It's Oscar season, and given the multiple nominations for Ron Howard's "A Beautiful Mind," let's consider the controversy over the "de-gaying" of schizoid mathematician John Forbes Nash Jr., as played by heartthrob Russell Crowe in the flick. Could little Opie be a great, big homophobe? Yes, or so say the folks at the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation. The film is "an absolute insult" to the lesbigaytrans community," said the group's Scott Seomin, as quoted in the Washington Blade. Seomin added, for good measure, "It would be laughable and ridiculous if it was not so disrespectful to gays and lesbians" and, by way of comparison, "If Ron Howard had made [the movie] 'Ali,' there would be no black Muslims." The real Nash, though married and a father, wrote of his homosexual attractions and was once arrested in a men's room sting. But the elderly fellow is finishing his years with his wife, after all, and their relationship seems firmly rooted by deep emotional ties. In the movie's defense, Russell Crowe, who played a gay hunk in the Aussie flick "The Sum of Us" (note: must rent), told Entertainment Weekly that remaining faithful to Nash's real life risked insulting gays. "We didn't want to imply that there was any possibility that schizophrenia and homosexual are related," Crowe told the magazine. "That would be ridiculous."
"De-gaying" films about real people who had a lavender streak has been and remains a legitimate issue, and one the gay community should take seriously. But I think this was a case where Opie just wasn't gonna win. If he had left in the gay stuff, some quarters would assuredly have complained about another crazy gay guy (especially in light of the Anne Heche "I'm not a lesbian, I was just psychotic" episode). Leaving it out got him in hot water, too. Some days it doesn't pay to leave Mayberry.
On the other hand: Reading in the Feb. 4 Washington Post about how Human Rights Campaign doyenne Elizabeth Birch sucked up to Ron Howard at a charity screening of the movie (for the National Mental Health Awareness Campaign) gave me the willies. "I'm never in awe of anything in Washington," beamed Birch, "But show me a great director, and I'll swoon." Maybe Howard shouldn't be damned for choosing to excise mention of Nash's homosexual proclivities, but to genuflect over him seems a bit much, no?