The evolution of out gay closeted straight ambiguously gay action star Luke Evans has been nothing if not interesting, and this weekend Luke switched up his story yet again.
In an interview with Women’s Wear Daily for his new big-budget epic Dracula Untold, the Welsh actor was asked if he was setting a new precedent as an openly gay action star. That’s after Luke’s publicist specifically told the interviewer not to bring up Luke’s sexuality.
His response?
It’s good for people to look at me and think this guy is doing his thing and enjoying what he’s doing and successful at it and living his life. And that’s what I’m doing and I’m very happy.
Well, that doesn’t exactly scream gay pride, but it might mark a shift away from explicitly evading the “gay issue.”
Time magazine seems to think this is some sort of courageous tip-toe out of the closet — a closet they themselves note that Luke has slunk back into since becoming a box office commodity.
They write:
He may not be the gay action hero we want, but he’s the one we have, and one we can only hope grows still more comfortable. In Evans, gay people who’ve spent years trying to grow comfortable in the world can see themselves. He’s undergoing a process that’s often circuitous and halting. In struggling with how to define himself and ending up, for now, in a place of acceptance and the beginnings of openness, the musclebound vampire has never seemed more like an everyman.
Which seems like a pretty weird thing for a major publication to print in the same article in which they quote Luke in a previous interview with The Advocate saying:
“[E]verybody knew me as a gay man, and in my life in London I never tried to hide it.”
It begs the question — once you come out of the closet, can you really go back in? And if you can go back in, do you still deserve praise for tip-toeing your way back out?
We get that Hollywood can be an unwelcoming place for gay people looking to ride to the top of the fame coaster, but if Luke has already come out, what good does it do to crawl back to vague un-acknowledgments?
It’s not as if the Advocate was the only time he spoke about being gay, either.
There’s that time in 2004 when Evans chatted with GaydarNation about his role as a gay porn star in the play Hardcore. And also all these other instances. Here’s a telling snippet:
So, have you spent a long time researching gay porn?
Years and years. I bought my first film when I was 15 and now I have a good collection and I add to it regularly. I research it almost every night!!
What makes a good porn star?
An enormous big fat cock!
Really, queen?
BritAus
I knew him circa 2003/2004 when I lived in London and he was always openly bi.
The press needs to stop obsessing over it, because it’s really nobody’s business except for the people he is fucking.
Chris
I find the headline and the general tone of this article to be slightly mean spirited. I have another reason as to why he might seem to be “evading” this question: he’s already answered it and wants to talk about what he is doing NOW. This guy has come out and made light of his interests in gay porn. How often does he have to acknowledge his sexuality? Do we ask heterosexual actors, every time they are interviewed, if they’re straight?
DDJuan
@Chris: He’s being asked to address his sexuality again because at one point he was blatantly bearding with a women who gave a quote to a journalist stating they were together as more than friends. He made regular public appearances with her and didn’t correct anyone when they referred to her as his girlfriend. He talks openly about being attracted to girls etc but never mentions men. He also consistently uses generalities when asked about relationships not referencing either sex.
@BritAus: It would be no one’s business if he didn’t make it their business by talking about it in several publications in the past. Now he wants to turn it off because he has a movie career and wants to appeal to a wider audience. Doesn’t really work that way. Even straight celebs who never talk about their personal life repeatedly get asked anyway.
The article asks good questions. Personally I don’t think he deserves (or even wants) any kudos. I think he’d like to continue to toe the line and appeal to as many viewers as possible. His people clearly didn’t want it and Luke talks around the question rather than being direct. The media has decided to acknowledge it because it’s unavoidable at this point. Since it’s not a blatant denial or confirmation some have simply put their own spin on it. It’s really rather silly and if he’s truly happy and proud of who he is he’d have no problem saying it. No one’s asking who he’s dating or for any details about his sex life just a declaration since he and people are the ones who muddied it up to begin with.
Ottoman
@BritAus: of course it’s everybody’s business, he’s more than welcome to take a less public job with a corresponding reduction in pay if he doesn’t want public scrutiny of his private life.
Faulk
I don’t care if he ever comes out, i know he did it once and for his career he tried to hide it, but that’s his problem, so just let him be.
