Well, it's that time of year. Everyone's released their "Best and Worst Of" Lists for 2010, so it's high time we did the same. As our regular readers know, we frequently highlight and write about the world's sexiest celebrities, and so we'd like to present the guys who made the cut for our first-ever testoterone-charged list which we'll call "East Village Afternoon's Sexiest Celebrities of 2010"...
Our sexiest celebrity of 2010 is James Franco, hands-down. To get our attention, a celebrity not only has to be good looking, but has to have something going on between the ears, as well. And James Franco spent most of 2010 amazing us with something other than his good looks. We've always loved his work as an actor, and of course, he really got our attention two years ago when he co-starred in "Milk", in which he played Sean Penn's lover. The way that he looked lovingly at Sean Penn in some scenes made us wet our pants. And now, finally, Franco is getting some real respect in Hollywood as he'll not only be nominated for an Oscar for the first time, but he's been tapped to host the show itself. We love the fact that the guy is smart, too; he's currently working on a doctoral degree. But the thing about James Franco that really propels him to the top of our list is the fact that he's just so damn ballsy as an artist. He's not afraid to do anything that pushes the boundaries, whether it's playing gay in a movie, whether it's french-kissing another guy in a "Saturday Night Live" skit, whether it's dressing in drag for a transexual magazine or whether it's making out with himself in a mirror for an acting exercise. And, of course, having his grandmother publicly call the people who are afraid to watch his movie, "127 Hours", a bunch of "pussies" was the cherry on top of the sundae. Oh, and don't forget that he's been very outspoken in his support for gay marriage. God, we love this guy.
As much as we love Franco, though, he's starting to reach that tipping point which can best be described as "over-exposure". The guy's been everywhere this year. We hope that when the Oscars are over he'll take some time to retreat from sight so that everyone doesn't get sick of him. He's got a lot to offer as a film actor, and we want him to keep working. He's also the perfect embodiment of the 21 century man; he's masculine, he's strong, but he's also smart, creative and not afraid to speak out against social injustice. We want this guy to stick around for a long, long time..THE RUNNERS-UP.....
Hot on the heels of James Franco are four other actors who are not only experiencing red-hot careers, but have offered enough about themselves in interviews that we know they're no dummies..2. Bradley Cooper - Cooper's career went through the roof with his monster hit comedy, "The Hangover", and then, almost as if he knew he needed some gay fans, he pumped up his body for his role in "The A-Team". It worked. And is there a more likable guy in Hollywood? God, that smile should be insured by Lloyds of London, and we've never seen anyone whose eyes literally twinkle more when he smiles. Bradley Cooper is charm personified..3. Ryan Gosling - Gosling is another actor who has quickly and steadily climbed up the Hollywood Star Ladder of late, and like James Franco, he's not afraid to take on controversial roles. Gosling also got a pumped-up new body in the past year, but what we really love about Gosling is everytime you look at him, it looks like there's something going on behind his eyes. And anyone who has really interesting things pouring out of his mind is infinitely more sexy than someone who only uses his brain to take up space..4. Jamie Bell- Bell is, of course, the original movie "Billy Elliot" who has impressed us over the years by, instead of trading on his early fame to become a ego-obsessed star who makes one bad movie after another before ending up in rehab, decided to choose his film roles very carefully, and gave himself time to grow up. Well, he's grown up, in more ways than one, as evidenced by his new body in the upcoming movie, "The Eagle". There's something very interesting about this young actor, and we're guessing he might grow into one of the best actors of his generation..5. Tom Hardy- Hardy is the least known of our sexiest actors, although he's been in some very famous movies, "Band of Brothers", "Black Hawk Down", "RocknRolla", but with the success of his current movie, "Inception", Hardy is finally starting to get some notice. Oh, and those comments about how he's straight but he's had sex with men certainly put him on a lot of people's radars as well. When The Daily Mail asked him if he'd ever had sex with another man, Hardy said, "Of course I have. I'm an actor, for fuck's sake. I've played with everything and everyone. I love the form and the physicality, but now that I'm in my thirties, it doesn't do it for me. I'm done experimenting but there's plenty of stuff in a relationship with another man, especially gay men, that I need in my life." We couldn't have said it any better, Tom Hardy!.6. Daniel Craig easily makes our Top Ten. He'd be higher on our list, but as we've mentioned, the guys who are the most sexy to us have to have looks and smarts, and we just don't know enough about how Craig thinks to know if his brain would turn us on. But even if he was dumb as a rock, just his looks alone are enough to keep us riveted. Oh, and there's also that little thing about him having