Queer Bs of Castg Gay Characters on U.S. Televisn | Communitn, Culture and Crique | Oxford Amic

Contents:

• SHOULD STRAIGHT ACTORS STILL PLAY GAY CHARACTERS? 'IT'S PLITED'
• SHOULD STRAIGHT ACTORS PLAY GAY ROL? A STAR TV WRER SAYS NO
• ‘IT’S A S’ CREATOR RSELL T DAVI SAYS IT’S IMPORTANT TO CAST GAY ACTORS AS GAY CHARACTERS
• RSELL T. DAVI EXPLAS WHY HE ONLY CASTS GAY ACTORS GAY ROL

SHOULD STRAIGHT ACTORS STILL PLAY GAY CHARACTERS? 'IT'S PLITED'

In early December, Netflix dropped s highly anticipated mil edy “The Prom, ” starrg Meryl Streep, Nile Kidman, Andrew Rannells and Jam Corn as fadg Broadway stars who set out to help a lbian teen take her girliend to the film, helmed by out director Ryan Murphy, got mixed reviews, but some lambasted as “homophobic” and “offensive” bee of the stg of Corn, a straight actor, what they saw as an “aggrsively flamboyant” riture of a gay character, Barry Glickman, is a narcissistic theater actor who dons sparklg tuxedo jackets, talks wh a stereotypil gay lisp while flailg his hands around and scrib himself as “gay as a bucket of wigs. "Melda Sue Gordon / NetflixErik Anrson, who ns the film se Awards Watch, lled “The Prom” a “geo and vibrant productn” but tweeted that Corn’s “performance is gross and offensive, the worst gayface a long, long time.

”The ntroversy threw fuel on an already simmerg bate: Should non-LGBTQ actors still be st lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr and queer rol? Hugh Culber on CBS All Accs' “Star Trek: Disvery, ” he ma history playg gay high school stunt Ricky the ‘90s show “My So Called Life. ” It was the first time an openly gay actor played a gay character a leadg role a TV part “helped fluence a whole generatn of people who beme wrers and actors and ntent creators, who wanted to see more people like Ricky, more LGBTQ people of lor, and I thk we're seeg the benef of that today, ” said Cz, who served as executive producer of Apple TV’s "Visible: Out on Televisn, ” a 2020 doceri about the history of the LGBTQ movement through the lens of Amerin Cz ma his but “My So Called Life, ” televisn has been creasgly hirg LGBTQ actors to play LGBTQ characters.

SHOULD STRAIGHT ACTORS PLAY GAY ROL? A STAR TV WRER SAYS NO

In 2020 alone, queer actor Kristen Stewart played a lbian Hulu’s Christmas rom- “Happit Season, ” out actors Sarah Plson and Cynthia Nixon played love terts Ryan Murphy’s Netflix seri “Ratched, ” gay actor Dan Levy played a queer character the Emmy-wng Canadian show “Scht’s Creek"and several openly gay actors starred the Netflix adaptn of the Tony Award-wng queer play “The Boys the Band. 6 percent) released 2019 featured LGBTQ characters, wh gay male characters reprentg the bulk at nearly 70 percent and no transgenr characters.

Straight and cisgenr ‘privilege’While straight and cisgenr actors are given many opportuni to play rol outsi their own genr and sexualy, many gay and trans actors say they are given far ls leeway. He said the movie bs is “a very heterosexual bs” that’s “n mostly by heterosexual men” and lamented that straight actors takg gay rol has a stiflg effect on gay actors who, like him, are no longer nsired for heterosexual parts.

Most notably, perhaps, Tom Hanks, who won an Amy Award for his portrayal of a gay man dyg of AIDS the 1993 film “Philalphia, ” and Hilary Swank, who won the Osr for her performance as transgenr man Brandon Teena the 1999 film “Boys Don’t Cry.

