Category Archives: Actors

DAYS Shocker — Massey Abruptly Fired from Top Role in Drama

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Chandler Massey as Will Horton. The two-time Emmy winner was let go last week.

Well, this is interesting. Not good interesting, but interesting nonetheless. This is why I hate the networks….

Two-time Emmy winner Chandler Massey filmed his final scenes as Days of Our Lives’ gay heartthrob Will Horton on Friday, Aug. 23 — only he didn’t know they were his last until he was summoned at the end of his work day to the office of Greg Meng, the soap’s co-executive producer. During this meeting, Meng informed Massey, who had been planning to depart the NBC soap when his contract expired in December, that he would have to leave immediately because a replacement had already been hired. Massey exited the studio sans fanfare — no farewell party, no goodbyes, no nothing — and sources close to the young actor say he was devastated and in tears. His last episode will air on or around Dec. 31. Days has yet to announce the name of Massey’s replacement, who won’t begin work until after the soap returns from a two-week production hiatus in September.

via TV Guide

Recent Post: Massey Leaves Iconic Role as Will Horton

Takei to Receive Leadership Award for LGBT Advocacy

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The extraordinary George Takei. Who better to receive this award? No one that I know of. |Image: Examiner

 

The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force announced iconic Star Trek actor and LGBT advocate George Takei will be the recipient of the organization’s 2013 National Leadership Award, reports the Associated Press.

via George Takei to Receive Leadership Award for LGBT Advocacy | Advocate.com.

Massey Leaves Iconic Gay Role as Will Horton

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Outlets covering gay entertainment news and those covering soap operas had plenty to write about Fri., Aug. 23, when, in a surprise move, two-time Emmy winner Chandler Massey announced that he had filmed his last scenes as Will Horton on the venerable NBC sudser Days of our Lives.

The story of Will Horton (Emmy winner Chandler Massey, left) discovering himself and his love story with Sonny Kiriakis (Freddie Smith) has been achingly slow, but powerful performances by the duo have overshadowed the typically tepid plotting.

AFTERGLOW. Sonny Kiriakis (Emmy nominee Freddie Smith, right) will find a strange new bedfellow in the new year when an as yet unannounced new actor takes over the role of partner Will Horton (double Emmy winner Chandler Massey, left) on the NBC daytime drama Days of Our Lives.

The 22-year-old Massey had announced his intentions to leave the role earlier this year when he won his second consecutive Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Younger Actor. He has said that he intends to finish college, which was interrupted during his freshman year when he won the role of Will Horton on DOOL.

“I’m done. It’s bittersweet, Massey is quoted as saying on The Backlot. “These four years have been so amazing I’ve built a family here. I’m so grateful to NBC and everyone for these amazing four years. It’s been my privilege and honor to work there.”

Massey was let out of his contract several months early for a variety or reasons. While originally saying that they would not recast the role, producers have now indicated that storylines have dictated a recast.

While many current fans of the show have taken to social media decrying the decision to recast, Massey — the fifth actor to play the role — has been vocal in his support of a recast for some time.

“I think it’s a good move [to recast],” Massey said in The Backlot piece. “I’m biased because I fell in love with Will and Sonny and I want Will and Sonny to be together.”

I agree with him. I fell in love with them, too. But, recasts have always been a part of the life of a continuing drama. After all, excluding babies, 12 actors assayed the part of Tom Hughes on As The World Turns from 1960 until Scott Holmes became “lucky 13” in 1987, staying with the role until the series ended in 2010. There’s hardly a role on a soap that has not been played by another actor at one time or another.

There’s no doubt about it: I will miss Massey, but I do believe that it’s more important that DOOL continue to tell this story and I hope a recast indicates that they tend to do just that.

There are plenty of young people, struggling with their sexuality that need to see other young gay people in a committed relationship to show them that it can be done — insane gunmen, unintended pregnancies, annoying and sometime borderline psychotic parents, drug dealing cousins, perjury, hot architects and Stefano DiMera aside — and that you can come home each night to the loving embrace of Sonny Kiriakis and his fabulous hair.

