Friday 24 December 2010
Thursday 23 December 2010
An article from Greg in Hollywood
In interview with The Advocate, Richard Chamberlain doesn't advise leading men to come out
By Greg Hernandez on Dec 22, 2010 2:12 pm
When he was a hot, young leading man on television’s Dr. Kildare then later on such classic miniseries as The Thorn Birds and Shogun, actor now openly gay actor Richard Chamberlain remained firmly in the closet.
In a new interview with Brandon Voss for The Advocate, the now 76-year-old Chamberlain surprisingly advises gay actors who are leading man types to do in 2010 what he did in the 60s, 70s, and 80s: stay in the closet!
“It’s complicated,” he says. “There’s still a tremendous amount of homophobia in our culture. It’s regrettable, it’s stupid, it’s heartless, and it’s immoral, but there it is. For an actor to be working is a kind of miracle, because most actors aren’t, so it’s just silly for a working actor to say, “Oh, I don’t care if anybody knows I’m gay” — especially if you’re a leading man. Personally, I wouldn’t advise a gay leading man-type actor to come out.”
Brandon follows up by asking: “When can a leading man come out – when he’s 69 and promoting a memoir?” (As Chamberlain did in 2004 with Shattered Faith)
“I have no idea,” the actor says. “Despite all the wonderful advances that have been made, it’s still dangerous for an actor to talk about that in our extremely misguided culture. Look at what happened in California with Proposition 8. Please, don’t pretend that we’re suddenly all wonderfully, blissfully accepted.”
Arrrg! With the success of such openly gay stars as Neil Patrick Harris, John Barrowman, Alan Cumming and others who can play straight or gay roles, this is exactly the kind of attitude that will never change things.
I wish Chamberlain, who will be guest-starring on ABC’s Brothers & Sisters as a love interest for Saul (Ron Rifkin), were more encouraging of actors coming and working to help change this viewpoint. Maybe B&S cast member, the openly gay Luke Macfarlane, can talk some sense into him!
To read the rest of Brandon’s interview with Chamberlain, go to Advocate.com!
An article from Advocate.com
Sibling Revelry
Brothers & Sisters special guest star Richard Chamberlain clears up recent breakup rumors about his longtime relationship and advises other gay actors to stay safely in the closet.
A former TV heartthrob beloved for the 1960s series Dr. Kildare and the 1983 miniseries The Thorn Birds — though perhaps better known to younger gay viewers for his post-millennial guest spots on Nip/Tuck, Desperate Housewives, and Will & Grace — Richard Chamberlain officially came out in 2003 with the release of his memoir, Shattered Love. Now 76 and playing an HIV-positive love interest for Ron Rifkin’s Uncle Saul on ABC’s Brothers & Sisters, which returns January 2 after a holiday hiatus, Chamberlain explains why other gay leading men would be unwise to follow in his footsteps. The Advocate:Your last chat with The Advocate was in January 2004, so it’s good to catch up. You did a ton of other press around that time to promote your tell-all memoir, but you know that a celebrity’s coming-out isn’t really official until they’ve spoken to The Advocate.
Richard Chamberlain: [Laughs] That’s right. Absolutely.
Congratulations on your new role on Brothers & Sisters. Were you a fan of the show before you got the part?
I liked the show a lot, but I hadn’t watched as regularly as I do since I got the job. It’s an incredible show. What an unbelievable cast! Ron Rifkin is an actor of astounding ability. He’s so good that when I play a scene with him, I find that I almost get distracted just watching the wonderful things that he’s doing. We had mutual friends, but we hadn’t met before this. We’ve been getting along extremely well.
Tell me about your character, Jonathan.
My character met Ron’s character, Saul, back in the ’80s. Saul was a serious kind of guy, but Jonathan was a heartbreaking playboy at that time. As revealed in my first episode, Jonathan may have been the one who gave Saul HIV in the ’80s, though Jonathan didn’t even remember that they had slept together. Saul isn’t at all happy about seeing me again. That’s about as much as has been revealed on the show so far, and I’m told that I mustn’t reveal anything else.
It’s been reported that Michael Gross from Family Ties will appear in an upcoming episode as a gay character who somehow comes between Jonathan and Saul. Did you ever imagine that you’d be involved in a gay love triangle on prime-time TV at the age of 76?[Laughs] That’s very funny. No, it hadn’t really occurred to me until now. But I can’t say much more about it.
David Marshall Grant, head show runner of Brothers & Sisters, is also a gay man. Has he helped you develop your character?
Yes, everybody’s been incredibly helpful. Everyone over there is so into each other and for each other. It’s a real family.
You’ve played an HIV-positive gay character before, haven’t you?
Have I?
In the 1997 straight-to-DVD indie A River Made to Drown In.
Oh, of course. Along with everyone else, I’d almost forgotten that.
It must be a different experience to play an HIV-positive gay man as an out actor in 2010.
It’s actually not different at all. I’m just playing a human being. One of the things I love about Brothers & Sisters is that all the characters on the show are absolutely equal and, in a sense, like everybody else. The audience sees gay people and straight people on a very leveled playing field, and that’s very useful for the American public, who sometimes doesn’t see things that way.
But when playing an HIV-positive character, do you feel an added sense of responsibility to represent that community truthfully and respectfully?
No, not added, because I play a character with truth and respect anyway. There’s no other way to approach a character. From an actor’s point of view, all characters are totally worthy of loving respect. Besides, both Saul and Jonathan are quite used to taking their meds and feeling healthy, so I don’t think it’s something that they think about that much. Once we deal with the original possibility of Jonathan having given it to Saul, I don’t find myself thinking about being an HIV-positive character at all when I’m playing scenes.
You were a sexually active gay man long before you came out. How has the AIDS crisis affected you personally?
I’ve lost a couple of friends, but not many, thank God.
