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Chiwetel Ejiofor: ‘It’s probably harder to be gay’ than black in Hollywood

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Chiwetel Ejiofor is during the promotional rounds for Triple 9, the cops-and-robbers movie also starring Kate Winslet, Anthony Mackie, Casey Affleck, Aaron Paul, Woody Harrelson and more. I remember that there were a lot of casting rumors going back and forth about this film, and I’m pleased that Chiwetel decided to do it. I’ve wanted good things for his career post-12 Years a Slave, but I think Chiwetel is more focused on diversifying his CV, doing a shoot ‘em action film here, a Marvel film there, a quiet African drama over there, and more. There’s no doubt in my mind that Chiwetel would be a much bigger “star” if he was white. But… I do have my doubts about whether Chiwetel is really interested in being a celebrity or a star. I think he just wants to work, and if he says that he’s living his dream, then I believe him. Anyway, as Chiwetel was promoting Triple 9, he was asked about Hollywood diversity and all of the hot topics of the day. And Chiwetel said something surprising – he thinks it’s harder to be gay in Hollywood than black in Hollywood. The industry has been accused of a lack of diversity following the 2016 Academy Awards nominations, where no African-American actor or director was nominated for a top honour for the second year in a row, but the 12 Years a Slave star believes it’s harder for someone to succeed if they’re homosexual than if they’re black. “I hope this changes (but) I think it’s probably harder to be gay,” he told British newspaper The Times. “I think sexuality is still marginalised in a way that is pretty open. I think it’s tough. I think for one’s own piece of mind, for one’s own sense of self and psychological health, I feel like that’s the horrible thing about ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ and all that f**ked-up s**t, because it produces a sense of shame, and therefore this sense of being ‘less than’, you know? And I hate that. I hate that for anybody.” But Chiwetel argues that at the same time, a person’s sexuality isn’t anyone else’s business, and if the individual wants to, they should be able to declare their preference without fear of it affecting their opportunities in life in any way. When it comes to race, the 38-year-old’s Nigerian heritage has never held him back from his dream of being an actor, having received a Best Actor Academy Award nomination for his role in 12 Years a Slave in 2013, and winning a Laurence Olivier Award for his theatre work in the 2008 production of Othello. “If I hadn’t had the opportunities and the fortune that I have had, of course I would have a very different perspective to that, but I can’t be completely intellectually dishonest about what has happened in my life … It’s a tiny bit more nuanced for me to talk about,” he explained. [From Contact Music] Ian McKellen was talking about this too last month – while #OscarsSoWhite, it’s also important to remember that #OscarsSoStraightCisgenderedandHeteronormative too, at least when it comes to “out” actors. No “out and proud” gay actor has ever won an Oscar. Ian McKellen wants to be the first! As for who has it harder, gay folks or black folks… this isn’t a slam against Chiwetel, who was just trying to be an awareness-raising ally, but it’s not a competition, and of course there is intersectionality, because of course there are black, gay actors and gay Hispanic actresses and bisexual Asian actors and they want to be able to work too. Here are some photos of Chiwetel, Kate Winslet, Anthony Mackie and Aaron Paul at a special screening of Triple 9 last week. Um, seriously, WTF is going on with Winslet’s face these days? Photos courtesy of WENN.

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Helen Mirren: ‘There is an extraordinary, extreme, right-wing voice in America’

