Seven unlikely sex symbols for ’07

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December movies
James Cameron’s spectacle “Avatar” hits theaters, along with George Clooney, who is “Up in the Air,” and Robert Downey Jr. as “Sherlock Holmes.”

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Seth Rogen
“What if this guy got you pregnant?” screamed the posters for this summer’s hit “Knocked Up,” as though such a thing were a fate worse than death. “So many people saw that movie and said, ‘Why would Katherine Heigl sleep with that guy?’” says D., a (female) writer in Atlanta. “And they never bought it when I said, ‘Because she was into him.’ As though you’d have to be drunk to want to sleep with a husky guy with a cute face and a great sense of humor.” While Rogen’s arc from slacker to responsible family man in the Judd Apatow comedy no doubt won him scores of female fans, he was already popular among bears, the subset of gay men who prefer a guy with meat on his bones. “We got to see his butt in ‘Knocked Up,’ and then he wore a cop uniform and a fu-manchu mustache in ‘Superbad,’” says A., a record-store employee in Los Angeles. “All in all, not a bad summer.”

Tilda Swinton
Jean-paul Pelissier / Reuters
Her strikingly androgynous looks often get her cast in gender-nebulous roles in films like “Constantine” and “Orlando.” But “Chronicles of Narnia” villainess Swinton scored high among straight men and lesbians alike. “Tilda walks the line,” said lesbian photographer F. “She’s sexy from all directions.” And D.Z., a male blogger, concurs. “There’s something so cool about her. She carries herself in a way that, no matter what role she’s playing, I can’t take my eyes off her. She was great in ‘Orlando’ and jaw-droppingly beautiful in ‘Narnia,’ but she totally glowed in ‘The Deep End,’ and I remember saying I wanted to marry her. Then I remembered she has a husband and two kids.”

Wanda Sykes
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This sharp-tongued comedian is famed for her take-no-prisoners style behind the mic, and that gives some fans the shivers. The good kind. “There’s almost something carnal about the way she insults you,” admits R., a (male) writer. “If she decided to cut you down, it’s… very appealing in a weirdly sexy way. She’s underrated in terms of attractiveness — she’s kind of fiery and compact. Her withering barbs are just hot.”