Dan Levy is committed to living and telling the story of his most authentic self. When it comes to narrating queer stories that truly represent, the key, he says, is to drown out all the noise.
This year, we’ve all seen an influx of on-screen projects that put diverse storylines front and center. Love stories such as Fire Island and Single All the Way build their storylines around protagonists whose sexual orientations are rarely the subject of positive on-screen representation.
A creator himself whose experiences were reflected by portraying our favorite Rose, David, in Schitt’s Creek, Levy says he’s happy his friends are telling stories that were rarely featured in the mainstream media until of late.
In a June 7th MensHealth interview, he says:
“I know how rare it is to get the opportunity to tell this story without any interference. I’ve been DMing with Bowen [Yang] about all the success that Fire Island has been having, and I’m just so happy for all of them.”
Levy shares that it’s never that easy to create LGBTQ+ content that will appeal to the masses. There’s an innate pressure to become a box-office hit—otherwise, it can be a struggle to get future projects off the ground. “It’s a really strange dynamic,“ Levy says.
He adds:
“I feel like the success of Schitt’s Creek has opened doors for other queer stories in television and potentially in film, but there’s still this idea of ‘but the next project has to be successful as well, otherwise the door gets shut again.’ I would love to see us get to a place where there isn’t this pressure on everything the [LGBTQ+] community does in terms of entertainment, where if it succeeds, great, if it doesn’t, studios will be scared to make more.”
https://twitter.com/danjlevy/status/1532046260999335936
For LGBTQ+ creators, speaking one’s truth and presenting themselves in a direct and authentic way is never a straightforward process. There will always be those who would reject of what you’re trying to put forward.
“There are a lot of people who have taken it upon themselves to decide what is acceptable and what isn’t,” Levy says, referring to cruel, unwarranted comments hurled at the LGBTQ+ community online.
Levy says he’s able to move forward by doing his best to ignore such comments.
“We’re not going to be of much service if we drive ourselves crazy by letting certain things stand in our way.”
He adds:
“It’s easy for me to say; there are much larger groups of individuals within our community that are at risk. But just trying to protect myself from all the noise so that I can continue to, in my case, tell stories that hopefully change people’s minds and open people’s eyes and share conversations that I think are worth having.”
We agree, Dan. And we’re with you 100%!
Source: MensHealth
I hope he writes a new gay movie I’m sure it would be hilarious