Mexico City.- 15 years ago, Jonathan Groff yelled out to the world that he was gay.
The actor, ultimately famous for series like Glee and Mindhunter, had just finished his participation on Broadway with the rock musical Spring Awakening. He was 22 years old and thought that with his revelation, his fledgling career would end abruptly.
“I came out 15 years ago. I was doing a lot of theater at the time. When I came out as gay, I did it out of love. I was in love, a lot, for the first time.
“I thought: ‘I’d rather have this relationship and be open with it than be ambitious and seek to be in a movie or a television series.’ Then I thought that by coming out of the closet I would extinguish any ambition in my career,” the actor recalled in a meeting with the media.
Fifteen years after that announcement, Groff is proud of the change the entertainment industry has brought. And he is about to release a movie that exemplifies it.
A mix of the “home invasion” and apocalyptic genres, Knock on the Door is a Hollywood title that will have a global release this weekend. He and Ben Aldridge embody a gay couple whose love is the axis of the story.
“That he’s playing a gay married couple at the center of a Hollywood movie, directed by M. Night Shyamalan, is a complete surprise, a huge joy to me and a sign of the times we are living in.
“There are still many things to do, but we can celebrate this, that there are two gay people playing two gays, at the center of this film. I feel lucky to be able to surf the wave of progress,” said the American, star of the musical. hamilton.
They knock on the door is an effort to normalize homosexual relationships on the screen. But Shyamalan (The Sixth Sense) does not assume that society has accepted them.
In the story, Eric (Groff), Andrew (Aldridge) and Wen (Kristen Cui), their young daughter, are taken hostage during their vacation in the woods. His captors claim something about the end of the world, but maybe it’s all a homophobic crime.
Aldridge (Fleabag) identifies with his role. The actor revealed his homosexuality in 2020, and although Hollywood congratulated his courage in expressing his preferences, he has been the target of several attacks.
“Andrew thinks they are being stalked. He lives his life in fear, because he suffered a homophobic attack, something many people can relate to.
“I have been in situations like this, although not similar, that took away my confidence. The character even buys a weapon and takes it with him because he is afraid of what could happen to his family of three,” said the British.
on the small screen
The third episode of the series The Last of Us, broadcast by HBO last Sunday, became a trend on social networks for its representation of a gay romance, embodied by actors Nick Offerman and Murray Bartlett.
The theme “Long Long Time” by Linda Ronstadt, original from 1970 and which sets the story to music, also went viral on platforms.
