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While Hemingway's character is identified as gay from the get-go, in the filmmakers' original vision Bennett's character was to come out over the course of the film. But Bennett felt it important that the audience know toward beginning of film that her character is also a lesbian, so that viewers can focus on the story without being preoccupied with any is-she/isn't-she debates.

“To me it's been done, so let's not have another 30-year-old woman just realize she's a lesbian. Not to mention the fact that their lives are in danger and the last thing you're going to be thinking about is your sexual identity,” the actor says. “You don't want to hit people over the head, but we didn't exactly have hot love scenes so I felt there needed to be more of a tension built from the beginning so people would know what to look for,” she adds.

Executives at Here had urged Bennett to alert director Brian Trenchard-Smith to anything objectionable, or any elements that weren't feeling authentic to her. “ They did defer to me slightly when it came to the lesbian content because I was the only lesbian down there,” Bennett says (In Her Line of Fire was filmed on location in Auckland, New Zealand, and in Vancouver). “It was nice that they were open to listening.” Portions of scenes were rewritten on location by Paula Goldberg (Out at the Wedding) to reflect this input.

Bennett is an out and politically active lesbian who has appeared in numerous films, including Expiration Date and The Pleasure Drivers. She can also be seen in the upcoming features Bull Run and Platonically, in which she plays a lesbian in a cast that includes Lynn Chen (Saving Face). Her television credits include Recipe for Disaster, Dante's Cove and Beverly Hills, 90210. She is an ardent stage performer who spent two years touring the country with the L.A.-based drag king troupe The Sugar Daddy Show playing two characters, one in male drag and the other an ultra-femme diva.

In Her Line of Fire is just the latest in Hemingway's long list of lesbian and bisexual character credits. In addition to starring in the lesbian classic Personal Best (1982), she has played a lesbian on an episode of Crossing Jordan, and in Sex Monster (1999) her character's husband encourages her to have sex with another woman only to find her embracing the idea more enthusiastically than he had intended. And in 1994 Hemingway made television history with the screen kiss she shared with Roseanne on her eponymous hit sitcom.

Hemingway's willingness to play gay was even the running joke of her opening monologue when she hosted Saturday Night Live in 1995, as she treated the female cast members to gushing introductions while making only brusque mention of their male counterparts.

“I never base my decisions about doing work on whether or not somebody's gay,” Hemingway says. “I never think of those things when I read a script. I didn't do that when I made Personal Best.”

In Her Line of Fire marks the third time she has played a secret service agent (the other two performances are in TV movies), but she notes that this is the first time she has played a lesbian secret service agent.

Will this lesbian secret service agent save the day, and get the girl? You can find out for yourself starting tomorrow on here TV.

Visit InHerLineofFire.com for more info on the movie

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