Gay Belfast 2008 Hunk of the Month

2008 Gay Belfast Hunks are Mitch Hewer, Bradley James, Chad Allen, Gerard McCarthy, Andrew Bree, Novak Djokovic, Shane Watson, Nick Carter, Gregory Michael, Shayne Ward, Rupert Evans, Peter Stickles.

Gay Belfast Hunk of the Month for December is Mitch Hewer

That Mitch Hewer is a bit of a dark horse, you know. After graduating from Skins earlier this year, the young actor can now be seen in ITV's musical drama Britannia High. The new role is squarely in "triple threat" territory, requiring Mitch to act, sing and dance. How equipped was he for the challenge? And what on Earth is the deal with that curly new hairdo? Our Gay Belfast friends at Digital Spy gave Mr Hewer a call to find out whats going on.

What's Britannia High about? "Britannia High is this new, edgy series which follows the lives of seven kids, their friendships and the troubles they go through at stage school. There's a live episode at the end of the series, which has never been done before. I think it's totally different from High School Musical, Fame and that era of dramas."

What's your character, Danny, like? He's very different from Maxxie..."He's a lot different from Maxxie! Danny is very much the charmer, the ladies' man of the school, the joker. He's an all-round talent and a very accomplished musician who plays the piano to a very high standard. But he does have a problem which threatens his future at Britannia High, and it's the last thing that any of the students want because they're all there to be the best. You find out in episode two what it is."

There are lots of song and dance numbers in the show. Are you a natural dancer? "I've tapdanced since I was 11 years old. I always wanted to be a tapdancer and that's all I ever wanted to be. I never dreamed of being an actor! [Acting] just kind of came along, which was a bit surreal for me."

You had a big dance number in a church in Skins. Do you think that swung you this role? "I don't really know. Some people could say that. The only thing I know is that I auditioned like everyone else did and I prepped just as hard as everyone else had to prep. I guess the part of Maxxie in Skins meant I had a profile already, but I still had to have a seven-hour audition with Arlene [Phillips], which was quite tough."

And is it you singing in the show too? "Yes, it is. I never trained in singing, although I happened to go to a college in Bristol called SWADA (South West Academy of Dramatic Arts) when I was 16. But to me training is when you go to London and train."

What do you make of the comparisons to High School Musical? "I feel Britannia High is aimed at an older audience than High School Musical. Britannia High is more of a serious drama, with the music and dance on top. Also we have a reason to go into songs, because we're at drama school."

Were you happy with the way things ended for Maxxie on Skins? "Well yeah, I guess so. It was quite a nice ending, going to London. I had an amazing experience doing Skins. It was the first acting I'd ever done in my entire life, so I had to learn on set for those two years. I had to keep my head screwed on and learn from the other cast."

Have you stayed in touch with the cast since filming ended? "No, unfortunately I haven't. I guess we've all gone our separate ways. I don't know if they see each other but I'm in Manchester so I'm quite far away from where I originally live. I don't know if they're working now. I haven't got a clue."

Was it your choice to overhaul your hair for Britannia High? "It wasn't my choice but I think it's good for me as an actor to completely change my look. I don't want to get stereotyped through my blonde hair. Maybe I'll do a film next time and have crazy make-up on!"

What are your career ambitions for the future? "I'd love to be able to do a really good English movie. My dream is to go to Hollywood and see what happens over there. All I can do is work really hard because I'm sure there's someone out there who has the same level of enthusiasm as me and can do the same stuff as me, if not better. I have to give it everything I have to get where I want, which is in LA doing Hollywood blockbusters."

