Power of the Dog: Benedict Cumberbatch on Straight Actors Playg Gay – IndieWire

Contents:

• BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH REFLECTS ON PLAYG A REPRSED GAY CHARACTER 'THE POWER OF THE DOG'
• BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH WEIGHS ON STRAIGHT ACTORS GAY ROL AHEAD OF ‘POWER OF THE DOG’ RELEASE
• BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH DEFENDS DECISN TO PLAY GAY CHARACTER: 'I FEEL SENSIVE' ABOUT 'DIVERSY'
• BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH TALKS ABOUT GAY SEX SCEN (OR LACK OF) THE IMATN GAME
• BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH IS GAY?
• BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH OPENS UP ABOUT STRAIGHT ACTORS PLAYG GAY CHARACTERS
• BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH EXPLAS WHY HE'S PLAYG GAY NEW WTERN FILM
• BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH ON STRAIGHT ACTORS PLAYG GAY ‘POWER OF THE DOG’: ‘IT WASN’T DONE WHOUT THOUGHT’
• THE IMATN GAME DIRECTOR FENDS FILM'S LACK OF GAY SEX SCEN

BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH REFLECTS ON PLAYG A REPRSED GAY CHARACTER 'THE POWER OF THE DOG'

”Sexualy is at the foreont of Cumberbatch’s hotly anticipated film, The Imatn Game, which he plays Alan Turg, a gay man who was wily creded wh crackg the Enigma durg World War II. Tragilly, Turg mted suici after the war when he was nvicted of “engagg homosexual relatns”.

”Cumberbatch, who officiated his iends’ Seth Cummgs and Rob Rr’s civil ceremony Ibiza last year, also spoke about how difficult is for gay actors Hollywood. “I thk if you’re gog to sell yourself as a leadg man Hollywood to say ‘I’m gay’, sadly, is still a huge obstacle, ” he said.

BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH WEIGHS ON STRAIGHT ACTORS GAY ROL AHEAD OF ‘POWER OF THE DOG’ RELEASE

“We all know actors who are [gay] who don’t want to talk about or brg up, or who ny . Human rights movements and sexual and gay rights movements have ma huge social progrs the last 40 years, whout a doubt, but there’s a lot more work to be done.

BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH DEFENDS DECISN TO PLAY GAY CHARACTER: 'I FEEL SENSIVE' ABOUT 'DIVERSY'

Cumberbatch, who is straight and has prevly played a gay character, has faced creased scty this role.

The actor prevly played mathematician Alan Turg, a gay man, 2014's The Imatn Game. Benedict Cumberbatch plays a sexually reprsed wboy the 1920s – when homosexualy was wily stigmatized and many plac, crimalized – the upg Netflix film “The Power of the Dog.

BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH TALKS ABOUT GAY SEX SCEN (OR LACK OF) THE IMATN GAME

Hollywood has for s st actors heterosexual relatnships gay rol. Some of the creators volved those films, like director Todd Hayn of “Carol” and Lu Guadagno, who directed “Call Me By Your Name, ” which also starred straight actors, are gay themselv. The film “Moonlight, ” which followed a gay Black man three stag of his life, was celebrated for sisteppg queer stereotyp, though starred some straight actors.

Whereas stg cisgenr actors transgenr rol has recently fallen out of popular practice – LGBTQ media advocy anizatn GLAAD says stg this way “perpetuat this belief that trans people aren’t real” – there is not a siar nsens when to actors playg gay characters. (The anizatn didn’t immediately rpond to CNN’s requt for ment regardg straight actors portrayg gay characters. Vany Fair cric Richard Lawson wrote a review of the 2020 film “The Prom” that there’s no “hard and fast le about who should play gay men on screen.

BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH IS GAY?

” Nuance, though, is necsary for any actor playg a gay character, he said. That’s part of why Jam Corn’s stg “The Prom” as a flamboyant fad Broadway star was wily cricized: Corn, who is married to a woman, played to stereotyp of gay men, acrdg to many crics, who said his performance was “sultg” and lled him “offensively misst. “In general, y, I wish more gay actors got the chance to tell our stori, embody our people, rather than straight men gettg aclas for beg brave – or cheers for beg sassy, ” Lawson wrote his review of the film.