KwisatzHaderach
I know his movie opened only this past weekend (and as the article notes, the release coincided with Coming Out Day), but he’s been tip-toeing (back) out for a while now.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/starsandstories/11109078/Luke-Evans-interview-Im-not-Robert-Pattinson.html
I doubt we’ll ever get a(-nother) “Yep, I’m gay” moment, but at least he’s not actively lying/dissembling now.
BritAus
@Ottoman: You’re a bit mentally unstable aren’t you?
tricky ricky
finally a reason for the bf to take me to see this movie.
Maude
I don’t care if he is Gay, straight, or bi, if I get him in my bed, I’ll make him my bitch!
Walker
I think it’s a shame that Queerty has so much trouble acknowledging bisexuality or any form of non-binary sexuality. Unless, of course, it’s promoting “gay for pay” porn actors.
PARKAVMAN
I never knew he was out, or maybe out, or thought to be out or even who the hell he was. He’s hot, but I only watched ‘The Immortals’ for Henry Cavill in a tunic or less.
Ottoman
@BritAus: You think actors make millions of dollars because of their acting skills?
KwisatzHaderach
@Walker:
Why would they need to do that here? Evans’ only clear statement about his sexuality has been that he is a GAY man.
BritAus
@Ottoman: You think because actors are in the public eye, and that you pay to see the films that they are in, that that gives you entitlements, that you somehow own a piece of them? A persons private life – their sexuality, be it an actors, a politician or the person that works in your local supermarket, is NONE OF YOUR FUCKING BUSINESS!!
Walker
@Walker: Clearly not, since as it was stated right on this page, he also made the statement that he was dating a woman. Which of course made everyone at Queerty clutch their pearls and start defaiming her as a “beard.” Heaven forbid a guy who dates men actually have a genuine interest in a female.
NG22
I understand Queerty’s point, but I thought Luke Evans had already began being honest once more. He’s been going to a bunch of public events *with* his Spanish model boyfriend, Jon Kortajarena — who is so stunning. They’re walking the red carpet together, sitting together, being photographed together.
For me, that’s out enough. His sexuality is visible. He’s not hiding his relationship. I really respect that. How much he speaks about it to the press is icing on the cake.
KwisatzHaderach
@Walker:
1. In your eager haste to reply to me, you quoted yourself… 😐
2. Uh, I don’t believe he ever stated that he was dating a woman. That statement was given by the woman herself.
3. IIRC, the woman either worked for his publicist or was a PR rep of some kind. So that’s where the “beard” comes in.
But you go ahead and keep rationalizing the closet for Evans…
Walker
Sorry, my phone sucks.
All I’m “rationalizing” is people minding their own damn business and stop playing Encyclopedia Brown, boy detective with people’s sexuality. Whatever is has or has not said, he can date whomever he wants, even if it makes you a teensy weentsy bit upster that he may not be strictly about the dick. His choice is to date who he wants, yours is whether to get over it or not.
KwisatzHaderach
I almost forgot that Ian McKellen outed him AGAIN earlier this year (well, the actual interview is much older):
http://www.queerty.com/did-ian-mckellen-accidentally-out-a-fellow-hobbit-actor-20140104
“Just look only how many openly gay actors in the “Hobbit” there were: two of the dwarves, to Luke Evans, Stephen Fry, Lee Pace. In ‘The Lord of the Rings’ I was the only one next to my make-up artist and one from the wardrobe team. That’s progress, right?”
And you know that old man don’t give a f–k…
KwisatzHaderach
@NG22:
Whoa, EYEBROWS! But whatever floats his boat… ^_^
NG22
@KwisatzHaderach: I don’t know what you mean. I find Jon gorgeous.
KwisatzHaderach
@NG22:
Oh, I wasn’t calling him ugly or anything. I just have this… thing about eyebrows (mine are practically nonexistent). I’m weird like that. 🙂
And while I haven’t seen any pictures of he and Evans together, I imagine they make quite the handsome pair.
tardis
Was this guy ever in the closet? Also, why do we as members of the LGBT community continue to put pressure on celebrities to come out? Is it really any of our business?
Charlie in Charge
I say let him take his time but it does warm the heart to have a bi guy be an action star headlining in blockbuster movies.
As an aside: it’s getting rough reviews but I absolutely recommend seeing Dracula.
KwisatzHaderach
@Charlie in Charge:
Wow, this article’s really got them coming out of the woodwork… :/
KwisatzHaderach
@tardis:
See DDJuan’s response upthread.