Gay Belfast Hunk of the Month for November is Bradley James

The new 13-part BBC One drama series Merlin has been a suprise hit this autumn. Merlin which updates the story of the infamous sorceror of Arthurian legend for a new audience. One reason for its success must be the hunky lads playing the leads. They come no hunkier that Bradley James who plays Arthur. Bradley James admits audiences are in for a surprise when they first cast eyes on the young Prince Arthur in Merlin. "No one is going to like him to begin with," he smiles. The young man James portrays is a spoilt, boorish and over-protected teenager, which is one of the reasons why the 24-year-old, Devon-born actor was so keen to take on the role. "One of the appeals of playing him is that he is not really perfect. He is not a noble figure to begin with. He is not a so-called hero, and he is not good for the sake of being good. There are flaws to him," he says. "It's a long journey for him to make to become the Arthur that is so familiar to us." Arthur's troubled past has made him a proud and emotionally repressed young man, Bradley explains. "He is a teenager encroaching on adulthood. He's grown up without a mother and he's never had an outlet for his emotions so he is keeping a lot within himself," he says. "He will be King one day. So he would not dare allow his friends to see a weaker side. He's expected to be a pillar of strength. There's a stubbornness that comes with that and as a result he is not able to sympathize with other people." The arrival in Camelot of the mysterious young Merlin brings out Arthur's worst side at first. "They fall out straight away when Merlin doesn't take too kindly to the way Arthur is treating a servant," he explains. "Arthur tends to use brute force and ignorance to get what he wants. His privileged upbringing has an effect on his personality. When you grow up with people deferring to you it has an impact on the way you behave. But Merlin is a catalyst for a change in his behaviour," he says. "He sees in Merlin a lot more than he judges at first and it helps him realise the kind of man he could become," he explains. A sports fanatic, James admits he has had the time of his life working on Merlin. "The workload has been very intense. The sword work was the thing I enjoyed the most. They were the most fun sequences. I think that's why they hired me. I look like I can run fast and swing a sword around with conviction," he smiles. It was a steep learning curve, he admits. "On the first day I found myself holding a sword with Will Mellor charging at me like a maniac. It was like being thrown in at the deep end," he says. "I learned on the job from the brilliant stunt director Andreas Petrides. He was fantastic. He made the whole thing quite easy." James picked up more than his share of injuries during filming. "I managed to pick up a bruise most days. I still have a couple of scratches on my arm from Will Mellor. It makes you feel like you are a big warrior hero suffering for his art," he smiles.

Our Gay Belfast Hunk of the Month for October is Chad Allen, star of the Donald Strachey Mystery Series. Born June 5, 1974 in Cerritos, California, Chad Allen grew up in Long Beach. He's the youngest of four boys, and his parents were hoping for a girl. They got one, in the shape of Chad's twin sister, Charity. Chad was the "extra change", as he puts it. Chad got his start in show business when his mother started entering him and his twin sister Charity in "twin contests" at fairs, and they won quite a few times. People kept telling his mother how cute the twins looked together, and that she should try to get the them into acting. Charity didn't much like show business at all, but Chad was bitten by the acting bug. It was decided that Chad Lazzari sounded like a name for a dark-haired Italian, not a blond, blue-eyed boy, and he started out on his acting career as Chad Allen instead. His first job was in a McDonalds television commercial, at age four. His first dramatic work came at age six, in a pilot for a television series that never went into production, Cutter to Houston. His first big break in a television series happened when he was eight and joined the cast of "St. Elsewhere" as Tommy Westphall, an autistic boy. He played that character literally until the very end, when he was the last actor on-screen in the final scene of the final episode of St. Elsewhere in 1988. During that period, he worked continuously (and sometimes simultaneously) on a succession of other successful TV shows: Webster (1985-1986), Our House (1986-1988) and My Two Dads (1989-1990). Chad filled his "spare time" by guest-starring in a whole host of other television shows, such as Airwolf, Hunter, The Wonder Years, Star Trek The Next Generation, In the Heat of the Night, Highway to Heaven, Simon and Simon, and appeared in ten television movies. He also appeared in several stage productions, as a guest on TV game shows and in a series of public service anti-drug programs. Courageously, in the October 9, 2001 issue of The Advocate, Chad came out as a gay man. He also acknowledged past problems with drugs and alcohol. He also has spoken to a number of groups and at events about gay rights issues including taking part in a forum on Larry King Live on the issue of gay marriage. He has also lent his support to a large number of charities over the years, including The American Diabetes Association, The March of Dimes, Project Angel Food, the Autistic Children's Foundation, the American Cancer Society, the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund, AIDS Project Arizona, and AIDS Project Los Angeles. Chad has signed on to do 6 movies in the Donald Strachey Mystery Series. The first film Shock To The System (2006) has been release with On the Other Hand, and Ice Blues due for release very soon.

