Remembering The Crying Game's Jaye Davidson

He is all tatted up now and bulked up some. Couldn’t pass for a woman anymore. I don’t even know how he passed back then. I always thought he looked too boyish. I guess people were just naive in the 90s.

Talk about naive. I saw the movie in my early teens or so, heard absolutely zero about it in advance, and had no clue about the big surprise.

I was so shocked that I didn’t recognize the dick as a dick and thought it was a sideways party hat. Honest to god it took me about fifteen seconds to process what the fuck was going on.

R1, remember Boy George?

I thought he played a girl very convincingly. His character seemed truly feminine despite her looks. It was also a little like Tootsie, where I really liked Dil as a girl and felt somehow upset to see "her" in boy's clothes (although Jaye looked very cute in them as I recall).

Yeah, I thought he was very striking, and played the part of a "god" in the Stargate movie well. But he didn't want to act, so he quit, and that's that.

He could have been an amazing actor. He broke ground, he was actually really talented for a total amateur, but I can understand that he didn't want fame or attention. I love that he took his million for Stargate and then just quit. Likely set for a very long time, considering he kept on working in his preferred field.

I know absolutely nothing about him beyond his two roles and the fact that he quit after that with zero regrets. I hope he's lived a happy life in the decades since.

Did he really "quit," or were more roles simply not offered?

I recall he quit, he wanted out. And he disappeared for a while.

Yeah, if you read the article, it's pretty clear. He absolutely does not care about fame or show business or acting. He didn't want it, and he left it.

Did they allow kids inside cinema ?

I'm guessing you aren't American R10? Most movie theaters here are (and were even thirty years ago) enormous, multi-screen affairs. Until a few years ago when they went to reserved seating, you would buy a ticket and wander off wherever, with no oversight as to where you ended up.

^ 1996, not 1992.

This movie is awesome

I know all there's to know about the Crying Game...

There's a bit about his life post Hollywood in his wikipedia page. Apparently he married a man named Thomas Clarke in 2017. He did modeling after his films, and also fashion styling in Paris.

He's bisexual, not gay

IS HE DEAD????

I always found him beautiful, too.

He’s ethereal in this short film.

I loved it, i do recall a friend’s conservative mother going to see it simply because of the acclaim and was horrified.

And yeah, I recall going to see “full Monty “ with not one inkling of what the film was about

It’s a wonderful film. I haven’t seen it since the 90’s but I’m sure it holds up.

I just re-watched it not too long ago, R21, and it really does.

And thank god the Troubles are pretty much over.

I watched this a few years ago and thought he was a woman at first. It’s a great movie

He's not publicly referred to himself as bisexual, contrary to an earlier post, but has called himself as gay. Others, including Neil Jordan and Boy George (who knew him prior to "The Crying Game"), have also referred to him as gay.

He's straight actually

Apparently he's 5'3".

I wish that the twist wouldn't have been spoiled for me before I watched the movie.

My friend told me the secret before I saw it.

I've always wondered if I would have been fooled and surprised had I not known beforehand...

Was it spoiled for anyone else?

Great song

I felt like there were several twists in the film - you just didn't know what you were watching. First it's a kidnapping, then it's this domestic romance, then it's hardcore terrorism.

And I miss Miranda Richardson - she seems to have fallen off the Earth. Also surprising to see Forrest Whitaker in that role in an English production - you don't see many American actors playing Brits in British productions. Particularly back then.

It was a mini scandal when he demanded and got paid $1 million for Stargate

Whenever someone says there’s a twist ending, my mind start looking for clues from the beginning. I knew immediately when we saw Jaye’s hands in the Crying Game what the twist was.

I also knew when the kid said “I see dead people” how that would end

I knew right away the girl was a guy and I whispered that to my

brother in the theater and he had no idea and was so pissed at

me

Oops

Didn’t mean the Haiku^ format

Isn’t Miranda Richardson dead?

R34, nope

The Crying Game will never not remind me of this scene where it’s being discussed by randy old women in the immortal Irish sitcom Father Ted

R34 you may have her confused with Natasha Richardson

[quote] It was a mini scandal when he demanded and got paid $1 million for Stargate

I love that story, he didn't want to do "Stargate" so he demanded $1 million because he thought the number was so obscene they'd never pay it. They paid it.

