{"id":2539,"date":"2005-10-22T09:30:00","date_gmt":"2005-10-22T09:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2005\/10\/gay-actors-christian-actors-trading-places-etc\/"},"modified":"2014-04-18T18:00:03","modified_gmt":"2014-04-19T01:00:03","slug":"gay-actors-christian-actors-trading-places-etc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2005\/10\/gay-actors-christian-actors-trading-places-etc.html","title":{"rendered":"Gay actors, Christian actors, trading places, etc."},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"A friend referred me to this post<\/a> at Todd Rhoades\u2019 \u2018Monday Morning Insight\u2019 blog, concerning a story headlined \u2018Film Producer Defends Gay Actor Choice\u2019 in the October 17 issue of Christian Retailing<\/a><\/i>.<\/span><\/p>\n

The film in question is End of the Spear<\/a><\/i>, and it is about five American missionaries who were martyred in Ecuador \u2014 a story made famous by the popular book Through Gates of Splendor<\/a><\/i>, written by Elizabeth Elliot, widow of Jim. (FWIW, I have never read the book myself, but I did read the comic<\/a> when I was a kid.) The movie focuses more on one of the other martyrs, Nate Saint, who is played by Chad Allen. And it turns out Allen happens to be gay:<\/p>\n

A Christian bookstore chain owner turned-producer said he does not believe the homosexual actor in his upcoming film about five missionary martyrs will present a problem for Christian viewers.<\/p>\n

Mart Green, president of Every Tribe Entertainment and founder of the Mardel Christian and Educational Supply chain, called Chad Allen, the star of End of the Spear<\/i>, \u201cthe best actor available to tell our story of faith and forgiveness in the best way possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOur position is we\u2019re making quality films that tell faith-based stories, so we hire the best,\u201d according to Green.<\/p>\n

\u201cChad was so exceptional that he was the only actor we hired who we didn\u2019t hire a backup for.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter someone told me that Chad appeared on the cover of the gay and lesbian magazine The Advocate<\/i>, we just felt, \u2018Hey, he\u2019s still the best actor.\u2019 If anything, he was more concerned when he found that we found out \u2014 not that he has been hiding his sexuality. He said, \u2018If this movie does well, will you bash gays?\u2019 We said, \u2018Chad, we don\u2019t endorse your lifestyle, but we love who you are\u2019.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

As of this writing, there are over 30 comments at that other blog post, debating whether or not it is a Good Thing that a gay actor is playing a famous Christian missionary martyr.<\/p>\n

Personally, this debate feels a little been-there,-done-that to me, since one of the most popular films among Christians of the past quarter-century was Chariots of Fire<\/a><\/i> (1981), which also starred a gay actor, Ian Charleson<\/a>, as a real-life Christian missionary, Eric Liddell<\/a>, who died what some would consider a martyr\u2019s death. (Well, okay, the missionary\/martyr stuff took place after<\/i> the events depicted in the film, but the film does mention it, and it\u2019s one of the reasons Liddell is remembered so fondly.)<\/p>\n

Sometimes it goes the other way, too. In February 2003, The Advocate<\/a><\/i> interviewed Matt Lutz, an actor who played a gay teenager in an episode of Boston Public<\/i>, and discovered that he was a Christian who disapproved of homosexuality but believed it was important to send out the message that gay-bashing was bad.<\/p>\n

So whaddayaknow, sometimes actors are not the characters they play! I think this may be why they call it \u201cacting\u201d.<\/p>\n

JAN 21 UPDATE: The movie is out now, and the gay-actor debate is in the air again. While discussing it with some people recently, another example of a gay or bisexual actor playing a famous Christian character, albeit a fictional one, occurred to me: Alec Guinness<\/a> as G.K. Chesterton\u2019s Father Brown<\/a><\/i> (1954). What\u2019s interesting about this example is that Guinness ended up converting to Roman Catholicism<\/a> partly because of his experiences making the movie.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A friend referred me to this post at Todd Rhoades\u2019 \u2018Monday Morning Insight\u2019 blog, concerning a story headlined \u2018Film Producer Defends Gay Actor Choice\u2019 in the October 17 issue of Christian Retailing. The film in question is End of the Spear, and it is about five American missionaries who were martyred in Ecuador \u2014 a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1116,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2539","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nGay actors, Christian actors, trading places, etc.<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A friend referred me to this post at Todd Rhoades' 'Monday Morning Insight' blog, concerning a story headlined 'Film Producer Defends Gay Actor Choice' in\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2005\/10\/gay-actors-christian-actors-trading-places-etc.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Gay actors, Christian actors, trading places, etc.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A friend referred me to this post at Todd Rhoades' 'Monday Morning Insight' blog, concerning a story headlined 'Film Producer Defends Gay Actor Choice' in\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2005\/10\/gay-actors-christian-actors-trading-places-etc.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"FilmChat\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2005-10-22T09:30:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-04-19T01:00:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/photos1.blogger.com\/blogger\/7991\/933\/400\/endofthespear.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Peter T. 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