Benedict Cumberbatch opens up about straight actors playg gay characters

Contents:

• STRAIGHT ACTORS WHO HAVE PLAYED GAY CHARACTERS
• 20 GREAT ROL: OUR FAVORE STRAIGHT ACTORS WHO HAVE PLAYED GAY CHARACTERS
• 8 GAY ACTORS WHO PLAYED STRAIGHT CHARACTERS
• STANLEY TUCCI IS PRETTY FE WH STRAIGHT ACTORS PLAYG GAY CHARACTERS
• STANLEY TUCCI: IT’S OK FOR STRAIGHT ACTORS TO PLAY GAY ROL IF DONE ‘THE RIGHT WAY’
• LET’S SETTLE THIS: CAN STRAIGHT ACTORS PLAY GAY ROL?
• NEIL PATRICK HARRIS SHAR HIS THOUGHTS ON STRAIGHT ACTORS PLAYG GAY CHARACTERS
• BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH OPENS UP ABOUT STRAIGHT ACTORS PLAYG GAY CHARACTERS
• STANLEY TUCCI SAYS IT'S 'FE' FOR STRAIGHT ACTORS TO PLAY GAY ROL: 'THAT'S THE WHOLE POT OF IT'
• SHOULD STRAIGHT ACTORS PLAY GAY ROL? A STAR TV WRER SAYS NO

STRAIGHT ACTORS WHO HAVE PLAYED GAY CHARACTERS

"Clive is a gay man who tri to supprs his homosexualy Edwardian-era England. "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. Harvey Milk is one of the most important gay activists history, and straight actor Sean Penn won an Osr for playg him. We have some of the most pellg liv, so 's not surprisg that everyone wants to tell our s gotten better recent years, throughout history, most great gay rol have gone to straight actors, wh over a dozen wng Osrs for playg LGBTQ+ characters.

20 GREAT ROL: OUR FAVORE STRAIGHT ACTORS WHO HAVE PLAYED GAY CHARACTERS

Sometim n be tirome seeg straight actors get all of this praise for brgg gay people to life, but other tim s tly are our ten favore performanc by straight actors playg queer characters movi and TV om 2022.

The two had the most chemistry of a gay uple played by straights sce Brokeback Mounta! While she spends most of her time at work yellg at men who flirt wh the sk clerk she's cshg on and ly tellg guts that she n't help them, Victoria is secretly holdg a ep secret: she's gay, but has never been wh a woman. The bt movie of the year was centered around a relatnship between a mother and her gay dghter.

Boyd Holbrook gave the gay villa we've been wag for this year. In ‘Philalphia, ’ one of the first mastream Hollywood films to acknowledge issu like HIV/AIDS, homosexualy, and homophobia, Hanks played the role of Andrew Beckett, a gay lawyer. While straight actors have been known to play gay characters, the same is also te for gay actors playg straight rol.

8 GAY ACTORS WHO PLAYED STRAIGHT CHARACTERS

About beg a gay man playg straight characters, Le Evans once said an terview that “you n be happy wh yourself and you n also be whoever you want. In 2006, NPH me out sayg that he was “happy to dispel any mors or misnceptns, ” that he is “que proud to say that I am a very ntent gay man livg my life to the fullt and feel most fortunate to be workg wh wonrful people the bs I love. Before g out as gay 2014, his heartwarmg speech livered at the Time to Thrive nference which aims to promote LGBT youth welfare, and later as a transgenr man 2020, Ellt Page was st as the tular role of the edy classic Juno.

He believ that “livg a gay life whout publicly acknowledgg is simply not enough to make any signifint ntributn to the immense work that li ahead on the road to plete equaly. Heather Matarazzo was the keynote speaker at the 15th annual Gay, Lbian, and Straight Edutn Network of Boston’s nference 2005.

STANLEY TUCCI IS PRETTY FE WH STRAIGHT ACTORS PLAYG GAY CHARACTERS

Like, for example, how Isaiah Washgton was fired om the show after g a homophobic slur directed at T. In his acceptance speech, Jonathan Bailey prais the productn for beg “a lovely and celebratory snapshot of gay love” what he scribed as “a time where acknowledgg the very existence of LGBT people our schools is beg qutned.

