Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story and Modern Family star Nathan Lane has opened up on industry homophobia making it difficult for the out gay actor to land roles early in his career.
Lane, whose first television credit is dated 1981, since which he has won three Tony Awards, three Emmys, an Olivier and a SAG award, is known for many roles, including the groundbreaking 1996 queer film The Birdcage.
Despite being a trailblazer, Lane, who came out publicly in 1999, has shared to Vanity Fair that homophobia within the TV and film industry at the time limited several career opportunities for him.
“I don’t know what goes on behind closed doors, but I can’t help but think that it played a part,” he explained, before revealing that he did actually lose specific roles because of his sexuality.
“I was told it did impact a movie that I didn’t really care about: Space Jam. I was up for the part that the guy from Seinfeld [Wayne Knight] wound up playing.”
“I was up for that part,” Lane continued. “Apparently the director [Joe Pytka] saw me hosting the Tony Awards and thought that suggested I was too gay to play the part. So thank God, I didn’t have to do Space Jam.
“But I don’t know. I’ll never know what people say. Homophobia is alive and well still.”
Space Jam was released the same year as The Birdcage, which is widely considered Lane’s breakout role, and was before he came out ‘publicly’ – but the movie didn’t spur his career onwards as he had hoped.
“Then The Birdcage came along. I thought perhaps because of the success of that, it’d lead to other films, but then it didn’t. It really didn’t. I said to my agent, ‘I thought more would happen after The Birdcage.’ He said, ‘Maybe if you weren’t so open about your lifestyle, it would have.’”
Lane is next set to star opposite Fellow Travelers heartthrob Matt Bomer in a ‘gay Golden Girls‘ sitcom, Mid-Century Modern.
The Ryan Murphy-produced sitcom will follow three friends – Bomer, Lane and Nathan Lee Graham – who are all billed as gay gentlemen of a certain age. After an unexpected death, they decide to spend their golden years living together in Palm Springs, California.
According to Deadline, the sitcom will be released on Hulu in the US on 28 March, and according to Geektown, UK viewers will be able to watch the show on Disney+ later this year.
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