HOLLYWOOD, Calif. — Having played so many gay characters, James Franco is frequently surrounding by speculation about his sexuality.
"It's funny because the way that kind of stuff is talked about on blogs is so black-and-white," the 32-year-old star, who is dating actress Ahna O'Reilly, tells Entertaiment Weekly. "It's all cut-and-dry identity politics. 'Is he straight or is he gay?' Or, 'This is your third gay movie — come out already!' And all based on, gay or straight, based on the idea that your object of affection decides your sexuality."
So is there an obsession with taking on gay roles in such films as Milk, Howl and the upcoming The Broken Tower?
"There are lots of other reasons to be interested in gay characters than wanting myself to go out and have sex with guys," Franco explains. "And there are also lots of other aspects about these characters that I'm interested in, in addition to their sexuality. So, in some ways it's coincidental, in other ways it's not.
"I mean, I've played a gay man who's living in the '60s and '70s, a gay man who we depicted in the '50s, and one being in the '20s," he continues. "And those were all periods when to be gay, at least being gay in public, was much more difficult. Part of what I'm interested in is how these people who were living anti-normative lifestyles contended with opposition.
But Franco keeps the speculation flowing when he teases: "Or, you know what, maybe I'm just gay."
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