Leslie Jordan in Eating Out: All You Can Eat

By :Billy Gil | Posted: 02 Nov 2009
bgil@questex.com,

For being openly gay in an industry with a crowded closet, Leslie Jordan has had a marathon acting career. The diminutive actor has made quirky cameos and played memorable reoccurring characters on TV since the 1980s, in such shows as “Newhart” and “Murphy Brown” through this decade on shows such as “Ugly Betty” and “Boston Legal,” until one of those roles landed him a Primetime Emmy in 2006 for playing the caustic Beverly in “Will & Grace.”

Now with an autobiographical book out, My Life Down the Pink Carpet, Jordan returns to film with a role in the third edition of the campy “Eating Out” series, Eating Out: All You Can Eat. The movie comes to DVD Nov. 10 from Ariztical Entertainment at $24.95. In the film, Jordan plays an older gay man at an LGBT center who offers words of advice to the film’s young lead.

On becoming involved with “Eating Out” …

Jordan: The director, Glenn Gaylord, got in touch with my agent and told me they had this great little script. I was a little hesitant, thinking, not only is it low budget, but it’s part three! Why didn’t they want me for one and two? But we all went to lunch and he was really enthusiastic about it. I did this play for a number of years called “Southern Baptist Sissies,” and in that play I got to play an older gay man who in the end got to help a younger gay man, and that drew me to this role. My part is so small, but I have a pivotal part where I got to help one of the young gay hunks.

On not having seen the first two films …

Listen I’m the most self-centered SOB, I try so hard to be au currant, but I just hadn’t seen them. When I showed up at the lunch, I hadn’t even read the script. But I B.S.-ed my way through.

On his elder statesman status in the gay community …

Jordan: In my generation, we had no one. There was not one single person on the face of this earth that I could go to saying listen, I’m having a problem with this gay thing. I think my generation who came around in the late ’60s and early ’70s and went through the ’80s with the AIDS epidemic, we have something to say.

On doing low-budget films …

Jordan: I’ve reached a point in my career where sometimes I hesitate, I’m so spoiled. You do low-budget and you almost feel like your career is going backwards. The opposite happened to what I thought would happen. I thought I would be miserable, but I got caught up with the enthusiasm of the piece. I think it was the first time in the series that gay people were really playing gay people. … We got lucky this time. They hired four really good actors that happened to be gay. That really gave the project a fun feel. It wasn’t like straight boys having to kiss gay boys.

We had our first screening recently. I told my friend, we’ll sit on the aisle and if it’s really bad, we’ll just leave. … But it’s adorable. I’m so proud of it.

On critics of the film …

I would sit all those critics down and say listen, I would take criticism from someone who has done it, but until you’ve taken your baby and worked for years and tried to get it up and you know the pitfalls and you know what it’s like being on the set, having to shoot fast and furious, you need to give us an f-ing break.

On working with gay icon and John Waters muse Mink Stole …

We didn’t have scenes together really, but she was on the set with me. I think John Waters movies like saved my life when I was this little gay closeted boy in Knoxville, Tenn. I’m such a fan of hers.

On his oeuvre, which includes such films as Frankenstein General Hospital, Black Velvet Pantsuit and Farm Sluts …

Jordan: I had forgotten about Farm Sluts. Someone on the radio asked me about that and I said yeah, I did that right after Horse Hung Hispanics. I thought they were trying to say I did porn.

On his ’90s Blockbuster ads in which he starred with a dog ...

Jordan: Paramount hired me, and it was like the gig of a lifetime. They said we’re gonna put this on every single release from  Paramount this year. It was me and I had this dog and I was in this video store trying to rent and it was a trick dog, and I send him to get things. I’m telling you it was like, this was way before Internet, it was one of these underground things where people would come up to me and ask about it. It kind of made me famous.

On “Will & Grace” and his Emmy …

Jordan: The show was already over, which was kind of interesting because I thought after four years of being on the show, why am I being considered a guest star? But it turns out if you do less than five episodes a season, you’re considered a guest star. When I won, the only drawback is they don’t present that category at the Emmys, they present it a week early on Bravo called the Creative Arts Emmys. It’s 75 of the most boring awards. But I tell you, I was really honored because I’ve always felt there are two ways you can combat homophobia, and one is through comedy. Another way is to put a face on it, and I think “Will & Grace,” America welcomed those characters into their homes. There was a lot of progress made. It was more than just winning an Emmy. It was winning an Emmy for a show I was so proud to be a part of and a show that really broke new ground.

I got a call about a month ago, and it was Megan Mullally, but Megan called and goes, “So honey, what do you think? ‘Karen, the Musical?’” I said, “Megan, you don’t own that character, you’d have to clear that with NBC and the creators.” She said, “Oh honey I’ve done that.” So apparently it’s being written.

On what he gets recognized the most for …

Jordan: It depends on what part of the country I’m in, or what part of town. If I’m in a gay area, it’s “Will & Grace” and “Sordid Lives.” But it’s interesting, I’m recognized for this five-episode arc I did on “Boston Legal.” It was the first season, it was a lot time ago. David [E.] Kelley said he wanted to write a murderer that was so friendly and sweet that people would forget I was a murderer. I killed my mother with a skillet, and James Spader got me off. Betty White takes me under her wing and she ends up being afraid I’m gonna kill her with a skillet, and she kills me with a skillet. Only David E. Kelley would come up with this.

NOTE: This is the "clean" version of Ariztical's trailer, but it ain't that clean.