Many actors who are not gay realy have portrayed gay characters, real and fictnal. Tom Hanks, Charlize Theron and Hilary Swank won Osrs for playg gay or transgenr characters.

Whether ’s for televisn or a feature film, ’s not easy to pull off a gay role as a straight actor. Hilary Swank, “Boys Don’t Cry” (while Swank’s character Brandon Teena was transgenr, not gay, the role was inic for many gays and lbians). The bate over whether or not straight actors should play gay rol isn’t gog to die down any time soon.

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

While we fely prefer that most gay rol go to gay actors, and we love the thenticy they brg to the rol and the projects they’re , we n’t help but have a special soft spot for a few straight stars, like Brendan Fraser, are great people and great at playg gay, but aren't really known for .

LET’S SETTLE THIS: CAN STRAIGHT ACTORS PLAY GAY ROL?

We want a future where every talented queer actor n get whatever rol they want and where queer actors fally w awards for playg queer rol, but until then, the ten actors show that not every straight actor should be banned om playg gay on screen. Theron won an Osr for playg queer serial killer Aileen Wuornos Monster, and then played gay aga the next year 2004’s Head the Clouds.

But we really loved her as a bisexual actn star Atomic Blon, and as a gay in rol like Fura Mad Max: Fury Road, and Andy The Old Guard. Firth was nomated for an Osr and won the BAFTA for his role as a gay Brish profsor livg 1960’s California the film A Sgle Man. He’s also played gay oppose Stanley Tucci Supernova, and plays Harry Bright, one of Sophia’s potential fathers (and a gay man) the Mamma Mia!

We loved when McGregor played a gay mate Phillip Morris the dark edy I Love You Phillip Morris, and aga when he played real-life legendary fashn signer Halston the Netflix miseri Halston.

NEIL PATRICK HARRIS SHAR HIS THOUGHTS ON STRAIGHT ACTORS PLAYG GAY CHARACTERS

He then played multiple gay and trans rol the 2004 film Bad Edutn. This year, he returns to playg gay Cassandro, a film about the legendary gay lucha libre wrtler.

Gyllenhaal broke all of our hearts as a gay wboy Brokeback Mounta and then played an eccentric queer art cric Velvet Buzzsaw. He’s also producg and starrg an upg film adaptatn of the mil Fun Home as Alison Bechl’s gay dad. Early her reer, Lyonne played the inic role of the cheerlear the semal lbian movie But I’m a Cheerlear, and sce then, she’s never stopped playg gay.

BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH OPENS UP ABOUT STRAIGHT ACTORS PLAYG GAY CHARACTERS

From smaller movi like The Daytrippers and Ltle Chaos, to his inic gay rol The Devil Wears Prada, Burlque, and Supernova (oppose fellow straight-actor-we-love Col Firth), he always do the gay muny right. Chalamet hasn’t had as many gay rol as the rt of the people on this list (he’s only 27, after all), but he ma que the imprsn on the queer muny wh his touchg and realistic performance as a lovtck teen Lu Guadagno’s classic g-of-age romance Call Me by Your Name. A lot of actor have played characters who were straight while they were realy homosexual.

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. Beg the first person to intify as bisexual after her first enunter, she me out as gay the year 2018 durg an terview Wonrland.

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.

STANLEY TUCCI SAYS IT'S 'FE' FOR STRAIGHT ACTORS TO PLAY GAY ROL: 'THAT'S THE WHOLE POT OF IT'

The actrs was spotted out as gay June, and then revealed her partner publicly. 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. Before he was st as a the gay character on the Netflix seri Unupled, Neil has played mostly straight rol throughout his life.

Neil ma public his gayns 2006 and put the speculatn to the wd.

Although he played an unintified character and shared private scen of his screen girliend however, the actor is sexually gay on the real world. Interview wh Digal Spy, he spoke about how gay actors n be normalized actg as a straight actor.

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

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. “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. While homophob are by gettg mad at Tom Holland for havg a gay scene his current show The Crowd Room, they’re missg somethg important: he’s not the first Spir-Man actor to play gay.