playing gay

In an interview in the March 2001 edition of Starburst, Ian Spelling spoke with Valerie Rae Miller about her role as Cindy in lookgood though plotlite scifi Dark Angel. The following extracts cover her reaction and feelings about assuming a different sexuality for the screen:

The character of Cindy created a bit of a stir at the beginning as a result of the fact that she's a lesbian. Gay rights groups applauded both the creation and the depiction of the character, in no small part because Dark Angel suggests that one's sexual preferences simply won't matter in 2019. It's a non-issue.

"Cindy is almost Max's grounding place, her touch of reality.
Cindy is so real that she balances out Max's need to have reality in her life. Max has no family or anyone she can depend on, and Cindy is there no matter how unusual the situation may be. Cindy helps Max, in a way, be a normal person. You saw some bonding between them in Rising, but I'd like to do more of that. I also want to see what happens with Cindy's girlfriend situation. From what I understand, that's coming up soon."

Miller knew heading into Dark Angel that Cindy would be a lesbian. And, unlike several actresses that shall remain nameless, it didn't deter her from pursuing the role. "That didn't scare me at all," she says. "During the audition process I found out that they already had cast this particular role twice before I even came in to read. Both of the other actresses backed out because they were concerned about playing a lesbian. They got cold feet. By the time it got to me I already had another job and had stopped auditioning. The character seemed interesting and I liked the script. I was worried that they might make the character a stereotype and have it all in your face, but the basic idea of playing a lesbian didn't bother me at all. When it got down to the wire, they said, 'At some point in time, Valerie is more than likely going to kiss a woman. Is that a problem?' I was like, 'And?' How many times have I had to kiss a guy I didn't want to kiss? If I have to kiss a girl, she's probably going to be hot!'

"I kind of want a hand in the casting, actually. I don't want the girl to be hokey. I trust them, pretty much, but every single girl that Cindy has been interested in has been this typical, all-American , stick-thin blonde with straight hair, who looks like she grew up on a farm somewhere. And that's nice, but I would just like it to be something a little bit different in there, because you've already seen that. Just mix it up a little bit."