Nathan Lane

Outrageous, flamboyant, hysterical? Yes. Impersonal, detached, intellectual? No. How can Nathan Lane, an Aquarius, come off as so ... un-Aquarian?
Aquarius is not the ideal placement for the Sun, and especially for Mr. Lane. The Sun is happiest in Leo, where it can shine in the spotlight. Opposite from Leo is Aquarius. Whereas Leo is dramatic and theatrical, Aquarius is distant and cerebral. If Leo is the performer, Aquarius is the audience, the group. Although the Aquarius will do his own thing, dress different, and stand out from the crowd, he would not be loud and proud.

So what makes Nathan Lane tick? With Cancer rising, his persona is emotional with a tendency to withdraw to protect himself. His Moon, which is the ruler of his chart--what he has to live out to feel fulfilled--is in intense, secretive Scorpio in the fifth house of play and performance. (Neptune, the planet ruling his career house, is also placed in the fifth house.) It is certainly in the house naturally corresponding with Leo that Lane shines. Scorpio gives him a powerful, charismatic presence, but also lends to feelings of resentment and difficulty letting go of grudges. A perfect example is his signature song in The Producers, "Betrayed." Down-and-out Broadway producer Max Bialystock (Lane) and his accountant Leo Bloom (Matthew Broderick) concoct a brilliant plan to create a sure-fire flop, and pocket all their investors' money. After their plan fails, Bloom splits New York with his lover Ulla (Uma Thurman) and the money, leaving Bialystock in prison. In addition to indicating the torment of being let down by his business partner, Scorpio (and the Scorpionic eighth house, where Lane's Sun resides) rules other people's money (investments in the show), as well as the numerous sexual acts Bialystock must perform with little old ladies to procure the funds for the production.

The dramatic fifth house emphasis is strengthened with Jupiter in Leo. Lane expands (Jupiter) through theatricality (Leo), and has the good fortune (Jupiter) of getting validation and kudos (Leo). Moreover, Jupiter sits in his third house of communication, which is obviously his biggest strength. However, the planet of exaggeration makes a stressful angle to Saturn in Sagittarius. Saturn feels a deficiency in Jupiter-ruled Sagittarius, the realm of expansiveness and optimism. The dark-side of Sag is going overboard, of going too far; Saturn, in his need to overcompensate to make up for his feeling of lack, enables this. Both Leo and Sag are inspirational fire signs. Moreover, Jupiter humorously makes light of the suffering that Saturn knows too well. With these two social planets in hard aspect to each other, Lane is apt to go for the BIG laughs, to be larger than life. This approach usually works--no doubt it is part of his signature--but it can devolve into abrasiveness when he goes too far.

Aquarius is ruled by the outer planet Uranus. The experience of sudden insight, the "Eureka! I've got it!" moment, is governed by Uranus, as are sudden unexpected twists. Aquarius is capable of moments of brilliance, of thinking out-of-line with society's expectations. Bialystock's Aquarian moment occurs when he has the idea of producing a sure-fire flop. Later in the film, the totally out-of-left-field result that Springtime for Hitler was a runaway success fits this archetype. Another totally unexpected moment in one of Lane's more famous films occurs in The Bird Cage. Lane plays Albert Goldman, a man in a long-term relationship with his lover Armand (Robin Williams), who owns a drag cabaret. Armand's son is engaged to be married, and the fiance's parents are conservative, so the son asks Armand to hide his homosexuality. Armand is willing to do this, and asks the flamboyant Albert, who cannot for the life of him pass as straight, to disappear for the evening. Instead, Albert comes out to dinner dressed as Armand's wife, managing to convince the fiance's parents that he is the real thing.

With Venus in romantic Pisces, Moon in intense Scorpio and sensitive Cancer rising--all water signs--much of Lane's personality is at odds with his solar identity. In fact, like Jupiter and Saturn, his Moon and Sun also make a stressful angle to each other, in which it feels like expression of one part of himself comes at the cost of inhibiting the other. The battle between his Scorpio Moon and Aquarius Sun involves the universal push-pull between intimacy and freedom, but for him it feels irresolvable. Lane has six of these squares (planets at ninety degree angles from each other) between planets in his chart. More than any other aspect, the friction of the square forces us to take action to resolve our conflicts. No doubt Lane's success is in part due to all this tension, but his is not an easy life. He is not called a sad clown for nothing.

Nathan Lane: Born February 3, 1956 at 2:29 pm in Jersey City, NJ.

This essay originally appeared in the Aquarius 2006 issue of Constellation magazine.

