Casting couched

Colin Firth has bemoaned the fact that openly gay actors don't get a proper look in. Straight thesps get to play central gay characters (e.g. A Single Man, Capote, Philadelphia, The Birdcage), but it's never the other way around.

Where actors have had successful careers in the theatre, film roles are however offered (e.g. Ian McKellern, Anthony Sher, Alan Cumming, Nathan Lane). Female actors tend to describe themselves as bi-sexual, perhaps as defence against the phone never ringing again (e.g. Drew Barrymore, Megan Fox, Angelina Jolie).

But casting a gay man as a heterosexual romantic lead would be tricky: not because of homophobia, rather movie economics. Not enough women would suspend their disbelief to imagine themselves in the arms of an openly gay actor.

In earlier times, before the tabloid press was quite so intrusive, gay stars could thrive. The likes of Rock Hudson, Montgomery Clift, Dirk Bogarde, Greta Garbo, Marlene Dietrich all benefited from a certain media deference to the stars.

The death of Rock Hudson from AIDS in 1985 marked a watershed. His career was reassessed in the rear-view mirror, and all those films with Doris Day etc. took on a different, more worldly complexion.

Somehow, hard though it is, it seems to be easier to be accepted as having a homosexual lifestyle as a singer, comedian or talk-show host (e.g. k d lang, Tracy Chapman, Rosie O'Donnell, Rhona Cameron, Sandi Toksvig, Ellen de Generes).

Going full circle, will straight actors give up gay roles without a fight, especially when Oscar nominations often seem up for grabs for such roles.