'He was trying to seduce me, under the guise of teaching me, from the start.'
Johnathon Schaech
Back in 2017, I did an Actors & Skin feature on actor Johnathon Schaech. (HERE: & HERE:) While putting together that piece, I found a series of images of a hot shoot featuring Jonathon and a female model. The only image from the series I could find was a compilation shot from a Dewey series by DC poster Jimbo. I got in touch with Jimbo who originally thought he'd lost the shots after an issue with an old computer. A few months later, Jimbo got back in touch after finding the shots on an old hard drive.
When I was starting to put together the piece featuring the images, I couldn't get a particular story out of my head. It wasn't a story I'd heard of when I put together the first pieces on Jonathan, it was year later that the story came out. I was reading a post on Dreamcaps about actor Martin Hewitt, when the subject of Endless Love came up. I hadn't been aware that a year after my 2017 pieces, Schaech wrote a piece for People Magazine detailing his story of being molested by director Franco Zeffirelli.
'There’s a moment where, even though you are taught to be charming and have sex appeal as an actor, a line is crossed and everything changes. When someone crosses that line, when someone preys on you, there’s a panic that sets in. That’s what Franco did. He crossed that boundary and I felt as though I left my body. He molested me in my bed. He put his hands in places that I couldn’t even imagine and he did things that I am not proud of. But it’s not my fault.'
Many of course know Zefferelli from his work on film, most notably 1968's Romeo & Juliette. It was 1993's The Sparrow that Schaech shares the director made his life a nightmare. The 'me too' era provided an opportunity for so many to share their stories, but it's still struggle for men who have been abused. I think the fact Jonathon's story wasn't highly publicized is a great example.
Although FH is clearly about enjoying visuals of the male form, story is an important part of the process for me. When only an image is seen, it's far too easy for distance to be created. I strive to ensure that I'm not posting just a body, but a person. Story is essential in this process. I applaud Jonathon's bravery in sharing a very painful piece of his story.
No comments:
Post a Comment