Is 'gay' the new 'crippled'? It seems more often that not that any actor who played a character with a disability usually landed a best acting Oscar, especially the men. Tom Hanks, Geoffrey Rush, Jack Nicholson, Al Pacino, Jamie Foxx Daniel Day-Lewis, Dustin Hoffman to name but a few all won the big award in the past twenty years for portraying a character with some kind of dysfunction whether it be mental or physical.

This year however the trend has moved away from disability to a completely different aspect - sexual orientation. With a gay cowboy movie getting all the award buzz, Philip Seymour Hoffman as a gay journalist likely set to win best actor, indulging in the odd bit of stubble-coated spit-swapping has never been so good for a Hollywood actor's career.

Now in one of the funnier stories I've heard lately, English tabloid The Sun reports that Brad Pitt has told his reps to reportedly find a script which portrays the "ultimate gay love story". Whilst several of Pitt's characters in the past have displayed some very mild homo-eroticism, none have been outright gay.

Their source"Brad has asked his people to find him a script to play a gay man. He wants it to be a story that appeals to both men and women and he wants it to be the edgiest work he's done. He's seen the critical acclaim that Brokeback Mountain has won and he wants a piece of it. Brad knows it would be seen as shocking to take on a gay role because he's seen as such a heart-throb".