harold|KINNEY
NO excuses. NO apologies. NO regrets.






[135]

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cASTING

The story of Harold’s casting in Queer as Folk has that Hollywood-miracle aura that publicists love. Executive producers Ron Cowen and Daniel Lipman, the Emmy-award winning writers of the groundbreaking AIDS drama An Early Frost and the long-running drama series Sisters, had acquired the American rights to the British drama series Queer as Folk. They had already cast actors Scott Lowell, Peter Paige, Hal Sparks, and Randy Harrison as a group of gay friends whose intertwined lives would form the basis for the American version of the story. The casting had been nightmarish for Lipman and Cowen because agents wouldn’t send their clients in to read for the parts in the show. The part of Brian Kinney was particularly difficult.

“Here’s a gay man, very sexual, very masculine, not the kind of gay character people are used to seeing,” says Lipman. “If he were a straight male character fcking every woman in sight, he’d be a hero. So this was not like the other roles, and that was part of the difficulty.”

“It was an extremely distressing experience trying to cast Brian, because of what we discovered to be the massive amount of homophobia [in Hollywood],” says Cowen. “We were so shocked and so upset, because we went into this thinking that in the years since An Early Frost things had changed. What we had discovered was that things hadn’t changed one iota.”

Late on a Friday afternoon, with an 8:30 a.m. Monday meeting scheduled to introduce their cast to the Showtime executives, Lipman and Cowen still didn’t have their Brian Kinney.

“It was a test of faith, and by Friday at 5 p.m. faith was running out,” Lipman says ruefully. At 5:45 p.m., their casting director called. “She said, ‘Come on over right now, he’s here!’” Lipman recalls. “In walks Gale Harold, and we’re looking at him and he’s reading the scene, and Ron and I are looking at each other, and it’s like, Is he fcking fabulous?”

“He fell out of the sky,” Cowen breathes. “There’s truly no other explanation.”

Lipman asked Harold to be at the Showtime offices in Los Angeles at 8 a.m. on Monday. “He lit up a cigarette, and, very Brianesque, he said, ‘I’m with this repertory company, and we have to strike a set on Sunday night, and I don’t think I can make it.’ And we’re thinking, Is he for real? Who says that? We’ve been in Hollywood too long. What do you say to that?” Lipman laughs, shaking his head in disbelief. He pressed a copy of the script into Harold’s arms and asked him to read it and call them at home the next day.

“I was standing in the kitchen,” Cowen remembers, “and the phone rang and a voice said, ‘Hi, this is Brian Kinney.’”

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qUOTES

"You have to like your character, because if you don't, no one else will either." - Gale Harold

"Gale: Brilliant, enigmatic, screwy." - Scott Lowell

"When we met him, Brian and Gale just fused. Gale has such sexuality as a person that it's kind of daunting. How many people could be as open or fluid and bring that to a character? It doesn't have anything to do with being gay or straight. He's breaking new ground for bringing sexuality to a performance, and not just gay sexuality. I don't think any other actor has ever done what he's doing. I think it's kind of historic." - Ron Cowen and Daniel Lipman

"If someone doesn't want to work with me because I'm playing a gay character, I don't want to work with them. They can fck off." - Gale Harold

"He's intense, and he likes that people think that about him... he seems more intense than he really is, though. Gale's sillier and laughs more than Brian does. He's kinder. And I don't think he's quite as manipulative." - Randy Harrison

"We kept pushing back the shooting date, and people were getting tense. But when Mr. Gale Harold walked in, Ron and I looked at each other and absolutely knew. He had a certain kind of cockiness. But he's very, very charming underneath all that. He has his own direction and agenda. There's no bullsht with him." - Daniel Lipman

"I think it's good that men are being objectified because since forever women have been objectified. We're flipping the coin because things have been lopsided on TV and film for so long. Another good point to the show is that it portrays men's sensuality. They're not just all about sex and only sex." - Gale Harold

"Gale does things because he wants to, not because he feels obligated. If he doesn't feel like showing up someplace, he just won't show up. But on the last day of shooting, he brought flowers for everyone. He's a gentle, enigmatic and aloof spirit." - Michelle Clunie

"He's a dork in the body of a God." - Peter Paige

"I want to keep developing. I want to become relaxed in my own work and go deeper. Just growing and studying and trying new things and hopefully having professional access to work that's good and interesting. I don't want to be on the treadmill of artificiality." - Gale Harold

"Gale is totally cool and secure enough not to be threatened by anything. He knows who he is. That makes him more than an actor; it makes him a very fine human being." - Ron Cowen

"Gale is, he's just gorgeous, you know! What can I say? He's a gorgeous man, inside and out. I always look forward to working with him on my scenes, because there is a receptivity to him that is so complete, and wholesome. He has a real wholesome nature about life. He's very down to earth, and that's what I think makes him so attractive, because he just really stands on his own two feet, and lets the world come to him, and he will give back to the world. He has a real sort of give and take philosophy about life, and I think that makes him a terrific and deep actor." - Thea Gill

"My desire, above all else, is for Brian to be as realistic and human as possible. So, I try, within the constraints I am given, to find a way... I try to let something get through. And I hope that if enough gets through, there will be significant growth for Brian at least to become more self-aware. And hopefully some self-awareness will lead to deeper accessibility to his feelings towards his friends and lovers." - Gale Harold

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