Gay Belfast Hunk of the Month for September is Gerard McCarthy

Gerard McCarthy is famous to millions as cross dressing bisexual Kris Fisher in Channel 4's Hollyoaks, a role that earned him the title of Best TV Actor at the 2007 Irish Entertainment Awards. But thats small beer to his new award of Gay Belfast Hunk of the Month for September 2008. Gerard recently made headlines last month after he has spoke out against Iris Robinson MP after she made anti-gay remarks. Gerard made his professional debut in Perth Repertory Theatre's production of Carousel before joining the cast of the smash hit West End musical Mamma Mia! at The Prince Edward Theatre, London. Other theatre credits include On Eagle's Wing (Odyssey Arena, Belfast); Call Me Lee (New End Theatre, London); Snow Queen (Lyric Theatre, Belfast); The Good Friday Trilogy (Bridewell Theatre, London); T.S. Eliot's Murder In The Cathedral (St. Anne's Cathedral, Belfast); the 2004 West End revival of Saturday Night Fever (Apollo Victoria Theatre, London) and two panto seasons of giant slaying as Jack in Jack & The Beanstalk (Waterfront Hall, Belfast & Millennium Forum, Derry).

Gerard's presenting credits include Inside Out for BBC 1, RaveOnAir'06 - LIVE and extensive work for Virgin which includes exclusive backstage coverage at the 2007 V-Festival at Chelmsford and Virgin: Mobile Bites, where his celebrity guests included David Hasselhoff, Kym Ryder, Dermot O'Leary and Peter Stringfellow. For radio he has provided the dulcet tones of a Fugly Sister in Cinderella for 4Radio and recently recorded The Interpreter by Andrew McIlroy. The Interpreter was chosen as the winning entrant in Channel 4's writing competition The Radio Play's The Thing and was directed By Joyce Branagh. Gerard has also appeared as a guest on Big Brother's Little Brother, Most Haunted- Live, Katie & Peter Unleashed, The Friday Night Project and performed with soul legend Sheila Ferguson as part of Children In Need 2006 and again with his Hollyoaks co-stars in 2007. Gerard is also an ambassador for the Northern Ireland Children's Hospice and the NSPCC.

Gay Belfast Hunk of the Month for August is Andrew Bree

Eight Ulster athletes have been named in the 51-strong Ireland team for next month's Olympic Games in Beijing. The hunkest must be Helen's Bay swimmers Andrew Bree. Bree has left for Singapore in July as he counts down to the Beijing Olympics. Bree has hooked up with the Venezuelan team in order to be fully prepared for his campaign in China. However, the road to Beijing has not been smooth. Bree was only recently given the green light to compete at the Beijing Olympics by the doping panel of FINA, the world governing body for swimming. Bree had failed a test for a banned substance, after using an over the counter Vicks Nasal Inhaler which he purchased in the USA, but insisted that he was innocent of doping, claiming the reason that he tested positive for 'levmethamfetamine' was due to the inhaler. Bree said: 'This is a huge relief that my ordeal is now over and I can continue with my preparations for Beijing. 'These last two months have been an extremely difficult and stressful time for both myself and my family and I am thrilled for everybody that this judgment has vindicated me. 'I have always opposed the use of drugs in sport and will continue to do so and I am deeply grateful for the support I have received from my family and a wide circle of friends and fellow swimmers who never doubted me over these last few months.' Bree is the only Irish swimmer so far to have made the 'A' qualifying time for the Olympic Games in Beijing in August. Bree recently competed at the US Nationals in Indiana and swam a new personal best time and Irish record of 2.13.14 in the 200m breaststroke. This time has qualified Bree for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. Good luck Andrew.

