{"id":4879,"date":"2022-05-09T18:45:58","date_gmt":"2022-05-09T18:45:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/4guysmagazine.com\/?p=4879"},"modified":"2022-05-09T18:46:01","modified_gmt":"2022-05-09T18:46:01","slug":"garrett-clayton-shares-shocking-story-from-king-cobra-set","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/4guysmagazine.com\/?p=4879","title":{"rendered":"Garrett Clayton shares shocking story from \u2018King Cobra\u2019 set"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Garrett Clayton wants the world to know he\u2019s done playing the \u201chot guy.\u201d You may remember him as dreamboat Link Larkin in Hairspray<\/em>, or, more recently, as Chip Skylark in the new live-action series The Fairly OddParents<\/em>. The former Disney Channel star is no stranger to salacious characters either. He was too hot to handle as adult film star Brent Corrigan<\/a> in King Cobra<\/em>. As well as off the screen, when he showed some skin as Al Pacino\u2019s hooker in God Looked Away<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Admittedly, he makes a perfect casting choice for these kinds of roles, but Garrett Clayton is ready to show his range.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We had a chance to catch up with Garrett, and he tells us how he avoids getting pigeonholed. \u201cI could have easily continued down this path, but I felt like that had a shelf life,\u201d he explains. \u201cI\u2019ve worked really hard to have a well-rounded resume right now. I have to hold strong in the kind of performer I want to be, and respectfully say that I don\u2019t want to keep doing the same thing. I don\u2019t want to be the \u201chot guy\u201d who walks on stage for a couple of lines, shows his butt off, and everyone calls him a slut, <\/strong>you know what I mean?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lately, Garrett has been able to cut his teeth on some meatier characters. \u201cI have a cute spot in The Mattachine Family<\/em>, he adds. \u201cI\u2019ve played my fair share of scandalous characters, and I\u2019m sure I will again, but right now I want to keep showing people my different colors.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He became involved with Mattachine<\/em> director Andrew Vallentine last year working on a project called Letterman<\/em>. The short film features a large archive of love letters between two gay men in WWII. Garrett remarks, \u201cI see all the care he puts into his film work.\u201d So, when he got the call for The Mattachine Family<\/em>, he was instantly on board.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Without giving too much of the film away, Garrett tries to describe how meaningful his role was for them both. \u201cI just did a cute cameo, but it ended up meaning so much more,\u201d he says. \u201cAndy pulled me aside and told me, \u2018I just want you to know, that scene, what you were saying, is so personal to me and my husband because this is how we felt going through what we went through.\u2019 It really meant a lot that he trusted me with it. I really identified with how we have to navigate building our family as gay people\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Garrett Clayton in King Cobra. photo via Twitter<\/a><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

When Garrett looks back at previous roles, he wishes he had done one thing differently. \u201cWhile working on Cobra<\/em>, I wish I would have stood up for myself more in a couple of circumstances,\u201d he admits. \u201cI\u2019ve always had trouble doing that out of fear. Whether it\u2019s fear of rejection or fear of upsetting people. I\u2019ve had to make peace with the fact that no matter what I say, somebody is going to be upset.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hinting at gay Twitter\u2019s backlash to his Cobra<\/em> casting announcement, we asked Garrett to elaborate. \u201cI was getting blasted online. People were saying, \u2018Here\u2019s another straight guy taking a gay role.\u2019 And it was everywhere! The media was poking fun at me for not being out, and it was A LOT. I wish I could have, or would have, stood up for myself in a better way. But it was also a hard position to be in because I wasn\u2019t publicly out at the time.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then he told us something he\u2019s never talked about in a press setting before. \u201cThere\u2019s a montage of Brent becoming a porn star in the movie. I knew going into it that there was a chance I\u2019d never work again,\u201d he muses. \u201cFor whatever reason, sexuality scares people, and feeling comfortable with your sexuality scares them even more.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nhttps:\/\/twitter.com\/thatgregperson\/status\/1266469130955370497\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Fresh from Disney stardom, a relatively PG environment, Garrett had to push himself to be comfortable on a NC-17 set. \u201cI was challenging myself mentally, saying, \u2018This is a character. This isn\u2019t me. It\u2019s okay.\u2019 It felt very vulnerable to be pretty much nude and insinuate sexual acts with basic strangers.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then he added a shocking detail \u2014 \u201cMost of them were respectful, but some of them really got to me. At one point during a shoot, I was on the couch with two men on either side of me, and they started making jokes about what a slut I was. They\u2019re like, \u2018this isn\u2019t his first time.\u2019 I felt like they were talking through me. It really got to me, I ended up leaving the room. They just wouldn\u2019t stop saying such nasty horrible things right through me as if I wasn\u2019t sitting right there.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He reflects on this moment of total objectification and adds, \u201cthe movie, I guess, made some people feel like they had permission to either say or do hurtful things. That was such a big eye-opening experience because a lot of my girlfriends have told me men have treated them this way. I\u2019m not saying I understand the female experience completely, but this was probably the closest I\u2019ll get to it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Garrett with his husband Blake Knight.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s definitely more to Garrett Clayton than his impeccable physique and classic good looks (not that those are bad things). Some of his most recent work shows that. Garrett and his husband Blake host a weekly podcast called \u201cA Gay in the Life.\u201d They aim to provide a catalog of resources on the LGBTQ+ experience, current events, history, and culture. Combine that with a handful of films in post-production and a few upcoming projects in the works, the actor has put this \u201chot guy\u201d type behind him.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A post shared by Garrett Clayton (@garrettclayton1)<\/a><\/p><\/div><\/blockquote>