The actor said that his role as the emcee in the 1999 Broadway revival of Cabaret opened his mind.
Michael C. Hall, the star of Dexter has said in an interview with the Daily Beast that he’s not “all the way heterosexual.”
Speaking about playing the emcee in Cabaret, as well as openly gay character David Fisher in Six Feet Under, Hall spoke about his own sexuality, saying: “I think there’s a spectrum. I am on it. I’m heterosexual. But if there was a percentage, I would say I was not all the way heterosexual.”
He credited his role as the emcee for opening his mind on his sexuality, saying: “I think playing the emcee required me to fling a bunch of doors wide open because that character I imagined as pansexual.
“Yeah, like I made out with Michael Stuhlbarg every night doing that show. I think I have always leaned into any fluidity in terms of my sexuality.”
Hall then said that he hadn’t been with another man, explaining: “I’ve never had an intimate relationship with a man. I think, maybe because of an absent father, there has definitely been a craving for an emotional intimacy with a man.
“I don’t mean to suggest that an emotional relationship between a father and son is any way homoerotic. I mean an emotional intimacy or connection that at least in the milieu I grew up in was considered fey.
“I had an appetite to have emotional connections with men beyond beer, sports, and fist pumping that were considered ‘gay.’”
Related: Lucas Hedges opens up about sexuality, says he’s “not totally straight”
He also said that he hadn’t been attracted to another man, saying: “I mean, I was attracted to John Cameron Mitchell when I saw Hedwig. But no, as a rule I am heterosexual.”
Hall also weighed in on the debate over straight people playing LGBTQ characters, saying: “For me, I was playing this aspirationally iconic gay role as a straight man. I felt all the more charged to do it justice. I certainly understand anyone who takes issue with the phenomenon.
“Cate Blanchett recently said that any actor should be able to play anyone. But the fact is there are scores of heterosexual actors winning accolades and awards for playing gay and trans characters.
“It’s undeniable that the public finds it more palatable to see a straight actor do their own sexual or gender stunt work—‘Oh look at him, pretending to want that man, it’s so convincing’—as opposed to looking at a gay or trans person being themselves. It’s acting no matter what. It’s a character.
“When I was in Six Feet Under I was aware that I was a heterosexual man playing a gay role that was unique in the TV landscape. I was also aware that given the way things are and maybe still are to a degree that not many gay actors were pursuing the role. It would expose them in a way. That irony wasn’t lost on me.”
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