The votes are in! Last month we asked for your tennis hunks and you came up trumps with Novak Djokovic. Novak Djokovic is from in Belgrade in Serbia. In January 2008, he won his first Grand Slam title at the Australian Open. After a straight sets win over World No. 1 and defending champion Roger Federer in the semifinals, Djokovic won the final in four sets against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. He thereby became the first player representing Serbia ever to win a Grand Slam singles title and the youngest player in the open era to have reached all four Grand Slam semifinals. Djokovic was the runner-up at the 2007 US Open and has reached five Masters Series finals, winning four of them. He also reached the semifinals of the 2007 and 2008 French Opens and the 2007 Wimbledon Championships. In 2008 he was not so lucky, he lost to former world No 1 Marat Safin.

With all this cricket on TV we thought a close eye on the talent was required and our research suggested Shane Watson, the Australian cricketer.

Hulklike, blond and spiky-haired, Watson is the shiny embodiment of modern-day Australian cricket. As a boy he played for Queensland Under-17s at 15, then went to the Academy.

As a youth he upped and fled to Tasmania, desperate to gatecrash first-class cricket. Watson debuted for the Australian cricket team in 2002, playing his first one-day international against South Africa.

Watson started his first-class cricketing career for Tasmanian Tigers after leaving his home state of Queensland, but returned to play for his native Queensland Bulls as his international career was beginning.

With the Backstreet Boys playing in Belfast this month we thought we would take a look at our favourite member Nick Carter. Nick Carter was born in New York but was brought up in Florida with five siblings. began auditioning for acting roles in the early 1990s, and appeared in many commercials. He later made a tiny background appearance in Edward Scissorhands (1990). It is said that in several auditions, Nick met Backstreet Boys AJ McLean and Howie Dorough and they became friends. Later, the three friends formed a mini-vocal group and started seeking a manager. As they found him, Lou Pearlman, he thought it most appropriate to seek for a fourth member. This was the chance for Kevin Richardson, who brought his cousin Brian with him. At the beginning, there was no success in the United States, even though the first single had been a hit on Orlando radio stations. Lou then marketed the Backstreet Boys in Europe, where they became commercially successful in 1996. To date, Carter has helped the group sell over 100 million albums.

The Backstreet Boys became hugely popular in Europe and the United States in the late 1990s, and Carter gained fame, becoming known as the "heartthrob" of the group. He is the youngest, joining the group at twelve years old. On tour, he played drums and guitar in addition to singing. Carter had become a prominent lead singer in the group, though all five members sing lead on each album. In 1999, he was ranked #1 on the list of "Hottest Teen People Under 21" by Teen People magazine and was named "The Biggest Teen Idol" by Teen People magazine. He was also named one of People magazines "50 Most Beautiful People in the World" in 2000, and voted CosmoGirl's Sexiest Man in the World" in 2002. Carter's fame also helped to launch the successful career of his brother Aaron. Carter attempted a career as a solo artist in 2002 but it was not a success. Carter then went back on tour with the Backstreet Boys, who were promoting the album Never Gone. "Never Gone" helped the group break the 100 million mark for albums sold worldwide. In Autumn 2005, they toured the UK and Europe. Carter and his siblings starred in a reality television show, House of Carters, which premiered in 2007 on the cable channel E!. The series features all five Carter siblings reuniting to live in the same house, as well as feature in-depth moments of their ups and downs. The first season of HoC had 8 episodes, and Carter has since said the show will not seek another season. Carter is currently filming the independent movie Fast Glass.

