Benedict Cumberbatch
In 2014, Benedict Cumberbatch played the British mathematician Alan Turing in the drama biopic The Imitation Game, for which he received an Academy Award nomination. This was the first time he portrayed a gay character on-screen, and let's see what he commented about his experience.
> ""For me, there's explicit love in the film, and the fact of his sexuality being homosexual doesn't make any difference. If it would have added to the film, we'd have done it. I'd have no qualms about filming those scenes - expressing that side of a character's relationship to his body", he told The Telegraph.
Daniel Radcliffe
Did you know that the Harry Potter star played a gay guy in the 2013 drama film Kill Your Darlings? The film centers on the early life of poet Allen Ginsberg and his years at university. Ginsberg falls for his friend Lucien Carr, played by actor Dane DeHaan, and the film includes an intimate love scene between the two.
Radcliffe didn't mind playing the scene and the director told Radcliffe exactly what expressions and emotions he was supposed to convey. > "Basically, gay sex, especially for the first time, is really damn painful. And [the director] said that he had never seen that portrayed accurately on film before. He wanted it to look like an authentic loss of virginity", he told Flaunt.
Tom Selleck
Tom Selleck's big break came with the crime series Magnum P.I., but truth is he starred in countless TV movies before portraying Thomas Magnum. In 1997, he played the role of Peter Malloy in the Oscar-nominated fim In & Out.
In this film, Selleck played a gay entertainment journalist who had a thing for the character played by Kevin Kline. The two had to shoot a kissing scene, and according to Selleck, Kline behaved like a true "gentleman"... whatever that means!
Charlie Hunnam
Did you know that the original Queer as Folk is British and not American? That's right, the English version of this famous gay drama was one of the first TV series to feature gay lead characters.
The show goes around a group of gay friends who live in Manchester during the 90s, played by Aidan Gillen, Craig Kelly, and Charlie Hunnam. Just recently, Hunnam admitted that he enjoyed playing a gay schoolboy and that he would like to reprise the role one more time.
Robert Pattinson
Robbert Pattinson launched his career as an actor in 2004, though his big break came with Twilight, where he played the iconic role of Edward Cullen. But a few months before shooting Twilight, he starred in a British drama film called Little Ashes, where he played the famous gay painter Salvador Dalí.
Believe it or not, Pattinson played a steamy sex scene with Spanish actor and heartthrob Javier Beltran, who portrayed the writer Federico Garcia Lorca. Pattinson admitted that he felt quite nervous before shooting the scene, but he didn't mind it at all.
Daniel Craig
Back in the 90s, Daniel Craig was everyone's impossible love. But while he played the stereotypical macho in most of his films, in 2006 he took on the role of Perry Smith, one of Truman Capote's male lovers. The role of Capote was played by Toby Jones, and he and Craig had to shoot a few kissing scenes. Wondering the name of the movie? It's Infamous, you should check it out!
Against what one may have thought, Craig didn't mind filming these kissing scenes. > "There was never any self-consciousness about it. I always think that's how a love story needs to play out anyway, because it's just this friendship that starts growing, and if it turns into sex, it turns into sex; but it's not like two young men meet in a bar, go out back and have sex. This is about two human beings really sitting down and trying to figure each other out", the actor said in an interview.
Paul Rudd
Most of you probably know Paul Rudd from Saturday Night Live or Friends, but you should know he has a long Hollywood career behind his back! Just like in Friends, Rudd co-starred with Jennifer Aniston in the 1998 rom-com The Object of My Affection.
Rudd plays Anniston's homosexual best friend, but as the story unfolds, we learn that she's secretly in love with him and wishes to raise a child with him. The Object of My Affection was actually one of the first rom-coms ever to be aimed at a gay audience.
Dennis Quaid
Dennis Quaid has been on the silver screen for nearly half a century and has starred in countless classics, such as Great Balls of Fire, Traffic, and Everybody's All-American. He received his first Golden Globe nomination for his role in the 2003 drama film Far from Heaven, where he plays Frank, Julianne Moore's husband.
In one of the film's most dramatic scenes, Moore's character, Cathy, brings Frank some dinner to his office, only to catch him passionately kissing another man. According to director Todd Haynes, Dennis got quite vigorous during the shooting of the scene.
Colin Firth
Possibly one of the most hearth-wrenching dramas of this last decade, A Single Man tells the story of George, an English professor who tries to cope with the sudden death of his boyfriend. Hollywood legend Colin Firth took on the lead role and he received his first Academy Award nomination.
Firth didn't mind playing a gay character and he doesn't understand why this is an issue for some other men. >"If you're an actor who is afraid to play a character because they're gay, you should probably go and get yourself sorted out, actually. Grow up. I certainly didn't walk around gay, thinking gay, brushing my teeth gay", he told The Scotsman.
Christopher Meloni
Christopher Meloni has been around since the 80s, though you probably remember him for his role as Elliot Stabler in the crime-drama TV series Law and Order: Special Victims Unit. But before that, he played bisexual musician Chris Keller in the HBO prison TV show Oz.
Keller was a recurring character during the show's 6 seasons, so the gay kissing scenes that Meloni had to shoot are uncountable. His character had an on-again off-again type of romance with Tobias Beecher, played by Lee Tergesen. However, he also had to kiss a few other inmates, and he was totally OK with it.
Bradley Cooper
Before becoming the Hollywood legend he is today, Bradley Cooper used to play minor roles mainly in drama films. He landed his first role ever when he was 25 years old in the 2001 rom-com Wet Hot American Summer.
The movie is meant to be a parody of the typical summer camp film, so as you can imagine, there are plenty of twisted love stories and kissing scenes. As to Cooper, he had to shoot a gay love scene with Michael Ian Black. Far from feeling uncomfortable, Cooper confessed that shooting the scene was sort of fun.