‘IT’S A S’ CREATOR RSELL T DAVI SAYS IT’S IMPORTANT TO CAST GAY ACTORS AS GAY CHARACTERS

” The amy also nomated actors Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal for their rol the 2005 gay wboy film “Brokeback Mounta, ” Jared Leto for his portrayal of a trans woman the 2013 film “Dallas Buyers Club, ” actor Cate Blanchett for her role the 2015 lbian romantic drama “Carol” and Eddie Redmayne for his portrayal of a trans woman the 2015 film “The Danish Girl. "Foc FeaturQueer filmmaker Sekiya Dorsett drew a distctn between straight actors playg gay characters and cisgenr actors transgenr rol.

“To have quote-unquote ‘straight’ actors sayg now, ‘Hey, I won't take that part, bee 's gay, and you should give to a gay person, ’ feels like another way to stigmatize our stori, " Babb said. “What would do is would block all those actors om actg outsi of their lane and so, is that gog to stop my transgenr actors om playg nontransgenr rol or gay rol?

RSELL T. DAVI EXPLAS WHY HE ONLY CASTS GAY ACTORS GAY ROL

“Hontly, a transgenr person playg a gay role would be a really good possibily, and we would unrstand really well, bee we've had to all grapple wh sexualy as an issue. AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTRsell T Davi, whose latt h seri is “It’s a S” on HBO Max, ma wav England by sayg only gay performers should play gay characters. “I’m gog to war, ” he Ben Blackall/HBO Max“It’s a S, ” about 20-somethgs nontg the AIDS crisis the 1980s, broke new ground for s creator, Rsell T Davi, bee he had never wrten about the epimic there was somethg else that ma this HBO Max seri different om the other gay-themed programs Davi had wrten, om the origal “Queer as Folk” to “A Very English Sndal”: “It’s a S” is the first show he has ma which nearly all the gay parts are played by gay the ever-eager pugilist is stirrg ntroversy by argug terviews that, om now on, only gay actors should be allowed gay rol.

”Firth and Stanley Tucci play a gay uple the new movie “Supernova, ” and Firth snagged his first Amy Award nomatn 2009 for playg a gay character “A Sgle Man.

There is also growg nsens that transgenr rol should be played only by transgenr before the mixed gay-straight stg of “The Inherance, ” an AIDS drama that premiered London 2018 and moved to Broadway the followg year, there hadn’t been very much public bate about the suabily of straight actors gay laid out his new posn a barrage of terviews before the January but of “It’s a S” on Bra’s Channel 4, provokg attacks om the lik of Piers Man — “Equaly means equaly, or don’t, ” he said on “Good Morng Bra” — and Peter Ash, a straight actor who plays a gay role on “Coronatn Street, ” the world’s longt nng soap opera. Davi is now advotg discrimatn agast heterosexual actors who want to dn for gay fact, the laws of Bra and the Uned Stat make Davi vulnerable to legal challeng if a straight person n prove that he wasn’t nsired for a part bee he isn’t gay.

“That would not jtify a blanket policy but might be ed an argument for a particular play or film where thenticy is particularly important — and where the orientatn of the relevant actors is public knowledge, ” Kenyon ’s posn is ght and somewhat puzzlg for reasons that have ls to do wh fairns than wh his own past work: He has prevly ed straight actors very succsfully many gay rol. “I’ve employed plenty of straight people straight parts, and their succs has paved the way for me to be here now, ” Davi he actually believe there is a gay actor who uld have given a more nvcg performance than Grant did? ”For Davi, the issue is ls about thenticy than about equy for gay actors, who he says have been systematilly exclud om straight rol.

And sce there are so many more straight rol than gay on, he thks isn’t right to make gay actors pete agast their straight unterparts to play gay characters.

”Davi is askg people like Tucci and Firth to reject gay rol the future, though he said he would be willg to make an exceptn if a marquee name were the only way he uld get a productn fanced. ”I suggted to Davi that many 20-somethgs, who are scribg themselv growg numbers as sexually fluid, would be baffled by his sistence that gay rol mt be played by actors a tegory that some young people no longer even regnize. ”A versn of this article appears prt on, Sectn C, Page 6 of the New York edn wh the headle: Star Wrer Oppos Castg Straight Actors Gay Rol.

Drawg on lerature on stg, queer labor and personal terviews wh stg directors, this article explor the ways stg functns as a practice that doggedly works wh "bt actor" disurs that sulate the televisn dtry om charg of liberately failg to st gay actors projects.