The good bi boy: playing a teenager who loves both a boy and a girl in Borstal Boy, Shawn Hatosy exemplifies a young Hollywood unfazed by a role's sexual labels. (The Hollywood Issue).

Shawn Hatosy endeared himself to both gay and straight audiences as high schooler Jack in In & Out when he stood up and declared "I'm gay" in support of Kevin Kline's outed teacher. We've had our eye on Hatosy ever since as he popped up in small but notable parts in movies that played better on the small screen (The Faculty, Down to You, Outside Providence). Now, after a showy turn in February's John Q., the straight, 26-year-old Maryland native turns up on gay radar screens again in the title role in Borstal Boy (now playing in New York and Los Angeles and opening in other cities this spring).

Directed by first-timer Peter Sheridan, who cowrote In the Name of the Father, Borstal Boy is based on a memoir by Irish political activist and literary lion Brendan Behan about his experiences at age 16 while detained at a British reform school, having been caught with an IRA bomb. It's also a same-sex love story, as the teenage Brendan learns how to return the love of fellow student Charlie (Danny Dyer).

Before we get started, you have to clear something up for me about your In & Out role ...

Was Jack gay?

Exactly!

In the original script, yes.

I still say yes, because of the expression on your face when everyone else stands up [after Jack does] and says, "I'm gay." You look so disappointed.

Well, that's true; maybe I blew it. [Laughs] We did it so many different ways, and that's the one they went with. I don't know if he is. Well, that's the conversation that me and director Frank Oz had--that he wasn't. I see a kid standing up for his teacher. I liked it better when he was gay [laughs] because it meant more. It was a cooler part.

So how do you convince Peter Sheridan to cast an American as an Irish folk hero?

I met Peter Sheridan in New York. He'd been looking for someone to play this role for a while, and he couldn't find anyone Irish who wanted to do it or who was capable. It was a beautiful script. It's one of those rare scripts where you feel something emotionally. I put myself on tape [speaking with an Irish accent] and sent it to him, and it just happened. Brendan Behan is this icon in Ireland. I had no idea That might have helped.

People are calling this your best work. What was the trick to pull him off?

It's a tough role because you have to be able to play him and seem young, because he's 16, but he does mature a lot. And, specifically, when you get to that kiss between Brendan and Charlie, there has to be something very mature about it--and if you go too young, then it doesn't work.

You are part of a generation of young actors who are willing to play gay and not worry about never working in this town again.

It didn't even cross my mind. I didn't see it as, "Is this going to affect me if I play a gay character?" I saw this as a love story on many different levels. It was never an issue. Especially in the position that I'm in, it's nice because I'm allowed to take these risks. Certain actors that are high-profile can't do that. You don't want to get stuck. I wouldn't want to play the bad guy all the time. I wouldn't want to play the jock every time. It's nice to be able to play the dork every once in a while.

Did Brendan ever have a relationship with a man again?

Peter talked to a lot of his family, and they will say he was bisexual. He did have a wife and a child, but he died before [his child] was born. I think he was bisexual well into his 40s.

How did you play him?

He was just figuring things out. It's like first love. He was in a weird situation. The guy is brought up to hate the British and gets forced into a situation where he has to learn to deal with the people he's been told he has to hate--and he doesn't. He was straight until he fell in love. Or he thought he was.

Jones writes the Movie Scoop column for E! Online.