Year – 1996
The Birdcage is a remake of the French comedy classic La Cage aux Folles. It tells the story of a gay nightclub owner and his drag-queen companion who agree to spending an evening passing for straight in order to help impress their son’s über-conservative, future in-laws. The couple is played by Robin Williams and Nathan Lane: assuring “subtlety” is not the order of the day and making the fact that Hank Azaria nearly stole the movie all the more impressive.
Azaria plays Agador Spartacus, the couple’s Guatemalan housekeeper, as a veritable cornucopia of gay stereotypes. In lesser hands (and a lesser film), the performance would have sparked outrage in the gay community. But given the film’s message, and its abundance of non-stereotypical gay characters, the character was allowed to be an individual instead of spokesperson. And Azaria took full advantage of the freedom.
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