Rupert Everett has given scorched earth interviews before, but none like the one he gave the BBC this week, criticizing Hollywood and its “powers that be” for shutting out homosexuals like himself and protecting favored movie stars like Jennifer Aniston.
The outspoken actor said, among other things, that Hollywood is “very, very conservative” rather than liberal, and that staying in the closet is the right choice for many gay actors.
As for Aniston, he said she “is a member of that club” that is protected by the people who run Hollywood. He also criticized his fellow actor Colin Firth for taking roles that gay actors would normally seek; ironic, because Firth was the guest editor of the BBC segment.
We’ve transcribed the six-minute interview (the BBC has the audio here) so you can judge for yourself. It picks up with Everett speaking:
Everett: Show business is ideally suited for heterosexuals. It’s a very heterosexual business. It’s run mostly by heterosexual men. There’s a kind of pecking order. The position of women in show business is a pretty difficult one.
If you look at the idea of a drunk woman on the skids in show business at 50, and a drunken man on the skids in show business at 50, the drunken man gets an awful lot of support. And the woman is a slut. Still.
Evan Davis: Isn’t Hollywood liberal? Republicans are always criticizing Hollywood for being liberal.
It’s very, very conservative, Hollywood. It pretends it’s a liberal world. There’s nothing liberal about it at all.
Does a woman care if an actor is homosexual?
No. … But the business is what makes the stars, really. If you look and analyze the careers of many
many stars, you’ll find they’re mostly sustained by the business…. I’m not going to start naming names, but you’ll find there’s lots of women and lots of men in that the powers that be decide are the right people for their business. And will stand by them for quite a long time. Ok, something will go wrong – Jennifer Aniston will have one too many total flops, but she’s still a member of that club. She’ll still manage – like a star forming in the universe – and will suddenly solidify into another vital, tasteless rom-com that will glitter next to the Crab nebula.
Colin Firth and other straight actors have played gay roles. Do those performances stick out?
Colin Firth I don’t think was at all good in 'Mamma Mia.' I would have thought it was a careericide performance… On the other hand, his performance in ‘A Single Man’ was the best performance of his life.
Read also: GLAAD President on 'Dilemma's' Gay Slur, Hollywood Homophobia
Has he deprived gay actors of roles?
Yes he has, in one sense.
