After decades as an openly gay man – and with a male partner of 20 plus years – it’s interesting that Tom Ford should choose now to de-gay himself. Tom tells Advocate magazine this month “I don’t think of myself as gay. That doesn’t mean that I’m not gay. I just don’t define myself by my sexuality.”

This comes at the same time that Tom’s new gay movie is accused of stepping into sheeps’ clothing and pretending it’s not really a gay movie, going so far as removing pretty much all the gay stuff from the latest trailer.

Could this have a lot to do with the “Oscar buzz” that the film’s starting to generate (from the mouths of the publicity department, at least). It clearly wasn’t always envisaged as such a mainstream-arthouse movie aimed at straight audiences – check out the very homo-centric early trailer above. Then, suddenly, Julianne Moore is straring out from the movie posters – she wasn’t even on this movie’s radar when I first reported on the cast.

It seems Hollywood conservatism strikes again – while it’s virtually expected for a male fashion designer to be gay, in the movies it’s still an easier ride for male directors if they play it straight.

So is it a gay movie or not? And does it really matter? If Tom Ford wants to pack theatres with straight, upscale audiences, maybe he won’t mind if us gays stay away? Hmm, maybe not.