Lengthy earlier than “I Know What You Did Final Summer season” and “Godford’s Park” made him a serious huge display presence, Ryan Phillippe’s “One Life to Reside” character broke floor on tv. Phillippe portrayed Billy Douglas between 1992-93, the primary homosexual teenager depicted on daytime TV.
In an interview with Individuals, the “Merciless Intentions” star mentioned that, among the many giant quantity of fan mail he obtained throughout his time on the collection, many got here from dad and mom writing that the character “gave [them] a method to join with [their] LGBTQ youngster.” Youngsters, in the meantime, wrote, “I’ve by no means seen somebody characterize me in any leisure earlier than in my life.”
“As that job progressed, I spotted how essential it was to some individuals,” Phillippe mentioned. “And I used to be solely 17 years outdated, so that you don’t actually have a way of that. It was such a unique time, however I very a lot matured via having had that have and seeing the impression that it had for others.”
Within the early ‘90s, on the peak of the AIDS epidemic, homosexual roles have been solely starting to interrupt into the mainstream. Phillippe’s character predated Tom Hanks’ Oscar-winning efficiency in “Philadelphia,” radical comedies like “The Birdcage,” and Ellen’s earth-shattering popping out episode on her self-titled sitcom. Phillippe mentioned that the storyline made him afraid, being that it was such a unique time.
“I believe there have been some fears related to the time limit that we have been at and it being earlier than so many partitions and ceilings have been damaged in that regard,” Phillippe recalled. “However I do know that any fears that anybody had about me doing it instantly went away as soon as I noticed the response that it bought from the individuals who seen it.”
Phillippe beforehand mentioned on the impression of his function in a 2010 interview with The Advocate.
“One child mentioned he’d thought-about suicide earlier than seeing a personality like him being accepted,” Phillippe mentioned. “I additionally heard from a father, a mechanic, who hadn’t spoken to his son since he got here out. When our present got here on in his store, it gave him some perception and understanding as to who his son was, so it opened up communication between them.”
Phillippe at present stars within the Amazon Prime collection “Motorheads.” Watch the trailer beneath: