What's your view on Jack Whitehall playing a gay character?

[LyndorCake]

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/film/2018/aug/13/jack-whitehall-role-gay-disney-character-row-jungle-cruise

People have gone wild on twitter about it.
One argument says that as he is straight, he can't understand the role properly and is taking roles always from LGBTQ+ actors. The other side of that is he's an actor and therefore he is always pretending to be someone he isn't in any role, how is this different?

I can sort of see both sides but curious as to what you think?

Wow, this thread ran away while I was out!

Personally I can understand why the LGBTQ+ community is a bit disappointed that an out and proud gay actors wasn't cast in the role. We know they are out there, as many people have listed gay actors who play straight roles.
That being said, and as I said in my OP, actors are there to act. They play roles that are different from who they are all the time, some brilliant examples of that in this thread. And I completely agree that actors should be judged on their skills and ability to portray the character as authentically and true to script as possible

at the Disney stereotyping if the character is stereotypically “gay”.

I think it seems less U for a straight actor to be cast as a gay character than for one with no disabilities to be cast as a disabled character, or a white actor to be cast as a character from another ethnicity.

Interesting how times have changed - not much said, for example, at the time of BrokeBack Mountain.

Gay actors are in the closet because it’s highly likely they would not be cast at all, particularly as straight characters, should they come out.

There are very few gay characters, hardly any roles. So can understand why the “out” gay actors get pissed off.

White, straight, thin, good looking actors - especially men - have most options.

The film , TV and music industries are horrendous on equality.

Your sexuality has nothing to do with the sexuality you can play, obviously, or the theatre wouldn't exist.

This may be different in JW's case, though, as it's difficult to imagine him playing a believable straight man despite apparently being straight.

hmm at the Disney stereotyping if the character is stereotypically “gay”

Lots of gay people are "stereotypically gay" (which is why there is a stereotype in the first place) Are they not allowed to be represented? Only gay people who don't seem too gay?

I find all this "no-one is allowed to be gay in Hollywood" to be pretty laughable. People actually think the entertainment industry, which has always been packed to the gills with gay people, is riddled with people too afraid to come out? When there are so many gay actors that IMDB has lists of the hottest 100 gay actors? I could name 50 famous gay actors without blinking.

Puhlease people. Acting, hardly the most closeted industry in the world, is it?

If only gays can play gays - where's the acting skill?

I just don't understand this - why on earth shouldn't Jack Whitehall play this role? It's just an acting job.

I take the totally opposite view - casting should be blind to sexual orientation just as it should be blind to colour.

Jack Whitehall has played believably heterosexual characters before. He played a straight character in Fresh Meat, who was a bit of a sleaze around women and who had also dabbled with tossing another bloke off while at school. There was a storyline around his sexuality and casual minor homophobia, but then he finds out his school pal is gay.

He's not exactly Daniel Day Lewis but the bit about the character pursuing women was no more or less convincing than any of his other traits.

Pedro Pascal is gay too isn't he? He plays extremely heterosexual men

Why on earth someone's personal life should be dissected for what is a job, is beyond me. in the words of Laurence Olivier 'why doesn't the dear boy just act?'. What will be the point of having actors if they can't reach outside their own sphere of experience. Social media outrage at the drop of a hat has gotten really old already.

If Hollywood was “colour blind” there would be far more black actors in lead roles.

It’s good that people are complaining about white actors being given the - few - roles that writers didn’t intend to be white characters.

I couldn't care less. I have no problem with people of an orientation acting as another. Isn't that what acting is? Portraying someone you're not?!

Is this a cartoon or a film? Tbh Jack sounds effeminate anyway so possibly why he got the role. would any gay actor want the role anyway???? They would be stereotyped and never do anything else, so would probably avoid .

Heath Ledger and Jake G were nominated for Oscars - that would have been groundbreaking if they had both been openly gay actors.

It’s a bit like Hollywood saying it can cope with gay roles but it can’t cope with actual gay people playing them yet.

If Brokeback has been played by gay actors I think it would have seemed less mainstream, more niche. I think straight men would have found it more complicated to watch. It’s ok because they’re not really gay.

