Handling Gay Male Kissing in Movies

[opinionista]

I thought it was a very interesting article. (From the Washington Post).

Why Can't A Kiss Just Be a Kiss?
He Locked Lips in 'Milk,' Now He Should Zip 'Em

Poor James Franco. (And poor Sean Penn. But for the moment, poor James Franco.)
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In the relentless publicity interviews he's been doing for his new movie, "Milk," there's plenty to ask about his performance as the neglected lover of San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk, the gay rights martyr. So what does every interviewer -- from David Letterman to the Philippine Daily Inquirer to public radio's Terry Gross -- want to discuss most, over and over and over?

The kissing.

Wasn't it really difficult to kiss another man? Implied: Without throwing up, seeing as you're so obviously straight? What were you thinking as you kissed? Did you rehearse it? What was it liiiiiike?

Underlying the questions (and the answers) is this notion that a gay kissing scene must be the worst Hollywood job hazard that a male actor could face, including stunt work, extreme weather or sitting through five hours of special-effects makeup every day. We live comfortably, if strangely, in a pseudo-Sapphic era in which seemingly every college woman with a MySpace page has kissed another girl for the camera; but for men who kiss men, it's still the final frontier.

There's a whiff of discomfort of the Seinfeldian, "not-that-there's-anything-wrong-with-it" variety. It's a post-ironic, post-homophobic homophobia, the kind seen most weeks in "Saturday Night Live" sketches or in any Judd Apatow movie.

Judging from their interviews over the years, actors who have filmed scenes in which they have pointed a revolver at someone's head and pulled the trigger still think gay kissing is the grossest thing they've ever had to do for a movie. Franco has tried to walk a fine line of laughing along in such interviews, while pointing out that "Milk" is essentially a movie about fighting for acceptance. He's had to rehash the same kissing stories again and again:

No, he and Sean Penn did not rehearse the kissing. Yes, one scene involved more than a minute of continuous kissing with Penn on Castro Street in front of hundreds of people. Yes, there were breath mints. Yes, it was strange, but no more so than a scene in which he had to cook dinner, which he would never, ever do in real life.

"I didn't want to screw it up," Franco told Letterman on "Late Show" last week.

"See, if it's me, I'm kind of hoping I do screw it up," Letterman shot back. "That's what you want, isn't it?"

"To screw it up?" Franco asked.

"I mean, do you really want to be good at kissing a guy?" Letterman said as his audience howled with delight.

Story continues here

[Front-Ranger]

Thanks, good article! 

[Mikaela]

Yes, an interesting article. And boy was this topic discussed a lot in connection with the simply never-ending curiosity and questions Heath and Jake were faced with.... (I think it was the first question on Oprah's BBM show too.  )  It seems things are just the same! And everyone's as intensely curious, still.

I think the article is a little timid in its selection of pictures though - not a kiss in sight. Is that because they think it'll be deemed offensive???


I hope I'm not lowering the discourse too much when I mention that if anyone stumbles across clips of these kissing scenes that Franco and Penn are quizzed so much about, well - I sure wouldn't mind seeing them. ("Milk" hasn't premiered here yet, and I'm uncertain when that will actually happen.)

[Artiste]

There seems to be something in that story that indicates that murder is more acceptable than a heterosexual kissing a homosexual man; and to murder that gay is OK ?

[southendmd]

Thanks, Natali.  August7th also posted this article in Open Forum.

Here is my response:

The "oh, gross" factor is definitely getting tired.

However, I don't feel bad for "poor James Franco" at all.  He took on this role, and is it too much to expect that he say something intelligent about it?

Certainly Jake and Heath were constantly badgered about "the kiss".  It was already pretty tired by the time Oprah asked them, "So, let's talk about THE KISS".  Yawn.

Leave it to Heath to have said something worthwhile:  (paraphrasing) "It's not like kissing the butt of a mule; I was kissing a human being with a soul".

[injest]

kissing men is NICE...well in MY experience...nothing gross about it at all.

Heck, I plan on doing it again sometime real soon!

 

[delalluvia]

Thanks for posting.

Yeah, there is quite a bit of homophobia expected when straight actors are asked what it's like to intimately kiss the same sex actor.

It's like the interviewer wants the actor to go, "Ewwwww, yucky poo!  I just did it for the money!"

And it is sad that some of the male actors do react like they should get special kudos for doing it, while the women actors are much more adult about it.

[opinionista]

Thanks, Natali.  August7th also posted this article in Open Forum.

I didn't know it was already posted. Perhaps some of you mods should merge them. I'm not sure which forum is the right one. I figured it was this one because it is about movies, but now I don't know.

[Artiste]

Isn't this great ?

[Lynne]

kissing men is NICE...well in MY experience...nothing gross about it at all.

Heck, I plan on doing it again sometime real soon!

 

Hey, Miz Jess...

If I may take the liberty to rephrase your post...

kissing people is NICE...well in MY experience...nothing gross about it at all.

Heck, I plan on doing it again sometime real soon!