Casting Directors Still Having Trouble Seeing Past The Whole 'Not Closeted' Thing

Casting Directors Still Having Trouble Seeing Past The Whole 'Not Closeted' Thing
According to an AP inquest into the State of Hollywood Gays, audiences have reacted to the news of recent celebrity outings with little more than a dismissive shrug--at least if their shows' fan boards are to be any indication, where announcements of the "OMG! George and Callie eloped!!! They are gonna have the cutest baybiez!!! :D"-variety are in no short supply. But despite America's casual attitude to the heterollusionist stars of their favorite programs, out actors still must contend with the final Gay Hollywood frontier: The casting director community, for whom decades of institutionalized self-hating have conditioned them to immediately redirect all Gays' headshots to the wire bin marked "Misc. florist/dog groomer/hairdresser parts":

"I have friends in the industry - casting directors, for an example - who are gay, who will not cast another person and the reason given is, 'Oh, he's too gay,' " says veteran performer Andre de Shields, an openly gay actor who's earned two Tony award nominations. "A lot of this has to do with self-loathing." [...]
"I was told I was 'too light' for 'Judging Amy,' " says Kevin Fabian, an openly gay actor who has appeared on episodes of "The West Wing," "Will & Grace" and other prime-time shows. "I looked at the casting director and said, 'Have you watched your show?'"

As unfair as trends might seem, it should be noted that at least some progress has been made, as not very long ago, that particular actor's euphemistic brush-off would have come in the form of a self-loathing casting director's much harsher, "Look, we loved the audition. We really did. We're just concerned our sets might burst into flames the second you open your mouth. See you at the Black Cat for happy hour?"
Published 2/7/07 by


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