Can Straight Actors Play Gay Characters? | Good Morning Britain

the man behind tv hits such as queer as folk and doctor who says straight actors should not play gay characters yes the comments from the screenwriter russell t davies come after james corden was criticized for his portrayal of a gay character in his new film the prom well joining us now star of stage and screen christopher biggins and journalist benjamin butterworth to discuss whether only gay actors should play gay characters right benjamin first question what is an actor well an actor is someone who plays something else uh you know it portrays a role that's been written fictionally okay good we've established we can all agree on that second question should straight roles heterosexual roles in movies and television only be played by straight actors no and i don't accept that that's the same as the reverse okay of course okay i didn't expect you to i just want to establish some ground rules that we can all agree on so you don't think that only straight actors should play straight parts and let me tell you why i'm going to come to that and i will be fair to you i just want to establish that actors play other roles and nobody with a brain thinks that only straight people should play straight parts we can all agree on that before the debate begins right before the debate begins yes okay christopher biggins you've been in the thespian world for a long time good morning to you you've been in the thespian world a long time given that acting is about playing other roles and other parts and other people uh and given that we all agree it would be ridiculous if only straight people played straight parts what do you make of this debate ridiculous and explain why are you thinking explain why you think it's ridiculous acting is acting acting is taking on a character and becoming that character i mean let's look let's look back some years there's a wonderful play called the dresser with albert finney and tom courtney now tom courtney played the outrageous the camp dresser now he wasn't gay but he played it superbly he got a a a globe award in america for playing his portrayal of this character i don't understand why well okay so christopher because you you you've explained your view benjamin butterworth we established the rules of the debate but without allowing you to explain why um so why do you think if you think that um gay actors could play straight parts why only gay actors should play gay parts well first of all the reason that you know a gay person is obviously capable of playing a straight character you know most gay people have spent half their lives acting straight we tend to be pretty good at it but the fact is and this is what russell t davis was arguing when he was talking about his new show which is about the hiv epidemic in the late 80s is that there is an authenticity to a gay person that can bring to that role there is a rawness there is a reality there is an extra dimension that improves their performance and ability to tell it and the other thing is that they're underrepresented you know too often big hollywood stars almost always are heterosexual and that's because people buy into actors not just you know between the ad breaks or when they sit in the cinema they buy into them on a broader scale and when gay actors are underrepresented in this those big roles the idea that straight people should be playing all the gay characters i think is wrong and equality isn't we've had this debate in many different guises about equality and what it means uh you know some people are making the point why should someone's sexuality even come into this i think there's a good argument that everybody you know people who are gay people who may have a disability that the opportunity should be completely equal for everybody if you're a black actor whatever it may be the opportunities should be level playing field for everybody but then it should come down to ability not sexuality and i'll just give you some examples in the uh papers today because james dreyfus who played gay characters in some 90s comedies uh he doesn't think sexuality has anything to do with an actor's ability as he puts it to convince and amaze and there are some examples aren't there um colin firth and stanley tucci in supernova two straight guys playing uh gay men you had uh timothy chalamet and army hammer in call me by your name straight men playing gay roles jake gyllenhaal and heath ledger in brokeback mountain now what made these performances memorable was the brilliance and quality of the acting nothing to do with their sexuality could gay actors have made those parts well the final the final point is going to make it i'll let ben answer you know i remember the impact that tom hanks had with philadelphia and he had it because he was tom hanks and he gave an absolutely brilliant performance that then did so much to shine a light on hiv on aids and really made a difference would a lesser-known actor who got the role purely because of his sexuality and happened to be gay would they have had the same impact but look i think we've moved beyond that of course at that stage the idea of having a story of that nature told on the silver screen was itself a radical act but now what i'm saying is that gay actors who have this lived experience who have the authenticity of having been through it for example with russell t davies programs about hiv you know some of those actors will have been around to know what that's like and it brings that added dimension and i think that's what makes it so much more powerful take for example rami malek in the bohemian rhapsody of freddie mercury's life now he is a straight man playing one of the most famous gay people who had had hiv that film almost totally skipped over the fact that he had had hiv and died i don't get that argument he didn't write the script for that movie christopher well let's bring in christopher again christopher that kind of argument seems serious to me because it would have been exactly the same movie with a gay or straight actor absolutely and he was only following what the director and the producers and the writers were telling him to do i mean he's a brilliant actor and i thought he was awfully good at it also equity is full of gay actors you know i don't know where this this philosophy is coming from that there aren't and i don't know the numbers but it may be that equity the actors union is full of gay actors but the gay actors might feel they're not getting access to the parts uh and it might be hard to get cast i don't know benjamin butterworth if you know it might be hard for a gay male actor to play to get apart a straight male part and therefore when they see gay parts being cast by with straight actors they might get frustrated because they think well at least we could play those parts but this is my point you know christopher's absolutely right that there are loads of gay actors and gay people in show business and the media they're not short of them what i'm saying is if you think of the biggest stars the hollywood stars why is it that for generations since it came about they have almost all been i'll tell you heterosexuals but my point would be take out the elton john uh movie rocket map brilliant film elton loved it who was the star of that who played elton john taran right he's a straight guy why was his performance diminished in any way by the fact that he happens in his own life to be straight the guy's an actor playing elton john well i mean you know he was almost as good at straight acting as ellen john was until the 80s i suppose so you know who would you have got to play elton john who's gay uh well i mean i don't know well i was going to say russell toby but that might be rather flattering to elton john but look at immediately benjamin here's how you're immediately you're struggling because in a way you know that there's something a bit preposterous about saying the only person that can play l is a gay guy i don't accept that because what i'm saying is there is a reason gay actors are underrepresented and that's why they should get these roles and be better at them the fact is you don't just follow an actor when you don't agree that the way the way for more gay actors to get a better crack of the wit for one of a better phrase is for them to be brilliant actors because it brings the brilliance i mean christopher final word to you to me it's about the quality of the acting you know and if you're a brilliant actor you're a brilliant actor you can play anything of course and acting is it's about taking on a character and becoming that character it doesn't matter what sexuality you are that doesn't mean anything and i think i think you i think you for example you know for a straight man you've been fantastic in your career it's lovely to see you and my eye is drawn to a wonderful portrait behind you um do you want to just let us know what that drawing is of this one here the one no the one behind you the one behind you yes that is a girlfriend of mine at drama school did that for me which i i love it i go around oh god where is it there it is uh whose buttocks are they christopher nobody i know but the one underneath is uh is gloria hannaford's daughter self-portrait really yeah oh that's the one he's the one beneath didn't you so one it's a one above we're really focused on yeah we're interested in the one above i love it i'm sure you are uh christopher benjamin it's a good debate uh i i think the key thing is about allowing everyone equal opportunity to to get on in the world of acting and once you do it's down to you and your talent you

Channel: Good Morning Britain

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Keywords: good morning britain, breakfast show, news, morning news, gmb, good morning britain interview, itv, piers morgan, susanna reid, Talk Shows - Topic, James Cordon, Gay, Showbiz, Actor, LGBTQ

Id: vk4ZS9BovhE

Length: 9min 57sec (597 seconds)

Published: Wed Jan 13 2021