Jeremy Irvine's One Man Gay Agenda

I am of mixed mind on the subject of LGBT characters requiring LGBT actors to portray them, but at a certain point it gets a little much for a not-out actor to keep taking on like one thousand gay roles without saying anything, and so I have to admit I am side-eyeing the news that actor Jeremy Irvine, who threw the first brick at Stonewall according to Roland Emmerich, is probably going to play Alan Scott, the openly gay Green Lantern character in the forthcoming HBO Max series. Yes this is the same series from Greg Berlanti that recently cast Finn Wittrock as another Green Lantern -- there will be time-jumping apparently...

"Scott was Earth’s first Green Lantern, who, true to the comics, is a gay man. He was created by Martin Nodell and made his comic book debut in 1940. A train engineer by trade, Scott derived his powers from a mystical green lantern crafted from a mysterious meteorite. He later joined the Justice Society of America, and in universe-hopping adventures would sometimes team with members of the Green Lantern Corps, including Hal Jordan. Based on the DC Comics property, the show was first announced in 2019 and was ordered to series last year. The story spans decades and galaxies, beginning on Earth in 1941 with Scott, and then heading to 1984 with cocky alpha male Gardner and half-alien Bree Jarta. They’ll be joined by a multitude of other Lanterns — from comic book favorites to never-before-seen heroes."

And, listen. If it was just the one role (this year) playing a gay man maybe I wouldn't say anything. But Jeremy Irvine is ALSO playing a gay man in Terence Davies next movie called Benediction, which I've talked here about several times before -- he's playing Ivor Novello, real-world sexually-conflicted movie-star and the lover of this film's main character, the poet Siegfried Sassoon (who's being played by Jack Lowden, current boyfriend of Saoirse Ronan and future boyfriend of me). This is just getting to be a lot without addressing the pink elephant in the room, Jeremy!

I'm not the biggest fan of poking around in an actor's personal life -- I gave up most gossip of that sort awhile back and it's suited me just fine. I have no idea if Irvine is actually gay or not, and I'm not trying to shove him out of any closet if he is. Maybe -- and this is hardly a stretch! -- the Roland Emmerichs and Terence Davies and Greg Berlantis of the world just like to stare at Jeremy Irvine. Like I said -- not a stretch! I sure like to stare at Jeremy Irvine myself. 

But I feel as if we've traveled passed the rainbow rubicon with this dude at this point -- especially after the vociferous pushback that Stonewall got for feeling so white and weirdly un-gay (not to mention terrible, just terrible) -- and Jeremy Irvine needs to have some kind of a talk with us all at some point in 2021. I look forward to it, Jeremy! And until then we'll spend some more time doing what we normally do, just sitting quietly and politely and staring at you, after the jump...

Another Taste of Benediction

Earlier this afternoon on his Instagram the actor and Saoirse-beau Jack Lowden was kind enough to share with us the above snap from the shooting of his film Benediction with director Terence Davies -- that's the great Simon Russell Beale he's dancing with, who's obviously been around forever but will always and forever be the prissy ginger poof Ferdinand Lyle from Penny Dreadful to me. Benediction we have talked about a'plenty at this point -- it's the bio-pic of the homosexual WWII-era poet Seigfried Sassoon that co-stars Jeremy Irvine as famed old-timey actor (and rumored lover) Ivor Novello; see some pics of him on a horse on set here! And here's a photo of Jack trying on a uniform! This movie will have it all, it seems! All if it! Everything!

Pics of the Day

Oh and speaking of beautiful actors in uniform (as I just was five minutes ago) former Dunkirk Twink and current Saoirse beau Jack Lowden has just shared with us this the first photograph of him in the movie Benediction, a movie which we're real excited about! We posted about it back in January when it was first announced (ha, remember January? Me neither) -- it's the new film from Terence Davies, and it has Jack playing WWI-fighter turned poet Seigfried Sassoon. The important bit being that Sassoon was gay and had an affair with the actor Ivor Novello, which brings me to the following news which I'd missed until now...

... that Novello will be played in the film by the actor Jeremy Irvine. In fact I'd guess the following photos that Jeremy posted five weeks ago on his Insta were probably from the filming of this (Deadline reports today that filming has just now ended, after COVID delayed everything) giving us a look at him in character:

Also of note! Siegried Sassoon also had an affair with an actor named Glen Byam Shaw, who was Ivor Novello's former lover -- it's not really surprising that these things got incestuous, because things still get incestuous in the gay community even now and it's far far easier to find other homosexuals now than it was back then. Anyway Shaw is a character in the film too, and he's being played by Tom Blyth, a relatively new young actor, but Blyth's Instagram offers us a look at him in character too:

With a little digging you can dig up half a film these days! 

Alongside this photo Blyth shares this info:

"I was going for DiCaprio in Gatsby but [Jeremy Irvine] reckons I captured more of a “Richard E. Grant in Withnail And I”... which is, y’know, a bit less flattering and makes me question my imitation skills."

The Hell Where Youth and Laughter Go

My most anticipated movie out of TIFF -- since I wasn't able to virtually screen either Dune of Last Night in Soho anyway -- was Terence Davies' gay poet biopic Benediction, and I am very happy to report that it did not disappoint! My review went up at Pajiba this afternoon, check it out right here. God I loved writing about this one. Anyway that new photo from the set seen above was shared by Jack Lowden on his Instagram earlier today -- that's him alongside his co-star in cattiness Jeremy Irvine, of course. No word on when this movie is getting an actual U.S. release yet, but I will surely keep y'all informed. Beautiful and moving motion picture, this one.

Pic of the Day

Actor and Saoirse-beau Jack Lowden this morning shared this photo of his latest costume fitting for Terence Davies' upcoming biopic Benediction, about the poet and noted homosexual Siegfried Sassoon -- we've posted on this film a couple of times previously, to announce it here and then to share the first official photo from it here. That second link also came with a few set photos, including ones of Jeremy Irvine, who's playing the actor and also noted homosexual Ivor Novello and yes, one can assume their affair figures prominently into the story here, since I have faith the openly gay Terence Davies won't let us down. Anyway I am surprised filming is still happening on this -- those early set photos were from November! Quite the shoot!

Fancy Boys

I've been keeping hard track of Terence Davies' forthcoming old-timey gay flick Benediction ever since I first heard tell of it being a thing way back in January of 2020 -- a thing that was going to star hot-ging Jack Lowden as the WWI-vet turned poet Siegfried Sassoon and Jeremy Irvine as his gay boyfriend famous-actor Ivor Novello. You can see all the posts so far here. Anyway it's just been announced the movie will premiere at the Toronto International Film Fest in September, and with that announcement came these two new and official photos of the boys wearing tuxes and looking gorg. I approve this message!