Interview: James Marsden

For some gay men in Jonathan's situation, getting out of that last serious relationship with a woman is a lifesaving escape. It's like an enormous weight has been lifted.
For some people, it is like that. But for others, maybe it's not so black-and-white. That's what I chose to believe about Jonathan. I believe that he absolutely loves Isabel and that they probably have good sex, but there's an innate part of him that's attracted to men. That, to me, was more layered and interesting than Jonathan just dealing with having to tell her he's gay and then "Ah!" he's set free. It's more complex than that. There are so many variables, I believe, that affect one's sexuality. Was it Gore Vidal who said 'For everyone, there's a [different] degree of sexuality'? I respond to that. I think that that's true. For me, anyway.

Do you think if Isabel had forgiven Jonathan, he'd have stayed with her?
Possibly. At one point he says, "It's you I want. Let's forget about this and move on." I believe this is Jonathan not being strong enough to deal with it.

But instead Isabel has a great line--
"I don't care about what you want anymore." She's been dealing with what everyone else wants instead of listening to what she wants, and she finally stands up for herself.

I appreciated how, without being sappy, Heights gave Isabel's heartbreak its due.
I agree. It felt real, like a real relationship. I can imagine how a woman in that situation would feel destroyed and very insecure about their own sexuality because "he chose a man over me." I have a friend who just turned 40, and he hadn't told his mother he's gay until recently. I asked him why, and he said, "It's kind of an unspoken truth. I feel like if I tell her, it'll just destroy her." Though it's different with a mother-son relationship [than a romantic relationship], I'd imagine most women in either situation would think they did something wrong--because the person is completely rejecting their gender.

Tell me about filming the scene on the rooftop where Isabel catches Jonathan kissing another man.
Before we had this kiss scene, the other actor [Jesse Bradford] and I had a talk and said, "The worst thing we could do is to do it 50%, so let's just fucking do it and be in the moment and be these guys." Did I get off on it? No, but you know what? If I kiss a girl in a movie, I don't really get off on that either, because you've got 10,000 people and a camera pointing at you and you're worried about what your next line is.

Out singer Rufus Wainwright appears in Heights as another of your photographer ex's conquests. Did you get to interact with him?
No, and it really made me sad, because while we were shooting this movie, his music was all I listened to. [Director] Chris [Terrio] promises me for the premiere we'll get together and maybe do a duet or something.

You showed that you have a fine singing voice on Ally McBeal. Ever thought of pulling a Hugh Jackman and doing a Broadway musical?
Actually, Hugh was interested in me being his boyfriend in The Boy From Oz. I recently saw that he's got this deal at Disney to produce three movie musicals, so I e-mailed him and said, "I see you're doing some musicals." He replied, "Yeah, now our career objective is to get you into one."

You were born and raised in Oklahoma. What do the folks back home think of you playing gay roles?
I was a little concerned about how my grandparents or my mother would react, knowing I had to kiss a guy or whatever, but they get it. They realize that you're an actor and you play different characters. Actually, my father was with me when Heights premiered at Sundance, and he was so cool about it.

When you first moved to L.A., did you experience culture shock?
Some. When I first moved to Hollywood, a good friend who's gay helped me get acclimated. We went to this event at a roller rink and there were cross-dressers running around and, to be honest, I was a little uncomfortable, because it was something I had never seen before. And my friend said, "I just like to think of it as different colors." He kind of set that idea in my head. One thing I pride myself in is, I'm really good at seeing everything from other people's eyes. I don't expect you to be like me, and hopefully you don't expect me to be like you.