[arista]

Only gay actors should play gay characters
because you 'wouldn't black someone up',
says former Doctor Who screenwriter
Russell T Davies
(two years after casting Hugh Grant
as gay MP in A Very English Scandal)



Russell T Davies


[He insisted he was 'not being woke about this'
and said the idea of 'acting gay' is just a
'bunch of codes for a performance' and is not authentic.

Queer as Folk - about the lives of
three men in Manchester - was Davies' first gay
TV drama - and he cast straight actors in the role.]



He has proven you do not need to be Gay.
He is a Silly Sod



https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...-T-Davies.html


https://news.sky.com/story/russell-t...cters-12185652

[Niamh.]

Does that mean that gay actors can't play straight characters?

[arista]

Originally Posted by Niamh.

Does that mean that gay actors can't play straight characters?

Good Point Niamh
He is silly putting this out

[Oliver_W]

If people could only play their own sexuality, Broadway would go out out of business!

It's acting, in most cases an actor won't be in a relationship with their character's love interest, so it's technically no more inauthentic whether or not the sexuality is the same as the character.

[UserSince2005]

It is offensive when straight men play a camp character.

It not just like doing black face. It’s like doing black face whilst eating chicken and watermelon.

[GoldHeart]

Originally Posted by Niamh.

Does that mean that gay actors can't play straight characters?

Russell T Davis is contradicting himself , in his TV series 'cucumber' I'm pretty sure a few of the gay characters were played by STRAIGHT actors .

[UserSince2005]

Originally Posted by GoldHeart

Russell T Davis is contradicting himself , in his TV series 'cucumber' I'm pretty sure a few of the gay characters were played by STRAIGHT actors .

The one i ****ed from that cast seemed straight but i can confirm he wasnt

[GoldHeart]

Plus the whole point of being a good actor is to play any role, aslong as it's done properly then I don't see the issue. If we're not careful then people are going to get pigeon holed and there's going to be very limited roles for them and it's going to be boring.

The only thing I partly agree with is how they get portrayed alot as flamboyant screaming cliché stereotypes, but sometimes that's just how the character is and sometimes it works and other times it's just predictable and silly .

[Tom4784]

Any sexuality can be played by any person really though the situation with that Prom film and James Corden did highlight how uncomfortable it is when a straight person plays a stereotypical gay person. I think if you're gonna have a very camp character then a gay person will probably know how to play it better to be more than just a stereotype.

Aside from that though, I don't think roles should be gated based on sexuality.

[Toy Soldier]

Originally Posted by UserSince2005

It is offensive when straight men play a camp character.

This would be my opinion really. There's no issue with straight actors playing gay men... there IS an issue with not-actually-camp men playing camp men by relying on stereotypes and tropes rather than their own personality.

[Oliver_W]

Didn't he make show about a group of elderly gay men a few years back? I doubt all of them were gay.

[Toy Soldier]

Originally Posted by Oliver_W

Didn't he make show about a group of elderly gay men a few years back? I doubt all of them were gay.

To be fair, you can do something/be part of something and then have criticisms of it in hindsight. Indeed, any intellectually healthy person willing to self-improve should be open and willing to doing just that.

Embarrassment at admitting past mistakes is what ends up with people entrenched in opinions that they struggle to defend.

[Oliver_W]

Originally Posted by Toy Soldier

To be fair, you can do something/be part of something and then have criticisms of it in hindsight. Indeed, any intellectually healthy person willing to self-improve should be open and willing to doing just that.

Embarrassment at admitting past mistakes is what ends up with people entrenched in opinions that they struggle to defend.

Heh, fair point! He's actually more wrong now than he was then, but still

[Crimson Dynamo]

Id say in Porn this can be more of an issue

[MB.]

I wonder if anyone in this thread could list out gay actors who regularly get cast in Hollywood lead roles and get past single digits

[Toy Soldier]

Originally Posted by MB.

I wonder if anyone in this thread could list out gay actors who regularly get cast in Hollywood lead roles and get past single digits

I couldn't list actors who regularly get cast in hollywood lead roles and get past single digits. At the moment I think it's just Chris Pratt, Robert Downey Jr and Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson. Scarlett Johansson plays all of the female roles, sometimes Jennifer Lawrence and Mark Ruffalo get cameos. Bradley Cooper is usually in there somewhere as an extra.