Disagree. The type of people that would be uncomfortable to watch Brokeback play out on screen would not be pacified by knowing the actors were straight. And yes, it would have been more niche with gay actors because there are much less famous gay (out) actors than straight. Would Zachary Quinto and Neil Patrick Harries been as big a draw? Would it have even worked? Hollywood is a business and movies are to make money, especially to a company like Disney. I’m surprised that they gave Jack the role. I bet after all the hoo-ha it will transpire he has about ten lines or so in the entire film and one or two of them is ‘camp’.

What is “gay enough”?

I believe that RR describes herself as gender fluid rather than Lesbian

Bonquiqui transwomen are more likely to be murderers than be murder victims. They have a lower risk of being murdered than other men.
Are women, too, more likely to be murderers than be murdered? No?
Who is more vulnerable here?

You have been duped by a men's sexual rights movement entering LGB as a trojan horse. Wake up.

I think where the problem lies is that when a character is gay or disabled it is a major part of the role. There should be more characters that just happen to be gay or with a disability. I can think of hundreds of roles where it just wouldn't matter, and that would give more scope, for disabled actors especially. Marlee Matlin in West Wing is one where the role wasn't about her being deaf, just a woman with a job who happened to be deaf. We need a lot more of that. Many tv shows and movies underrepresent anyway, most of us who have a family member or close friend that is gay or disabled, but as we know, just being gay or disabled doesn't mean that is all you are.

What a fuss over nothing. Acting jobs should always go to the best man or woman for the job. Being Disney pretty sure many gay/ straight men went for the role and got turned down. Pretty sure much of the hoo ha is down to jealousy and because he is an unknown British actor.

Cam in Modern Family sums it up for me. My son is gay and is of the same opinion as me.Nobody gay or straight could play that role better.

As someone who works in the theatre industry, I have no problem with a straight actor portraying a gay character. I do, however, have a problem believing Jack Whitehall was the best actor for the role. Or any role, quite frankly.

What we do need are, as Midnite says, actors with disabilities playing characters where their disabilities are irrelevant to their role (ie, it's not a storyline about their disability). Liz Carr in Silent Witness is a brilliant example.

It's Disney. The competition must have been huge with a lot of money riding on its success. Why would they pick a relatively unknown actor for the job unless he was the best man for the job?

The type of people that would be uncomfortable to watch Brokeback play out on screen would not be pacified by knowing the actors were straight

There’s a type of conservative straight man, a bit homophobic, who would not choose to watch gay men act gay but would be ok with watching straight men act gay. I know this because I’ve asked some.

This was a seminal mainstream movie to portray gay characters and it was only made palatable to conservatives and middle America by employing straight guys. (See also Philadelphia).

And yes, it would have been more niche with gay actors because there are much less famous gay (out) actors than straight.

How can that ever change with so few gay roles and the ones that exist go to straight actors. It’s much harder for gay actors to get famous. To do so they have to be good at playing straight.

What we do need are, as Midnite says, actors with disabilities playing characters where their disabilities are irrelevant to their role

We also need more disabled parts being played by disabled actors.

@TatianaLarina But does that infer that the character's disability has to be a plot point? Surely what is more important is to see a character who happens to have a disability leading a normal, positive life, where they are not defined by their disability. Certainly that's what all actors that I know personally want to see. They want to be up for a role which is described as "a journalist" or "a doctor" or "a forensic scientist" or "a teacher" and not only be up when the word "disabled" has been added.

Shannon Murray has recently appeared in two episodes of EastEnders as a journalist. She happens to be in a wheelchair. Her being in a wheelchair was not a story point.

I agree IF a character in a programme or film DOES have a disability throughout the programme or film, then hiring a suitable disabled actor is right and proper.

Imply not infer, I’m talking about roles like Stephen Hawkin’s biopic where established actors get great applause for acting disabled.

I’d say it’s equally important not more so to see disabled actors in general roles. I think we should see both.

Gay actors play straight characters, too, for heaven’s sake.🙄
Think Ben Whishaw, for one.

Stephen Fry has tweeted that he has played straight men and even fathers:-
I share your shame @jackwhitehall – I played a straight man more than once. A FATHER even. I should have been sent for training, correction and adjustment years ago.

Well said Mr Fry!