Heath Ledger
In 2005, Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal starred in what may well be the most iconic gay romance drama in film history. Brokeback Mountain goes around the secret relationship between two American cowboys, and let me tell you that the story will definitely shed you a few tears. Here's what Ledger commented on his experience playing a gay man.
> "It was certainly a surreal moment the first time I had to kiss Jake [Gyllenhaal], but once that was done, I quickly realized that it didn't make me want to run out and do it again. And you think, 'Okay, what's the next shot?' Those scenes were just a small part of the package", he told The Guardian.
Kerr Smith
Kerr Smith will always be remembered as the man who played Jack McPhee in the legendary teenage drama series Dawson's Creek. Did you know that this was the first show ever include to feature a gay kiss and a gay sex scene between two men?
In the episode True Love aired in 2000, Jack McPhee gives Tobey, played by Adam Kaufman, a tongue kiss. Apparently, Smith had second thoughts on shooting the scene, worried that it would have a negative impact on his future career, but we're glad he gained courage and went for it.
Sean Penn
Sean Penn is one of the only actors to ever win an Academy Award for portraying a gay character, so obviously he had to be on our list. In 2008, he played Harvey Milk, the famous San Francisco public official and the first openly gay politician in the US.
Penn had to shoot a few kissing scenes with co-star James Franco, who plays Milk's lover, Scott Smith. > "Early on, we had put together a dinner for a lot of the people that had been involved in Harvey Milk's campaign. He said one of the myths is that we're all just the same, it's just the sex that's different. He said, 'In reality, we're very different, it's just the sex that's pretty much the same.'", he told The Huffington Post.
Ewan McGregor
Scottish actor Ewan McGregor has played all sorts of roles, including a handsome gay man in the 2009 comedy film I Love You Philip Morris. In one of the scenes, he kisses and cuddles with fellow co-star Jim Carrey. They look so cute together!
The actor was asked plenty of times how it was like to play a gay character on-screen. > "My one fear was not playing a gay character; my one fear was looking like a straight guy's version of a gay character. That was what I worried about... It is a reflection I guess on where we're at that it's such a big deal that it's a love story between two gay men, like the idea of two men being in love is slightly shocking or almost taboo - it's beyond me", the actor told Wales Online.
James Paxton
Son of director Bill Paxton, James Paxton began his career as an actor at a very early age. He landed one of his first major roles in the 2016 drama series Eyewitness, but unfortunately, the show lasted only one season.
Already in the first chapter, Paxton had to shoot a gay kissing scene with his fellow co-star Tyler Young. He had reportedly never kissed a guy before, but he did it like a pro and didn't find the scene uncomfortable.
Javier Bardem
The Academy Award-winner Javier Bardem is one of the best Spanish actors out there. But years before playing the first gay villain in Skyfall, he played a gay orthopedic surgeon in the drama film Second Skin.
Released in 1999, the movie goes around a gay orthopedic surgeon (Bardem) who tries to seduce a married man (Jordi Molla). Bardem and Molla played a raunchy gay love scene, and to be honest, they nailed it!
Liam Neeson
Liam Neeson is mostly known for playing lead roles in action movies such as Taken and Run All Night, but he's also starred in his fair share of dramas. In 2004, he took on the lead role in the drama biopic Kinsey.
Alfred Kinsey was one of the first scientists to ever address human sexual behavior, and even though he never considered himself to be gay, he did have a few sexual experiences with men. In the film, Neeson kisses his fellow co-star Peter Sarsgaard in the mouth, and the actor stated that shooting that scene was pretty challenging.
Robert Redford
Robert Redford usually portrays the prototypical male, so it comes as a big surprise that he actually played a gay man back in the 60s. It was 1965 when he agrees to play the closeted actor Wade Lewis in the drama film Inside Daisy Clover.
In fact, this was one of the first films in history where a gay character isn't ashamed of his sexuality and doesn't commit suicide. His co-star Natalie Wood plays a tomboy, and guess what? It earned her a Golden Globe nomination!
Leonardo DiCaprio
Leonardo DiCaprio is one of the greatest actors of all time, and ever since his big break in the 1993 drama film What's Eating Gilbert Grape?, his fame has never stopped rocketing. While he normally plays womanizers, in 2011 he stepped out of his comfort zone and took on the role of former FBI agent J. Edgar Hoover.
Hoover was a man conflicted with his sexuality who allegedly had an affair with Clyde Tolson, who in the film is portrayed by actor Arnie Hammer. The two had to shoot two kissing scenes and DiCaprio said he was totally fine with it.
Jim Carrey
As we've seen in #8, Jim Carrey played Ewan McGregor's lover in the 2009 comedy biopic I Love You Philip Morris. The film had a limited theatrical release due to its explicit gay scenes, but in spite of that, it was a whopping success and grossed over $30 million.
Far from feeling ashamed, Carrey enjoyed playing his character and even joked about it in an interview. > What I'm doing for the gay community is loving and tolerating. Accepting everyone on equal terms... [Kissing Ewan McGregor was] a dream come true. I mean look at the guy", Carrey told Gman Reviews.
Matt Damon
Matt Damon is not only one of the most well-paid actors in the world but also one of the number one heartthrobs out there. In 2013, he took us by surprise when he took on the role of Scott Thorson, Liberace's gay lover, in the drama biopic Behind the Candelabra.
The actor confessed how it felt like to shoot so many kissing scenes with fellow co-star Michael Douglas. > "It wasn't the most natural thing in the world to do. Like, for one scene, I had to come out of a pool, go over to Michael [Douglas], straddle him on a chaise lounge and start kissing him. And throughout the script, it's not like I kiss him just once. We drew it up like a football plan", the actor told Playboy.