Since coming out, you’ve played gay roles on Nip/Tuck, Desperate Housewives, Will & Grace —
My character wasn’t gay in Will & Grace. They all thought he was gay, but he was actually straight.
OK, but it was still a part that played off of your newly out public persona. You were initially scared that your coming-out would end your career entirely. Once you started to work again, were you concerned about being pigeonholed into gay parts?No, because that just hasn’t happened. Yes, I’ve played a few gay parts, but most of the characters I’ve been playing have been straight. It’s fine either way. I just did a wonderful movie called We Are the Hartmans — I’m praying that it gets a good release — in which I play an aging hippie with an interesting family who runs a music club that’s in danger. He was a great character, and it was just a wonderful experience. So no, I don’t see typecasting as a problem at all.
Your roles on Chuck and Leverage also come to mind as recent straight characters. But do you feel a certain comfort or freedom when you get to play a gay character?
Hmm. Well, that’s very interesting. But no, not really, because I like thinking that it’s all sort of the same. I mean, love is love and attraction is attraction. I did have a very interesting realization during one scene on Brothers & Sisters that we filmed recently — well, no, I can’t talk about it because I’d be ruining the plot, so forget I said anything!
You released some popular albums in the ’60s, and you starred in the Broadway musical revivals of My Fair Lady and The Sound of Music during the ’90s. Since you’ve already worked with Ryan Murphy on Nip/Tuck, maybe you should call him to ask if any glee club students might need a singing grandfather on Glee.
Oh, that would be interesting. I only saw Glee for the first time a couple of weeks ago, and it was cute. Sure, why not? I’d love the opportunity to sing again.
You were a wildly successful closeted actor during a period of time when coming out was unheard of, but the climate of acceptance has significantly changed in recent years. How do you feel about gay actors who still remain closeted as we near 2011?
It’s complicated. There’s still a tremendous amount of homophobia in our culture. It’s regrettable, it’s stupid, it’s heartless, and it’s immoral, but there it is. For an actor to be working is a kind of miracle, because most actors aren’t, so it’s just silly for a working actor to say, “Oh, I don’t care if anybody knows I’m gay” — especially if you’re a leading man. Personally, I wouldn’t advise a gay leading man–type actor to come out.
When can a leading man come out — when he’s 69 and promoting a memoir?
I have no idea. Despite all the wonderful advances that have been made, it’s still dangerous for an actor to talk about that in our extremely misguided culture. Look at what happened in California with Proposition 8. Please, don’t pretend that we’re suddenly all wonderfully, blissfully accepted.
It was widely reported in April that you had split from Martin Rabbett, your partner of more than 30 years, and had moved to Los Angeles from your shared home in Hawaii. How are you doing?Well, we haven’t really split. In other words, we’re still very, very close. The essence of our relationship has remained the same; we just don’t happen to be living together. I went home for Thanksgiving and had the most wonderful time, and we’ll be spending Christmas together with friends in New York. So we’re not split, really. I just moved to L.A. because I wanted to work more. Martin, unfortunately, doesn’t like L.A. at all, but he’s thinking of moving to San Francisco.
Wow. I thought you were newly single and looking.
At 76? You’ve got to be kidding.
The press spun this alleged breakup as having stemmed from your renewed career ambition. I’m surprised that you didn’t respond to that media attention with some sort of official statement.
I had no idea that the media was interested at all. Well, I guess I was aware of one report, but I don’t look at the Internet much.
Back in the ’90s, in response to rumors that you’ve had several face-lifts, you publicly said you’d give $10,000 to any plastic surgeon who could find the surgical scars to prove it. Has anyone ever taken you up on that bet?
No, no one has. Because the other side of it is that if you don’t find anything, then you have to give me $10,000. I think it would be fun to go on a talk show and have some famous plastic surgeon come examine the backs of my ears. The offer is still on the table.
Wednesday 22 December 2010
Saturday 18 December 2010
Tuesday 14 December 2010
Thursday 9 December 2010
Thursday 2 December 2010
A picture from AfterElton
In Melbourne, Johnny Weir met Matthew Mitcham, and loved him. No, not that way. But still, it's a meeting of a gay athlete, and well, whatever Johnny will identify as in his autobiography.[source]
Tuesday 30 November 2010
Simon Amstell Interview
Miquita and Simon were presenters of Channel 4 music show Popworld from 2000 to 2006.
Simon is so cool and cute!
Saturday 27 November 2010
Emmerdale producer passed away
Gavin Blyth passes away
It is with great sadness we announce that Emmerdale's series producer Gavin Blyth has passed away after a short illness. He was aged 41. An Emmerdale spokesperson says: "Our thoughts are with his family, friends and colleagues at this terrible time. He will be greatly missed by us all. Gavin leaves his wife Suzy and children Tom, 15, Anya, 11 and Carter, aged 1."
The shocking news comes at a time of prosperity and growth in Emmerdale's history, as Gavin steered the show in new and exciting directions. He has overseen hugely popular recent storylines such as Mark Wylde's murder and Aaron Livesey's struggle with his sexuality, as well as introduced new families such as the Bartons and the Sharmas.
Steve November, executive producer, says: "Gavin has made an immense contribution to Emmerdale since taking over as series producer in January 2009 and during many hugely successful years at ITV. As a friend and colleague he will be missed an incredible amount by us all."
Gavin will be sorely missed by the cast, crew and fans alike. He has become a hugely popular producer since taking over the Emmerdale helm in January 2009. But his tenure at the country soap was merely the latest in a long line of achievements working for ITV.
Previously he worked on Coronation Street as a story associate then assistant producer. But he started in the world of soap on Emmerdale - working as a senior publicist before becoming a script editor.
"It is a very sad day for everyone at Emmerdale," says Steve November. "Our thoughts are with Gavin's family and those closest to him at this difficult time."
