"Hollywood does not like anything that's going to threaten its bottom line," said Michael Jensen, editor of AfterElton, a Web site devoted to gay and bisexual men in entertainment. "The idea of a gay leading man in a movie that's going to have a budget around $100 million—getting a studio to be the first one to take that chance is a challenging thing to do."
As for the actors, Jensen continued, "there are already so many reasons for a casting director to turn a person down, and being an openly gay actor trying to get a romantic lead role, you're just giving them another reason."
The absence of gay lead actors—and, yes, we are talking primarily of men—stands in stark contrast to the progress activists say has been made in other areas. "The images in the media 30 years ago and the images today are vastly, vastly different," said Neil Giuliano, president of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD). "You had THREE'S COMPANY, an over-the-top caricature of a gay man, and the other characters ridiculed him. Today a show like that would not be aired. We have BROTHERS & SISTERS, we have DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES, UGLY BETTY. Those are real portrayals."
A gay character on a TV show is no longer news, though GLAAD has tabulated that just 16 of 663 prime-time characters, or 2.6 percent, are gay. Openly gay celebrities in themselves also are no longer such an anomaly.
Mark Urman, distribution president for Summit Entertainment, said that at this point, "I don't think that anything to do with anybody's sexual orientation would or could harm somebody's career."
E!'s Ted Casablanca isn't so optimistic. "My opinion is it would be painful at first because America has shown it has such a fear of gay people," he said. "It would be very rough going for an actor to find that out, and I don't blame them for not wanting to find that out. They're not politicians. They're performers. They don't want to be held accountable for America's discomfort about homosexuality."
Ronn Moss's new film, Bolt, expected to earn $27 million this weekendMoss, who plays Ridge Forrester on THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL, plays Dr. Forrester in the Disney animated film starring the voices of John Travolta and Miley Cyrus. Meanwhile, as expected, Twilight landed at #1 for the weekend with around $72 million in ticket sales. 90210's Kellan Lutz is featured in the film.
Colton High grad hits it big on TPIR, appears on B&B
Instead of spending about $4,500 in cash she recently won on CBS' long-running game show, THE PRICE IS RIGHT, Colton High School grad April Guillemette, 19, is going to stash it in the bank. After all, she needs some money to pay the taxes on about $30,000 worth of prizes she won as the program's "Showcase Showdown" winner.
"It was just insane," Guillemette said of her experience. "I've watched the show all my life and here I am on the show and I won the whole showcase. It was unbelievable."
Included in her showcase prize package was a walk-on appearance on THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL. Guillemette got a double shot of television exposure when both episodes aired Wednesday. A video that details her transformation from game show contestant to TV star was posted on THE PRICE IS RIGHT web site as of Friday. Guillemette, who now lives in La Mesa and sells scuba equipment, says she got a flood of calls from old friends in Colton who saw her on TV.
TOM CASIELLO: The Road Back to NYC - What I Learned at MIT"I listened to film producers, screenwriters, primetime showrunners, agents, sports marketers, scholars, founders of online social media sites, and online game organizers - all of whom had so much to teach me about where all of these businesses are going in the next year. Daytime is struggling, but it doesn't have to be. The way all of these industries treat their superfans, the way they've thought outside the box and allowed them to be part of the creative process, part of the storytelling, is monumental. And no, I'm not talking about I WANNA BE A SOAP STAR or INTURN or 'Shop the Soaps.'"
It's Revelation Week in Soapland (UK)
Kris Green of Digital Spy reports: "It's revelation week in the soaps at the beginning of December, as the lives of some of our favorite soap characters take dramatic turns for the worse. You just know that the scenes below will come back to slap those involved in the face somewhere down the line. And what better time than over the Christmas and New Year period?"
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