People Are Saying La Bola Negra Made Them “Gayer.” Emmy Rossum Says “It Worked on Me”

The queer Spanish epic La Bola Negra has a lot of early fans. Among them is Shameless and Furious star Emmy Rossum, who hosted a conversation with directors Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo (a.k.a. Los Javis) and several members of the cast last month, following a special screening in New York.One of the most playful moments came near the end of the discussion when Ambrossi shared that one of his favorite Letterboxd reviews simply read, “Made me gayer,” to which Rossum replied, “It certainly… it worked on me.” - YouTube La Bola Negra weaves together stories from three different timelines: a 1932 storyline in which a young man tries to put rumors about his sexuality to rest as he applies for membership in a social club, a 1937 storyline about a young man named Sebastián who is conscripted into Franco’s Nationalist army and finds unexpected love with a prisoner of war, and a 2017 timeline about a historian who uncovers a finished play by Federico García Lorca. The film has already been earning accolades, netting Los Javis a best director win at Cannes. Most notably, however, it was selected in September to be Spain’s official entrant in the international feature Oscars race.In our review at Them, we dubbed it one of the best LGBTQ+ movies of the century so far, placing it among the ranks of Moonlight, Brokeback Mountain, and Portrait of a Lady on Fire.It’s clear from the discussion Netflix posted that Rossum was equally bowled over by La Bola Negra. “I have never seen a movie that feels this ambitious and this big but also so intimate at the same time,” she raved.This isn’t the first time Rossum has boosted queer stories. In fact, 10 years ago, while starring on Showtime’s hit series Shameless, Rossum spoke with Variety about casting transgender actor Elliot Fletcher as Ian Gallagher’s love interest after initially being concerned about how large the talent pool was.“We got so many incredible tapes that all of the anxiety dissipated, and