How Doug Savant stood up for Matt Fielding on Melrose Place
Actor Doug Savant had to rebuff 1990s network demands in order to honour the character he was playing.
- Published by David Knox
- on
Melrose Place actor Doug Savant has again spoken out on what it was like as a straight actor playing a gay character, on the Still The Place podcast.
On press tours, Savant said he made a personal choice to not address his sexuality publicly, specifically in order to honour the character and the significance of representation when so much American television lacked diversity.
Even creator Darren Star was said not to be a fan of that decision.
“I had said to Sam, our publicist, ‘Do you care to talk about how we’re going to handle this going forward, that there was a gay character? I knew it was exceptional, and I thought people would be interested. And she goes, ‘Well, no, it’s not a big deal. You’re an actor, you’re just playing a character.’ And I said, ‘Oh, clearly she doesn’t get it,'” he recalled.
Savant added that he was encouraged to reveal he was straight as “it would be somehow more palatable to the American public if they could avail themselves of the reality that I was actually a straight man.
“And I thought that was morally reprehensible and I said, ‘You may not prostitute my personal life for the benefit of our show because you think it’s somehow more politically correct.’”
Melrose‘s infamous gay kiss in 1994 of course, pulled away from the moment lips locked between Savant and actor Ty Miller (below), due to advertiser pressure.
But he also acknowledged producer Aaron Spelling, Star and FOX “should be applauded” for proceeding with Matt as a character in the face of letter campaigning orchestrated by the Christian Coalition and Moral Majority calling for advertising boycotts of the show.
He added, “What became painfully evident was not any one character was going to represent the diversity of an entire community. So to think Matt Fielding, as a lone gay character, could shoulder the entire community’s representation — it was an impossible task.
“And now, we see a much greater diversity of gay characters, and aren’t we all glad that we’re here?”
Source: Deadline
- Tagged with Melrose Place
3 Responses
Thanks for highlighting this David, i’ve been hooked on this podcast since the start. Doug Savant’s chat about his time on the show is incredibly insightful and intriguing (and shocking!). What an amazing guy to push back against the status quo at the time.
When that episode aired i was 6, so as a gay man I find it so interesting to learn how things were for gay people back then.
Definitely a podcast worth listening to (if you have even the slightest interest in Melrose Place probably helps though). Hosts Courtney Thorne-Smith, Laura Leighton and Daphne Zuniga are an absolute joy to listen to.😄
Credit to Deadline, but I thought it was worth running… I don’t forget TVT roots.
It’s wonderful how far we have come with diversity since Melrose Place aired. Good on Doug Savant holding his ground for the integrity of his character :)