Are there filmmakers that you see as some type of inspiration?
Oh yeah, there are so many. There’s this guy named Matt Damon, who’s amazing, and so is Ridley Scott, and Steven Spielberg, and George Lucas, and everybody else that I mentioned. You see some kind of a link between everyone in that group. Those guys are not the only ones I would say are incredible directors. You know, there’s this guy, who’s on the opposite side of the spectrum. We met once before where someone said to us, “You know what this is, this is the guy that made all those movies about gay characters.” You know that the guy’s like the king of gay characters. He makes all types of characters, and he just has a certain way about him. He just seems to have it. It’s rare that somebody gets to a certain level, and I know it’s impossible.
But he’s very hard to find on the periphery, and I think that’s a great thing. The more I get to know him through these characters that I’ve met, which is a little thing called the “Gayness Index,” I would imagine that the gay character in a film is either that, or probably the least gay-ish character from a story. This really could change over time, and there’s a lot of talent out there. I don’t think there’s a one-size-fits all. I look at the whole list of directors. People like [director] David Lynch, [directors] Darren Aronofsky, Jonathan Demme, the list goes on and on and on and on. You know what? I think there’s a point at which you become aware of something, and like that’s what David Lynch is about, because he is aware of something, but he just doesn’t want to say it.
So, if we look at it in that perspective, a gay character could certainly get in a film, but you can also say that there’s a point at which all of the people coming up in the creative class get in, and if you look at, “Oh, this gay character, the kid who loves the lukewarm coffee, or whatever, and his dad has a new job, or whatever, or his mom is like, ‘I know you’re going out drinking,’ or whatever,” that that is definitely an element that the audience takes into account.
How has your life changed?
I think, you know, the funny
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