Thursday 25 November 2010
An article from TV Guide
Nov 23, 2010 08:11 PM ET by Kate Stanhope
Matt BomerAs the slogan goes, characters are welcome at USA Network. Now, the cable outlet is taking that sentiment one step further with its "Characters Unite" series of PSAs.
In the campaign's latest video, White Collar star Matt Bomer takes a stand against religious intolerance. "While we can disagree about the past and we can argue about the future, we're all here now, together," Bomer says.
Get the rest of today's latest news
Besides the new PSAs, USA Network has launched a "Characters Unite" website to encourage others to "stand against intolerance, prejudice, discrimination and hate, and to promote greater understanding and acceptance." USA will donate $1 to nonprofit partners, including the Anti-Defamation League and the Children's Defense Fund, for every individual pledge made until Dec. 24.
Watch Bomer's full PSA:
Wednesday 24 November 2010
Tuesday 23 November 2010
Monday 22 November 2010
Friday 19 November 2010
An article from AfterElton
[source]
Sunday is full of specials including a new E! True Hollywood Story focusing on Adam Lambert. The special focuses on the success of Lambert’s post-American Idol career, despite his not winning the competition. The episode looks at Lambert’s youth, growing up as an awkward theater kid, and, of course, his sensational run on American Idol — where his amazing performances gave viewers something to talk about besides that picture of him kissing another guy — as well as the controversies we've seen with his solo career.
That isn't Sunday’s only music-focused special as ABC is airing the American Music Awards (see: Adam Lambert, controversy). The nominees this year include Lady Gaga, Vampire Weekend, Rihanna, Shakira and Enrique Iglesias. Meanwhile, the ceremony will include performances by Christina Aguilera, Enrique Iglesias, Pink, Rihanna, Gavin Rossdale as well as a team-up between The New Kids on the Block and The Backstreet Boys.
Monday 15 November 2010
Monday 8 November 2010
An article from AfterElton
Ask the Flying Monkey: What's a Nice Guy Like Chad Allen Doing Playing a Serial Killer?
Posted by Brent Hartinger on November 8, 2010
Q: So Anderson Cooper is suddenly on a tear on his TV show regarding gay issues, and Zachary Quinto filmed a “It Gets Better” video and is now starring in Angels in America. On one hand, I’m thrilled – for one thing, they’re making a difference, Cooper especially, raising issues that non-celebrities can’t raise. But on the other hand, I’m torn. Isn’t Angels in America a play about the incredibly damaging power of the closet? – Brett, Los Angeles, CA
Zachary Quinto (left) and Anderson Cooper
A: I’m also torn about this whole “glass closet” business. Sure, both of them could do great things for GLBT visibility if they are actually gay and were out. But on the other hand, aren’t they already doing something – Cooper especially? And at least they’re not playing the opposite-sex-date game: they’re simply refusing to acknowledge they’re gay (although I admit the patently false “I don’t talk about my personal life” line gets old fast – they just don’t talk about that part of their personal life).
I think it’s hard for most of us to imagine the level of intrusiveness that most celebrities are subjected too – and also the incredible pressure they’re under to be “bankable” lest they, and everyone around them, be out of a job. It’s easy to play the “If it were me!” game, but it’s easy because it is just a game. Quinto is on the verge of a huge career as a movie actor.
I agree that Cooper’s dance is getting particularly ridiculous, but it’s still his dance to do. In the end, if we stand for anything as a community, it’s the right to self-determination. So it seems kind of petty to me to hold it against someone when they decide that they don’t want to be extraordinary – that being above-average suits them just fine, at least for the time being.
Thursday 4 November 2010
Noel Fielding criticises Simon Amstell
Noel Fielding says Simon Amstell 'ruined' Buzzcocks
Thursday 4th November 2010 @ 12pm
The Mighty Boosh star, the musical panel show's newest team captain, thinks Amstell's "cruel jibes" have made guests reluctant to appear for fear of being ridiculed. He gave the example of ex-Spice Girl Mel B who, he says, needed a lot of persuasion to appear in the latest run. Fielding told the paper: "She was terrified, like we were going to really rib her. The problem is, I think Amstell ruined it for everyone. Everyone thinks they'll get ripped to shreds."
Amstell, who won multiple awards for hosting the show, is widely regarded as having rejuvenated the quiz when he took over in 2007. He shocked fans when he quit in 2009 to work on developing Grandma's House, his BBC2 sitcom. Fielding joined the show as a regular in the series following Amstell's departure, although he did appear on screen with the host for three episodes in 2006 when he stood in for Bill Bailey as team captain. During these episodes, some viewers noted a tension between Amstell and Fielding, as can be seen in the following exchange:
Phill Jupitus, who has been a team captain on the show since its inception in 1996, revealed in his book published this summer that he almost quit the show in 2008 due to Amstell's verbal attacks on guests. He said: "It struck me with Simon that people were being booked especially to have the piss taken out of them in a very overt fashion. Mark Lamarr didn't book people to rag on them, it was just in the flow of the show that people suddenly went a bit weird and Mark could turn on them. It became something else with Simon and started to get a bit wearing."
Amstell's most infamous moment as host is arguably when he caused Ordinary Boys singer Preston to storm off following jokes about his wife's autobiography (2 minutes into this clip):
Never Mind The Buzzcocks is now re-building a 'cosier' image using a series of guest hosts, but not everyone is a fan of the new format. Mark Ronson and Catherine Tate, the first two hosts in the latest series, have been criticised as boring and lacking the required presentation skills. One reviewer commented: "Mark Ronson has an incredibly dull voice and when doing the interlinking piece-to-camera sections he couldn't hide the fact that he was clearly reading off a screen, so the majority of jokes fell flat." Whilst the Metro said: "Catherine Tate was on typical grating, nasal form. Come back, Simon Amstell, all is forgiven."
