ALAN CUMMING has been working as an actor, director, and producer in film, television, and stage for over twenty years. Best known to the general public for his successful performances in such commercial movies as Spice World, Spy Kids, Son of the Mask, X-Men, Get Carter, GoldenEye, and Garfield: The Movie, some his best performances have come in less commercial films like Eyes Wide Shut, Sweet Land, Ripley Under Ground, Titus, Nicholas Nickleby, Emma, Buddy, and For My Baby.
Cumming is openly and outspokenly gay and has made a point of contributing to such GLBT-themed films as Bam Bam and Celeste, Urbania, Plunkett and Macleane, this year’s Gray Matters (his character falls for a lesbian), and the as yet unreleased Suffering Man’s Charity. In 2000 he co-wrote, co-directed, and co-produced Anniversary Party, starring Jennifer Jason Leigh, who plays his wife in the film. A veteran of Broadway and London’s West End, among his many well-received performances he played the Emcee in Cabaret in 1998 and won the Tony Award, among many others, for this performance.
Born on January 27, 1965, in Perthshire, Scotland, to Mary and Alex Cumming, Alan studied acting from a young age. He was married to Hilary Lyon from 1985 to 1993. In 2004 he met Grant Shaffer and, after a two-year romance, was married to Shaffer in a civil ceremony in early 2007 at the Old royal Navel College in Greenwich, England.
This exclusive interview was conducted in person this past April.
Gay & Lesbian Review: You recently received an award at the Phoenix Film Festival. As an actor, what do those kinds of awards mean to you?
Alan Cumming: Let me just get out my acceptance letter. You go to all these film festivals in all these places and you can’t imagine people know you and appreciate your work. It’s sort of lovely and sort of scary at the same time.
G&LR: Why did you want to get involved in show business in the first place?
AC: It’s a question I think about. I haven’t really done any other jobs. While in school I hadn’t found my niche and then tried acting and it was the first time I was good at anything.
G&LR: How has it changed for you over the years?
AC: It goes in phases. Sometimes I enjoy it more than others. Right now it’s a lot of fun. Sometimes I get to dress up like a little boy and that’s when I like it best.
G&LR: When you were growing up were their particular films that touched you?
AC: I didn’t go the theater or cinema at all. There were lots of things that inspired me. I always say Waiting for Guffman is my favorite film ever. It combines huge comedy and huge pathos—sort of laughing and crying at the same time. I love when that happens.
G&LR: Can you tell us about your upcoming documentary, Show Business: The Road to Broadway?
AC: It’s a documentary that follows four Broadway shows for a whole year and all those personalities involved in those shows.
G&LR: Of the movie roles you have played, which one do you identify with the most?
AC: I suppose the role in The Anniversary Party. All the characters in the film were written with certain acts in mind.
G&LR: One of your biggest and most successful roles was as the Master of Ceremonies in Cabaret. In what ways do you identify with the character?
AC: In some ways you identify with everyone you play, otherwise you wouldn’t be able to perform. I think I identified with him in terms of being an outsider.
G&LR: In what way do you identify with being an outsider?
AC: I feel like an outsider, but he’s a bigger outsider than me. He was living in a time where, like me, he was being open, and unlike me, I wasn’t being shipped off a concentration camp for it—although I’m sure some people would like me to be!
G&LR: Cabaret has a lot of political relevancy. In what ways has the stage changed in America and the UK since the Iraqi invasion?
AC: That’s a huge question. I’m kind of disappointed with Broadway and the West End in London. I just did a play in London and I was shocked by how everything was so kind of “Teeth and Tits.” Sometimes theaters can be a place where ideas are discussed and right now I don’t think it is. Our culture is very much sticking its head in the sand. There are very few voices really discussing what’s going on.
G&LR: Various sources identify your sexual orientation in various ways. How do you identify yourself with regard to sexual orientation?
AC: Queer. I prefer the word “queer” to “bisexual.”
G&LR: How does this affect your ability to get roles in Hollywood?
AC: I don’t think it does. I like all the roles I get. I still work. But it’s a difficult question. How do you know? People go, “Oh, people don’t come out of the closet because they’re scared they won’t get work.” If you keep on saying that people will start to believe it. We should all shut up about that because it’s one of those things that are making more ado about something that actually exists in real life.
G&LR: You, Rupert Everett, Ian McKellen, Elton John, Boy George, are all out. Why do you think it’s more difficult for your Yankee counterparts to come out?
AC: America is a much more shameful culture in relation to all kinds of sexuality. It’s just something you don’t talk about.
G&LR: You worked on The L Word. Do you think it’s easier for female actors to come out than men?
AC: There’s been a makeover in recent years in the way the world perceives lesbians. Perhaps shows like The L Word help, yeah.
G&LR: You live in New York. As a foreigner, what’s your take on America’s attitudes toward the GLBT community?
AC: America is a big place. I would hate to generalize. But I don’t think it’s a good time to be gay in America. The government that we have stirs up hatred against the GLBT community. With all the things that are happening, it’s not a great time.
G&LR: How would you characterize Scotland’s attitude toward homosexuality?
AC: It’s good. Marriage is legal there. We have equal rights. There’s homophobia everywhere, but if your government is saying,
“We believe these people should be treated equally,” then slowly there’s less room in society for bigotry.
G&LR: Lastly, what do you think about these interviews where you talk about yourself and your work? Do they serve the work or should the work speak for itself?
AC: Sometimes they’re kind of boring. But the work doesn’t speak for itself because there’s so much work out there and obviously people after a certain point are as interested to hear the person as the work. The reason we do it is because we hope that people will come and view our work.
