Rupert Everett: I Never Got a Job in Hollywood After Coming Out
Actor says straight actors taking roles to play gay; criticizes Jennifer Aniston’s roles
Rupert Everett spoke to the UK's BBC's Radio 4 about his views on Hollywood and the entertainment industry in general, discussing what happened to his career following his announcement that he is gay. He also took a shot at Jennifer Aniston and straight actors playing homosexual characters.
When asked about the professional reaction he received after he came out of the closet, Everett responded, "Nothing very much [in terms of Hollywood reaction]. I just never got a job there, 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 ten years probably and I moved to Europe." Despite a general view to the contrary, Everett calls Hollywood "an extremely conservative world" that "pretends to be a liberal world."
Earlier, he said he felt, "show business 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."
Everett believes that "pecking order" decides who will continue to do well in Hollywood, regardless of box office takes or quality. "There are lots of women and lots of men in the business that the powers that be decide are the right people and they'll stand with them for quite a long time," he said.
"Like Jennifer Aniston 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 romcom, a little glitter next to the Crab Nebula."
As for the trend of heterosexual actors playing gay characters, Everett applauded Colin Firth's performance in A Single Man but says the movement has a stifling affect on gay actors.
"A lot of straight actors are actively searching for gay roles because it is something different to do. I think that's fine but that does mean the gay actor who used to just get to play the gay part- like me-has been reduced to drag really."
Earlier this week, actor Richard Chamberlain told The Advocate: "I wouldn’t advise a gay leading man–type actor to come out."
"It’s complicated," he added. "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,"