Noel Fielding told The Sun that he thinks Terry Wogan is the best of the new guest hosts. He said: "He was professional, funny, quicker than anyone else on the show. He shook everyone's hand, he knew everyone's name. It was pretty mind-blowing actually."
It shocked me when I read it first. I love Simon Amstell. But also I like Noel Fielding. I found this article again and I realised that I haven't picked it up for this blog, so I put it on here. I set original date as usual.
Wednesday 3 November 2010
Monday 1 November 2010
An article from AfterElton
Posted by Aymar Jean Christian on November 1, 2010
Scotty's a Cheater? Thanks, ABC! No, Seriously!
Gay fans of Brothers & Sisters are probably breathing a sigh of relief after the last two episodes of the ABC drama. Why? It’s not necessarily because beloved characters Kevin Walker (Matthew Rhys)and Scotty Wandell (Luke Macfarlane) are probably going to avoid an adultery-spurred break-up.
It’s because the rift has finally giving Scotty something to do, and thereby made the characters much more complex and interesting. (Actually, the same could be said of their relationship.)
As Scotty said in last night’s episode, “I’m just as lost and damaged and screwed up as the rest of you. I’m not perfect Kevin, I’m not perfect!”
There have been enough gay characters on television now for there to be a serious competition over which ones are more nuanced and interesting than others. But while dozens of gay characters have flooded television since the 1990s, gay couples are rarer, gay married couples are rarer still, and gay married couples with serious problems, a weekly staple for straights that keep fans watching to see what happens next, are almost nonexistent.
Given this week's events on B&S, it should seem obvious to anyone who has followed the progression of gays on television that Kevin and Scotty are poised to become the most interesting gay couple on our screens.
Network TV and the Will & Grace Problem
Why has it taken so long to get a gay “married” couple (or at least partnered, since same-sex marriage hasn’t been legal that long and is still allowed in only a handful of states) on network television who are dealing with a serious problem in their marriage?
Network television really only started using gay characters on television in the 1990s, mostly as a ploy to get the upscale, urban gay audiences that were increasingly turn to cable. Those cable channels, such as HBO and Showtime, had started to create original programming that rivaled the broadcast networks, forcing the Big Four to add greater diversity to their schedules while also still trying to please the rest of America.
For a long time, this meant there were more gay characters on broadcast, but none that stayed around for very long. Most merely popped in from time to time (Frasier, Northern Exposure) or were tangential to the main characters and storylines, like the lesbians on Friends or Jack on Dawson’s Creek. And even when a character was part of the main cast — Matt on Melrose Place — their gayness was so controversial, it basically had to be ignored. (Cue the gay kiss cutaway.)
Gil Chesterson from Frasier, Matt Fielding from Melrose Place, Ellen DeGeneres 
Of course Ellen had entire season as an out lesbian, but we all know how that worked out. (In case you don't, the show was canceled at the end of the season.)
Then Will & Grace changed the equation, giving us a gay character every episode, and America came along for the ride!
Still it took a long time for Will to kiss another man and even longer for him to have a steady boyfriend. NBC was scared of losing the mainstream audience, and only in Season Six did Will finally get Vince.
Sure, Will and Vince probably don’t get enough credit for having a fairly complicated relationship. Their break-up was sudden but interesting: Vince needed to find out who he is and Will didn’t respect his career – or something like that.
But Will and Vince were pretty bland compared to what was happening on much more daring pay-cable channels, on shows like Six Feet Under where David and Keith dealt with infidelity, sexuality dissatisfaction and the fact both men had serious issues ranging from wild insecurity to anger control problems.
Meanwhile, Queer as Folk, a show almost exclusively about gay and bisexual men, was able to explore relationships in even greater detail, delving into all the drugs, sex, infidelity, and HIV issues all gays have to deal with.
But most of America, not used to gay couples, needed a near-perfect one, NBC seemed to suggest.
After Will & Grace had been on a few years, viewers met more gay couples, but most still got little screentime and also lacked much in the way of complexity. Shows like Ugly Betty and The Class gave viewers some positive storylines but no real serious treatment of gay men as couples.
Today we have Modern Family, with an interesting and believable, if not always serious, partnership between Mitchell and Cameron; Bob and Lee occasionally on Desperate Housewives, who, we’re told, were in marriage counseling before their sudden break-up (though we never saw that); and lesbian couples like Callie and Arizona on Grey’s Anatomy. Congrats, ABC!
What we still haven’t had on network TV until now is a gay male couple with real issues to sort through, a complicated history and a conflict that takes more than one episode to resolve.
What Makes Kevin and Scotty Special
So what makes Kevin and Scotty so special? What Brothers & Sisters has done, perhaps a little bit late in the series run, is given us the first real representation of a married gay couple who are very much in love, but whose relationship is both not perfect and is even in doubt.
Most other gay long-term relationships on network television have suffered from a desire to prove to America that gays are people who are not the least bit threatening, deserve equality and are just like our straight counterparts: we buy houses, have kids and love each other. Yes we do!
David and Keith from Six Feet Under, Cameron and Mitchell from Modern Family 
But we also fight and hurt each other as well. And few of these relationships have been “marriages,” especially the legal kind.
Cam and Mitchell are great, but, like the other two couples on Modern Family, their relationship is solid. Bob and Lee broke up in a heartbeat and haven’t been heard from since. It even happens on cable where Caprica’s couple had issues – you know, like how one husband massacred a rival gang with a robot – but their relationship too was mostly beyond reproach.
Brothers & Sisters fell into this trap – at first. Yes, Scotty started out pretty messed up: he needed a career and he lacked a home. Kevin was unsure if he wanted a real relationship, instead fooling around with the hot guy from Sex and the City.
But once they got married, Kevin and Scotty settled into what appeared to be marital bliss. So eager were the writers to show that gay marriage can be great they forgot to put it in any real life issues.
