In Tom Ford’s upcoming A Single Man, Colin Firth stars as a closeted college professor mourning the death of his male lover, played by Matthew Goode. So when the Internet first saw the movie’s poster, featuring Firth in bed with female co-star Julianne Moore, some wondered if Man’s distributor, the Weinstein Company, might be trying to downplay the film’s gay themes. (Further arousing suspicion was a recut trailer that excised a shot of Firth kissing Goode, full-on Adam Lambert–style.) And today, TWC released a new, not-much-gayer poster (see above) that we don’t imagine will squelch the controversy. Last night, though, we ran into the ever-charming Harvey Weinstein himself, following a screening of Single Man at the Lighthouse Screening Room, and asked if he could help clear things up for us. After the jump, the transcript of our discussion.
Is it difficult to to market a movie about a gay romance?
No, Brokeback Mountain did pretty well. Midnight Cowboy did pretty well. If you know how to market, you can market. There’s an audience for it.
The poster seemed to play down the gay part.
I’m good. You got enough. Thank you.