Thanks, Mr. Massey, for sharing your gifts with us. Your impact on the landscape has been indelible.

Because of DAYS’ shooting schedule, Massey will likely be seen as Will through December.

Other Recent Posts:
More Sands Through the Gay Hourglass — Revisiting and Revising
Like Sands Through the Gay Hourglass: Ticked Off at American Dramas. Again.
Charm of DAYS’ Gay Supercouple “Cannot be Denied”
Chandler Massey Takes Home Second Emmy
Daytime Emmy Q and A: Freddie Smith

Simon Pegg Decries the Need For Bromance

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Pegg, Star Trek’s new Scotty, and his cuddly BFF, Nick Frost, want to know what’s wrong with two guys showing affection. Damn good question.


Simon Pegg spoke with WTF with Marc Maron and decried the idea of a bromance, but for all the right reasons. “You can be affectionate with each other, you can love each other and it doesn’t have to be some – you know, and even if it does turn into something, which it didn’t, then it’s okay… We always sort of flinch at this “bromance” buzzword that’s come up – there’s no equivalent for women, because it’s not weird if women are friends… because of this homosexual terror that straight guys have, it’s ridiculous. Now there has to be this word for it, and it’s crazy. It’s totally sad.”

via Meme: Simon Pegg Decries the Need For Bromance, Sir Elton Takes Us “Home Again,” Is Peter Capaldi The Last Doctor? – thebacklot.com.

‘Harry Potter’ Star: Hollywood Gay Casting ‘Ridiculous’

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“If you are a romantic lead, there is a perception — I don’t know if it is true or not — that you will no longer be cast as straight people,” [Jason Isaacs] told the Telegraph. “Even when casting gay roles, there is a tendency to cast straight people, so they are lauded for their transformation. It’s ridiculous. The notion that a gay actor can’t seem like they are in love with a woman on screen is so patently absurd I can’t believe it still exists.”

via Jason Isaacs, ‘Harry Potter’ Star: Hollywood Gay Casting ‘Ridiculous’.

I couldn’t agree more. Of course, I looked at the photo and went, “Who in the hell is Jason Isaacs in Harry Potter?” That’s because Jason Isaacs is this guy:

jason-isaacs-la-premiere-of-bully-01He’s Lucius Malfoy!

I know, right?

Astonishing what a little slap and a blonde wig’ll do for ya!

Wentworth Miller Comes Out

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Actor/writer Wentworth Miller. |Image: Kiyoshi Ota / Getty Images AsiaPac via BuzzFeed

Wentworth Miller Comes Out: ‘Prison Break’ Star Reveals He’s Gay.

Okay, unlike yesterday’s “revelation” about Lucas Cruikshank, at least I know who Miller is! Also, the reason why is important, too. We all have to stand up and take a stand against injustice and intolerance and horrifying whack jobs every now and then.

And, because every story deserves a bit of levity, here’s BuzzFeed’s take on it!

Nickelodeon Actor Comes Out

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Lucas Cruikshank, Nickelodeon actor and star and creator of the popular YouTube series Fred, came out of the closet in a Q&A video posted to his channel today.

via Towleroad (includes video embed — it’s kinda cute, actually)

I suppose this was inevitable — some young celeb comes out and I have no freakin’ idea who in the hell they are. I am officially old. *sigh*

Well, anyway, good for him. I think that the more young people who come out on their own terms and just get on with it, the better off we’ll all be. I envy the nonchalance of this generation. It certainly beats the angst-ridden youth of my generation.

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Lucas Cruikshank and Jennifer Veal. He came out today. I have no idea who either of them are because I am, alas, too damn old. |Image: screen grab via Towleroad.

How “Husbands” Predicted The Future For Gay Marriage And Digital Hollywood

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How “Husbands” Predicted The Future For Gay Marriage And Digital Hollywood.

