by
Domenick Scudera
Author Bret Easton Ellis has been tweeting that actor Matt Bomer is too gay to play the lead role in the film version of
Fifty Shades of Grey. "OK I'll say it. Matt Bomer isn't right for Christian Grey because he is openly gay," he
wrote,
adding
that "Fifty Shades of Grey demands an actor that is genuinely into
women. Get it?!?" In stating his opinion, he is reviving the dispute
about whether openly gay actors playing heterosexual characters can be
accepted by American audiences. This debate has been raging of late
because more and more actors are coming out of the closet and continuing
to maintain their careers. In 2010
Newsweek printed an article about this topic, titled "
Straight Jacket,"
written by journalist Ramin Setoodeh. The article concluded that
actors such as Sean Hayes and Jonathan Groff, actors who had publically
acknowledged their homosexuality, were no longer able to play
heterosexual roles because audiences would not "buy" them playing
straight.
Is this true? Must gay actors kiss straight roles goodbye?
