“I don’t know why Muriel Robin didn’t get roles, I didn’t take care of her career,” says an agent. A casting director talks about the many reasons that can explain why a comedian like her did not have the career she hoped for. “When she plays emotion, we don’t believe it, it doesn’t work,” we hear. Many cinema professionals are offended by the comments of Muriel Robin, a famous openly lesbian comedian, against French cinema, denying any homophobia in the French seventh art. However, after four days of investigation and dozens of interview refusals, including from actors and actresses who have already spoken publicly about their homosexuality, a question arises: why is it so difficult to express oneself about what would be a non-topic?
Let’s rewind a bit. Guest of “What a time!” » on France 2 last Saturday, Muriel Robin threw a wrench in the pond, explaining that she was “the only actress in the world to say (her) homosexuality”. “I know the French homosexual actors, they keep quiet”, because there are no gay or lesbian performers “who are having a great career”. According to her, “we need to tell them that there is no point in doing this job. They won’t work.” “If you are homosexual, you are not desirable, you are not penetrable. And when we are not penetrable (…) we are worthless,” she lamented. Stupor and tremor on the cinema planet. In an environment that calls itself progressive, where homosexuality is not a priori a subject, why can’t we find openly gay actors or actresses among the biggest names? How to explain such omerta?
“Coming out is difficult”
“Is it the actor’s mind or does it come from the agents? I haven’t seen one tell their actor to hide it. I know a great French actor who was freaked out by rumors about his homosexuality, confides a press officer for personalities. I think he used an online reputation agency to check that nothing had leaked onto the Internet. He was convinced that he would only be made to play again if he was out, he would be typecast and we would no longer find him credible in straight roles. »
Until now, Geoffrey Couët, actor in THE Glitter Shrimp and openly gay, never heard anyone advise him to hide it, neither during his training, nor in the world of cinema. “In any case, make a coming out, it’s difficult. In the family context, it is already a real test. A few years ago, I arrived on set with the fear that it would be seen, that it would be felt, that people would make me think about it, he confides. So, I wasn’t a very good actor, I was blocking something. All gay people were more or less insulted, mocked, rejected when they were little, so in the context of work we tell ourselves that it will be worse.”
He’s not the only one to have already locked down a part of himself in casting or on set. “I have had actors who suffered from it,” explains a Parisian casting director. They displayed their sensitivity and as a result they were not given roles as straight characters. Or they were forced to put themselves into an energy that was not theirs to get work.” Sophie Blanchouin, casting director for over twenty years, agrees: “I think they don’t want a label put on their head that would pose a problem for a future role.” Because, unfortunately, everything is a question of projection and seduction in cinema. And above all, the issues are financial. “There is economic importance. We still have to get back to the crux of the matter. We mainly talk about money, any risk-taking on an investment raises questions,” continues an actor.
Rare examples to find
As AFP recalls, the 50/50 collective published a barometer last year to measure the proportion of LGBT+ characters in French films. Of the hundred films studied, the sexual orientation is known for 82% of the main characters. Only 5% of them are homosexual or bisexual and they are “strongly stereotyped”, notes the study. Cut from straight roles, they would have crumbs left. How to achieve a great career in these conditions?
However, we are told about big names. Adèle Haenel, openly lesbian, continued to work after coming out. She would have made the decision to leave the cinema herself. Really ? “His activism may have worried some people,” we are told. We could have feared that it would be complicated with her on set.” In truth, she had fewer and fewer proposals, the “strength of her commitment had isolated her a little”, we analyze. In these conditions, can we really consider that she made this decision alone? Jean-Claude Brialy is often cited too. “It’s true that he rather had the roles of good friends,” concedes Sophie Blanchouin. Once these two are mentioned, we quickly go through the names. Others have spoken about it openly, but refuse to return to the subject. The expression of tension?
“Are we obliged today to be accountable for everything because we are a public figure?, annoys Elisabeth Tanner, famous actor’s agent who inspired the role of Andréa Martel in the series Ten percent and member of the 50/50 collective. It’s a complicated job, why we choose someone, why we don’t choose them, why at a given moment we refuse, it’s a billion questions. Sometimes it’s the level of play, sometimes it’s the physical aspect. There are plenty of possible answers. »
“When you play a blind man, you don’t gouge your eyes out”
“There are indeed some who experience their homosexuality in a somewhat deaf way, so that we leave them alone, so that they are not put in a box,” admits an actor, close to a big name in cinema who hides his homosexuality. However, the world of the seventh art seems on the verge of changing. We’ve recently seen openly gay actors land straight roles. Arnaud Valois, for example, plays the role of a brilliant researcher in a relationship with Asia, in LT-21, the dystopian series from OCS which will be broadcast from October 12. Vincent Dedienne has landed several straight roles in French films. He plays the somewhat reactive brother in A Good Man, by Marie-Castille Mention-Schaar; he falls in love with a teacher in Parents of studentsby Noémie Saglio.
Likewise, Geoffrey Couët has just landed the role of a criminal. “Now that I am out, people want to try different things, he says. This summer I had a casting for a recidivist rapist, half-assed. We tried and it worked.” He notes that sexual orientation is the only subject on which the question of credibility is raised. “We never say: “but he’s not really a banker” or “he’s not really a thief”. We always play things that have nothing to do with us,” he points out.
And Sylvie Brocheré, casting director credited on hundreds of works of fiction in cinema and television, confirms: “I know gay actors but I don’t ask them how they live, I cast them for gay roles. married men with children, and I don’t have a problem with that. When you play a blind man, you don’t poke your eyes out. I start from the principle that it’s a role that I’m asking of them.” In his entire career, he has never been refused an actor on the pretext of his sexual orientation. For Geoffrey Couët, young people must on the contrary assert themselves and “break down all the doors”. The older ones are just starting to open the cupboards a little.