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Was I too nice to Helen Mirren yesterday? Probably. I like her so much, I do tend to ignore it when she makes problematic statements. My defense of her is usually along the lines of “well, now she knows, maybe she’s learned how to speak about this issue now.” Anyway, Britain’s Channel 4 released the video of their interview with Mirren, and she talks about a lot more than #OscarsSoWhite and the Academy. She was also asked about American politics. Just for the record, Helen has been married to an American for nearly 20 years, and I’m almost positive that she lives most of the time in America (I believe she and Taylor Hackford own homes in New Orleans and LA). Mirren is also an American citizen, likely through her marriage. So… I feel like it’s totally fine for Mirren to talk about American politics, considering she likely votes in American elections. And as it turns out, Mirren kind of hates Ted Cruz and to a lesser degree, Donald Trump. Whether the rise of Donald Trump signals a return of 1950s-style conservatism: “Yes, Donald Trump… and Ted Cruz. I suspect more Ted Cruz in a way than Donald Trump. I think the people who support Ted Cruz think Donald Trump is a little bit of a liberal. I think Donald Trump has a populist voice, massively populist, and that slightly demagogue, populist voice. But I think Ted Cruz is more the really old-school extreme right conservative.” The extreme right wing: “There is an extraordinary, extreme, right-wing voice in America – extreme. If that does get into power fully – in the Congress, in the Senate, in the White House and has all the power that it wants, I can’t imagine how the world would look. I think it’s a very, very frightening idea, myself. This whole idea of ‘making America great’ it seems to me it would actually be sort of the end of America as a great country.” [Via Channel 4, People Magazine] Helen has previously referred to Trump as “stupid,” but in this interview, it sounds like she’s more worried about Ted Cruz. I’m kind of feeling it too – the interviewer clearly wants to talk more about Donald Trump and hopefully takeaway a juicy, bitchy quote, but Mirren is more concerned about Cruz’s neo-McCarthyism. She’s right to be concerned. And personally, I’m still hoping that Donald Trump’s final gift to the American people is a spectacular takedown of Cruz. Please let it happen! Here’s Mirren’s interview. Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet.

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Star: Jennifer Lawrence feels ‘threatened’ by Brie Larson’s awards success

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There’s a long history with tabloids setting up Jennifer Lawrence to be some kind of massive Mean Girl, looking to take down her actress contemporaries with a single Doritos fart. Maybe I’m a J-Law Apologist, but I don’t think she’s that girl. Is she totally capable of being mean, judgy and rude? Of course she is. But I don’t think she operates like everything is zero-sum gain, like she can be the only successful woman in Hollywood because there can only be ONE. I think back to when J-Law was nominated for Best Supporting Actress for American Hustle, and she was up against Lupita Nyong’o. Just my opinion, but it always seemed like Jennifer actively did NOT want to win that year, and she really wanted Lupita to have her moment to shine. That’s what I was thinking about when I read this Star Magazine story about how J-Law is Mean Girling Brie Larson. Brie and Jennifer are both nominated for Best Actress this year, and most people believe Brie is the major frontrunner for the award. Again, I suspect that J-Law is fine with that. And to hear Brie tell it, they know each other and they’re friendly. Brie said as much in her recent THR profile, saying: “I met Jen seven years ago at a photo shoot. We bonded over the craft service table; we were the only ones eating the doughnuts.” Still, Star’s source says J-Law is trying to quietly destroy Brie! Jennifer Lawrence isn’t happy about having to share the It Girl limelight with critical darling Brie Larson. “Jen’s starting to feel the heat,” says a source close to Brie. “She’s made it clear to friends that she does not want Brie in her crew – she thinks Brie is her biggest competition and she’s probably right.” Although her reps deny a rift, sources say Jennifer is so threatened that she even ordered BFF Amy Schumer to avoid Brie at the Golden Globes, but her Mean Girl plan backfired. “Brie was in Amy’s movie ‘Trainwreck’ so they get along well. But Amy spent most of the night trying to keep Brie away from Jen!” And while Jen knows she can’t be Hollywood’s favorite forever, she refuses to pass the baton gracfully. “She’s be smarter to make Brie a friend, not an enemy,” says the source. [From Star Magazine, print edition] OK Magazine had a similar story about Brie and Jennifer’s “feud,” with sources claiming that “Jen just didn’t hit it off with Brie” and “Brie was a little uptight for her liking and that she couldn’t hang.” And for what it’s worth, Gossip Cop spoke to an unnamed source on Team J-Law and the source claimed that the alleged rift is bulls—t. Sure. Do I believe that Brie and Jennifer are not BFFs? Sure. Do I believe that J-Law is, like, actively trying to shun Brie? Of course not. Photos courtesy of WENN, Fame/Flynet.