Sure, their problems conceiving a child tested the relationship. They fought, they pulled away from each other, etc. But once again, they were mostly the picture of an exemplary couple: good people put under stress. Meanwhile, every other character on the show had gone through some kind of earth-shattering affair, break-up or divorce. This not only made them more interesting, but meant they were given more screentime to sort out their issues
But this week’s episode used last season’s car crash to open up old wounds for Kevin and Scotty: Kevin downplaying Scotty’s career and pulling away emotionally; Scotty feeling immature and devalued; and Kevin’s old demons – selfishness, short-sightedness – coming out.
It’s always been to the writer’s credit that they’ve been able to make Kevin occasionally unlikable. Scotty, meanwhile, has almost always been virtuous. “You were supposed to be better than this,” Kevin tells Scotty at the end of the episode.
So the writers really took a risk by making it Scotty who had the affair. It meant they had to psychologically explain how it happened: a bright young thing walks in, feeding Scotty’s weak self-esteem with cheap flattery (“With that face you should clearly have your own reality show.” Hilarious. The A-List: New York, next season?)
Meanwhile Kevin is a bad boy too, missing Scotty’s opening night by going to a bar to sulk instead because nothing is going right for him. (After all, sulking is an integral part of Kevin’s character.)
It seems likely Kevin and Scotty’s marriage will be saved, if only because too many other (straight) marriages on the show have failed. Scotty’s still a good person, after all, having cheated only once and then confessed it, and offering statements of concern about Kevin (“Be discreet I don’t want Kevin hurt any more than he already is”).
But hopefully it will take a few episodes for Kevin to trust Scotty, and vice versa, because that’s what a marriage really is — even for gay people. You hurt each other and you have to regain trust, but that takes time. It’s always complicated and imperfect, and maybe soon enough network TV will show that gay marriages really are mostly like straight marriages — warts and all.
[source]
Thursday 28 October 2010
An article from Out Magazine
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Where Are They Now: Darren Hayes
By Gregory Miller
The singer and former member of Savage Garden chats about his return to pop, coming out, and why he's so passionate about speaking out against bullying.
Wed Oct 27 2010
Darren Hayes took America by storm with hits like “Truly, Madly, Deeply” and “I Knew I Loved You,” in the late '90s as one-half of the duo Savage Garden. In the new millennium, Hayes has seen a successful solo career that will bring him back into the realm of pop next year. We caught up with the soft-spoken Brit and 2006 Out 100 honoree to chat about the development of his sound, his coming out, and the cause he’s most passionate about right now.
Out: Tell us about your new record.
Darren Hayes: Well, first of all, it’s way too early to even talk about it [laughs]. But it’s finished. It’s coming out next year. So I’ve spent three years working on the album. I haven’t released any of the details in terms of the title or any of that stuff. But I have a YouTube video of the making of it.
How is it going to be different from what we’ve heard from you in the past?
Well, it’s interesting. I can only tell you what other people have said about it. It’s a pop record, and I don’t know that I’ve ever made a pop record really since my first solo album, Spin. I’ve had two really wonderful experimentations, I would call them. My last two records were two of the favorite things I’ve ever done in my life. But they were absolute deviations from the path. The first was a record called The Tension and the Spark. It was pretty dark, to say the least. Critically praised, but commercially perhaps a little confusing [laughs]. Then the last record that I did was the first time I ever did a record independently. I think I had a bit of a chip on my shoulder, in a good way. I had just come out publicly and I had just gotten married to my partner, so I felt like I was in a very celebratory phase, where I just didn’t want to take no for an answer. I broke all the commercial rules. I made a double album when no one was even selling records. I went on tour with a stage production that was probably too extravagant and too expensive for the amount of records I was selling. It was a really fun period for me. But I wasn’t really thinking about that being played on the radio or any of that stuff. It’s taken me three years to make this record, and this record is me kind of rolling up my sleeves as a songwriter and really saying "I’ve been associated with some really successful pop music in the past, and maybe I’ve been a little hard on myself." This record is just me being comfortable in my own skin.
Do you wish people would forget about Savage Garden?
No. It’s so funny -- I totally understand you asking that question, because I’m so comfortable with it and so grateful for Savage Garden. I’m very honest that I wouldn’t be speaking to you if it wasn’t for the success I had as Savage Garden. It was only two albums. I literally just had dinner with Daniel Jones, the other part, when I was in L.A. earlier this year. We still look at that period and feel so lucky and can’t believe it. We really went out on the top of our game. Both records I think sold about 11 million copies each. Both had a number one [single] in the U.S. They changed our lives completely. I’ve never stopped performing the songs in my set. My reaction to the past is that I’m a huge fan of artists like Prince, U2, Madonna who have had very long careers -- who, I’m sure, want to be acknowledged for the music that they’re making today -- and they always play the hits live. There’s a reason for that, and it’s because that’s what brings people together and that’s what makes people connect. I’m very grateful for it.
So you still perform songs like “Truly, Madly, Deeply”?
Yeah, I do. I think there’s only one tour where I didn’t sing [it]. We laughed about this. It was my last show, and I didn’t sing “Truly, Madly, Deeply” for the first time ever. But in general, I do. I change them up a little bit. I always find a way to mash the songs up into a different arrangement. But I’m always very aware of the fact that I’m a fan first. I grew up as a fan of musical artists, and when I went to see their show, I wanted to hear the songs that had brought me to them. I think there’s a certain musical snobbery when an artist decides that an audience has finished with a song. I sort of feel like I don’t own those songs, they belong to the general public. I was in a taxi last week, and the song “I Knew I Loved You Before I Met You” was on the radio, and the taxi driver was singing the song, and he didn’t realize who I was. I look completely different, and I’ve never looked like that airbrushed, dark-haired version of myself on those albums since that period. I had just had a really great meeting about my new album, so I was kind of excited.
