Marc Maron has said that he turned down a role opposite Hugh Jackman in Bad Education because it needed “more gay-ness”.
The actor, comedian and podcast host had auditioned to play the boyfriend of Jackman’s character in the 2018 fact-based drama.
However, Maron, who is straight, suggested that he thought there wasn’t enough to the role.
“[The role was] Hugh Jackman’s boyfriend. He’s got nothing in there,” he said, while speaking to Ray Romano on his popular podcast WTF. “I said, If I’m gonna be gay in a movie, [Jackman] would be a good guy to be gay with, but there didn’t seem to be much to the role other than that.
“I said, ‘I’ll wait to be gay when there’s more gay-ness.’”
Bad Education focuses on the story of school district superintendent Frank Tassone, who, along with assistant Pam Gluckin (played by Allison Janney), embezzled millions of dollars in school funds.
Jackman was nominated for an Emmy for his performance in the film, which was released in the US on HBO Max.
Frank’s husband Tom is played in the film by Stephen Spinella, while his boyfriend, Kyle, was portrayed by a younger actor, Rafael Casal.
In 2020, the real Tassone praised Jackman’s performance in the film, but criticised Bad Education’s depiction of his sexuality.
According to Tassone, the film got “40 to 50 per cent” of the facts correct. The disgraced superindendent stated that he never cheated on his husband with a former student, explaining that he had an open marriage.
He also claimed that the film’s implication that he tried to conceal his sexuality, and previous marriage to a woman, was false.
“That upset me as well, because I’m not ashamed of being a gay man, and again, they made it seem somewhat sordid,” he said.
“That bothered me and upset me when the detective questioned [husband] Steven, and he implied that Steven didn’t even know I was married. That was not the case. And I don’t understand why they had to bring my sexuality into the film.”