But the ia that playg a gay role is a “brave” cisn for a straight actor is beg ls domant, cric Guy Lodge said an terview wh the Guardian, evinced by the lack of buzz for films such as “Ammone” and “Supernova, ” which both foced on queer love stori portrayed by straight actors. “I thk the ia of beg ‘brave’ for playg gay is gog away, ” Lodge said. Benedict Cumberbatch is fendg his role as a gay man his latt movie.

Cumberbatch, who is straight and has prevly played a gay character, spoke about his latt turn the upg The Power of the Dog.

BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH OPENS UP ABOUT STRAIGHT ACTORS PLAYG GAY CHARACTERS

Still, Cumberbatch knows the nversatn that along wh a straight actor takg on a gay character. The nversatn surroundg whether heterosexual actors should play gay characters has been buildg recent years.

In December 2018, Glee star Darren Criss said he would no longer play gay characters after his breakout role as Blae Anrson Ryan Murphy's h show. "But I want to make sure I won't be another straight boy takg a gay man's role. Cumberbatch is already gettg Osr buzz for his role the upg wtern as a gay Montana ttle rancher the 1920s.

BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH EXPLAS WHY HE'S PLAYG GAY NEW WTERN FILM

But not everyone is keen on straight actors playg gay rol, and this is somethg Cumberbatch was aware of when he took the role, and he talked to IndieWire about why he ultimately cid the role was for him.

While is important to provi real-life queer people wh jobs the dtry and nothg go as far as thenticy, there shouldn't be a mand for actors to publicly state their sexualy before they accept actg bate over whether straight actors should play gay has been ragg pecially hard over the last year or so. "I'm not beg woke about this, but I feel strongly that if I st someone a story, I am stg them to act as a lover, or an emy, or someone on dgs or a crimal or a sat, " he told the Rad Tim, "They are not there to 'act gay' bee 'actg gay' is a bunch of s o a performance.

"Everyone om Neil Patrick Harris, to Jim Parsons, to Ben Platt has weighed on the issue, wh some sayg they're favor of straight actors playg gay, but many sayg they'd like to see that trend e to an isn't Cumberbatch's first time playg gay a big movie. In 2014, he played gay puter geni Alan Turg The Imatn Game, and was nomated for an Amy Award, a BAFTA, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and a Goln Globe for the role.

BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH ON STRAIGHT ACTORS PLAYG GAY ‘POWER OF THE DOG’: ‘IT WASN’T DONE WHOUT THOUGHT’

”If only his character wasn’t bogged down by the need to humanize him by revealg halfway through that he is a eply closeted gay man.

THE IMATN GAME DIRECTOR FENDS FILM'S LACK OF GAY SEX SCEN

To say that is appropriate to have homosexual them or allns a Wtern is like sayg p movi shouldn’t have r chas. Take another look at the source material, say that is appropriate to have homosexual them or allns a Wtern is like sayg p movi shouldn’t have r Burbank is a man who tnts and hounds his brother and sister--law so relentlsly that they are aaid of him even when he’s not around. But fact, the film mostly rerc the longstandg and problematic trope of the tortured homosexual, which only further intifi L.

(The fact that Cumberbatch’s last big Osr-worthy movie, “The Imatn Game, ” volved him playg a eply reprsed gay man, this se forced to unrgo chemil stratn when he is found out, do not help. Get our ee weekly email for all the latt cematic news om our film cric Clarisse LoughreyGet our The Life Cematic email for eeBenedict Cumberbatch has fend the cisn not to clu overt gay sex scen his latt movie, The Imatn Brish actor plays geni breaker Alan Turg who helps the Alli feat the German Nazis World War II, only to be crimally prosecuted for beg a homosexual when he is ught wh a 19-year-old man crics have asked why sex do not feature the film but acrdg to Cumberbatch, is "not an exploratn of someone's sex life".