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Nathan Lane says ‘homophobia is alive and well’ in Hollywood

In a Vanity Fair interview The Producers and The Birdcage star claimed that being an out gay actor cost him roles in his career

In an interview with Vanity Fair, Lane said that his breakthrough film role in the 1996 comedy The Birdcage, in which he played a flamboyant drag queen in a long-term relationship with Robin Williams’ club-owner, failed to lead to a significant movie acting career, reporting that his then agent told him: “Maybe if you weren’t so open about your lifestyle, it would have.” As an example, Lane said he was up for a role in the part-animated basketball comedy Space Jam (also released in 1996) and said he was told “the director [Joe Pytka] saw me hosting the Tony awards and thought that suggested I was too gay to play the part”. Lane also said he was “grateful” to Ryan Murphy, whose advent allowed him to play major character roles in TV shows, including journalist Dominick Dunne in Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story and defence attorney F Lee Bailey in The People v OJ Simpson: American Crime Story.

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