Todd Holland is a three-time Emmy award winning director (The Larry Sanders Show and Malcolm in the Middle) who has built a successful Hollywood career over the past 25 years. However, despite his professional accomplishments, Holland had some advice for young gay actors when he spoke at L.A.’s Outfest this weekend. The director particpated as part of a discussion panel titled, “Taking It to the Streets: LGBT Directors Get Political.”
Holland, who was talking as one of the featured panelists, and who once worked as a director on the critically acclaimed HBO sit-com The Larry Sanders Show, explained that it’s a necessary career choice if a gay actor wants to succeed in Hollywood.
Fellow panelist and filmmaker Kirby Dick, director of Outrage, a 2009 documentary about gay politicians who stay in the closet to further their political careers, told Holland: “I know where you’re coming from, but it’s a regressive argument.”
Holland, who was legally married before Proposition 8 was passed by California voters in November, responded that he was just being realistic, but Dick, who is heterosexual, believed that if “an A-list actor came out, it would have more impact on the culture than an A-list politician.”
I’m not gay and I don’t pretend to speak for a community of which I’m not a member. But from the outside looking in, isn’t this sort of dissension the exact thing that will thwart the advancement of accepting everyone in the, uh, human being community?
I think he’s saying “You can further the cause or further your career.”
He’s probably in a position to understand the reality that both just aren’t possible yet.
Although I think A-list actor would be able to weather something like that better than the up and coming actor he seemed to be directing that statement to.
Wendie,
It’s the same thing as when I overheard a woman interviewed saying that Joe Jackson is a typical American black man, she said, we are different, we bring our children up with a heavy hand…
Basically saying the bad behavior is ok, is the problem. I’m gay and I’m not “out” to my clients, because it isn’t their business, but if I were a public figure, I wouldn’t hide a thing.
~me
Yeah I heard that same thing. It was someone who called in on HLN news. I was like w.t.f.
I don’t think that this is a particularly divisive comment by him. After all the gay ‘ community’ is just that, a community made up of many individuals, not all of whom share the same beliefs or opinions.
I think part of what he is getting at is dependant on how far in the closet an actor is. Living in Narnia is perhaps a little too deep but there are plenty of rumours about many leading men[and women] who seem to keep their sexuality off topic to the media but are fairly open in their private lives to be honest and identified as gay among family, friends and colleagues.
The problem for many is typecasting and the fear by the moneymen in Hollyweird that the public would never accept a gay man or woman in a heterosexual lead role. Considering the fact that many straight actors who play gay tend to be accepted, and even garnered with praise for their bravery in accepting the role the same cannot be said when it is the other was around so keeping ones sexuality low profile often is the practical career choice.
and part deux as the rest was considered ‘spammy’ by the forum software
An A lister coming out would definitely make many people sit up and start to consider a subject that they’d normally avoid, much like the way that Rock Hudson’s announcement that he had AIDS in 1985 was for most people the first time they had heard about a disease that had been decimating many minority groups for several years with barely a mention in the national press.
But of course if they do come out and star as the poster boy for a whole community there is the risk that they become inherently attached to that ‘role’ and seen only as a spokesman for a minority group and the fact that they were usually recognised for being able to play the romantic/heroic lead would be quickly forgotten.
There is still so much distance to run in the race for civil rights for gays[it is not gay rights as they just want to be treated equally, not separately], which will only be won when being gay is seen as being part of ones identity rather than the whole thing.
What an actors true job is to make any part believable, when an actor is over exposed it limits what is believable, an example would be Anne Heche made a movie as the love interest of Harrison Ford and came out with Ellen DeGeneres before the movie opened, and it bombed. But it could be any over exposure, Neil Patrick Harris is the only one I can think of off hand that has been able to successfully do this with no problem, he’s naturally low key and very talented but he’s one of the few it’s worked out for. It’s not fair but then it’s the entertainment business and if you can’t fill seats you won’t work. So his advice was true. Will it change someday, who knows but that is the reality, and many of the best actors out there are gay – but if they want more than gay roles they have to be able to transcend their orientation, most choose to not come out. Let’s see how TR Knight does in his career now that Pig Hilton forced him out.
A person should keep their private life private if they want to act no matter what your preferences. I am on the fence as far as politicians, usually the least interesting thing about a person is their sexuality, and it doesn’t seem fair to require that knowledge to serve your country either as a politician or a member of the armed services. But today right now in if you want to act in a variety of roles, and rise farther it’s best you aren’t labeled and limited in what roles you will be considered for. Fair no, realistic yes.
Nobody should be treated differently because of their orientation, but it’s a an economic fact that if the public won’t buy tickets to see a movie where you pretend to be the love interest of the opposite sex, and you are gay that you may not have a career. Why risk it since at the end of the day your sexuality is between you and the person you love. Business is business and it whatever the market will bear, just like any other businesses. That’s the reality today.
Wendie darling, you had me at Kirby Dick!!
Well, I like dissension, it fosters discussion even if is not a stance I agree with or endorse. All communities should have room for realistic discussion, and that should include in this case the consequences of living an out life as an actor or politician. I think there will be many career casualties before we reach a point where it is okay to be out as a public figure.
That being said, it should also be noted that there are terrible consequences to trying to lead a public life while remaining closeted, and I don’t think those should be ignored either. I find it hard to minimize the impact of sexuality in a culture that so reveres romantic love, relationships and marriages, especially in Hollywood.
Arguments that sexuality should be between you and the one you love lose me. Most people incorporate the ones they love into much of their lives, and you lose that capacity trying to stay closeted in the public eye. I can’t imagine trying to have a healthy relationship that is so completely compartmentalized, and a tremendous professional liability.
Let’s face it, Tommy Girl needs to just come on out and be free :)
Is that the guy from Zoobilee Zoo?