This movie came out when I was little kid and I remember wanting to see it badly and loving the Boy George song. Of course my family thought I was nuts and we didn’t watch it. I finally watched it in my 30s and my instincts were right it was worth the wait

The reason the twist worked in the States was because of the exoticism of race in colonial Britain and class distinctions. Audiences more willingly suspended disbelief because of those factors. And cinematic norms, the respectability of British filmmaking and the context of the Troubles, all working to deflect attention away from that aspect of the film. Plus Stephen Rea’s fine performance.

Apparently the film had bombed on earlier release in the UK before Weinstein picked it up for release in the States. The marketing was his brain child. The centring of Miranda Richardson on the poster was also genius in terms of deflection when she, in fact, plays only a small role in the film.

Even the marketing of the film as having a twist - reminiscent of a Hitchcock or Robert Aldrich film from the ‘60s - created tremendous word of mouth and it became an immediate box office hit.

Obviously being pre-internet and pre-social media helped. Once Jaye Davidson was nominated for Best Supporting Actor, the jig was up but I think it’s a better film than the marketing implies and still holds up.

Jim broadbent played the bartender. I like him.

I remember seeing the film with a few friends and knowing there was a big twist.

I initially thought the twist was the very sudden way in which Forest Whitaker's character meets a tragic end on screen. But that was only about 20 or so minutes into the film.

When I saw Dil (Jaye Davidson) lipsynching on stage I looked at one of my friends and we were both like, "oh okay, I know what's happening."

We were sitting a few rows behind a woman in her fifties or so (fuck, I'm that age now, when the fuck did THAT happen) and when the big onscreen reveal happened she literally gasped and clutched her pearls. I don't remember every detail of that movie but I remember that woman's expression when she left the theater!

[quote] He's bisexual, not gay

No, he’s gay.

Davidson was born in Riverside, California, in the United States, and was raised in Borehamwood in Hertfordshire, England.[4] His father is from Ghana and his mother is from England.[3] Davidson is gay. During his acting career, he said that his androgynous look alienated him within the gay community. He stated that gay men "love very masculine men. And I'm not a very masculine person. I'm reasonably thin. I have long hair, which isn't very popular with gay men".[5] In 2017, he married Thomas Clarke.[6]

He’s not just black. His mother is white.

He’s much better looking now. He was pretty revolting in his youth.

She butched it up

The Crying Game = M. Butterfly

Saw that twist a mile away but it still seemed to shock the audience sitting all around us.

The nattering house-fraus were the best part of that movie. M. Butterfly was much better and elicited actual gasps at the Colonial.

Sleepaway Camp did it before The Crying Game

He looks only a quarter black at most... I'm shocked that he's half, and that one of his parents is a legit West African from Ghana...

The extra bulk looks good on him. "Blackout" tattoos (where large swaths of skin are inked completely black) SERIOUSLY skeeve me out, though.

Don't forget about me! I was first!

I saw the movie knowing the twist because it was spoiled for me somewhere. I thought the reveal was interesting but overall, not the all-important plot twist I thought it would be. Neal Jordan says the twist was promoted more in the US than other countries. I found Miranda Richardson’s character and HER dual identity switch more compelling.

But the PR campaign worked.

Has Jaye ever done an interview on video?

I'm tempted to get the special collector's edition DVD on eBay.

R28 bitch stole my act

R55, yep

The most shocking thing about the plot twist was that it shows an actual penis. Americans don’t get to see them very often on film in mainstream cinema.

It was the very first penis shown in a mainstream movie

Watching right now

Really good movie. Well worth seeing again. Davidson was good in it. But the persona just did't fit into further movies where he could be just another actor. And no film came along where you'd hang it on him. So he faded away.

Regard 'Crying Game's secret', it was because I had seen Siskel and Ebert's review and both were overly emphasized the fact that no one should say anything about the 'reveal'. This was before the internet, so I immediately went to see it before some columnist gave it away.

Regarding...

