Bi Focus
Brand new on PlanetOut!
News, views, and a little bit of dish! Tune in each month as Michael
Szymanski looks at movies, TV, stage, music, and books from a bi
perspective.
Frankly, I was surprised when I polled my very diverse bi pals about
who they thought were the king and queen of bisexual roles and the
votes came back overwhelmingly in favor of Ewan McGregor and Sharon
Stone. (The runners up, by the way, were Robert Downey Jr. and Drew
Barrymore, who have both talked about their own bi pasts.)
First, before there's any confusion, we are talking about bisexual
portrayals, not bisexual actors. Both Ewan and Sharon are happily
married to
people of the opposite sex.
Ewan McGregor
A lanky, sandy-haired, blue-eyed 29-year-old, McGregor has played more
than his share of sexually ambiguous roles. In Shallow Grave he
teases both his male and female roommates by walking around in boxer
shorts. In Emma he's a puffed-up dandy more interested in
impressing
men than women. And in Trainspotting,
his heroin-addicted
character seems to be willing to do anything, even offer himself up for
sex with a guy, for his next fix.
In The Velvet Goldmine, Ewan plays a Brit rocker who shags both
guys and gals -- a character semi-inspired by Iggy Pop and his
relationship with David Bowie. During the kissing scenes with
Jonathan Rhys-Meyers, the actors' lip-locking continued
well after the director yelled "cut"; both are quoted as
having rather enjoyed the scene. Their lovemaking is passionate, raw,
and turbulent.
In director Peter Greenaway's lush and beautiful The Pillow Book,
McGregor plays a soft-spoken and tender translator named Jerome, who has
relationships with men, but whose true love is an aspiring female writer
played by Vivian Wu. She
ends up using Jerome's naked body as a manuscript for her book, painting
her stories on him as he squirms ticklishly and sending him to
her publisher, who has a penchant for naked men.
In interviews, Ewan admits he gets teased by fellow actors and reviewers
about his rather notable uncut member always flapping around in his
films,
but he defends male nudity in the movies, saying, "Women have always
been
naked in movies, and now I'm just desperate to take my clothes off as
much as possible for the Women's Movement." He adds, "They don't try to
frame
potted plants in front of my dick, like they do in most other films.
I've
been naked in almost everything I've been in, really. In fact, I have it
written into my contract."
He probably won't unleash his personal saber in the upcoming Star
Wars
2, but he will reprise his role as the young Obi-Wan Kenobi, a
bachelor warrior who takes a special interest in training young bucks in
the
ways of the Force.
Fun fact: in real life, Ewan was once roommates with Jude Law, who is
currently nominated for an Oscar for his role as the sexually ambiguous
Dickey in The Talented Mr.
Ripley.
Sharon Stone
It was a fleeting moment in the HBO movie If These Walls Could Talk
2,
but bi folk all over the country cheered when Sharon Stone told her
lover
(played by Ellen DeGeneres), "When I fell in love with you, I decided I
did
not want another man in my life."
Those few words, which probably could have come from Ellen's real-life
bi
lover Anne Heche (who directed the scene), seem to make up for all the
protests against Sharon's bisexual killer character in Basic
Instinct,
which GLAAD calls one of the worst portrayals of bisexuals in film.
The blonde and brassy actress, who just turned 40 and has a genius IQ,
says her
newspaper editor husband Phil Bronstein doesn't seem to mind all of her
sexually ambiguous roles.
In The Muse, Sharon inspires Albert Brooks and then flirts with
his wife, played by Andie
MacDowell, turning her into a successful businesswoman. She conjures up
the spirit of Bette Davis to play Nicole in Diabolique, the campy remake of the frightening Simone Signoret classic, with its
suggestions of a lesbian relationship. And she appealed to both men and
women in her honest hooker role
in Casino, which earned her an Oscar nod.
But Stone's signature role is as the icepick-wielding killer in
Basic Instinct. The film was vilified by many in the queer
community, who argued that it gave the impression that most bisexuals
out there are
serial killers. (For the record, most of my bi friends are not -- I
think.)
Catherine emasculates the uber-male Michael
Douglas, sucking him into the seamy, sensual, bisexual underground club
scene, which ultimately destroys him. Stone says she'll never shake the
legacy of the revealing crotch shots during the police interrogation.
There's talk of reviving Catherine for a Basic Instinct sequel,
although neither screenwriter Joe Eszterhaus nor Douglas will be back,
and
Stone is waiting to see if the script of the further exploits of the
bisexual psychopathic murderess remain true to the character.
Stone has said that in the past she's "dated" girls.
While filming Basic Instinct, her best girlfriend was there to
hold
the starlet's hand out of camera range during some of the scenes, which
set
off a gossipy buzz. And in her latest unauthorized biography, Naked
Instinct, author Frank Sanello details a sexual liaison with a woman
in the bathroom of the Beverly Hills Hotel.
Sharon's exploring another bi role on Broadway over the next few months,
in David Mamet's new play Boston Marriage. Set in 1880, it's
about two women who have an affair, marry rich men, then
rekindle the relationship.
During recent interviews about HBO's If These Walls Could Talk
2, she said that she's "exactly like a gay woman except I
don't have sex with women."
More Sharon Stone On Starstruck!
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