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When you hear Evan Ross’s voice—with its combo of depth and softness—and take in his generosity of spirit, it makes you think, Yeah, it makes sense he’s Diana Ross’s son. And when you learn he’s only 18, you realize he’s wise beyond his years, enough to tap into the darkness to play such challenging roles as the self-destructive gay HIV-positive teenager Amare in Life Support, which premiered this month on HBO. Starring Queen Latifah as a recovered crack addict turned activist who tries to save Amare, Life Support shines a light on people not often represented on the screen: African-American women and men living with HIV and AIDS, including men living on the "down low" like Amare’s lover, Michael. I talked with Evan about Life Support, love, struggle, forging his own identity—and what it was like to play gay.
Life Support
really surprised me with its passion. What attracted
you to the film and the role of Amare?
I had heard the script was really powerful and
dealt with a lot of important issues. And when I spoke
with Nelson George [the director and cowriter], he was
very passionate about it. When I was looking through
the roles, I thought Amare presented the harsher realities
of HIV and I thought his would be a really interesting
role to play—he wasn’t like any
character I’d ever played before. So I decided to go
with the role and see how I could bring something
different to it. I thought, Let me see how I can play
this role so we really still care about this
character, even though he’s really messing up.
Yeah, Amare messes up a lot. He’s quite
self-destructive. Can you talk about that?
One of the most important things is having
people around you who love you and care for you. For
Amare, he started to lose that after a while—his
best friend and his sister and everyone had their own lives
to deal with, and he started to feel alone. And it
wasn’t anyone’s fault. Everyone has
their own life to live. So I think Amare felt he had nobody
as he was dealing with his disease and so many things.
How he felt abandoned just made him give up.
It’s really interesting how Amare's gay sexuality
wasn’t emphasized, but it was part of his
character. When you look into Amare, do you think
his self-destruction had anything to do with his not
accepting being gay?
All of who he was impacted him. I don’t
think there’s a reason why the film
didn’t really emphasize his sexuality and how that
was a part of him. It was subtle, and it was good it
was subtle, because you can understand his downfall
from all angles.
In terms of his issues with his sexuality and
having HIV and the drugs, all of it…
Yeah, it was a combination of everything in his
life that caused him to have a lot of trouble and give
up. Everything was just too much. He didn’t
have anybody to talk to, then he became part of the hustle,
then he ending up selling all his medication and
didn’t really care anymore.
When do you think he decided to give up?
I think it all started with his sister and not
being able to go home, and his sister not wanting to
be a part of his life and his messing up anymore. And
then it was with his friends. Like Kelly, she was always
there, but when Amare was really sick and on the floor, and
as much as he was doing drugs to cover up his pain,
Kelly asked him to leave. I think he felt betrayed,
but at the same time it really wasn’t her fault. I
think that’s something important too, because even
though we see it and hear about it, we can’t
really know what it’s like to deal with a
situation like Amare’s or understand it totally.
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