Stephen Rea is one of the most under-rated actors ever. Always brilliant, as in "The End of the Affair" and "Citizen X."

[Quote] Has Jaye ever done an interview on video?

No, only film and digital

Nobody would mistake the cutlass jawline and chin of r55 for a woman's.

R65 The comparison was to Boy Timmy

I was about 20 when I saw it in the theater with a bunch of my friends. It had only been out a few days, so nothing was spoiled. I had no idea because I was just caught up in the vibe of the film.

What I'll always remember is how this group of like four people (probably in their 40s?) got so tired of the kidnapping scene (which, is indeed like the first 20+ minutes and you do spend time wondering, "Is the entire film going to just be this?") that they just walked out in frustration.

We all laughed later that night thinking about how they probably told people the movie was "totally boring" and unremarkable because they left when they did.

I saw some documentary just a couple of days ago on transgender actors. It featured Laverne Cox prominently. Most of it was complaining about how transgender people are portrayed on film and how much it hurts transgender youth. They showed clips from The Crying Game as an example. The reaction of the man when the "reveal" was made was very upsetting to them. Especially the part where he vomits. They then showed various comedic performances were they made fun of the vomiting scene which Laverne and the other actors in the documentary objected to. I guess they want more realistic portrayals where the transgender women gets the man, the house in the suburbs and 2.3 children.

[quote] I was in elementary school when The Crying Game came out, but, for some reason, my parents were always taking me to films that, supposedly, weren't appropriate

I saw The Piano, age 12, in the cinema with my parents. Yeah.

[quote]Apparently the film had bombed on earlier release in the UK before Weinstein picked it up for release in the States. The marketing was his brain child.

The film didn't get a big release in the UK partly because of the subject matter but mostly because it was a low budget British movie that cinemas weren't interested in screening. Until the US marketing campaign it had received minimal media coverage, not even a BAN THIS SICK FILTH tabloid campaign.

The IRA were regularly bombing civilians in the UK at the time. The day before the BAFTAs and a week before the Oscars the IRA set off 2 bombs in a shopping centre in Warrington, England. The first bomb went off and shoppers ran away into the second bomb, killing 2 children. It was the day before mother's day and the 2 year old boy killed was out with his dad to buy a mother's day card.

From memory it was released on VHS shortly after award season ended with OSCAR WINNER stickers which helped with the buzz and with Blockbuster's marketing.

By that point the Jaye Davidson reveal was not really a surprise but the death of Forest Whittaker was a shock.

Did any reviews back then spoil the twist?

R71 I'm sure there was 1 or 2, but most were actually quite respectful.

Stephen Rea was married to an IRA terrorist for a while.

[quote]Isn’t Miranda Richardson dead?

She must be.

Miranda is pushing 70 now and has little interest in celebrity. She seems quite happy doing BBC dramas and the odd supporting role in films. Her most recent project was the Australian tv series The Last Anniversary, from the writer of Big Little Lies, Nine Perfect Strangers and Apples Never Fall. I gave it a miss.

I often wonder if she'd been nominated for The Crying Game instead of Damage whether she'd have taken best supporting over Marisa Tomei. Hardly anyone saw Damage and she was a fantastic villain in TCG.

He hated the fame.

R47- Two things about him

#1- He looks like a JAILBIRD

#2- He’s a fashion victim with all of those tattoos.

TOPICAL REMAKE

Frank (Vince Vaughan) and Missy (Jamie Lee Curtis) are MAGA supporters who kidnap Mario (Jamie Foxx), a security officer working at the White House. During his captivity Mario tells Frank about his beautiful girlfriend La'verne (Laverne Cox) who is a sassy hairdresser in the Bronx. During a rescue mission Mario is killed and Frank goes in to hiding, where he repents for his sins and visits the Bronx to tell La'verne what Mario said about her before he died. But Frank is intoxicated by La'verne's beauty and delicate sadness and falls in love with her, unable to tell her about Mario. But before long Missy turns up and tells him the MAGA crowd have got plans for him to take part in the assassination of local congresswoman Maria Conchita Consuela Fernandez (Zendaya), What will Frank do? Will he be a scorpion or a frog?