Jurassic World's lesbian vet and other LGBT characters that are all talk
20 June 2018
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom star Daniella Pineda says her character in the film is gay - not that you would know from watching it. She told Build that the line with the reveal was cut from the movie "for the sake of time". In the scene, she's talking to Chris Pratt's character. "I look at Chris and I'm like: 'Square jaw, good bone structure, tall, muscles - I don't date men, but if I did, it would be you'," she said. Daniella continued: "I love that I'm looking at Chris Pratt, like the hottest guy in the world and I'm just like, 'it would gross me out but I guess I would do it'. "It was cool because it was a little insight into my character, but they cut it." She added that she hopes that aspect of her character, Dr Zia Rodriguez, can be developed in the next Jurassic World film. It's the latest in a line of recent films where LGBT representation hasn't quite made it from the script to the screen. We've had Ewoks, Hutts and Jawas but it has taken 41 years of films to introduce a hint of LGBT characters to the Star Wars movies. The writer of Solo: A Star Wars Story says iconic character Lando Calrissian is pansexual in the sci-fi series. People who identify as pansexual are attracted to others regardless of their gender. Lando is played by Donald Glover in the latest movie and by Billy Dee Williams in the original trilogy. "There's a fluidity to Donald and Billy Dee's sexuality," said Jonathan Kasdan, who co-wrote Solo, in an interview with Huffington Post. "I would have loved to have gotten a more explicitly LGBT character into this movie. Instead, viewers rely on Lando's mild flirting with Alden Ehrenreich as Han Solo and comments from Phoebe Waller-Bridge's L3-37 to piece together the character's fluid sexuality. In 2007 JK Rowling caused a stir with some Harry Potter fans when she revealed that Dumbledore was gay. This was the same year she released the final book in the series. But across seven instalments, his sexuality had never been committed to the page. "Dumbledore fell in love with Grindelwald [a dark wizard in the Harry Potter universe], and that added to his horror when Grindelwald showed himself to be what he was," she told fans in New York at the time. So when Jude Law was cast as a younger, hotter (sorry Michael Gambon) Dumbledore opposite Johnny Depp's Grindelwald in Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, fans were disappointed at director David Yates' comments that Dumbledore's sexuality would "not explicitly" be addressed on screen. He said the men fell in love with each other's "ideas and ideology" as well as "each other." JK Rowling told followers on Twitter that she would mute those who attacked her for the decision to not focus on this in the film. She wrote the screenplay for Fantastic Beasts 2. Marvel's movie A-listers are a heterosexual bunch, but LGBT hopes were raised with talk of Tessa Thompson portraying bisexual character Valkyrie in Thor: Ragnorok. But talk is all it turned out to be. "There were things that we talked about that we allowed to exist in the characterisation, but maybe not be explicit in the film," Tessa told Rolling Stone after the movie was released. She said a scene showing a woman leaving her bedroom was cut to make room for "vital exposition." It's "frustrating" to see scenes like this cut from major blockbusters, Montreal-based LGBT, film and business writer Erika Ashley tells Newsbeat.. "As an LGBT person, if there's a fairly large LGBT storyline in any form of media, it's frustrating to see it cut, watered down or reduced to a very small part of the storyline when that's an endemic part of who the character is," she says. Valkyrie's story wasn't continued in Avengers: Infinity War (the character didn't return) so all we have are Tessa's words to rely on. Scenes which hinted at a relationship between Ayo and Okoye in Black Panther were also cut, according to actress Florence Kasumba. Wonder Woman is one of DC's biggest successes in the cinema but the $821 million (PS608 million) it made at the box office came without fully exploring her sexuality. Diana Prince (Wonder Woman) is bisexual in the comics, which was confirmed by writer Greg Rucka in 2016 - the year before the film hit screens. In the movie, she left her tropical paradise (populated only by women) after falling for Chris Pine's character, Steve Trevor. Since then, there have been petitions online and Wonder Woman star Gal Gadot has spoken of her support for showing the Amazon's sexuality on screen. "It's not something we've explored," she told Variety magazine in 2016. "When you talk theoretically about all the women on Themyscira (Wonder Woman's home) and how many years she was there, then what he said makes sense." "We need to remember the movie business is, first and foremost, a business, so movie theatres and large studios aren't necessarily looking to tell a storyline that's going to decrease their numbers," adds Erika. "So what's happened with Solo seems like a tester to see how people respond and whether there would be any negative backlash before moving forward." We'll have to wait and see if any future films will set things straight (or not). Actor John Cho, who plays Hikaru Sulu in the most recent version of Star Trek, revealed that his character is gay in the press tour for Star Trek Beyond in 2016. There was a scene filmed where Sulu kisses his husband when they are reunited after he comes off the USS Enterprise. According to Simon Pegg, who co-wrote the movie, the decision to make the character gay was made as a tribute to actor George Takei, who originally played the character in the 60s. But George - who is gay and has campaigned for LGBT rights - didn't agree, saying a homosexual Sulu was not part of the canon. Cue super-nerd Simon Pegg writing an in-depth blog about canon and the Star Trek universe in defence of his decision. In the end, the arguments don't really matter - the kiss in question was left on the cutting room floor. A version of this article, headlined 'Lando is pansexual': LGBT characters that are all talk, appeared on Newsbeat on 18 May 2018. Follow Newsbeat on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. Listen to Newsbeat live at 12:45 and 17:45 every weekday on BBC Radio 1 and 1Xtra - if you miss us you can listen back here.
Marvel's movie A-listers are a heterosexual bunch, but LGBT hopes were raised with talk of Tessa Thompson portraying bisexual character Valkyrie in Thor: Ragnorok. But talk is all it turned out to be. "There were things that we talked about that we allowed to exist in the characterisation, but maybe not be explicit in the film," Tessa told Rolling Stone after the movie was released. She said a scene showing a woman leaving her bedroom was cut to make room for "vital exposition." It's "frustrating" to see scenes like this cut from major blockbusters, Montreal-based LGBT, film and business writer Erika Ashley tells Newsbeat.. "As an LGBT person, if there's a fairly large LGBT storyline in any form of media, it's frustrating to see it cut, watered down or reduced to a very small part of the storyline when that's an endemic part of who the character is," she says. Valkyrie's story wasn't continued in Avengers: Infinity War (the character didn't return) so all we have are Tessa's words to rely on. Scenes which hinted at a relationship between Ayo and Okoye in Black Panther were also cut, according to actress Florence Kasumba.
1518_0
OK, well how gay is the Marvel Cinematic Universe?
Wonder Woman is one of DC's biggest successes in the cinema but the $821 million (PS608 million) it made at the box office came without fully exploring her sexuality. Diana Prince (Wonder Woman) is bisexual in the comics, which was confirmed by writer Greg Rucka in 2016 - the year before the film hit screens. In the movie, she left her tropical paradise (populated only by women) after falling for Chris Pine's character, Steve Trevor. Since then, there have been petitions online and Wonder Woman star Gal Gadot has spoken of her support for showing the Amazon's sexuality on screen. "It's not something we've explored," she told Variety magazine in 2016. "When you talk theoretically about all the women on Themyscira (Wonder Woman's home) and how many years she was there, then what he said makes sense." "We need to remember the movie business is, first and foremost, a business, so movie theatres and large studios aren't necessarily looking to tell a storyline that's going to decrease their numbers," adds Erika. "So what's happened with Solo seems like a tester to see how people respond and whether there would be any negative backlash before moving forward." We'll have to wait and see if any future films will set things straight (or not).
1518_1
Has DC done any better?