Homophobic actor proves he is bad at acting

I haven’t seen the movie “21 & Over” yet, but I found this article interesting. As same-sex situations become less taboo and discreet in our society, we’re going to see more of it portrayed in movies, shows, commercials, music, etc – which is pretty awesome! With that comes the responsibility of artists and actors…and some may have trouble adjusting – like Miles Teller, an actor in “21 & Over” who found it very uncomfortable to kiss another man for his role. Blackbook Mag did a post analyzing Miles’ response and I think a great point is made – as an actor, how could you discriminate between kissing a woman you don’t know and a man you don’t know…unless you are homophobic? The role of an actor is to take on a character regardless of your own personal feelings. That’s why it’s called acting. Did you see that 21 & Over movie? It was like The Hangover, but with younger people you haven’t heard of. Anyway, all kinds of hijinx happened in it, apparently, as I learned in an interview with actor Miles Teller (now is when I admit that I didn’t see it and that I probably won’t). Teller, a 26-year-old whose previous credits include the remake of Footloose and Rabbit Hole (he was the teenager who accidentally killed Nicole Kidman’s son, which, surprisingly, is not really a spoiler), is a young actor who already is putting his foot down in regard to how far he will go for the sake of comedy. In an interview with Metro News, Teller admits that kissing another dude makes him very uncomfy:

Diving right into the nudity issue, there are a few very bold scenes for you in this. How do you psyche yourself up for that? Or not. I mean, I know when you read the script or agree to do a movie, you know you’re going to agree to do everything. The nudity stuff, I just made sure I worked out, you know what I mean? Because some movies you don’t have time. You can work out before a movie, but then when you’re shooting there’s really no time. I know some actors do it, and people should really give them credit because they’re working 14 hours a day, it’s exhausting, and then working out and getting like five hours of sleep. It’s pretty tough. So for this I just made sure I worked out, and the (guy-on-guy) kissing scene was something I tried to get rid of for a while. I was literally like pretty upset about that. And then we did it and it was just like CPR. You were upset about it? Kiss a guy? Yes. Inevitably, I did it for comedy. But they wanted me to use the tongue and I said, “Nope. It’s not that funny, man.” These guys are known for going pretty far for a joke. Was there anything else where you had to draw the line? No. I mean, there was a point where me and Skylar were shackled up and were getting spanked. At one point the shackle broke, so I had to bend over and fix it and s—, and there was all these girls around, and I was just like, “I’m sorry about some a—hole.” Then I just went down and fixed it. Other than that, I felt pretty safe. The humour that these guys write, they’re both extremely intelligent. And it’s funny, it’s well-written, it’s not, like, dumb comedy. I never felt like I was doing cheesy or manipulative stuff. I felt pretty comfortable with everything.

Yeah, man, two guys kissing isn’t funny, man. At least we agree there! But Teller is probably coming from a hyper-masculine place in which two guys kissing is “gross,” whereas I’m like, “Two guys kissing? Thumbs up!” But here’s the thing: would he get weird about kissing some strange woman he had met that day on the job? I doubt it! That probably falls under the “you’re going to agree to do everything” part of acting, like doing nude scenes and getting spanked alongside your male co-star. (Yeah, that’s no homo for sure.) But kiss a dude? With tongue? That’s way too faggy. Also, if you can’t bring yourself to make out with a dude on camera because that’s what asked of you as an actor—if you can’t possibly pull off such a feat without looking obviously uncomfortable and weird—then you’re a bad actor. I have nothing to say about the sexual orientation part—I don’t know about Teller’s personal life, and I don’t care—but I can certainly say that he’s not very good at his job.

About The Author

Patricia Colli, Editor of Beutiful Magazine, is a human rights activist, equality advocate, and promoter of health, acceptance and wellbeing. Having experienced disordered eating, unhealthy exercise patterns and poor body image, she is especially passionate about shedding light on eating disorders and the power of body acceptance.