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Isaac Hayes and South Park

Isaac Hayes, who voices the character Chef on Comedy Central's South Park, quit the show last week, saying he could no longer stomach the cartoon's "intolerance and bigotry" toward religion. South Park creator Matt Stone fired back, saying Hayes, an outspoken Scientologist, "has no problem — and he's cashed plenty of checks — with our show making fun of Christians." (USA Today)

Hayes (born August 20, 1942 at 4:00 AM in Covington, KY) currently has transiting Uranus at 11 Pisces opposing his natal Mars-Mercury conjunction, and squaring his natal Saturn. Mars is the ruler of his Aries Midheaven, which relates to his career and status.

The Saturn-Mercury-Mars combo points to someone who is easily frustrated, feels held back, and has a sense of inferiority related to one's intellect. As one develops, this combo can signify somebody who works hard against resistance, and who communicates carefully and studies hard. Uranus, the planet of sudden and unexpected change, is activating this complex for Hayes right now.

In particular, when Uranus transits natal Saturn, one feels compelled to break out from structures that hold one back. Saturn may symbolize "judgment" for Hayes -- in this case South Park's creators' judgment of his religion -- and Hayes needs to assert his individuality, disassociating himself from South Park.

Update: Nick Dagan Best has written a much more extensive analysis of Hayes' departure on his MySpace blog. He was really nice and explained to me what profections are. In all my years of studying astrology, I've never heard this word. Gosh golly, you learn somethin' every day.

Gregg Araki's "Mysterious Skin"

Last night, I watched Gregg Araki's Mysterious Skin on DVD. I had trouble falling asleep -- it was one of the most disturbing movies I have ever seen. I have seen my share of incest and child abuse movies (e.g., David O. Russell's Spanking the Monkey and Todd Solondz's Happiness), but Mysterious Skin (MS henceforth) really got under my skin.

MS is about two young men in Kansas who were both molested by a baseball coach when they were eight years old. One of them was regularly sexual with the coach throughout one summer, and became a gay hustler in his later teenage years. The other was molested on two separate occasions, and grew up believing he had been abducted by aliens because he had frequent blackouts. There are some very difficult scenes to watch, including a rape of the hustler and an allusion to anal fisting when the teenagers were about eight years old. Following the alien-abductee along his path to the truth is especially difficult, as reality starts to seep in, puncturing his delusion. Also, witnessing the hustler put himself in ever more self-destructive situations with total strangers is hard to bear.

After watching this film, I started to wonder why I am drawn to sick and twisted films. Recent films I have watched include Chan-wook Park's Oldboy and Gaspar Noe's Irreversible. But even these did not upset me as much as MS. Mysterious Skin cuts so deep because it is so real. There really is nothing in the movie that is convoluted or hard to accept. Lots of children are molested, and the consequences are devastating. They grow into adults who dissociate (blank out) or are compelled to repeat self-destructive patterns, and more.

Just last weekend I saw Cate Blanchett in Hedda Gabler at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Even that play was unsettling -- the protagonist kills herself at the very end. I understand why mainstream Hollywood films are so successful -- because they offer a pleasant escape from real life, and all the loose ends are (ideally) tied up at the end. Whereas in MS, the hustler states that it is not all right -- there is no happy ending.

I don't think most people want to be unsettled and disturbed. But there are those artists whose mission it is to expose the underground elements of the cultural psyche, and Gregg Araki is one of them. Pluto and Scorpio relate to the general themes of secrets, abuse, violence, sex and power. Araki -- born December 17, 1959 -- has Pluto square Mercury and Mars in Sagittiarus. Additionally, he has a Venus-Neptune conjunction in Scorpio sextile Pluto. Pluto is also trine his Saturn. Mars-Pluto is a classic combination relating to abuse of sexual power. Mercury-Pluto obsesses about sex, secrets and power. Venus-Neptune idealizes love and is prone to near-delusional fantasies about relationships. Placed in Scorpio, Venus expresses herself in an intense, erotic, and controlling manner. (Curiously, Araki's Sun and Moon do not make aspects to Pluto. His Sagittarius Sun trines Uranus, giving him the ability to provoke and shock, which he certainly does in MS.)

I know that my attraction to dark films can be attributed to my Venus-Pluto opposition, with Pluto in my first house. It's funny because even though my girlfriend is a Scorpio, she refuses to watch these types of films. Obviously, Pluto is a much more powerful archetypal force than the zodiac sign it rules. And when it impacts Venus, the planet of relationships, then there is a fascination with issues of sex and power.

I have not read one iota about Gregg Araki, but I like to think that this talented filmmaker channels his darkness into his movies so that he feels less compelled to act out these issues in his personal life. Certainly, watching something on screen that mirrors the murky depths of one's inner world is one of the potentially healing aspects of cinema. But it is not for the feint of heart. Actually, watching a film like this could probably re-traumatize a survivor of childhood sexual abuse. So I would only recommend this film for those viewers who want to directly confront the underworld. It would not be disturbing were it not so well-made.

My New Look

Not only do my fortunate readers get to see the 'doo I've been growing for months ... I also totally revamped my home page! Please let me know how you like it.