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Charlie Hunnam cast as a Mexican-American cartel leader in ‘American Drug Lord’

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Just my opinion: Charlie Hunnam fans have a reason to be worried about his post-Sons of Anarchy career. Hunnam’s career jumpoff was supposed to be Crimson Peak and Fifty Shades of Grey. But Crimson Peak sort of bombed and he dropped out of FSOG after a lot of breast-beating and dramatics. Then his next big career move was supposed to be King Arthur, and it was supposed to be Hunnam’s big summer offering this year… only the release date got pushed back from July 2016 to February 2017, which is not good. So what is Charlie’s next big career move? Playing a Mexican-American cartel drug-lord. Seriously. Before everyone completely loses it, Charlie has been cast as Edgar Valdez in what is a true story in the film American Drug Lord. Valdez was an American citizen, a high school football star in Texas, and he became the only American citizen to “rise to the level of cartel leader in Mexico.” Valdez was also light-skinned and blue-eyed, apparently, and he had the football and cartel-nickname of La Barbie. While Hunnam might “look the part,” this is still an example of Hollywood whitewashing. Even when Hollywood decides to make a movie about a Hispanic figure, they cast someone white (and English). Even when the casting could go any way – as in, they could have cast a Latino actor or a mixed-race actor – producers always go for the default white actor. As Vanity Fair points out, the industry press is already calling out this casting choice as whitewashing. I think the announcement came at a bad time too, when we’re in the middle of a discussion about representation and diversity and #OscarsSoWhite. This also comes on the heels of some particularly egregious whitewashing examples in film, whether it’s Rooney Mara as Tiger Lily in Pan, or Emma Stone playing an Asian-American woman in Aloha or everyone in Ridley Scott’s Exodus. Ugh. Photos courtesy of WENN, Fame/Flynet.

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Kristen Stewart: Conversations about gender pay disparity are ‘boring’

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Embed from Getty Images While I am legitimately disappointed that so many non-white artists were snubbed with #OscarSoWhite, I’m also a little bit disappointed that Kristen Stewart was snubbed too. Kristen walked away from this year’s awards season with some surprise critics’ awards for her work in Clouds of Sils Maria, and there were some hopes that she would make a late surge and end up with an Oscar nomination. Alas, it was not to be. But a lot of people like the current version of K-Stew. She’s less lip-bitey and she’s leaning in to her indie roots. Kristen is currently at Sundance to promote the drama Certain Women, and she chatted with E! News about what’s next for her career: Whether she’s offered roles in franchises all the time: “They’re not too common. Trust me, I would love to find a big doozy of a movie that’s interesting and worthwhile.” Would she play a superhero? “Maybe. Go print that—I can’t wait to play a superhero.” She really wants to direct: “Hopefully as soon as humanly possible. I really want to. I have to find the right thing. I started working when I was nine. I love this industry. I love what movies can do so I’ll find my story.” She’s been to Sundance many times & she loves indie films: “I’m not totally biased. I really like making the small ones and I like making the big ones. It’s just when you get the right people together who really care about something, who are not solely interested in getting just love and attention and money and stuff and it’s really for the love of the meditation on a subject and getting into something and baring your soul, [Sundance] is the perfect place to do it.” [From E! News] Since I was snowed in for the better part of three days (damn you, snowpocalypse!), I watched Avengers: Age of Ultron like three times on one of the premium cable channels. I was struck again by Elizabeth Olsen’s Scarlett Witch role, which, to Olsen’s credit, she played well, the perfect mix of camp and legit drama. I wonder if that’s the kind of thing Kristen wishes she was up for – a supporting part in a Marvel movie, something like that. Or does she wish she could be Wonder Woman, steering her own franchise? I think it’s interesting that Kristen has been saying variations of “I’d love to do another big movie/franchise again” for the past year too – I mean, I know she’s not broke so it’s not like she needs the money. I think she’s just spent some time reevaluating what Twilight gave her, and she’d like another crack at a franchise, this time as an adult. Oh, and I saw this too late – Kristen spoke to Variety and she was asked about gender pay disparity. You can watch the video here, which I would recommend. She seems to acknowledge her privilege at the beginning, but she also basically tells women in the industry to suck it up. At one point, she says: “Instead of sitting around and complaining about that, do something. Go write something, go do something. And that’s easy to say. Like, f–k, it’s hard to get movies made. It’s a huge luxury. Who gets to just make movies? But that subject is just so prevalently everywhere right now, and it’s boring.” Oh, the discussion about inequality is boring, K-Stew? Just wait until she tackles #OscarsSoWhite. Embed from Getty Images Embed from Getty Images Photos courtesy of Getty, Fame/Flynet.