[edit]Oh and Samuel L Jackson - contractually - gets to pop up and deliver a single deadpan one-liner in every movie.

[Marsh.]

I'd understand if the issue was actors like James Corden playing camp stereotypes. Beyond that I don't see why actors need to share the sexuality of their characters.

And comparing it to blackface is all kinds of incorrect.

[MB.]

Originally Posted by Toy Soldier

I couldn't list actors who regularly get cast in hollywood lead roles and get past single digits. At the moment I think it's just Chris Pratt, Robert Downey Jr and Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson. Scarlett Johansson plays all of the female roles, sometimes Jennifer Lawrence and Mark Ruffalo get cameos. Bradley Cooper is usually in there somewhere as an extra.

[edit]Oh and Samuel L Jackson - contractually - gets to pop up and deliver a single deadpan one-liner in every movie.

I mean, in terms of A/B-list actors who've recently been cast in multiple prominent lead roles, I can think off the top of my head of Daniel Craig, Brad Pitt, Leonard DiCaprio, Timothée Chalamet, Saoirse Ronan, Tom Holland, Margot Robbie, Will Smith, Emily Blunt, Kevin Hart, Ryan Reynolds Robert Pattinson, John David Washington, Gal Gadot, Tom Hanks, Mahershala Ali, Benedict Cumberbatch... I could name many more but you wouldn't find a gay person among them

[MB.]

then again, my definition of "Hollywood movie" isn't limited to just the Marvel cinematic universe

[Marsh.]

Is Tom Holland not gay?

[MB.]

Originally Posted by Marsh.

Is Tom Holland not gay?

a) not as far as we know, since he has a girlfriend, and b) you'd know if he was because "out gay actor leads Marvel movie" would be a prominent news story, just as "woman leads Marvel movie" was somehow one

[Oliver_W]

Originally Posted by Marsh.

Is Tom Holland not gay?

Just because he used to do ballet doesn't make him gay

[Niamh.]

Originally Posted by MB.

I wonder if anyone in this thread could list out gay actors who regularly get cast in Hollywood lead roles and get past single digits

Jodie Foster, Zachary Quinto, Neil Patrick Harris, Jim Parsons, Sarah Paulson, Kristen Stewart, Sara Gilbert, Elliot (formally Ellen, she identified as a gay woman for most of her career) Page, Wentworth Miller, Ian McKellen, Ruby Rose

[MB.]

Originally Posted by Niamh.

Jodie Foster, Zachary Quinto, Neil Patrick Harris, Jim Parsons, Sarah Paulson, Kristen Stewart, Sara Gilbert, Elliot (formally Ellen, she identified as a gay woman for most of her career) Page, Wentworth Miller, Ian McKellen, Ruby Rose

that is indeed a list of out gay actors, yes, but Jodie Foster has had one leading role in a Hollywood film in the past eight years (that flopped at the box office), Zachary Quinto's only leading role since his last Star Trek film was in a small-budget indie that he produced, Jim Parson's only leads seem to be an animated film and an indie that grossed a grand total of $44,000, Sara Gilbert literally hasn't had a lead role in a Hollywood film since 1992 and you can count the list of Hollywood films Wentworth Miller has been in on one hand

Ian McKellen, Kristen Stewart, Sarah Paulson and Elliot Page I'll give you, but otherwise it's a fairly shameful track record

[Niamh.]

Originally Posted by MB.

that is indeed a list of out gay actors, yes, but Jodie Foster has had one leading role in a Hollywood film in the past eight years (that flopped at the box office), Zachary Quinto's only leading role since his last Star Trek film was in a small-budget indie that he produced, Jim Parson's only leads seem to be an animated film and an indie that grossed a grand total of $44,000, Sara Gilbert literally hasn't had a lead role in a Hollywood film since 1992 and you can count the list of Hollywood films Wentworth Miller has been in on one hand

Ian McKellen, Kristen Stewart and Elliot Page I'll give you, but otherwise it's a fairly shameful track record

Jodie Foster was one of the top female actors in her day though. There seems to be less leading roles in general for women unless you're a certain age and look a certain way compared to men although I think a woman being gay would be less of an issue for people who would have an issue with gay actors playing straight characters