The Debate About Straight Actors Playg Gay Characters Miss the Pot

Contents:

• SHOULD STRAIGHT ACTORS STILL PLAY GAY CHARACTERS? 'IT'S PLITED'
• STANLEY TUCCI: IT’S OK FOR STRAIGHT ACTORS TO PLAY GAY ROL IF DONE ‘THE RIGHT WAY’
• STANLEY TUCCI SAYS HE THKS STRAIGHT ACTORS SHOULD BE ABLE TO PLAY GAY CHARACTERS
• 8 GAY ACTORS WHO PLAYED STRAIGHT CHARACTERS
• BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH OPENS UP ABOUT STRAIGHT ACTORS PLAYG GAY CHARACTERS
• STANLEY TUCCI FENDS STRAIGHT ACTORS PLAYG GAY CHARACTERS: 'AN ACTOR IS AN ACTOR IS AN ACTOR'
• STANLEY TUCCI IS PRETTY FE WH STRAIGHT ACTORS PLAYG GAY CHARACTERS
• 8 GAY ACTORS WHO PLAYED STRAIGHT CHARACTERS PERFECTLY (AND 7 WHO WERE TERRIBLE)
• ‘LOVE, VICTOR’ STAR SAYS GAY ROLE SPARKED HOMOPHOBIA OM HIS FAY, ATH THREATS
• THE BATE ABOUT STRAIGHT ACTORS PLAYG GAY CHARACTERS MISS THE POT
• HAS A GAY ACTOR EVER PLAYED A STRAIGHT CHARACTER?
• ACTOR ANDREW STT FLIPS THE SCRIPT, SAYS MORE GAY ACTORS SHOULD PLAY STRAIGHT CHARACTERS

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

"Roger Ebert wrote: "He plays the role not as a man pretendg to be a woman, and not as a woman trapped a man's body, and not as a parody of a woman, and not as a gay man, but as a drag queen, perd: Lola, a tall, athletic performer thigh-high red boots who l the stage of a drag club as if she were born there, and is a pretty good sger, too. Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal, both straight, were both Osr-nomated for their performanc (Ledger lead, Gyllenhaal supportg) this film about two men fallg love and ntug their affair for film sred 87% on Rotten Tomato, wh the se's cril nsens readg: "A betifully epic Wtern, 'Brokeback Mounta''s gay love story is imbued wh heartbreakg universaly, helped by the movg performanc of Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal.

STANLEY TUCCI: IT’S OK FOR STRAIGHT ACTORS TO PLAY GAY ROL IF DONE ‘THE RIGHT WAY’

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.

STANLEY TUCCI SAYS HE THKS STRAIGHT ACTORS SHOULD BE ABLE TO PLAY GAY CHARACTERS

” 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.

8 GAY ACTORS WHO PLAYED STRAIGHT CHARACTERS

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.

BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH OPENS UP ABOUT STRAIGHT ACTORS PLAYG GAY CHARACTERS

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. ” 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.

STANLEY TUCCI FENDS STRAIGHT ACTORS PLAYG GAY CHARACTERS: 'AN ACTOR IS AN ACTOR IS AN ACTOR'

"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? “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.

STANLEY TUCCI IS PRETTY FE WH STRAIGHT ACTORS PLAYG GAY CHARACTERS

“And I’m always very flattered when gay men e up to me and talk about ‘The Devil Wears Prada, ’ when they talk about ‘Supernova, ’ and they say that was ‘jt so betiful. ” “It’s important that gay characters are portrayed as well-round and pletely human dividuals, ” add Parsons, who noted that “there are plenty of straight actors who have played gay characters brilliantly. ”And “Glee” alum Darren Criss ma headl 2018 for sayg that he might stop playg gay characters, tellg Btle, “I want to make sure I won’t be another straight boy takg a gay man’s role.

8 GAY ACTORS WHO PLAYED STRAIGHT CHARACTERS PERFECTLY (AND 7 WHO WERE TERRIBLE)

Stanley Tucci weighed on the bate about straight actors portrayg gay characters a new terview wh BBC Rad 4’s Dert Island Discs on Saturday. “I am always very flattered when gay men e up to me and talk to me about ‘The Devil Wears Prada’ or they talk about ‘Supernova, ’ and they say that, ‘It was jt so betiful, ’ you know, ‘You did the right way, ’” he said. Straight actors playg gay rol, however, isn’t nsired to be as “brave” recent years as ’s been the past, acrdg to cric Guy Lodge, who told The Guardian a 2021 terview: “The ia of beg ‘brave’ for playg gay is gog away.

