From: Washington Blade

No longer the 'Kiss' of death

DAVID ALEXANDER NAHMOD

Friday, May 09, 2008

Being out in Hollywood was once the kiss of death for any acting career, but as time marches on, even Tinseltown starts to make some concessions - a shift that has benefited out actor Robert Gant, who played Ben on Showtime's "Queer as Folk."

The actor has been working steadily since the groundbreaking series ended its run in 2005, and his newest endeavor, "Kiss Me Deadly" which co-stars "Beverly Hills 90210's" Shannen Doherty, premieres on Here!TV this month.

"It's like nothing I've done," Gant says of "Kiss Me Deadly." "I'd thought of doing something like this since I was a kid. I've always loved popcorn films, so making 'Kiss Me Deadly' was for me a super hero spy fantasy fulfillment."

In the film, Gant stars as Jacob Keane, an openly gay American fashion photographer living and working in Milan. Keane loves his life. He's successful, in a great relationship and is co-parenting a daughter with his lesbian best friend.

One fateful day that Keane will live to regret, Marta (Doherty) a long-forgotten friend from his past, shows up at his door. Years earlier, Keane and Marta were partners, agents for the CIA working in Eastern Europe. Now she has amnesia, and she’s being tailed by someone they once knew - someone who wants something from both of them.

"I was particularly excited to do a film where the character's gayness had little to do with the story, it was just who he is," says Gant. "We have so many viewing options now. We're not thirsty men in the desert anymore."

GANT SAYS THAT his childhood and adolescent days were full of movies and television that didn't reflect his gay identity at all (or if it did, the prevailing sentiment was negative).

"Our childhoods would have been so much easier if we had some of these choices. Now, gay kids can bring their fantasies to life."

Gant reports that there's still somewhat of a stigma to being openly gay in Hollywood, but he's "seeing it less and less. There's good news, we're healing and making progress. I don't have a measuring stick for how many more or less roles I get. I can only go by experience. I'm having a great experience, I'm working a lot."

Gant points to the changes in the industry by mentioning "Special Delivery," a film he just completed for Lifetime. He plays a straight romantic lead, a once unheard of casting for an openly gay actor. He also mentioned the upcoming "Mask of the Ninja," aired by the Spike Network, the anti-Lifetime a network for men that's certainly not the expected place for an out actor.

"Like any transition, we're crossing frontiers. This is how change occurs. But I love playing gay roles. The more such roles I play, the more I own who I am as a gay man."

One gay role that stands out for Gant is "Save Me" (2006). He co-stars with Chad Allen, another gay actor, in a drama about a sex and drug-addicted gay man who seeks help at an "ex-gay" ministry, only to discover his true self. The film played the Sundance Film Festival in 2007 and has garnered positive reviews since that time.

Gant hopes his "Queer as Folk" fan base will tune in to "Kiss Me Deadly."

"I want to be a gay action star," he says. "I want to play a super hero. I want to contribute to the lives of young gays by playing fictitious characters they can look up to."