DDJuan
@BritAus: I think if an actor voluntarily talks about his personal life, his sexuality, his love of Gay porn etc then technically he’s made it the public’s business. It’s not like the guy was quietly going about his business and the press just intruded. HE put himself out there and continues to.
BritAus
@DDJuan: No the media ask the questions, he just answers them. It wouldn’t be an issue if the press didn’t keep bring it up all the time.
DDJuan
@BritAus: And they just pick people at random? No you have to agree to the interview and what do you think a publications like The Advocate and GaydarNation is going to ask? It wouldn’t be an issue if he and his people didn’t actively try to paint a different picture once he started getting films.
Saint Law
@BritAus: Or not answer them. Or prevaricate. Or even lie.
Makes him look like a spineless nelly. Fuck knows what it makes you acting as his self-appointed apologist.
“NONE OF YOUR FUCKING BUSINESS!!”
You’re a bit mentally unstable aren’t you?
stranded
I think when a minority makes it big in hollywood, the industry gets hung up on whatever makes them a minority. “How does it feel like to be the first woman/ black/ gay/ … etc. And I suppose it can get uncomfortable when when you get asked that questions over and over again and you don’t want be treated like a token or to have that be your only talking point. @BritAus,has a point, I remember watching one of those Hollywood Reporter roundtable discussions and the interviewer asked Amy Poehler something something about women in comedy and she didn’t answer his question, she said the question in itself is offensive. She didn’t want to be funny for a woman, just funny. You can say the same thing here. He doesn’t want to be a gay actor, just an actor.
KwisatzHaderach
@stranded:
“He doesn’t want to be a gay actor, just an actor.”
It doesn’t sound like he had a problem with being a GAY ACTOR ten years ago. From his Advocate interview:
“Look at George Michael, let’s say. I mean, he hid it for so many years, and then he gets found out in a really awful way… Y’know, you start a slippery slope downward, and I didn’t want to start that at 22. If that means I’m going to be a poor man at 60, then at least I’ve lived a happy, open, gay life and not had to hide it from anybody.
I’ve had letters from people who have read my articles and said, ‘I’m a guy, I’m 18, and I’ve not come out to my mom and dad yet, but it was so nice to hear your story… you gave me hope for the future.’ As far as I’m concerned, it’s not a big issue. You come out, that’s it, the end.”
What gets me is how prescient he seems! Way back in 2002, he knew the value of being open.
Kells
@stranded: Personally I think people who say I don’t want to be seen as this or that even though it’s who they are just sees those qualities as a weakness and/or barrier. I’d rather see you break that barrier than try to convince people to ignore that it exists. Say I am a woman AND I’m funny, I am Gay AND I can convincingly play many roles. Why not own ALL of who you are? The more you embrace it the more other people will as well. Why bend to people’s prejudices? That’s part of the reason why being Gay, black, a woman etc is seen as a barrier because some people who are Gay, black, female etc give into that notion.
greenchemical
Found this online, apparently he was on Cam 4 once… https://twitter.com/Thegaybayarea/status/521840808895340544
Sure looks like him…
Charlie in Charge
@KwisatzHaderach: Pardon?
NJjoe
@BritAus:
His comments say otherwise. I don’t care if he’s bi or gay. I don’t care if you knew him ’03-’04. However, you can’t have it both ways. Meaning, you can’t use your true sexuality as if were a revolving door to suit you and your career. And I agree with another poster’s comments, “HE put himself out there and continues to.”
If you speak of your sexuality in the press and have said such things as he has, you’ve gone public.
Cam
@BritAus:
Oh please, the only people who yell and scream that being gay is private, are either the little fangurls of the closeted stars, or people who work for the publicists.
Nobody screams and yells that it is “Private” that Jennifer Anniston dates men. Saying you are gay is not the same thing as releasing a sex tape so get over your eagerness to reinforce the glass closet.
demented
@Cam: Um, yeah, there ARE celebrities who are in hetero relationships who want their lives kept private. You just don’t think of them as such because they, well, are private
Cam
@demented:
No, actually they are keeping the details of their relationship private, but not the fact that they are hetrosexual.
In interviews they will say “I don’t want to talk about the relationship but I am dating a wonderful girl”.
But nice try on equating homosexuality with something that has to be hidden.
degaulle
To be fair he does seem to be trying to be quite open about dating Jon Kortajerana. It can’t be easy.
