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Dylan McDermott: I Had No Idea The Gays Love 'Steel Magnolias'

Mcdermottrot

'American Horror Story' star shocked by popularity of his first big film

Perhaps he's just playing dumb, but Dylan McDermott seems almost completely unaware of his gay following.

In an interview with the Advocate where pretty much every even-slightly-queer aspect of the actor's career is parsed, one detail struck us as particularly shocking: the 50-year-old star, who's currently killing it (sometimes literally) on American Horror Story, had no idea Steel Magnolias was big with the gays.

"I swear to God, I did not know this," he said. "That was my first really big movie, and I loved making it. I'd just made Hamburger Hill in the Philippines, where there were no trailers, and somebody died while we were making the movie. It was a brutal shoot. All of a sudden I'm on the set of Steel Magnolias, where there's more pink than I've ever seen in my life. I was working with movie stars who each had their own hair and makeup people, we only worked eight hours a day, and everybody was always partying and laughing. It blew my mind."

It's forgivable, we guess, considering that McDermott, who comes across as a bit of a shy little creature, doesn't make a habit of watching too much of his own work.

"Well, I've maybe seen the movie twice," he said. "It's hard for me to watch my own movies, because I look back and think, oh, my God, I'm a different person. Watching myself is a little unnerving."

If he hates watching himself, there are plenty of fans that don't. And for those hoping to see McDermott play gay again like he did on Will & Grace, it might not be too long of a wait.

"I don't think I've ever been offered another gay role. But I had this idea--I actually brought it up to Ryan Murphy--that I wanted to play Halston," he said. "I think that would make a great movie, because his life was so interesting and complex. I was trying to develop that for a while, and Ryan was kind of mulling it over. We'll see."

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Adam Rathe