Gay Belfast Hunk of the Month for April is Gregory Michael

Gregory Michael is the US actor who plays Kevin Archer in the US gay soap hit Dante's Cove. Gregory grew up in Pennsylvania and discovered his love of performing early in life. In his early teens, he was active in community theater, which landed him leading roles in various musicals and plays; some of which were performed at the famous Walnut Street Theatre. Gregory attended college at Pennsylvania State University, which furthered his studies in acting, theater, and the arts. Michael then moved to New York City. His first audition in NYC was for the Walt Disney Company, and he signed on to work at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida as a character performer. Daily shows led to televised Christmas and holiday parades which were Gregory's first appearances on TV. A year after taking the job at Disney, he was recruited to work for Universal Studios. Although his routine still consisted of singing, dancing, and comedic improv, he performed at a different venue. For better success, he realized he would have to leave Orlando, so he returned to New York City. Shortly after he moved to the city, he had his first big role on one of the oldest shows on television, the CBS soap opera As The World Turns, where he worked for more than 7 months. Classes at the "Barrow Group" taught him even more about acting, but because he was always looking to better his career and move up and on, Michael felt that the only place he could be, that would be more beneficial to his career, was Los Angeles, where he is currently based. He landed a pilot shortly after moving to LA, and the show got picked up and went into development right away - Dante's Cove. Viewing the part as a challenge, he began more training and "The Actors Studio" became home for the development of his new character Kevin Archer. Gregory Michael says Kevin is a fairly normal young guy who finds himself at the center of the paranormal world in Dante's Cove. Gay Belfast Hunk of the Month for April is Gregory Michael

The fact is that Kevin did not come to Dante's Cove just for Toby (played by Charlie David). He was drawn there, without knowing why; by rescuing Ambrosius (played by William Gregory Lee) from captivity he became Ambrosius' Chosen, with whom Ambrosius is determined to spend eternity. When Kevin was 12, his mother discovered Kevin's father having sex with another man. It's not that different from what happened to Grace -- except no one got killed or locked in a basement for eternity. Within a few weeks, Kevin's dad had moved away and was never seen again. Occasionally, Kevin's mum would rail against "that faggot who ruined my life" but, pretty much, his father was never discussed again. When Kevin's mum remarried, she told her new husband, Jack, what had happened and created a monster who immediately sensed that Kevin was also gay. From that moment, Kevin's mum never had to say a word because her new husband took over. Kevin kept his sexuality a secret throughout high school and was quite a jock. He worked out pretty much every day of the week -- to stay out of the house and away from his mother and stepfather. At one time he dreamed of being a professional athlete, and he is an excellent swimmer. He loves to swim in the ocean and is drawn to the water. However, Kevin is reckless. He swims too far away from shore, alone. While Kevin may have been closeted in high school, he was no virgin. The taunting he received from his stepfather only fueled Kevin's need for love. Kevin mistakenly believed that he could find that love through sex and maintained both boyfriends and girlfriends, all of whom were jettisoned when things got too serious. He led his parents to believe he had a steady girlfriend -- not that they really believed it. Toby was certainly attracted to Kevin physically but he also wanted Kevin as a person. From the beginning, that made Kevin deeply uncomfortable. The very thing that he most wants -- love and acceptance -- feels unbearable now that he has it. Kevin constantly fights with himself about whether he wants to be with Toby or play the field. Dante's Cove (Series 1 & 2) is availave to buy for £8.98 from Amazon via the Gay Belfast Shop.

Shayne Ward was born in 1984 in Manchester to Irish parents and has six siblings. He is also a Manchester United supporter. Prior to his participation in The X Factor, Shayne was in a band called Destiny with two women named Tracy Murphy and Tracey Lyle. They performed at pubs, clubs and weddings. Shayne also reached the final thirty of Popstars: The Rivals. During The X Factor competition, Ward was mentored by Irish manager Louis Walsh (who is now his manager). The bookies' favourite to win the show, he defeated duo Journey South and singer Andy Abraham in the final, screened by ITV, by a margin of 1.2% of the vote, out of a reported 10.8 million phone votes cast by viewers. At the final he sang Judy Garland's 'Somewhere Over The Rainbow', Johnny Mathis' 'When A Child Is Born' and Daniel Bedingfield's 'If You're Not The One'. His first single, "That's My Goal", was released in the UK on Wednesday, December 21, 2005 and became the Christmas number one in 2005 and stayed in the charts until June 2006. Shayne's next single to be released from Breathless is U Got Me So, pencilled in for a release this month. Shayne's three big passions in life are singing, dancing and football. Shayne is in a relationship with long-term girlfriend, Faye. Since winning X-Factor he's grown up in the right ways but stayed exactly the same in all the right ways too - not an easy feat to pull off, but you'd be hard-pushed to find a guy with his feet so firmly on the ground as Shayne. Put there will be changes "One change you will notice this time around, however, is that he's hung up his suit and the old image", he said recently. Behind the determination to succeed and a thirst for making great pop music, Shayne has a refreshingly laid back approach to his career. Eye-wateringly autobiographical lyrics about 'my struggle'? "These things can come; I'm just enjoying myself for now." So what's it all for? "The reason I'm doing all of this is for my mum. She deserves the best, she's brought up seven kids, she can relax now and not be stressed out every Saturday night with whether I'm going or not. She can just relax and think, my son's done it for me." Shayne definitely has that X Factor that you can see yourself! He will be in Belfast's Odyssey Arena on 29 May 2008, tickets available from Ticketmaster.co.uk. For music by Shayne Ward click here