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Ian McKellen: Hollywood still discriminates against gay people & black people

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Over the holidays, I finally got around to seeing Mr. Holmes, the critically acclaimed film about Sherlock Holmes’ last case. Ian McKellen was the ancient Sherlock, and he was actually quite brilliant. So brilliant, I kind of wonder why he wasn’t a bigger part in the awards discussion. Ian has been nominated for two Oscars in his life, along with a slew of other awards for stage and screen. Most of those nominations and awards came after Ian came out of the closet. But I’m willing to acknowledge that Ian is sort of gay unicorn, much like Neil Patrick Harris: they are out gay men accepted by the “mainstream” to a large extent, possibly because they’re white men. Why do I bring this up? Ian has said some words about #OscarsSoWhite, and he draws a larger correlation with the groups shunned by the industry: women, LGBT and actors of color. Sir Ian McKellen has told Sky News he has “sympathy” for black people in Hollywood who feel discriminated against but added that gay people are also still being “disregarded”. The 76-year-old, who is gay and a co-founder of the rights group Stonewall, said criticism surrounding the lack of diversity among nominees at the Oscars is “legitimate”. Sir Ian said: “As a representative of the industry they’re in, it’s receiving complaints which I fully sympathise with. It’s not only black people who’ve been disregarded by the film industry, it used to be women, it’s certainly gay people to this day. And these are all legitimate complaints and the Oscars are the focus of those complaints of course.” [From Sky News] I don’t have a problem with what he says. He’s practicing “yes and” activism/alliance and he seems open to intersectionality. He’s not saying it’s a competition to see which is the most aggrieved group, he’s just saying that these groups (black people, LGBT and women) are largely disregarded by Hollywood stories. And he’s right. In another interview Monday, this time with the Guardian, Ian pointed out something really interesting: no openly gay actor has won the Oscar. He said: “No openly gay man has ever won the Oscar; I wonder if that is prejudice or chance.” He pointed out that Tom Hanks, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Sean Penn have all won Oscars for playing gay men but, “What about giving me one for playing a straight man? My speech has been in two jackets … ‘I’m proud to be the first openly gay man to win the Oscar.’ I’ve had to put it back in my pocket twice.” Damn, that actually tugged on my heartstrings a little bit. Even if Ian never wins the Oscar for acting, I have to think he’s got one coming for lifetime achievement, right? Embed from Getty Images Photos courtesy of Getty, Fame/Flynet and Pacific Coast News.

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Charlotte Rampling: The #OscarsSoWhite debacle is ‘racist to whites’

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Charlotte Rampling got a “surprise” Oscar nomination for her film 45 Years. I still haven’t seen it, although the reviews for Charlotte in particular are wonderful. Rampling was snubbed for nominations at many awards shows (including the BAFTAs), but the Academy showed her some love… at the same time they were actively snubbing artists of color. So when Charlotte was doing a French radio interview this week, she was asked about the growing controversy of #OscarsSoWhite. And Rampling showed off why she’s so popular with the over-60, overwhelmingly white Academy voters. Oscar nominee Charlotte Rampling has claimed the current campaign to boycott the 2016 Academy Awards over claims of a diversity deficit is racist to white people. Asked for her take on the current furore over all-white lists of nominees on French Radio network Europe 1 on Friday morning, the British actor did not mince her words. “It is racist to whites,” she said. “One can never really know, but perhaps the black actors did not deserve to make the final list,” added Rampling. Asked if the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences should introduce quotas, a proposal which no current advocate of increased diversity has mooted, she responded: “Why classify people? These days everyone is more or less accepted … People will always say: ‘Him, he’s less handsome’; ‘Him, he’s too black’; ‘He is too white’ … someone will always be saying ‘You are too’ [this or that] … But do we have to take from this that there should be lots of minorities everywhere?” When the interviewer explains that black members of the film industry feel like a minority, Rampling replies: “No comment.” [From The Guardian] We can all shake our heads and roll our eyes, but HAND TO GOD, this is honestly how many Academy voters feel. And I’d just like to point out how sad/hilarious/insensitive it is for an old white Englishwoman to claim that white people are the victims of racism. It would be like Winston Churchill claiming Indians were racist against him. When a group that has historically been the oppressor of other races suddenly claims to be the victim of racism? It’s almost magical. An angel just got his wings. Photos courtesy of WENN.