Why the three year break since your last record?
Oh gosh. To find something to say, really. I’ve never worked on a timeline, and I think most of my favorite artists have a similar approach to work as me. Every time I finish a record, I’m not sure there will be another after it. It’s like a pregnancy. You write the songs, and then the record is released into the world, and you have no idea how it will perform commercially. That really should never be an indicator of what you should do. You hope it will sell, but ultimately you hope it was worthwhile. And then there’s a period of years of promoting and touring. The truth is, I kind of get burned out. I think I definitely hit a crossroads in my life around 2007 where I didn’t like the state of the music industry, and I wasn’t quite sure where I fit in as an artist at that point. I didn’t want to become a parody of myself. I didn’t want to just put music out for the sake of it to just keep up with the game. Or the worst thing, I didn’t want to just make a desperately trendy record. I’ll be 39 when this album comes out, and I’m not trying to be Katy Perry or Lady Gaga or Justin Timberlake -- artists that I love, but, you know, they’re a decade younger than me or more, and what they’re doing is the sound of youth today. I’m about to be a 40-year-old man, so I had to really absorb that and work out who I was as a person and how I could find something to say that was worthwhile and worth your attention really. It took a long time to find my groove again.
You kept your private life private for quite awhile, but you eventually came out. Do you think since then, the rules of celebrities coming out has changed?
I do. I mean, I was never actively in the closet. But I actually never spoke about my sexuality, the truth is, mostly because I was suffering from all kinds of depression. I really struggled in coming to terms with who I was, and I’m lucky that the media gave me a bit of a wide berth in that regard. Because until I met Richard, I was failing miserably in my romantic life. I was in bad relationships and I was getting hurt. In a lot of ways, I was like a babe in the woods. I’d grown up in the kind of town that would be reminiscent of say, the Midwest and American conservative views, and I didn’t have a gay role model. It took me a long time to even realize that I was gay. I thought that I had attractions to men, but I found a way to justify that and explain it away. The truth of it is, I’m a monogamous person, I’m a romantic person, I’m a traditionalist. I wanted to have kids, I wanted to get married, I wanted to have that happily ever after that you see in Hollywood films, which of course isn’t real even for straight people. But it took me a long time to come to terms with the fact that my path was a different path, and that I was actually trying to be somebody that I wasn’t. When I met Richard, I fell in love. It was my first really true adult relationship -- I knew I was going to marry him. He became such a huge part of my life, I wanted the people who bought my records to know. So my coming out was a breeze. I wrote a blog when we had our civil partnership. I said, “I married my boyfriend,” and the reaction was incredible. I think it’s very different -- I think when you’re outed that’s a whole other area. It’s a very strange period that we exist in.
What made you decide to make a video for the “It Gets Better” campaign?
Perez Hilton asked me -- he tweeted to me. I’ve never met Perez, and I’m not someone who is really immersed in tabloid pop culture, but he tweeted me, and I looked at the link and I just couldn’t say no. I saw one or two videos and it really affected me. I’ve always been very honest with my fan base. I’m very confessional on stage or in interviews or my blog. I’ve been very honest about my upbringing. I came from a very alcoholic family -- I had a very violent father. I suffered from depression, and I’ve always spoken about these things and how it relates to self-esteem. It was a no-brainer to make the video. I had to tape it three or four times because I kept crying at the end of it. Because when I got to the part where I was saying “If there’s anyone out there who is struggling…” it brought back all those memories. I realized that a huge part of why I became an entertainer was because I believed so badly that I needed to create a persona. The persona was this indestructible superhero called a pop star. I had a survival mechanism that kicked in. I wasn’t a wallflower. The thing about me that made me stand out -- I managed to turn that into my strength, but, one can say, with a lot of scars. I managed to have an entire career and be a famous person and be on the radio as a protective mechanism for being picked on. But at the same time, it took me years to even forgive myself for being gay. The whole project really hit home and it made realize that I didn’t have any point of reference growing up -- not one. There were two gay people I knew: There was Boy George and Rock Hudson, who was dying from AIDS. So the message that I got from the media was that gay people don’t exist, on that they’re comic characters, or they are dying. It was horrible, so for me it was a no-brainer to get involved.
In the media we don’t see many successful, long-term gay couples. Do you feel like that puts any pressure on your relationship?
No. Oh God, I don’t take that into account at all. To be honest, I don’t think of that stuff because I don’t think of myself as a celebrity. I adore Richard. I have an amazing marriage. I’m not perfect. But I’m with somebody who is my equal. I’m with somebody who I’m glad I waited for. When I met Richard, I felt almost this duty to tell any of my jaded friends that there is your equal opposite out there somewhere. Just wait for them. I didn’t think I’d meet him, and when I found him, it felt like I’d come home. And it feels like that every day. I’m happy to be an example of a happily ever after.
And they are his tweets.
darrenhayes Recent interview with U.S 'Out' magazine about new record and other matters http://bit.ly/dtIsHIdarrenhayes @outmagazine Thanks for the great interview. Psst I'm Australian, not British though ;). I married a Brit. But thank you! x
Wednesday 27 October 2010
Gossip
Emmerdale Actor Apologises For Gay Insult
Emmerdale actor Adam Thomas has issued an apology after allegedly insulting a gay fan at a Mc Donalds in Leeds.
Thomas, who plays Adam Barton on the ITV soap, allegedly called Rickey Platts “gay boy” and according to Platts, began "hopping up and down like a madman" and called him and a friend, who was dressed in drag, "queers".
Thomas’ most recent storyline on the soap saw him supporting best friend Aaron Livesy (played by Danny Miller) through a turbulent coming-out process.
In a statement, he said: "I deeply apologise for my actions and I am horrified to realise that I have caused offence."