Gay Belfast Hunk of the Month for February is Rupert Evans

It's only taken handsome young actor Rupert Evans a few years to make a name for himself, thanks to his performances in dramas like FingerSmith, North and South and the BBC ONE updating of A Midsummer Night's Dream. However, the young actor who graduated from the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art can at present be seen in the ITV drama 'The Palace' playing King Richard IV. As well as his TV work, he also appeared in fantasy film Hellboy. Rupert Evans got his first break into TV with a guest role in popular sitcom My Family. In a career that's gone from strength to strength, he quickly followed that with parts in soap Home and Away and dramas Crime and Punishment and Sons and Lovers. Rupert's first starring role was in mountain rescue drama Rockface where he played girl-chasing climber Jamie Dougan. Shortly after, he went on to play Toby Evans in family drama Paradise Heights, with Neil Morrissey. More recently, Rupert has won acclaim for his performances in a pair of BBC period dramas. In North and South, he played Frederick Hale, alongside Tim Pigott-Smith. He followed that with the part of con-man Richard "Gentleman" Rivers in the BBC adaptation of Sarah Walter's lesbian novel Fingersmith. He plays young lover Zander in the Peter Bowker's updating of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, which also stars the lovely Imelda Staunton. In 2004 he took on the role of agent John Myers in fantasy horror film Hellboy, also starring Selma Blair. A role in blackmail comedy film No One Gets Off in this Town sees Rupert acting alongside Gillian Anderson. The film is directed by Richard Kwietniowski who did the gay romantic comedy Love and Death on Long Island with Jason Priestley. Rupert's theatre credits include Venetian Heat, Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth and The Browning Version. For films with Rupert Evans click here.

