Jonathan Bailey says this classic queer film ‘activated’ him as a gay teen
Wicked: For Good star Jonathan Bailey. (Getty)
Jonathan Bailey has revealed the classic queer film that “completely activated” him as a teen and it’s an extremely relatable one at that.
The British actor, 37, is currently on the promo tour for Wicked: For Good, which is due to arrive in UK cinemas on 21 November. Bailey reprises his role as Prince Fiyero opposite Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba/’The Wicked Witch of the West’ and Ariana Grande as Glinda/’Glinda the Good’.
In an interview with Esquire ahead of the film’s release, Bailey touched on the male role models he had growing up. The actor named Dr David Brunton, who taught him when he studied sixth form at Magdalen College School in Oxford.
Describing Brunton as “the most incredible, inspiring person,” Bailey said the educator “saw me for who I was.”
The Bridgerton star shared he’d begun writing a dissertation on the representation of Hutus and Tutsis in films about the Rwandan genocide but “then Brokeback Mountain came out.” He continued: “I can’t remember if I just wanted a reason to go back 10 more times to see it, but I was completely activated.
“Overnight, I decided to make my dissertation about the representation of homosexuality in the film. I remember coming to [Brunton] and saying, ‘I want to do this.’ And he said, ‘Do you know what? I think you’re on to something’.”
The Wicked actor received “a very good mark on that fastidiously researched essay.”
Unfortunately, Brunton took his own life while the actor was on a gap year. “He was such a huge part of my life and I was lucky to be taught by him,” the actor lamented, adding: “I think about him a lot.”
He recalled reading Othello with Brunton, which Bailey said inadvertently prepped him for an audition to play Cassio in the Shakespeare play later on, which he regards as his “breakthrough role.”
Bailey was recently named People’s Sexiest Man Alive, becoming the first out-gay man to receive the title.
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