Monday 25 October 2010
Scotty confesses (B&S 505)
He is not the saint Scotty anymore. That's good for him.
And more clips from the next episode.
They are fabulous actors. I can't wait the next Sunday.
Sunday 24 October 2010
An article from The NewYork Times
Zachary Quinto as Spock in the 2009 “Star Trek” movie.
By DAVID ROONEY
Published: October 21, 2010
IN a contemporary nightmare on YouTube titled “Zachary Quinto Cannot Escape the Swarm of Fans,” a mob of unrelenting Klingons outside a Hollywood event crowd in on the unnerved Mr. Quinto, shoving cameras and photographs in his face, demanding autographs as he struggles to navigate the two blocks to his car.
Such scenes are an inevitable hazard of the popularity he acquired over three seasons as the power-crazed watchmaker turned serial killer, Sylar, on NBC’s “Heroes” and as the intensely introspective Spock in the J. J. Abrams “Star Trek” reboot.
Yet all that seems a galaxy away as he eats breakfast at an unfancy diner on a quiet Midtown block of 11th Avenue, his only camouflage a baseball cap. When he pays the check, and a waiter shyly admits he’s a fan, Mr. Quinto graciously accepts the compliment before heading around the corner to a full day of rehearsals and a preview performance of “Angels in America.”
New York theater has possibly never been a greater magnet for stars of film and television than in recent seasons, but for a young actor whose career is in the crucial ascent phase, joining the ensemble of an Off Broadway revival seems an unconventional move. However, Mr. Quinto, 33, views “Angels,” the Tony Kushner diptych, as a strategic step in his methodical plan.
“This is hopefully a declaration of my intention to have theater be a much more significant part of my career from this point forward,” he said. “I look at the work that I’ve done so far as an investment to that end.”
Mr. Quinto plays Louis Ironson in the Signature Theater Company’s production of “Angels,” which opens Thursday at the Peter Norton Space. The role is in many ways the most challenging in the two plays, “Millennium Approaches” and “Perestroika.”
Louis abandons his lover, who has AIDS, at his time of greatest need and tends to avoid emotional exposure by hiding behind angry political screeds. Yet Mr. Quinto pierces the sympathetic core of a character tormented by his own failings and by the existential agonies of living in Ronald Reagan’s America.
“As I wrestle with how Louis behaves, and I get to know and understand the character more, I see in so many ways how he really is one of the most human representations in this ensemble,” he said.
One key scene in “Millennium Approaches,” in which Louis disgorges a sprawling coffee-shop rant about democracy, liberalism, tolerance, race, power and human rights is probably the hardest stretch of the two plays for an actor. Mr. Quinto not only makes the speech a spontaneous tirade, he also subtly communicates the Beckettian way in which Louis keeps talking in order to avoid facing his fears.
“He’s a very smart and thoughtful reader of text,” Mr. Kushner said. “He’s been ferociously committed to the thing since the first audition. Zach is a very tough Louis — impassioned and sharply aggressive, with a very intense sensuality.”
Michael Greif, who directed the production, agreed that Mr. Quinto is a natural stage animal. “He starts with the most extraordinary instrument for a stage actor, that incredibly expressive voice,” he said. “But he also has this physical dexterity. He expresses everything fully through his body.”
The integrity Mr. Quinto brings to his roles makes him equally convincing as a frightened lover poisoned by self-loathing, a chilling psychopath or an orphaned alien.
“My point of entry for a lot of characters tends to be their shadow,” he said. “I’m a big believer in the notion that our greatest potential lies in our darkest parts. To a certain extent it’s only in facing those parts of ourselves that we can truly grow, and I think that’s true of all of the characters I’ve played, certainly in the past few years.”
While “Angels” is Mr. Quinto’s first New York stage experience, he regards it as a homecoming. Theater has been part of his life since his childhood in Pittsburgh, providing a refuge when, at the age of 7, he lost his father to cancer. “That was obviously a profound disruption in my upbringing, and theater became a place for me to go where my mother knew I was safe and taken care of,” he said.
An elementary school teacher encouraged him to audition for a performing group affiliated with the Civic Light Opera, and he made his professional debut in 1988 as a Munchkin in “The Wizard of Oz.” (“At that time I hadn’t quite hit my growth spurt,” he said.) His subsequent studies at the School of Drama at Carnegie Mellon University pointed toward the New York stage, but Mr. Quinto opted instead to detour via Los Angeles.
“When I got out of the program at Carnegie, it was such a different climate in the real world,” he said. “I saw how many productions were cast with actors who were on hiatus from TV shows or in between movies, and so I identified the value of making my initial investment in Los Angeles rather than New York.”
During the 11 years since then Mr. Quinto steadily built up his television credits. He graduated from guest roles to playing a counterterrorism computer analyst on “24” and then dispensed quips from beneath boy-band hair as Tori Spelling’s gay buddy on her self-satirizing series “so noTORIous.” His breakout role came in “Heroes” as the coldest of killers, who accumulates superpowers by literally stealing them from the skulls of his victims.
But it was his work as Spock that cemented Mr. Quinto’s reputation as an actor of acute intelligence and charisma. He brought out the Shakespearean dimensions of the “Star Trek” universe, lending weight to the brains-brawn dynamic with Chris Pine’s Kirk and soulful vulnerability to Spock’s blossoming romance with Uhura, played by Zoë Saldana.
“An enormous amount of discussion went into the emotional life of a character who is so often perceived as unemotional,” Mr. Abrams said in a phone interview. “Zachary was the first person we cast, and he appreciated the opportunity to take something so galvanized in public consciousness and say without fear, ‘Let’s do it again our way.’ ”
Mr. Quinto is booked to shoot the “Star Trek” sequel next summer. But he intends to establish a second home in New York while pursuing a diversified career in which film, television and theater will all be part of the equation, along with producing.
