ИсточникДля журнала GLT - Issue 809 June 26, 2003
‘QAF’s’ Michael talks about celebrity and kissing men as a straight actor
BY REX WOCKNER
Published Thursday, 26-Jun-2003
читать дальше
Comedian Hal Sparks, best-known these days for his portrayal of Michael Novotny on Showtime’s “Queer As Folk” (QAF), is touring the country this summer with a stand-up comedy act. Sparks will perform this weekend at the Comedy Store in La Jolla, Friday, June 27, and Saturday, June 28. The Gay and Lesbian Times spoke with Sparks recently about sex, politics, religion and having to kiss boys all the time when you’re straight.
Gay and Lesbian Times: Tell me about your summer show.
Hal Sparks: I’ve been doing stand-up since I was 15-years-old.... I have a poli-sci bent on what I say, but my three main topics are the three topics that you’re not supposed to talk over with strangers: sex, politics and religion.
GLT: [What do you think] about Ontario — where “Queer As Folk” is filmed — legalizing full marriage for same-sex couples the other day?
HS: I think it’s fantastic. It’s funny they’re not going to recognize it here in America, but if a Canadian couple who’s married comes down here, they can be recognized. It’s real weird.
GLT: Has SARS freaked out the cast at all?
HS: We’ll see when we come back. We were just finishing up when it was kind of on the horizon. I have no problem with it whatsoever.
GLT: [What are your feelings about] Religion?
HS: My big thing is beware of any religion that comes from a desert because the psychology of people living in the desert will be transferred onto their religious
experience — and that’s a horrible way to live. These people scare me.
GLT: You’re not a big fan of George W.
HS: Not really, but it’s less about him as a person and more about an idea. The Republicans always seem to try and run the country as a business. The problem is, you can’t fire the poor. So they try to pretend to — they cut them off from benefits and stuff.
GLT: When you venture into gay neighborhoods, do you find you have a new kind of celebrity these days?
HS: Yeah. I used to go up and hang out in San Francisco all the time because I have friends who went to Berkeley and I love going to Chinatown. But now I can’t stop at an intersection.... I don’t have a problem with it, but it’s a little overwhelming.
GLT: A lot of gay guys I know would find it icky to kiss a girl. Did you have to deal with an “ick factor” in getting used to kissing boys all the time for the series?
HS: Absolutely. I still do. I don’t think the “ick factor” would ever go away for a gay man because it’s just contrary to their nature. It’s not that women are bad, it’s just that they have no interest, and mine is the same way. Definitely there’s an ick factor. It’s a little bit like French-kissing your dad. When you don’t have the internal impetus that makes you gay in the first place, you’re kind of flying blind in that area. I don’t get it. But then that’s even more evidence, I think, for the argument that people should be allowed to be who they are. In the same way I could never understand the appeal of that, I wouldn’t expect a gay man or woman to understand the appeal of what I do.
GLT: Have you had any gay surprises doing “Queer As Folk?”
HS: I didn’t know gay men had sex facing each other. That was a big surprise. It seems logical now, but I’d just never thought about it. It looks like it would rack you up. It looks painful. And I realized the gay club world isn’t that different from the straight club
world, really. There’s just this element of propriety that’s forced on the straight club world by years of social norms that isn’t necessarily there in gay clubs.
GLT: QAF’s Babylon is not your typical gay bar. Usually you only find backrooms in hardcore leather bars in the largest cities.
HS: Not in Pittsburgh in the only gay dance club there.
“Definitely there’s an ick factor. It’s a little bit like French Kissing your dad...”
GLT: Right. A twink club with a backroom is almost unheard of. What’s the coolest thing about working on “Queer As Folk?”
HS: Working with Sharon Gless. She’s a fantastic woman. I enjoy snow, so I don’t mind shooting in Toronto. Ultimately it’s great to be part of something that you know is historic. There’s not a lot of opportunity, especially with television, to do something and go, “Wow, this is a first on American television.” Our show’s really the only one that goes all the way, opening up the world for other people.
GLT: The show is sometimes criticized for being unrepresentative of the gay world.
HS: I think that if you take a group [of people] representative of a minority but they’re the most extreme almost in the negative ... and you make them lovable and you understand their struggle and their world and you start to care about them — and their
world is supposedly the most sexual, the least personal, the lowest form of gay life or whatever — then learning to love the average gay person is so much easier. You can see them as people almost quicker after having seen the extreme almost in the negative.
GLT: That’s an interesting take on it. Do you and Michael Novotny have anything in common?
HS: Almost nothing. I like comic books but not as much as he does, certainly.... I’m very commanding in my life — I’m more akin to Brian in my self-direction.
GLT: Michael is such a wet noodle sometimes that one wants to throw something at the TV set.
HS: Tell me about it. I’m the one who has to read the scripts the week before and then do it. But with any drama, you have to start low to get high. To show growth, you have to start down.... There’s a lot of chance for him to become a man at the end of this, which is the whole point. The point is showing these boys becoming men in the context of this world.
GLT: Half of “QAF’s” viewers these days are straight women. It turns out women like soft- porn as well.
HS: More than half. But it doesn’t feel soft when you’re doing it. That’s not a pun.
GLT: There are three gay actors on the series.
HS: Bobby Gant and Peter [Paige] and Randy [Harrison]. There are a couple of others that may or may not be. We make it a point not to comment on anybody who isn’t
out or open.
GLT: Peter can say so much with a one-second facial expression.
HS: He’s fantastic. None of us are going to get an Emmy on this show, ever, because of the content. But if anybody deserves one it’s Peter and Sharon.... And I think some of the writers deserve some recognition for the guts that they’ve shown for portraying some of
the story lines — and not in the most politically correct way.
GLT: There’s no question QAF delves into tons of issues in the gay world that have never been shown on TV before.
HS: Even “Sex and the City” is never going to handle the kind of issues we handle.
GLT: Any final words about your summer stand-up tour?
HS: I’m cute and hilarious. That’s really all you need to know.... It’s a lot of goofy fun. It’s more akin to what I did on Talk Soup, and that’s what people can kind of expect.Заинтересовал абзац:
«GLT: There are three gay actors on the series.
HS: Bobby Gant and Peter [Paige] and Randy [Harrison]. There are a couple of others that may or may not be. We make it a point not to comment on anybody who isn’t out or open.»
О ком это он, интересно?
@темы:
Хэл Спаркс,
Интервью
-
-
10.05.2014 в 18:13Таня, спасибо за статью.
-
-
10.05.2014 в 18:16-
-
10.05.2014 в 18:19-
-
10.05.2014 в 18:21-
-
10.05.2014 в 18:33-
-
10.05.2014 в 19:20-
-
10.05.2014 в 19:26-
-
10.05.2014 в 19:58-
-
10.05.2014 в 20:03-
-
10.05.2014 в 20:21-
-
10.05.2014 в 20:25-
-
10.05.2014 в 20:28-
-
10.05.2014 в 20:3213elena, Лена, а жена еще, жену забыла, мать его ребенка.
-
-
10.05.2014 в 21:15-
-
12.05.2014 в 03:16-
-
12.05.2014 в 05:36-
-
12.05.2014 в 20:39-
-
12.05.2014 в 21:19