Dustin Lance Black: I have no respect for actors who hide their sexuality

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/jan/04/dustin-lance-black-actors-sexuality-hollywood

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Oscar-winning screenwriter and director Dustin Lance Black has criticised actors who “lie about their sexuality” and remain in the closet.

Speaking to Attitude magazine, Black, who is engaged to the British Olympic diver Tom Daley, said: “I have no respect for someone who lies about their sexuality. At the very least say ‘no comment’, just keep your personal life personal. If you’re going to closet yourself, that sends a negative message.”

Black, who won an Oscar in 2008 for his script for Milk, Gus van Sant’s biopic of the gay rights activist Harvey Milk, reserved his harsher words for agents and managers who attempt to control their clients’ image by demanding they conceal their sexuality.

He said: “I’ve never encountered homophobia in casting from the studios or networks – not once, not ever. Where you encounter it is with the agents and the managers, they’re the ones who have an outdated notion of the price an actor might pay if it’s discovered that they’re LGBTQ. Often they don’t want to see anything happen that might compromise their investment.”

He added: “I think they cripple their actors because they stunt the star’s ability to be open and honest, and an audience can feel that.”