James Franco, Christian Slater talk playing gay in 'King Cobra'
Mon. April 18, 2016 10:14 AM by OnTopMag.com
Christian Slater says gay porn drama King Cobra avoids the "stereotypical nonsense" of gay characters.
Speaking with Variety, Slater said that he has matured in how he views such characters since watching Brokeback Mountain.
"I remember when I saw Brokeback Mountain and I had such a visceral reaction to that movie, and thought, 'Oh my god, I could never do anything like that,'" Slater said. "And as I've gotten older, I think I have gotten less judgmental about things and hopefully a little bit more mature about these subject matters."
"I've never played a homosexual before and I just didn't want to, I guess, bring any stereotypical nonsense to it, or do any kind of caricature-y type things that I've seen in other films," he added. "I just wanted to be a human being who happens to like young men."
The film, which premiered Saturday at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York City to positive reviews, follows the early porn career of Sean Paul Lockhart, who worked exclusively for Cobra Video under the name Brent Corrigan. Cobra Video's Bryan Kocis (played by Slater) was murdered after he refused to let Corrigan work for a rival porn studio run by Joseph Kerekes (Franco) and gay porn star Harlow Cuadra.
"We could go pretty large with our characters; they are pretty ridiculous," Franco told Variety. "[Director] Justin Kelly calls them GTL – gym, tan, laundry – kind of guys. That's all they do, go to the gym, tan, and do their laundry."
Speaking with Variety, Slater said that he has matured in how he views such characters since watching Brokeback Mountain.
"I remember when I saw Brokeback Mountain and I had such a visceral reaction to that movie, and thought, 'Oh my god, I could never do anything like that,'" Slater said. "And as I've gotten older, I think I have gotten less judgmental about things and hopefully a little bit more mature about these subject matters."
"I've never played a homosexual before and I just didn't want to, I guess, bring any stereotypical nonsense to it, or do any kind of caricature-y type things that I've seen in other films," he added. "I just wanted to be a human being who happens to like young men."
The film, which premiered Saturday at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York City to positive reviews, follows the early porn career of Sean Paul Lockhart, who worked exclusively for Cobra Video under the name Brent Corrigan. Cobra Video's Bryan Kocis (played by Slater) was murdered after he refused to let Corrigan work for a rival porn studio run by Joseph Kerekes (Franco) and gay porn star Harlow Cuadra.
"We could go pretty large with our characters; they are pretty ridiculous," Franco told Variety. "[Director] Justin Kelly calls them GTL – gym, tan, laundry – kind of guys. That's all they do, go to the gym, tan, and do their laundry."
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