end.
Mr. Enemabag Jones
@Tami:
I know this isn’t a popular opinion, but I will say it anyway: I’m completely against straight actors playing gay.
Tami, you’re correct; that is not a popular opinion here, and you will be flamed for it. But I agree with you. Hets don’t know what it’s like growing up queer, having to come out, watching your friends be open about their crushes, while you must hide yours.
You’ll be attacked with tired old canards like: Was Anthony Hopkins really a cannibal? Was Sean Penn really retarded? Well, Ray Charles really was black, and so was Jamie Foxx.
However, considering Hollywood can no longer have whites playing blacks and Asian, they have to keep some character “quirk” and by keeping queer actors firmly shut in their closets, they can make sure, for the foreseeable future, that an out gay actor will never get an Oscar for playing a gay character.
@gollygeegaygoy:
Agreed, gollygeegaygoy. No one trashes gay actors, worse than other gays.
Bill S
I’m just happy to see Colin Firth win an acting award. He’s been a consistantly good actor even in movies that weren’t worthy of his talents.
tommyb
Colin Firth was wonderful in the movie and deserved the recognition. Don’t forget Tom Ford picked him.
Sam
@ Tami – I would disagree with your opinion about all straight actors holding back during love scenes. Ewan Mcgregor is an example of a straight man who recently said he “enjoys kissing boys” in an Out article. He has done quite a few gay or bi roles, and has kissed passionately in those roles.
His next movie is I Love You Philip Morris, where he plays a gay man in love with another man played by Jim Carrey, and interviews both said that liked kissing each other or at least liked each other very much. Not all straight actors are that conservative, but maybe after talking about what a kiss was like with another man for so much during interviews, they may seem childish. It’s not right, but if they were truly homophobic, they wouldn’t have taken those roles.
And acting is acting. Most likely their have been gay actors playing gay roles. They were just closeted.
Elaine
Firth performs with a possibly historic performance, not portraying gays as ?cowboys, ?drag queens, but a real every day academic, a man,a loved one, a person in my family–and yours. A man,deeply loving and committed to love,a Single Man, who is having serious angst about the future, once love is lost. Sadly,in 2010,Gay actors cannot yet admit to their loves, and are forced into hetero roles–so,so wrong. Firth is a miracle–he conveys, as he has before, the pain of forced closeting. If only this role could allow Gay actors to step forward, and still “win” the big Hollywood roles. If only.
Ricky
it is about acting. I find it cool when a straight actor can effectively portray a homosexual character. I also find it vice versa. I don’t see it as a “stick to your own kind” sort of thing because if that was the case, acting would be less interesting and there would, more than likely, be less gay themed movies hitting the mainstream, thus weakening the impact we are trying to make as a community. Having well known straight actors like Colin Firth and Ewan McGregor play gay actually helps in my opinion as it offers a view of homosexuals that many unexposed people would never have seen. Brokeback Mountain drew a huge following and at the time I went to see it, the theater was packed with the after-church crowd. It was interesting.
Furthermore, saying a straight guy shouldn’t play a gay guy because he’s not gay is the same as saying a mentally healthy guy shouldn’t play a mentally challenged guy because he’s not mentally challenged.
I think some are missing the whole concept of “acting”.
I’m just saying.
Robert, NYC
The bottom line is, its about acting. I don’t care who is straight or gay. Using the argument that only gays can really know what its like to play a gay role is tantamount to saying that gays shouldn’t play straight roles using the same argument in reverse. Its absurd. Colin Firth was fantastic and very convincing but then he’s no stranger to gay roles.
InscrutableTed
“I don’t think straight actors, for the most part, are mature enough to handle the gay aspect.”
I’ll agree that _most_ straight actors don’t do a good job. But there are exceptions.