Veteran actor Richard Jenkins plays gay
in his latest role in director Guillermo Del Toro's The Shape of
Water.
The 70-year-old Jenkins is best known
for playing deceased patriarch Nathaniel Fisher in HBO's drama Six
Feet Under.
In Shape of Water, Jenkins plays
Giles, a closeted commercial artist and the best friend and neighbor
of Elisa Esposito (played by Sally Hawkins). Set in 1961 Baltimore,
the film follows Elisa, a mute custodian at a high-security
government installation who befriends a sea creature being held at
the laboratory.
Jenkins told The Washington Blade
that describing the film's plot is difficult.
“I really enjoy listening to people
trying to describe it, because it's really hard. It's a lot of
things. It's a heist movie. It's a romance. It's a bit of a
thriller. It's very funny in places,” he said.
“It's an adult fairy tale. It's
about love. The phrase that comes back to me when I think about this
movie is 'love is love.' For me, that's the theme of the whole
film,” Jenkins
added.
The movie won the Golden Lion at the
Venice International Film Festival and leads the Golden Globes with
seven nominations, including an acting nomination for Jenkins.