Breaking Down the Queer Stars and Roles Worthy of 2023 Awards Recognition

Todd Haynes, director of 'May December'

Can it be true that Todd Haynes, director of "Velvet Goldmine," "I'm Not There," and the brilliant "Carol," only has one Oscar nomination – for writing "Far From Heaven" – and none for directing? It sure is, and that really needs to change.

"May December," his latest work, is one of his best. Haynes (with a great script by Samy Burch) takes a ripped-from-the-headlines story and provides us with a satiric, yet perspicacious, look at human behavior at its strangest. Haynes directs Natalie Portman in her best role yet, as a thesp prepping to play a non-repentant Mary Kay Letourneau-type (a mind-bogglingly good Julianne Moore) who seduces a barely-adolescent boy and then marries him. (Charles Melton impresses as the conflicted husband.) Haynes fashions a singular work, from the look to the score (borrowed from the 1971 Joseph Losey film, "The Go-Between) to the tone – it's sometimes campy, sometimes quite serious, and always so very Haynes.

Pedro Almodóvar, director of the short film 'Strange Way of Life'

Certainly, one of the most prominent short film candidates for an Oscar this year is Pedro Almodóvar's evocative and queer-themed western romance, "Strange Way of Life." Pedro Pascal and Ethan Hawke star as past lovers whose paths cross again under difficult circumstances. The two do a little rekindling before the final battle. José Condessa and Jason Fernández portray younger versions of Pascal and Hawke, and are simply yummy.

The Spanish auteur has been Academy Award nominated, in different categories, five times and has won two Oscars: For Best Foreign Language Film ("All About My Mother" in 1999) and Best Original Screenplay ("Talk to Her" in 2002). This would be his first Live Action Short nomination.

Ben Whishaw in 'Passages'

Out thesp Ben Whishaw has been doing great work on the big and small screens for years. Last year he held his own, and then some, in a sea of females in Oscar-winner Sarah Polley's "Women Talking," but failed to receive a nomination himself.

This year, in Ira Sachs' penetrating "Passages," he shows us his character's complex emotions as he navigates being in a relationship with an unapologetic egotistic (Franz Rogowski, riveting) who runs roughshod on a whim over those he loves.

Non-Out Actors in Queer Roles

Annette Bening, mentioned above, astonishes as the driven and fearless Diana Nyad, a true lesbian trailblazer. "Nyad" the person, character, and film (directed by Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin), proves that we can accomplish anything if we never give up. She was Golden Globe nominated for Best Actress.

Bradley Cooper (queer biopic, Netflix again!) is Leonard Bernstein in the dazzling "Maestro." As director, Cooper should have delved deeper into the conductor/composer's same-sex relationships, which are given short shrift, but Cooper the actor is a wonder to behold. He received two Golden Globe nominations: For Best Actor and Director.

Sterling K. Brown steals all his scenes as the newly-gay surgeon in Cord Jefferson's hilarious and perceptive "American Fiction." Brown creates a clever, complex, messy queer man, trying to figure himself out, and he kills it.

Barry Keoghan delivers one of the most original and audacious onscreen performances as the devious (or is he?) Oliver Quick in Emerald Fennell's daring (and unfairly maligned) gem, "Saltburn." Keoghan is mesmerizing, whether he's gulping semen from a bathtub or dancing naked to "Murder on the Dancefloor." Keoghan was Golden Globe nominated for Best Actor.

Sandra Hüller is absolutely riveting as the bisexual novelist Sandra Voyter in Justine Triet's compelling thriller "Anatomy of a Fall." Sandra is accused of murdering her spouse, and Hüller keeps us guessing right up until the end with her tantalizing, often cryptic, turn. Hüller was nominated for a Golden Globe and won the Lead Performance Award from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association (alongside Emma Stone), as well as winning the European Film Award for Best Actress.

Paul Mescal, the swoon-worthy Irish actor who received an Oscar nomination last year for "Aftersun," plays the mysterious Harry in Andrew Haigh's "All of Us Strangers," the character who hooks up with Andrew Scott's brooding Adam. Their love scenes are off-the-charts sexy.

Taraji P. Henson is one of two reasons to see Blitz Bazawule's unnecessary musical "The Color Purple," the other being the dynamic Danielle Brooks. Henson play Shug Avery, and brings the movie to life with two dazzling numbers, "Push Da Button" and "Miss Celie's Blues (Sister)." Henson's Shug is a strong, assured woman who has a romantic something going on with Celie (Fantasia Barrino, miscast), although the film is cagey about just how far the women go – also a criticism of the original Spielberg version. You would think in 2023 more queer ground could be broken. Alas, not here.

Finally, Emma Stone has one same-sex tryst in "Poor Things," but the scene is significant since it's arguably the most fulfilling sex her character has ever had. No stranger to doing queer sex scenes in a Yorgos Lanthimos film – she cozied up with Olivia Colman in "The Favourite" – Stone's wildly ferocious performance as Bella is one of discovery and liberation, as Bella slowly eschews the men who wish to own her. It is easily one of the best performances of 2023. Stone won the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Lead Performance (with Hüller) and took home a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Comedy, while the film won in the Best Picture Comedy category.