‘Were The World Mine’ closes NewFest introduces a new male muse: Nathaniel Becker

© Photo by Steven Mattson Hayhurst

INSPIRATIONAL – Move over Gael Garcia-Bernal and Louis Garrel, Homo-neurotic has a new male muse. His name is Nathaniel David Becker and we’re officially in love. The talented 22 year old hottie stars in Tom Gustafson’s Were The World Mine which closed out NewFest this Sunday. We caught up with the director and the cast during the film’s New York City premiere. Oh and did I mention the lovely gal in the black dress is Robin Williams daughter, Zelda, and that she’s named after Princess Zelda from the “Legend of Zelda” series? Yeah, she’s pretty hot too.

MISSED CONNECTION - Were The World Mine tells the story of Timothy’s (Tanner Cohen, not pictured) unrequited love for Jonathan (Nathaniel Becker, below). And we can’t fault Timothy one bit. If Jonathan played shirtless-Rubgy at our private, all-boys, prep-school we’d be drooling over him too. Nate may look young, but he talks about his acting like a seasoned performer. Here’s what he had to say.

One of the biggest challenges for the cast and crew was the late-night film shooting in a bug-laden forest. “There is a particular species of cicada that emerges every 17 years in Chicago, and we were there on the 17th year,” explains Nate (we’re on a first-name basis). But aside from the occasional cicada droppings, Nate tells us the greatest challenge was “being comfortable in a tight schedule.”

Nate plays one of the gay romantic leads in the film (he’s straight), so was there any off-screen Sean-Cody-style romance going on? “Probably.” He answers with a demure smile. “I really shouldn’t answer for other people. The majority of the cast was between the ages of 17 and 23, so yeah. There’s no doubt there was.”

“The film is really about how everyone deserves to be loved. To feel love,” Nate explains. And he has no qualms about playing a gay character. “To be honest I wasn’t very familiar with the genre of gay film before I chose the project. So when I read the script. I just loved the story.”

What did he like about playing Jonathan? “Anyone who represses emotions, or a feeling, is a very interesting character. He fits in so well on the outside and on the inside he’s such an outsider — or so he feels — and that’s what drew me to Jonathan.”

Nate plays a rugby star on screen, so was he a jock in real life? “Yeah I played a lot of sports. But I did a lot of theatre too. Everybody in my school did theatre. I played tennis, soccer, and baseball. I grew up in South Dekota, so that’s what you do.”

Will playing Jonathan affect his career? “You know I don’t think I thought so much about how it would affect my career. Maybe I was being a little naive about the genre, but to be honest: acting is acting. If you can pull of a character all that it speaks to is that you’re a wonderful actor.”

MONEY, MONEY, MONEY — For director, Tom Gustafson, securing financing and distribution was (and continues to be) the biggest challenge. “It tooks us a year and a half to find people to really step up and support the film. Because it was gay. Because it was a musical. Because it was a small film,” Gustafson recounts. “But luckily we found not only amazing actors, but amazing investors and crew that really embraced it — and got it to here.”

Were The World Mine hasn’t landed distrubtion as of Sunday night, but if the stars align (and we hope they do), you’ll be the first to know.

© Photography by Steven Mattson Hayhurst

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