Related: New NYT piece on Lee Pace's emergence from the HW closet after getting strong hints to hide his sexual orientation and using women friends as beards...
[quote]Brian Moylan, writing about Mr. Pace’s arrival in the “Angels” Broadway cast for W Magazine, put the question to him directly: What was his sexual orientation? It seems an entirely predictable question for an interview about the cornerstone of the gay theatrical canon. Mr. Pace had already said in that interview that he “feels it’s important for gay actors to play the gay roles.” But he was thrown. He seemed “flustered” and “surprised,” Mr. Moylan wrote, and he published Mr. Pace’s response: “I’ve dated men. I’ve dated women. I don’t know why anyone would care. I’m an actor and I play roles. To be honest, I don’t know what to say — I find your question intrusive.”
[quote]In the past, Mr. Pace was so not out that occasionally gossip blogs would put him together with an actress, like his friend Judy Greer. He brought her to the premiere of 'A Single Man.' “At the time, I knew he was gay,” Ms. Greer said in an interview. “I didn’t really talk about it to anyone — not even really because he asked me not to, just because it’s his business. When I saw that stuff online, I thought it was really strange. I didn’t think anything of it but to be flattered that anyone would think he would want to go out with me. I was like, ‘Oh my God, whattt?’ He was so tall and handsome! I thought, I’ll ride this wave for a minute.” She laughed. “And I was single at the time.”
[quote]Unlike Broadway, Hollywood can be less accepting. There are still relatively few out gay actors, along with leading-man parts for them, at least in major studio fare. As his career began to take off, was Mr. Pace encouraged not to be too open? He paused for a while. “No,” he said, then reconsidered. “Look — yeah. I remember when I signed with a new agent, we worked together for a year. He took me to some coffee shop in the middle of the afternoon and I knew he wanted to talk about something. He said, ‘I heard you’re gay, is that true?’ I said, ‘Is that a problem?’ And of course he said, ‘No, fine, just felt like I needed to know.’ But within about a year, he was no longer working with me.”
[quote]What changed his mind were two things. One is a new relationship, with a fashion executive he preferred not to name. (“I’ve never seen Lee so happy,” Ms. Greer said.) The other is the role of Joe Pitt, and the reflection it gave him on his own life. Onstage, in Joe Pitt’s coming out, Mr. Pace sticks on a few particular lines: “I want to live now. Maybe for the first time ever. And I can be anything. Anything I need to be.” “I remember after it had happened, I was able to say that,” Mr. Pace said, recognizing the thrill of freedom in it. “I can be anything. Once you say those words and the sky doesn’t fall down, or the earth doesn’t open up, a lightning bolt doesn’t zap you. You really can be anything.” So he has embraced the opportunity. “It feels nicer,” he said, “than I ever thought it would be.”
