Actor Martin Sheen says in a new
interview that it was important to get right a gay relationship on
the Netflix comedy Grace And Frankie.
The 74-year-old Sheen plays opposite
Sam Waterston, also 74, on the show.
In the sitcom's pilot, Robert (played
by Sheen) and Sol (Waterston) announce to their wives (Jane Fonda and
Lily Tomlin) that they are in love and planning to marry.
“Robert is a conservative,” Sheen
told Radio
Times. “He's probably a Republican, which I certainly am
not – I'm an extremely liberal Catholic. But I'm also a husband
and a father, and a grandfather and a great grandfather, and I have
great love and affection for people in the gay community.”
“So I had a real sense that it was
important to get this right. Don't fool around with this. There's
no camping here. No flashy stuff.”
Sheen said that he told the show's
creators “no fishnet stockings, no parading around,” and they
mostly respected his wishes.
“This was a sincere relationship.
These men have fallen in love with each other. But they don't have
any image of what they should act like. It's just that they have
chosen to live an honest life.”
Sheen added that he supports marriage
equality. “I am not against anybody expressing their love to
anyone else; it's none of my business,” he said.
(Related: Netflix
renews Grace
And Frankie
for second season.)