I HIGHLY recommend everyone go read the whole article, it’s fascinating and sad.
In our next on-camera class, Brad praised me. “Everyone needs to look at Colton,” he said. “This kid is going places.” I knew what he was doing: withholding validation, then meting it out one morsel at a time so you craved the attention even as you hated him for being stingy with it. It was the kind of behavior that bonded him to the damaged young people who passed through his class. I was happy he had said my performance was strong - as though I had passed the test. People with a stronger sense of self-worth might have quit after being so humiliated, but I belonged here.
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When I was closeted, I beat out straight guys to play straight roles, and I played them well. Now, the only auditions I get are for gay characters, which remain sparse. Is that because I’m not very good? Maybe. But that didn’t stop me from booking roles before. It’s no different for the young gay actors I see coming up today, trying to make it in a system that isn’t built for them.
These two parts really stuck out at me, there’s a lot of really sad self aware reflection on his whole upbringing and career. The parts about simulating the graphic sex scenes were really disturbing
In our next on-camera class, Brad praised me. “Everyone needs to look at Colton,” he said. “This kid is going places.” I knew what he was doing: withholding validation, then meting it out one morsel at a time so you craved the attention even as you hated him for being stingy with it. It was the kind of behavior that bonded him to the damaged young people who passed through his class. I was happy he had said my performance was strong - as though I had passed the test. People with a stronger sense of self-worth might have quit after being so humiliated, but I belonged here.
...
When I was closeted, I beat out straight guys to play straight roles, and I played them well. Now, the only auditions I get are for gay characters, which remain sparse. Is that because I’m not very good? Maybe. But that didn’t stop me from booking roles before. It’s no different for the young gay actors I see coming up today, trying to make it in a system that isn’t built for them.
These two parts really stuck out at me, there’s a lot of really sad self aware reflection on his whole upbringing and career. The parts about simulating the graphic sex scenes were really disturbing
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