LadyL
@Chris: You said: “How often does he have to acknowledge his sexuality? Do we ask heterosexual actors, every time they are interviewed, if they’re straight?”
Yes, actually, we do. The public is fascinated with the love lives of their favorite celebrities and the press well knows that, and know as well that the celeb they’re interviewing knows that. It comes with the territory of fame, especially Big Fame. Straight actors have to contend with prying questions about their relationships all the time, whether they are coupled or dating, whether they welcome the scrutiny or not.
I understand the discomfort for gay celebs like Evans as he attempts to become successful at the kind of roles that have long been the province of straight (or supposedly straight) stars. But we can’t have this issue both ways. As long as we keep trying to draw a veil around the lives of gay male stars, the public will continue to perceive being gay as not being manly enough for action or leading man roles, which will make it that much harder for the next gay actor to reach that summit.
If we stop overreacting to personal questions maybe the actors (and the audience and the industry) will also.
LadyL
@KwisatzHaderach: Yeah, it’s frustrating isn’t it? He’s spot on in those comments, but that was over a decade ago, before the Hollywood machine began to chip away at his confidence and resolve. Now the closer he gets to the kind of roles he wants the more fearful he’s becoming. It’s sad.
Personally I blame the managers and publicists these actors have to contend with. They’re the gatekeepers who push them into the closet and tell them to stay there.
Walker
@Cam: Except nobody here is complaining that he his his gay relationships. Because heclearly didn’t. They’re complaining that he had the nerve NOT to hide his relationship with a woman. Because, I don’t know, vaginas are gross? Or non-binary sexuality scares you? Or a person isn’t “gay” unless he has a rainbow streamer coming out of his ass and mentions it every single time someone talks to him? You must be a thrill, by the way, “Hi, I’m Cam, nice to meet you, did you know I suck c***?”
Kendall
@LadyL: I agree! He was young and not as in the spotlight then, now he’s becoming a more mature actor and getting leading roles and he’s more than likely worried he will not be able to obtain roles he’d like to play if he’s open about whatever sexuality he truly is which has happened to plenty of actors.
I’m sorry everyone, but even as a young adult who has known they were bisexual since an extraordinarily young age, I even tend to avoid using certain pronouns when talking about past relationships with woman because of the world we live in. When I speak about my heterosexual relationships, I’ll typically talk about them like any other straight person may. There are plenty of people even whom will be quick to challenge me and say that, “no, you’re straight, you talk about guys more” because of this fact. No one has the right to try and pin a label on anyone, regardless of if it may be true or not.
I know the stigma that comes with being anything buy heterosexual even in the environment I work in, let alone him who works in an industry that has had a long history with homosexuality and prejudice. If he came out a decade ago, good for him. If he went back in, so what? It’s not up to anyone but him to judge how he views himself. Sure, maybe when he came out them he viewed himself as gay and then maybe later bi. No one knows but him and if he ever decides to rightfully come out and blatantly say it then there will be everyone’s answer. If not, who really cares? If he didn’t want to be an actor, he never would have become one or he would have quit. All I know at the end of the day, is I quite fancy his acting, think he is very attractive, and he seems to be a sweet man.
DDJuan
@Walker: Don’t tell me you bought that Holly Goodchild stuff. That was a clear case of bearding. The woman worked in PR and is his friend. She still attends events with him AND his boyfriends but will stay in the background. I know the fangurls need to believe he at least likes a little Vag. It’s hard to accept someone who wouldn’t want what you have to offer even in the best looking package lol
demented
@Cam: Making mass blanket statements about ALL celebrities in opposite-sex relationships and how they handle it doesn’t bolster up your argument. It actually makes it look weaker.
Hell, some of them will lie about being single. How many times has someone said, “Oh, I’m single” and been caught with their tongue in someone’s mouth the following week? Often enough.
And nowhere in my statement did I say that it should be hidden. That is entirely made up by you. I simply pointed out the massive fallacy of “only fearful gay actors and ‘fangurls’ (nice misogyny there) demand privacy” by pointing out that no, they do not. You’re just trying to come up with an easy, dirty way to declare people gay.
demented
Oh, and if anyone wants an example: note actress/singer Emmy Rossum. She was SO private that not only did nobody really know what her sexuality was, but they didn’t know she was even married (to a man) until she got divorced.