Phallic bunking bronco a real turn-off

Martin Sheen and Sam Waterston in a scene from 'Grace and Frankie'.

Martin Sheen and Sam Waterston in a scene from 'Grace and Frankie'.

Published May 26, 2015

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Actor Martin Sheen has revealed how he refused to take part in a scene for a new television comedy series, in which he plays a gay man.

The 74-year-old Apocalypse Now and West Wing star who is also a prominent gay-rights supporter, said the sight of a phallic bucking bronco was "a bad choice", prompting him to boycott the scene in the TV series Grace and Frankie.

In the episode "Bachelor Party" screened on the channel Yesterday earlier this month, Sheen - who plays the part of Robert, a man who leaves his wife for the husband of her best friend - is horrified when he spots the prop on his lawn; reacting angrily.

But in an example of art imitating life, it appears the actor was not actually acting in the scene. He had told the sitcom's co-creator, Marta Kauffman, that he would not appear alongside the object. "I'm a prude," he admits. "I would not participate. Such vulgarity. And I told dear Marta, the writer, it's awful and it's a bad choice.

"I was honest with her, and I'm glad I was. She looked at me and said, 'Well, that's your opinion.' And I said, 'Yes it is, and I'm not participating in that sequence'," says Sheen, in an interview published in Radio Times on Tuesday.

He describes himself as an "an extremely liberal Catholic". 

 

The Independent

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