‘LOVE, VICTOR’ STAR SAYS GAY ROLE SPARKED HOMOPHOBIA OM HIS FAY, ATH THREATS

But, given the ntroversy over straight actors portrayg gay characters, this list is also applible to straight actors who are gay to play straight rol.

She has been gay on Amerin Horror Story: Asylum and Carol however, one of the rol she has was Harriet Hay Stud 60 on The Sunset Strip, a character based on Amerin actrs and sger Krist Chenoweth. Sce Twilight was her first film, she has been playg gay characters the rom- Happyt Season as well as Victorian thriller Lizzie wh Chloe Sevigny. Although he played an unintified character and shared private scen of his screen girliend however, the actor is sexually gay on the real world.

”Benedict Cumberbatch opens up about straight actors playg gay characters followg the but of his new film, “The Power of The Dog, ” at the Telluri Film Ftival. 6, 2021, 9:15 PM UTC / Source: TODAYIt’s a topic on which Hollywood has yet to reach a nsens: whether or not ’s appropriate for straight actors to portray gay characters film and ’s also a topic that Benedict Cumberbatch is faiar wh, havg been nomated for an Amy Award for his performance as mathematician Alan Turg, a man both prosecuted and persecuted for his sexual orientatn, 2014’s “The Imatn Game. In early December, Netflix's "The Prom" was lambasted for stg Jam Corn, who is straight, as what crics lled an “aggrsively flamboyant” riture of a gay his 2016 Emmy acceptance speech for his portrayal of a transgenr woman Amazon seri “Transparent, " actor Jefey Tambor said he "would not be unhappy were I the last cisgenr male to play a transgenr character on televisn.

THE BATE ABOUT STRAIGHT ACTORS PLAYG GAY CHARACTERS MISS THE POT

"In 2018, "Glee" alum Darren Criss told Btle he would no longer take rol portrayg LGBTQ+ characters to make sure he's not "another straight boy takg a gay man’s role. "The Devil Wears Prada" actor Stanley Tucci fend straight actors takg on gay rol while referencg his reer durg a rad show on appearg on BBC Rad 4’s "Dert Island Discs" show, Tucci discsed his life and his many famo movi cludg "The Devil Wears Prada" and "Supernova, " both of which he portrayed a gay man spe beg asked to weigh on the bate over whether a heterosexual actor should play someone who is gay, Tucci fend the practice if ’s done "the right way. "I am always very flattered when gay men e up to me and talk to me about ‘The Devil Wears Prada’ or they talk about ‘Supernova, ’ and they say that, ‘It was jt so betiful, ’ you know, ‘You did the right way.

HAS A GAY ACTOR EVER PLAYED A STRAIGHT CHARACTER?

In an terview wh The New York Tim Magaze 2022, Tom Hanks admted that he would not have taken his Osr-wng role as Andrew Beckett "Philalphia" due to the character beg gay.

""Star Trek" actor Zachary Quto remarked a 2018 Siri XM terview that is often rare to see openly out gay actors playg straight rol pared to the reverse.

(Mariana Nelcu/SOPA Imag/LightRocket via Getty Imag)CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP"You look at how many straight actors play gay rol, and how that door don’t swg the other way as much, " Quto said. While there may not be a simple answer, Stanley Tucci—who has played gay rol The Devil Wears Prada and 2020's Supernova (not to mentn Emma Stone’s father who was inilly gay once Easy A)—recently weighed , sayg that he believ ’s perfectly acceptable as long as ’s done “the right way.

ACTOR ANDREW STT FLIPS THE SCRIPT, SAYS MORE GAY ACTORS SHOULD PLAY STRAIGHT CHARACTERS

“I am always very flattered when gay men e up to me and talk to me about The Devil Wears Prada or they talk about Supernova, and they say that, ‘It was jt so betiful, ’ you know, ‘You did the right way. ”While Tucci didn’t elaborate on this particular form of bad-fah actg, ’s pretty easy to assume that he was referrg to the myriad of films which LGBTQ+ people have been rced to harmful, homophobic stereotyp over the years.

) Or perhaps he was referencg the super ol clatn of, erm, certa actors to fensively claim that the gay films they star are not jt “a gay story about the guys beg gay. Check out our list of gay actors who had strikgly good straight performanc, and others who uldn’t fool anyone, and see if you agree! On the oppose si of the spectm, however, there are some gay actors and actrs whose performance hasn’t turned out to be nvcg enough for the dience to believe their characters are straight.