Fortunately, Husbands has not had to worry about suffering from performance issues. When Bell and Espenson launched it two years ago as a web series on YouTube, it won a rave from no less than The New Yorker, and generated enough of a passionate fan base that the duo was able to raise $60,000 on Kickstarter for a second season. That season, which debuted on YouTube last year, saw a roughly 35% boost in viewership. “Everybody has access to the ability to make their own product now,” says Espenson. “It really is ‘the best will thrive.’ Like, whole networks are set up to guess what people are going to like. You don’t have to guess anymore. You can put it up and see what they like. That’s what we did. And they liked us.”

Excellent article and interview with Bell, Espenson and Hemeon about the impact of Husbands and finding new venues for content.

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Husbands’ co-star Sean Hemeon is flanked by series co-creators Brad Bell and Jane Espenson at the 2013 Entertainment Weekly San Diego Comic Con party. The much-lauded marriage equality series centers on Hemeon and Bell, who play a hilarious mismatched married couple in the crisply written show. | Image: Chelsea Lauren/WireImage.

It’s very interesting to me that the trio no longer use the phrase “Web series” to describe the show, now beginning its third season (and this time on CW Seed, the companion site to the broadcast network), but rather simply call it a “series.”

I think they are right — and it’s very interesting to see language and usage change — sometimes practically overnight.

Says Espenson: “There’s nothing on YouTube that you can’t see on your smart TV. There’s nothing on TV, essentially, that you can’t find online in some form. So [saying “Web series” is] like saying, “I heard a radio song” vs. “a CD song!” Well, what’s the difference? You can get it either place.

I’ll have to start checking myself.

Meanwhile, you can watch — please do; it’s terrific!! — the new season of Husbands on CW Seed.

Watch the first two seasons and some behind-the-scenes videos HERE.

Read some of the Husbands-related posts I’ve made over the last year HERE, HERE, and HERE.

Broadchurch: ITV’s Sneaky Drama Comes to the U.S.

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Here’s a good interview, courtesy of NPR, with the dreamy David Tennant about Broadchurch, the eight-episode whodunnit that hits the U.S. shores this week on BBCAmerica.

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David Tennant and Olivia Colman, center, lead the ensemble cast in this terrific British thriller. Fourth from left, with the dog, is the delicious Pauline Quirke, one of my favorite actors from the U.K. Americans may not know her as well as Tennant, but she’s a powerhouse over there. Colman has a very funny turn in the new film “I’ll Give It a Year.” | Image” ITV.

Like a lot of British procedurals seen in the States, Broadchurch was originally shown on ITV, like Downton Abbey and other shows shown on PBS on this side of the pond. So many people think these are all BBC productions — and I suppose the name of the network over here doesn’t help — but this is an ITV production.

Broadchurch became a national event in the U.K. earlier this year and it really keeps you thinking. As Tennant points out in the NPR interview, the format — one murder over eight episodes — allows for more plot and character development than you find in the traditional one-hour stories told on U.S. procedurals.

I won’t give away anything — I’ve already seen it!! — but I certainly would urge you to watch! (And not even because I’ve been mad for David Tennant since he was “the Doctor!”)

“Whatever this is.” — New Web Series from the Creators of “The Outs”

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Can’t believe I haven’t talked about this yet, but the latest Web series from The Outs’ Adam Goldman and company has met its rather significant Kickstarter goal. I’m excited about this for several reasons. First, I was one of the Kickstarter contributors and I nudged a couple of other people to contribute as well. Second, The Outs was probably my very favorite Web series of the last several years, even though I was a significant supporter of several others.

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The WTI ensemble consists of several familiar faces for viewers of The Outs, including Tommy Heleringer (second from left), Hunter Canning (second from right) and Sasha Winters (kneeling). Image: Whatever this is. Facebook.

Goldman and company have already proven that theirs is a unique voice and one that has connected with the audience. The gelling of a true ensemble is making their Rascal Department an independent force to be reckoned with. I can’t wait to see what happens next!

Here’s a link to the first episode.