Ben Foster

(Los Angeles, California) He may have one of the smallest roles in “X-Men: The Last Stand,” but twenty-five year-old, five foot, Boston native Ben Foster, at the same time, has one of the most memorable. In the third installment of “X-Men,” five foot, nine inch, Ben Foster climbs into the wings of Warren Worthington III aka Angel. 

Foster plays the son of the head of the FDA, the son of the man who has helped discover a ‘cure’ for all mutants. “My father,” says Foster, whose perfectly sculpted body is shown for all its glory in this “X-Men,” about his father in the movie, “is torn between two worlds. He sees his son, whom he thinks is suffering, and wants to help him become human, but his son, me, I don’t want to change. I am happy with my wings.” 

It’s hard not to think of the “X-Men” mutants without thinking of a gay analogy. If someone who were gay could change to become straight, would they want to? “This movie produces one of the biggest gay analogies I can think of on the big screen. It’s certainly not meant to be a preachy movie, but it might help open some people’s minds, who are not yet open,” says Foster. “My character is very adamant about not changing,” reveals Foster, whose character is the first mutant to be brought into the facility to undergo the ‘change,’ (to lose his powers and become human). What got Foster, and his younger brother, Jon, (who was last seen on the big screen in the film “The Door In The Floor,” the adaptation of John Irving’s “A Widow For One Year”), in the movie business? 

“Though we were born in Boston, we moved to Iowa when we were young and in the town we lived there were four community theaters. There was pretty much nothing else to do than act.” The boys’ good looks, stunning looks, actually, couldn’t have hurt their chances getting the heartthrob roles in each production they tried out for. “I wrote, starred in and directed my first play when I was twelve,” laughs Foster. Although he wouldn’t suggest dropping out of high school to most, he did. And at sixteen moved to Los Angeles and almost immediately got a job in the Disney Channel show “Flash Forward.” Foster’s first big screen starring role was in the teen romantic comedy “Get Over It,” which incidentally is the first movie for which I interviewed the budding star. It shouldn’t be long before Foster, who will next be seen in a starring role in “Alpha Dog,” becomes a household name, before he is not known for just his supporting roles in classic television shows such as “Six Feet Under” (where he played Russell Corwin, the boyfriend of Claire Fisher), or “Boston Public” or “Freaks & Geeks.” While the producers of “X-Men 3” allege that this is the end of the line in the series, don’t count out a fourth installment, with Angel returning as one of the most popular mutants. 

If you stay in your seat at the theater, until the very last credit roles in “X-Men 3,” you will see why there may be much bigger heights to which this Angel will be flying. If you’re in the mood to check out more of Ben Foster’s work, after seeing him in “X-Men: The Last Stand,” try “Hostage,” the 2005 movie, in which he plays a vicious teen kidnapper, opposite Bruce Willis, or almost any episode of Season 3 or 4 of “Six Feet Under,” where you can find him at his finest.

by Tim Nason, Special to 365Gay.com