Gay Belfast Hunk of the Month for January is Peter Stickles

Peter Stickles is best known in Ireland & UK for his role in John Cameron Mitchell's Shortbus and as one of the few to keep his clothes on. However, the New York based actor yearns for roles he can sink his teeth into. The horror fan got his wish with the hit HBO gay horror TV drama The Lair. Stickles plays a vampire so evil that his name is Damian. And yet, he doesn't play it straight. "Think of it as a gay HBO," Stickles says. And as they say on Fire Island, it's fabulous. In it, Damian and his crew lure young men to a sex club where they are promptly recruited to join his bulging vampire army. Part campy fun and part "murder" mystery, The Lair is sucking off viewers - both gay and straight - from the mainstream networks. "I'm very evil," Stickles says of his character. "It's a lot of fun. He doesn't have any good in his body at all. He's very manipulative. He's very sly, and he's ruthless. He will stop at nothing." Not exactly typecasting, but Stickles the actor has been ambitiously pounding the Manhattan pavements for good parts since he arrived here from middle-class upstate New York over a decade ago. Even though he's past thirty, he can still play teenaged, which is a mixed blessing for him. "That's the frustrating thing about being an actor," Stickles says of grabbing any role you can get. "You work once, and it's a blast, for a month, and then it's over. But I'm still very optimistic and excited about working." Another blessing that's mixed is the fact that Stickles is out and proud, and not afraid to take on gay roles that may catch casting directors' minds in one narrow-minded gear. "A lot of times, it's not good, and it hurts," Stickles says of his decision not to remain in the closet in order to build a mainstream career. "A lot of time, people can't watch a gay guy playing a straight role. I was reading an article about Rupert Everett, about how his career is not happening, that [people in the business] won't hire him for the lead because he's gay. It's unfortunate, and I do understand how people can have a problem with that, but in the same respect, I just want to be publicly out anyway, because in ten years it will all be different. "It's nice to have a little bit of success with a very small group of people. I live in Chelsea, which is the gayest neighborhood in the world, and people recognize me, but there will have to be a time when I can show that I can be more versatile." He's already enjoying success from the smash indie hit Shortbus, which was sexually charged and critically acclaimed. It won hip audiences over big time, and then drew scores of closeted gawkers upon its release on DVD, much like the voyeur character Stickles plays in the film ("I was to represent the audience," he says of his role, "looking in on these characters.") Of the experience, he recalls, "The director [John Cameron Mitchell] wanted to use graphic sex as a language for the film. And I was thinking, my gosh, this is terrifying. I wanted to throw up just thinking about it. Yet I have to do this movie. There were five or six hundred submissions [auditions] of people on tape talking about their sexual experiences. A lot of these were heavily produced short films. People put a lot of time into them. Mine was simple and easy, but they responded to it. The director is a true artist. The workshops took a year. It was a true labor of love. There was no money for it. Nobody wanted to touch it. Everybody wanted to see it, but no one wanted to touch it." At last, though, Shortbus was touched. "It took three years," Stickles says. "Investors dropped in and dropped out. It was so frustrating. It took forever. We went to Cannes. We were all invited. In Europe, they embraced us. It was an amazing experience as an actor. I'm glad I got to do that. It helped me to feel fearless in a way. I feel like I can do anything." Like Shortbus, The Lair is demanding of Peter's time (filming the entire season took eleven days) and body (graphic sex scenes are par for the course). "It's soft core," he explains. "I have no problem with that. I have no problem with sex or sexuality. It's fun. It's silly. Many of the guys I work with on The Lair are porn stars. I have no problem with porn stars. I have a great deal of respect for them. They're real people. They're artists. These days, it's almost respected; it's not as dirty as it once was. The other [non-sexual] scenes were way more intense, but doing the sex was very technical. It was more like, stand here, put your head here, now go slowly down his thigh. and the crew is completely bored. They could care less. It's all start and stop, start and stop. It's very, very, very technical." For Stickles, though, the rush comes from the horror more than the sex. He says, "When I was little, I would hide Fangoria magazines under my bed like Playboys. My parents hated it. But it's sort of an adrenaline rush that you get from watching horror. I am able to have more emotions when dealing with horror: fear, running, violence, and hiding. It's intense. I eventually contacted Fangoria, and they hooked me up with my first role in a horror film. Since then, I worked with a small family of horror filmmakers in Jersey, Philly, and New York. I love working with this small group of people who are truly passionate about what they're doing." As far as mom and pop, who now reside retired in Florida, Stickles doesn't exactly show them his work to hang on the refrigerator door ("I recommend that you don't," he advised them of possibly viewing Shortbus). As well, he heard that his uncle in Buffalo had gone to see him in the film, and walked out. Mainstream work, then, still lies straight ahead. Or as they say, gaily forward. "I don't think Middle America is watching The Lair," he claims. "To them, I'm still a nobody." Shortbus reviewed on Gay Belfast

2008 Gay Belfast Hunks are Mitch Hewer, Bradley James, Chad Allen, Gerard McCarthy, Andrew Bree, Novak Djokovic, Shane Watson, Nick Carter, Gregory Michael, Shayne Ward, Rupert Evans, Peter Stickles.

Please Note: The Gay Belfast website accepts no responsibility for the content on external sites linked from our website. The links are provided "as is" with no warranty, express or implied, for the information provided within them. It should also be noted that the addition, appearance or mention of anyone on this website is not an indication of their sexual orientation.

Gay Belfast: the award winning website for scene news and events for the Belfast gay and lesbian community and those visiting the city. Coming to Belfast? Let Gay Belfast plan your day finds out what's happening each day in Belfast's gay scene. We tell you the best gay bars and clubs in Belfast so you do not waste any time. Check out the Gay Belfast recommended hotels and guesthouses for places to stay.