Gypsy 83 The big gay interview , 2004

 

 

Even though he’s got two movies out right now in which he plays gay characters, Kett Turton hasn’t given much thought to the possibility of becoming a favorite of the gay community.

 

“That would be very strange, but it would be fun,” Turton says. “It certainly doesn’t bother me, but I don’t know if I’m deserving of being a gay icon.”

 

In Saved!, Turton has a small role as a gay roommate to one of the main characters. And in Gypsy 83, he plays Clive, a gay goth teen who questions whether or not he’s even gay because he doesn’t fit the stereotype of worshipping Judy Garland and loving show tunes.

 

“He’s looking for his own stereotype,” Turton says. “The goth thing with him is set by the gay thing, sort of like he’s already an outsider, so he chooses to make himself so obviously an outsider by changing his wardrobe.

 

Turton was the same age as Clive when he made Gypsy 83, and he says he understood what his character was going through.

 

“I related to his need to grab onto something solid, like a best friend or a sexuality or a certain aesthetic to give him an identity,” Turton says.

 

Road RulesUp-and-coming actor Kett Turton goes gay Goth for the eclectic journey ‘Gypsy 83’.

 

With any luck, the next generation of actors will operate with the same lack of homophobia as Kett Turton. Instead of following the Hollywood standard – establish a career and then play gay as an Oscar-baiting move – the Vancouver-based performer didn’t even think twice about tackling the role of a gay Goth teenager in the indie road trip film "Gypsy 83."

 

BOY MEETS BOY: Clive (Kett Turton) hooks up with frat boyTroy (Paulo Costanzo) during the road trip of "Gypsy 83."

 

"I like to play characters that are on some sort of journey and that have questions about themselves," says Turton, via phone from Canada. "I play a great many different types of characters. It didn’t really worry me that much. I thought it was a great opportunity."

 

Turton, who was 18 when the film was shot, headlines as Clive Webb alongside Sara Rue’s Gypsy Vale in the second feature from gay filmmaker Todd Stephens ("Edge of Seventeen"). The young stars play a pair of small-town misfits who decide to travel to New York so Gypsy can perform as her idol Stevie Nicks at a nightclub’s annual "Night of 1,000 Stevies." Along the way, Clive gets his first taste of same-sexual exploration, which plays out as a lengthy bathroom encounter.

 

"I just loved the script," says Turton via phone from Vancouver. "I thought it was a really great little story about people trying to find themselves – something I’m interested in."

 

The film began shooting in 2000 in Hazleton, Pa., eventually encompassing all the states of Clive and Gypsy’s road trip: Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York. Turton describes "Gypsy 83’s" 24-day schedule as an "eating, living, breathing, sleeping experience of shooting."Although he was born in 1982, missing the heyday of the groups that give "Gypsy 83" its edge (The Cure, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Bauhaus), Turton says there were plenty of Goths on display in his former high school and he was familiar with the music. He also connected with Clive’s outsider status.

 

"When I was doing it, I was recently out of high school so I related to quite a lot about Clive," says Turton, who, like his character, visited New York for the first time during filming.

 

"He was in high school, he was young and trying to find his identity. I could definitely relate to that at the time – being a stranger in a strange land."

 

On an acting path since the age of 4, Turton signed up for training as soon as he could find classes that worked with young students; but he maintained a regular high school schedule.

 

"Being a professional actor at that age was strange because nobody else had that job. Everybody thought I was pretty weird in high school – but everybody feels that way. …

 

GAY GOTH: He was barely in grade school when the bands spotlighted in "Gypsy 83" had their heyday, but actor Kett Turton found plenty to identify with in his outsider role of Clive.

 

"I did the traditional school thing for a while and then it got a little more untraditional. Right now, it’s very untraditional," he laughs. "I’m in the school of life. I’m reading a lot."

 

He’s also working at a steady pace, even if he’s reticent to blow his own horn. Turton has appeared in numerous television shows dating back to the mid-’90s, including "Dark Angel," "Smallville" and "24." His favorite TV spot to date: giving voice to both an evil spirit and a guardian angel that appeared in the form of an anteater in the short-lived "Kingdom Hospital."

 

"They often have really interesting characters in those stories, and really different characters," he says of his many parts in the fantasy, sci-fi genre. "Also, they film a lot of those type of shows in Vancouver. I’m not really particularly trying to do only sci-fi or anything like that. I’m lucky enough to have done a lot of it definitely."

 

The 22-year-old actor can also be seen on the big screen in the current faith-tweaking release "Saved!" as Mitch, the halfway house roommate and eventual lover of Jena Malone’s boyfriend – and hopes that more film work will follow. With two gay roles on screen nearly simultaneously, is he prepared for a wave of adoration from gay fans?

 

"That’s wonderful, yeah," he says, sounding surprised. "Adoration is wonderful always, definitely. That’s such a tricky question. That’s nice of people, but it’s not something I think of, I just focus on the next gig and try to do it to the best of my ability."

 

GOTTA HAVE FAITH: The steadily working Kett Turton can alsobe seen in the indie film "Saved!," where he plays Mitch, the love interest of Dean (Chad Faust). The actor was born Birkett Kealy Turton, but adopted the nickname Kett.

 

"I like the name Birkett and sometime I introduce myself that way, but it’s just easier to say Kett" he explains. "[Birkett] was my grandmother’s maiden name, so it has family history behind it so it’s much more solid than Kett, which is just kind of a noise you make when you cough."

 

The concept of speculating about individuals’ sexuality bewilders him, though he will discuss the subject if asked.

 

"It’s weird, it’s like I said in the movie, some of us don’t care to be defined by our sexuality. It’s so weird to nail that down," he says, considering his words. "I think people are attracted to other people that hold something that they’re looking for, people that can help them grow. I don’t necessarily believe that has anything to do with whether you’re gay or straight or male or female. I think there are many different kinds of falling in love and being in love and compassion. It’s hard to define people sexually I think, much more difficult than we realize. People want to categorize each other; they want to feel like there’s more solid facts about people when I think people change all the time. They’re different from moment to moment to moment. We’re all alike in the way that we’re all completely different. My god!" he says, laughing. "I probably sound like a hippie or something in this interview."

 

Mostly, he just comes across as a young man surprised to find himself with an interviewer on the other end of his phone line.

 

"I’m really happy that I get to work steadily," he says, before signing off for a lunch date with a friend. "It’s amazing. It’s all I’ve ever wanted to do. It’s just glorious."