Hollywood Is 'Like Al-Qaeda,' Says Everett

The fact that Jodie Foster finally came out of the closet last week doesn't mean Hollywood is getting more tolerant of gay actors, British actor Rupert Everett fumed in an interview in the Times of London. "It's the opposite," he said. "She is 45 and she just couldn't be bothered anymore. Before that it would have killed her career." Everett said Hollywood is no more open minded than al-Qaeda or the Taliban.

The movie industry "pretends it’s very liberal but it’s not remotely,” he said. Because he is gay, he believes, he has been denied "tons" of roles; he does have the lead in his new film St Trinian’s, but he is in drag as an outrageous headmistress, the Times says. Everett also decries Hollywood's treatment of older actresses, many of whom he counts as good friends: 70-year-old women play grandmothers while 70-year-old men are romantic leads. (More Rupert Everett stories.)