Hugh... Hugh, you are awesome...
I was watching an interview they made with Hugh, Cassie and Graham where they asked Hugh "Does music play a part in you developing your characters?"
He answered that it was a conversation that he and Cassie had actually had, because they'd both made a bit of a playlist for theirs, and he'd been listening to Jobriath to help get himself in the mood.
And when he said that, I went "Wait, hold on..." because I remembered there was another interview - where they'd asked him if the actors had any say when it came to choosing the wig their character would wear - where Hugh mentioned that yeah, they did, and that he'd wanted his looks to be a bit inspired by '70s Glam Rock...
Jobriath was the 1st openly gay Glam Rock artist, whose career suffered a major backlash from homophobic audiences (from what I understand, the way his publicist chose to exploit his sexuality as a marketing tool didn't help), that sadly died of AIDS back in 1983 (at age 36).
He played in the musical "Hair", and here is how he looked back then...
But the picture that fucking killed me, however, is this one...
Another interesting fact: His birth name was actually Bruce Wayne Campbell.
He changed it to Jobriath Salisbury after deserting from the US Army.
They eventually did find him and arrest him, though, and he spent about 6 months in a military psychiatric hospital after suffering a breakdown.
Just thinking about poor Radovid attempting to run away from the Redanian court, only to be pulled right back in, and definitely looking right in the verge of a breakdown here...
(I'm hoping Radovid's story get a happier ending than what happened to Jobriath IRL, though...)
One of his songs is actually called "Take Me I'm Yours"...
And it's totally worth a listen!
Baby, you just amaze me and daze me
You're the blind spot in my consciousness
C'mon and forsake me and break me
And drink the blood of my obsessiveness
Make me cry out and die out
Of love for this world's fallacy
To the corners of the galaxy
Take me take me I'm yours
I can't say if this particular song was a part of Hugh's playlist when developing the character, but...
... suddenly feels like an even more inspired line to me.
There are other songs and lyrics from Jobriath that do give me some solid Radskier feels...
I've always wanted a movie queen
That bright and shining star
I've worshipped from afar
Came to earth to be with me tonight
I've always wanted a superstar
To take the steps that I can take with you tonight
So basically, Hugh Skinner was offered to play a gay Prince/King on a major fantasy show...
And apparently, thought that he'd take the opportunity to draw inspiration from, and subtly pay homage to, a near-forgotten gay cultural icon.
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s-u-f-j-a-n-s-t-e-v-e-n-s
