Rupert Everett: Hollywood homophobia denies gays leading roles
Rupert Everett, the openly gay star of ‘My Best Friend’s Wedding’ has once again hit out at Hollywood, claiming that the lack of roles for gay actors is caused by homophobia.
Everett who also starred ‘An Ideal Husband’ alongside Cate Blanchett came out as gay in the 1980s and has in the past claimed that coming out of the closet damaged his career.
“Showbusiness is ideally suited for heterosexuals – it’s a very heterosexual business, it’s run mostly by heterosexual men, and there’s a kind of pecking order,” he told BBC Radio 4.
“I just never got a job there [in Hollywood], and I never got a job here, after (coming out). I did a couple of films, I was very lucky at the beginning of my career… and then, I never had another job here for 10 years probably and I moved to Europe. Hollywood is an extremely conservative world that pretends to be a liberal world.”
The star claimed that there is a “pecking order” to decide who appears in big money films regardless of the actors box office success. He cites former co-star Jennifer Aniston as an example of this. He said that she “will just have one too many total flops. But she’s still a member of that club. And she will still manage to, like a star forming in the universe, a whole lot of things will swirl around and suddenly solidifying into yet another vital tasteless rom-com, a little glitter next to the Crab Nebula.”
“The fact is that you could not be, and still cannot be, a 25-year-old homosexual trying to make it in the British film business or the American film business or even the Italian film business.
“And I’m sick of saying, ‘Yes, it’s probably my own fault.’ Because I’ve always tried to make it work and when it stops working somewhere, I try to make it work somewhere else.
“But the fact of the matter is, and I don’t care who disagrees, it doesn’t work if you’re gay.”
He added that there were probably other stars in closet but agreed that while he was not as rich or successful as them, he is “vaguely free” to be himself.