Shooting wrapped in July on “Margin Call,” the first feature from his production company, Before the Door Pictures. Mr. Quinto appears in the drama, about the 2008 collapse of the financial institutions, alongside Kevin Spacey, Jeremy Irons, Stanley Tucci and Demi Moore.
While Mr. Quinto accepts the occasional fan ambush as part of the movie and television stardom package, he chooses to keep his distance from what he regards as mindless celebrity-gossip culture. “I’m grateful that celebrity or notoriety wasn’t thrust upon me when I was in my 20s, because I think I would have buckled under the weight of it, as so many people do,” he said. “But I’ve come to realize through experience that ultimately I really do have a lot of power in terms of the way I relate to the public or to people outside of my intimate circle of friends and family. Boundaries are very important to me.”
Despite Mr. Quinto’s efforts to keep his private life private, the blogosphere is rife with speculation about his sexuality, no doubt fueled by his support for gay rights and organizations like the Trevor Project. He prefers not to feed that rumor mill with either substantiation or dismissal. He speaks passionately about gay marriage, about “don’t ask, don’t tell” and about the recent wave of gay bullying and suicides.
“The fact that these things are such hot-button issues right now, socially and politically, I would much rather talk about that than talk about who I sleep with,” Mr. Quinto said. “I would love to be a voice in this maelstrom of chaos and obsessive celebrity infatuation that says, ‘Let’s talk about something that matters,’ ” he added.
That sense of social accountability is a quality Mr. Quinto shares with Louis, who rails against the hatred lurking beneath the surface of so-called tolerance. “To return to the theater is one thing,” he said. “But to return to the theater doing a play of this import and resonance — it’s beyond thrilling.”
[source]An article from SX News
Written by Garrett Bithell
18 October 2010
From Idol runner-up to global music sensation, it's been a meteoric rise for Adam Lambert. And, thanks to the media, there's been plenty of controversy and hoopla along the way. Garrett Bithell caught up with the pop star on the eve of his Australian tour.
Adam Lambert clearly struck a chord when he was last in the country for this year's Mardi Gras festival. When news dropped that his Glam Nation tour would hit the east coast, the majority of tickets were snapped up pre-sale. Then last month it was announced that due to overwhelming demand, both the Sydney and Melbourne shows are moving to bigger venues, and the tour will now include a stop in New Zealand.
But this is not unusual for Lambert, whose trajectory to pop stardom began less than two short years ago when he was the runner up on the eighth season of American Idol. Proving that the winner does not necessarily take it all, he has been steamrolling glitter and leather into the music industry like a neo-glam Valkyrie ever since. His vocal virtuosity - he has the falsetto extension of Freddie Mercury - and ballsy theatricality reminiscent of Lady Gaga or Scissor Sisters sent the American populace into a spin.
The lofty calibre of music-industry luminaries that leapt at the chance to collaborate with Lambert on his debut album For Your Entertainment, which was released here in March, is perhaps the best indication of this. Pink gave him her song 'Whataya Want From Me'; Lady Gaga co-wrote 'Fever'; Matthew Bellamy from Muse penned 'Stoke'; and Justin Hawkins from the Darkness is behind 'Music Again'.
Shortly after American Idol finished, Lambert came out on the cover of Rolling Stone. It wasn't exactly a shock, but he then landed in a hotbed of controversy after a live performance on the American Music Awards, during which he passionately kissed his male keyboardist and simulated oral sex with one of his male dancers, who he led around the stage on a leash. Complaints poured in, and his appearance on the ABC network the next day was cancelled. Indeed, even now, Lambert is still trying to strike a balance between his artistic integrity and commercial sensibility.
"There's definitely a line," he tells SX. "Ultimately I want to be accepted and I want to entertain people - and there is a point where you can push them too far over the edge and you end up alienating your audience, which is something I don't want. I definitely won't back down from my major principles - I have my integrity there - but there is a point to which you can push those principles.
"I don't have an ulterior motive or agenda besides the fact I want to entertain people, but it just so happens that I'm a pretty sexual person. And to me, that's half of what pop-rock music is - it's about romance, heartbreak and sex. So I want to keep it real when I'm up on stage, and if I want to express my sexuality, it's going to be homosexuality!"
Lambert admits to having a fairly turbulent relationship with the media. "I have a love-hate relationship with them," he says. "It's a double-edged sword. I've had a lot of great, positive interactions with the media, and then I've had certain interviews where they've taken something out of context and exploited and sensationalised it, and turned it into a headline. And they sometimes just give complete misinformation.
"I actually saw something the other day that I found quite funny - there was a headline that just said: 'Adam Lambert already tired on tour'. What is that?! So I clicked on it, and someone had asked me if I ever get tired, and all I said was 'yeah I get tired sometimes'. And now that's the headline! Oh Jesus."
Indeed it's funny following how America's frigid media organisations report on Lambert. They often just don't get it. Ever since that cheeky pash with his keyboardist at the American Music Awards, reporters have been following his tour closely, frantically trying to piece together a fantasy romance narrative. Headlines such as 'Adam Lambert's guitarist kisses his sweaty shoulder' are almost de rigueur.
"That whole thing with him is just really funny," Lambert laughs. "We're just good friends, and we get a kick out of getting a rise out of the females in the audience. He's straight, and he's gotten so much action from all this!"
And the media is so easy to bait, Lambert insists. "I get a little cheeky from time to time," he says. "I don't think I've ever straight out lied about anything - I'm a pretty honest person – but I definitely like to push buttons back. It's only fair, right?"
Meanwhile, Lambert is gearing up for some Aussie action. "I had so much fun last time," he says. "What I love about Australia is that it's so liberal, so open - people really tend to just live and let live. I'm an idealist by nature and I would hope that some day certain areas of my country could get to that level of progression.
"I actually even made a couple of friends while I was there, so hopefully we can hang out a bit."
[source]