Fresh off his GLAAD Media Award, the actor helps bring same-sex romance and parenting to the MCU.
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“I feel lucky, and I’m grateful. And…I don’t want to sound arrogant, but I feel like Marvel, they were very smart to cast me in it because I got to humanize the hell out of it. I got to humanize an LGBTQ+ family and show how beautiful they are,” Sleiman says of his groundbreaking role.
A positive portrayal of a rainbow family is a rare event in mainstream cinema. As such, Sleiman looks forward to not only shattering stereotypes in front of a global audience but also demonstrating how queer people excel at parenting. “I think queer families, personally, are way healthier than regular families, in my opinion,” he says. “We stay together and there’s so much love.”
“We’re evolving,” asserts Sleiman, who notes advances like marriage equality but also the progress seen in three-dimensional characters and nuanced storylines on-screen. “The most exciting thing is the stories that are being told in television and film about LGBTQ people,” he says, adding, “A lot of TV shows are being more thoughtful about portraying queer people in a more fuller way, not so one-dimensional or very stereotype[d].”
“Things that have never happened before are starting to happen.”
Eternals actor Haaz Sleiman speaks to the positive impact of having an openly gay relationship represented in a Marvel film.
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In an interview with
Variety, Sleiman was asked what it means for him -- as a gay actor -- to be playing the husband of a gay superhero in a Marvel movie. "Beyond a dream come true. It's lifesaving," he said. "I wish I had that when I was a kid growing up, to see this. My god, I wish."
"Can you imagine how many lives this is going to be saving?" Sleiman continued. "Kids, you know, young queer folk who are either being bullied, committing suicide, not seeing themselves being represented. And now they get to see this."
Sleiman also touched on the importance of racial diversity in the film. "The fact that Brian [Tyree Henry] is also Black, you know, that's also beautiful to me. We're both people of color," the actor explained. "Marvel and Disney could not be any more global, there's nothing more global than that."
While
Eternals has received a PG-13 rating in the United States,
the film has been rated 18+ in Russia, equivalent to an NC-17 rating in the States. Fans have speculated that the rating was given in regards to the "brief sexuality" in the film, specifically the relationship between Phastos and his husband. Because it's illegal to "normalize" LGBTQ+ sexualities and identities to children in Russia, the film cannot be marketed towards, nor viewed by children in the country. The director of the film, Chloé Zhao,
is working with Marvel Studios to stop the censorship of LGBTQ+ representation in overseas markets.