By Tim Nasson
LOS ANGELES — Sean Hayes, the truly gifted comedian and actor, has shown in three short years that he is around to stay. The 31-year-old native of Chicago took Hollywood by storm in his first role on screen: Hayes as the suffering gay boy in love with his straight friend in “Billy’s Hollywood Screen Kiss.”
I interviewed Hayes for that movie three years ago and of course had no idea that he would make it so big in such a short amount of time. A year later he was offered a supporting role in an NBC television show called “Will and Grace” — which even the producers thought would tank. Not because it was of inferior quality but because of its subject matter. “Ellen” had just failed miserably — most likely because Ellen DeGeneres herself tried too hard and too fast to force the lesbian issue on Puritanical Americans.
“We taped a few episodes,” says Hayes, “and really had little or no expectations for the show. It was a great way for me to spend the summer and it put a few extra, much needed dollars in my pocket.”
“I almost said no to the role, too,” admits Hayes. “I had just gotten out of `Billy’s Hollywood Screen Kiss’ where I played it gay and here I was offered this queeny, comedic role on `Will and Grace.’ I had to think about it. But when I did think about it and looked at the whole package — the producers behind the show, the writers, the cast I would be working with — I would have been a fool to turn it down just because the role for me was another gay role.”
Needless to say, “Will and Grace” went from an immediate hit on Tuesday nights at 9 p.m., giving the then-new “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” a run for its money and audience. “Will and Grace” did so well opposite “Millionaire” that NBC decided to switch it with “Frasier’s” time slot — the coveted Thursday night, 9 p.m. spot during its second season last year.
“The immediate success of `Will and Grace’ took the whole cast and crew by surprise,” says Hayes. “We were flabbergasted,” he says, putting his hands on his chest to make the point.
If the show’s critical successes were surprising, especially given the show’s theme — gay man with queeny best friend lives with fag hag who has a pill-popping, narcissistic, rich-bitch assistant — its popular success has been astounding.
“Yeah,” breathes Hayes. “No one could have ever dreamed about how well the show would do. But it says a lot for Americans. They might have a long way to go before truly accepting gay people into their lives, but they have accepted the show into their living rooms each and every week. While the show does take the gay theme lightly it does not treat it disrespectfully. The writers have slowly taken the show, with subjects other gay shows have dived right into, slowly. It was over a year before Will even started to date. This was not because they didn’t want to be realistic, but because they wanted to slowly reel in the audience and get them comfortable with the characters before the sexuality aspect was explored.”
It seems to have worked. And “it may be doing wonders helping kids in high school — and even men and women out of school, who are coming to terms with their own sexualities — to open up and talk to their own parents, friends and families about their feelings, because that is who they are watching the show and laughing with each week,” observes Hayes, who still refuses to be pinned down about which way his own bat swings — much to the chagrin of many gay activists. (Though some reports have Hayes refusing to acknowledge it simply because he abhors the notion that the public thinks it has a right to know everything about someone just because they’re a celebrity.)
Both Hayes and Mullally won Best Supporting Emmy’s this year for their roles on “Will and Grace.” The show also won the Emmy for Best Comedy. As if that were not praise enough to validate the show, it has also won a People’s Choice Award as Favorite New Comedy Series, a Golden Globe nomination for Best Comedy Series, an American Comedy Award nomination for Funniest Television Series, two GLAAD Media Awards for Outstanding TV Comedy Series and a Founders Award from the Viewers for Quality Television.
While “Will and Grace” is in reruns this summer, Sean Hayes can be heard and seen as the cat Mr. Tinkles in the upcoming Warner Brother’s film, “Cats and Dogs.” Hayes plays the main character (“cat”acther”?) who wages war on all of the dogs in the world.
“It was a lot of fun to do Mr. Tinkles,” says Hayes. It is also a lot of fun to watch Hayes immerse himself into the character of the white Persian cat who is on a major power trip. “He wants to rule the world,” Hayes said, laughing. “But who doesn’t?”
Sean Hayes Interview with Tim Nasson for Cats and Dogs