a demeanor so cool and so smoldering that it's hot enough to melt panties. They just don't come more suave than Mr. Craig. Remember how the James Bond fans reacted when Craig was first cast as the new 007 super spy? They protested that a blonde couldn't be rugged and sexy enough to be a convincing Bond. How laughable that idea is now. Next up for Craig is the highly anticipated sci-fi thriller, "Cowboys and Aliens"..7. Joe Manganiello - 8. Mehcad Brooks - 9. Alexander Skarsgard - 10. Grant Bowler- The next four spots on our list belong to four actors who have all starred on the HBO hit show, "True Blood". Individually, none of them have worked enough to make our list, but as an ensemble, oh my, that's one very impressive collection of man flesh. How do guys who are this hot all end on the same show, you might ask; well, it's not an accident. The creator and director of the series is openly gay Alan Ball, and let's just say he knew exactly what he was doing when he cast these guys to play the sexiest vampire, werewolves and sex zombie we've ever seen. Oh, and we know, we know, Ryan Kwanten, who plays Jason Stackhouse, belongs on the list, too, but we had to cut the list off at some point. If we tried to list every single sexy man who lives in Bon Temps, Louisiana, we'd be here for days..11. Ricky Martin- You might wonder why Ricky Martin made our list; he hasn't had a hit song in years, he hasn't been on t.v. or in movies, in fact he's pretty much flown under the radar for a few years now. But he did something this year even more important than singing or acting, he finally came out of the closet. We suspected many years ago that he might be one of us, and we hoped so. The boy is impossibly cute, and only gets more sexy as he ages. And finally, our hopes came true as Martin officially joined the team..12. Chris Evans - 13. Cam Gigandet- Next on the list are two guys who've been around for while, but their respective careers are set to explode into the statosphere in 2011. Chris Evans is about to appear as the new "Captain America", and Cam Gigandet will star opposite A-Listers Nicole Kidman and Nicolas Cage in "Trespass". They're total opposites in personality; Evans is your fun-loving, outgoing frat guy with whom you'd like to grab a beer, and Gigandet is the more serious, moody guy who could make your nether regions moist with one sexy glance. But they both look incredible with their shirts off, and that's all that matters..14. Gavin Henson - 15. Cristiano Ronaldo- Our inclusions from the sports world are two European pro athletes, rugby player Gavin Henson and soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo. We don't know much about them, other than Henson is recently divorced from singer Charlotte Church, and Ronaldo is currently involved in a nasty custody dispute over his son he sired with a one-night-stand lady friend. But do we really care what they do off the field? All that matters is that their bodies are hot as hell, and even better, they love to show them off. Prudish American athletes, please take note..16. Taylor Lautner - 17. Kellan Lutz- Like Cam Gigandet, our next two sexy guys are alums of the wildly popular "Twilight" movie series. Both Lautner and Lutz are busy making other movies, but honestly, who knows if they'll be able to sustain careers once their werewolf and vampire runs are kaput. They haven't exactly amazed us with their skills in the thespian arts, but hey, does it really matter? As long as they keep taking their shirts off, they'll always have a legion of fans. Just for their pecs alone, they make our list..18. Ryan Phillippe - 19. Jake Gyllenhaal- At #18 and #19 are two guys who have fallen way down on our list, and frankly, we don't know if they'll be on it next year. No doubt that they look amazing, and for that reason alone, they made this year's list, but both are seemingly beginning to experience a few pangs of early mid-life crisis. Phillippe should have been an A-List star a long time ago, but he seems to make one mediocre movie after another, and lately he really disappointed us when he publicly stated that he thought he'd know more than he does by the time he'd reached his current age. As we said a few months ago, Phillippe should stop whining and read a book. Dumb is not pretty, Ryan. And Gyllenhaal, who it seems like only yesterday became the unofficial King of the Gays when he starred in "Brokeback Mountain", has now shown himself to be somewhat of a pervy horndog with a penchant for racking up the skank notches in his bedpost. He particularly turned us off when he went for the fresh young panties of America's sweetheart, Taylor Swift, who is a decade younger. No doubt these two still look great, amazing in fact, which is why they managed to make our list, but we're not sure we'd want them at our next cocktail party, unless, of course, they were willing to work as naked bartenders..20. And finally, last on our list, but not last in our hearts, was our favorite reality star from the past year, "Survivor"'s James Clement. Clement charmed us with his smart perception of the other contestants, and his cool demeanor. He was a truth-teller, too, not afraid to call out the bullshit of the other players, which we loved. Oh, and nobody, and we do mean, nobody on television looked better in his underwear than James Clement!
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(even dressing in drag couldn't save these two)
