Is Ameria Ready to see the Bisexual Side of Alexander the Great?
Opening of new Movie Starring Collin Farrell Postponed

The opening of Alexander the Great, a new movie starring Collin Farrell, is postponed again, this time from November 5th until November 24th. Holywood rumors suggest this delay is due to the bisexual content of the film. And that director Oliver Stone plans to tone down some of the same-sex romance. The film accurately depicts the bisexual side of Alexander the Great's life. While he married more than once, scholars say he also had relationships with a friend and classmate Hephaestion and a Persian eunuch called Bagoas. The film includes love scenes between Alexander and Bagoas, played by Francisco Bosch.

Stone flatly denies altering the romantic scenes, or that Warner Brothers asked him to do so. Both Warner Brothers and Stone cite other reasons for the delay, including a desire to put the movie in a better position to be considered for the Oscars.

But is America ready for an honest portrayal of Greek Love? To prepare for the release of Alexander the Great, here is review of other famous bisexuals who have been portrayed in blockbuster movies, and noticed two major trends.

Famous Bisexuals in the Movies
Movie	Starring	True Story of:	Bisexual Angle?	Domestic Gross
Beautiful Mind	Russell Crowe	John Forbes Nash, Jr.	Ignored	$170 million
The Hours	Nicole Kidman	Virginia Woolf	Included	$41 million
Frida	Salma Hayek	Frida Kahlo	Included	$25 Million
Delovely	Kevin Kline	Cole Porter	Included	$13 Million
Piņero	Benjamin Bratt	Miguel Piņero	Included	$275 Thousand
Alexander	Colin Farrell	Alexander the Great	not yet known	not yet known
Which of these movies is your favorite? Vote now and Discuss at OUTgroups.com

First, when you look at all of the movies that include a bisexual angle, the movies featuring bisexual women (Salma Hayek as Frida Kahlo or Nicole Kidman as Virginia Woolf) had higher domestic grosses than the movies featuring bisexual men (Kevin Kline as Cole Porter, or Benjamin Bratt as Miguel Piņero). This does not come as a surprise to expert Wayne Bryant: "I think it is a harder sell. The movie viewing public is the public in general and they are less comfortable with male-male sexuality of any kind than female-female sexuality."

Despite the trend, however, Bryant hopes Alexander will do well at the box office. Bryant is the author of Bisexual Characters in Film: From Anais to Zee and has analyzed hundreds of bisexual characters in films.

Second, the one movie that completely ignored the bisexual angle, Beautiful Mind, had a higher domestic gross than all the other movies we looked at combined. Looking at these numbers, it's hard not to see bisexuality as a liability on the big screen.

In fact even movies that have strong bisexual characters sometimes shy away from using the 'b' word. In a 1997 article, Director Kevin Smith commented "I simply didn't think we needed to use the word because it's so politically charged," referring to his movie "Chasing Amy." "The character goes back and forth from women to a man, but she never calls it being bisexual."

Bryant has similar advice for Oliver Stone: "All the gay and bi men that I know, are expecting this film to be a farirly honest portrayals of his sexuality, so I would encourage not to play up the bisexual angle. Rather, I'd focus on what the majority of the movie is about. Those of us who are interested in that aspect of the movie already know about it. It would be nice to focus on getting the mainstream audience in to see it."