To think actors should be able to act?

[DappledOliveGroves]

I'm so pissed off. Russell T. Davies has now said that gay characters should be played by gay actors. Article here: www.google.com/amp/s/news.sky.com/story/amp/russell-t-davies-straight-actors-should-not-play-gay-characters-12185652

I'm so, so sick of the identity politics playing out into every sphere. Where do we draw the line? Can a British actor play an American character or vice verse? If the character is a divorcee, must the actor also have gone through a divorce? Can a character who struggles with infertility only be played by an actress who's experienced the same?

I absolutely loved Queer as Folk when it came out in the late 90s. I have the box set and still watch it. It was brilliantly funny, wonderfully written and utterly provocative. Yet it wouldn't be made today, because the three main actors were in fact heterosexual.

Why are we becoming so segregated as a society? I had thought the idea was that people mixed together and strove for equality of opportunity. Instead we're simply pigeonholing people into smaller and smaller groups, based on identity politics.

Gay actors have played straight characters for centuries. Will they still be cast or can they only act if the character happens to be gay?

God, I hope so much in 50 years' time that we look back on this period with utter bewilderment at the insanity that's being perpetrated.

Totally agree. Surely the clue is in the name.. 'acting'.

Agree with you OP. Everything is just a massive headache these days - you can't say or do anything or even CAST ACTORS IN A TV SHOW without offending somebody.

Luke Evans is playing a straight detective on tv at the moment - he's gay in real life. Should that not be allowed either?

It's too much for my brain - and I consider myself very liberal!

The best actor for the part should be cast regardless of sexuality. Race is slightly different imo because some characters need to be played by a certain race (and that's not always white faces).

I completely agree. I am so sick of this bullshit virtue signaling I could scream. I suppose we now have to find a serial killer to play a serial killer, according to these new rules. I'm worn out by the absurdity of it all.

The issue is a lot of gay actors are denied straight roles, so choosing a straight actor for a gay role is essentially denying a gay actor a role.

FYI all of the actors in It’s a sin are fantastic actors.

How far do we take it? If you have to have life experience of every role you play, we will be getting into some really murky territory. Those actors who disingenuously put "can ride a horse" on their CV are going to have to start claiming all sorts of stuff.

Russell asserts that you wouldn't put an able bodied actor in a wheelchair. Er, yes you would.

I think that everyone in The Crown should be played by royalty. And don't even get me started on the TV series Rome. Do you know, not a single character in that was played by someone who was, in fact, alive in Roman times? Rumour has it that Hugh Laurie is not a doctor, Hugh Grant has never even been a politician, never mind Prime Minister, and not a single character in The Vampire Diaries is a vampire!

If it wasn't screamingly obvious, OP, I entirely agree with you. If we start demanding that everyone is only allowed to play their lived experience, films, theatre and TV are about to get very very dull indeed.

I watch a thing with Russell Tovey, made a few years ago I think called 'him and her'.. All about a couple and just the normal progress of their relationship. He played a sweet but fairly unreconstructed lad, very overtly straight which of course he isn't, but he's an actor. It's fine. I suppose in the past there were very few gay roles so gay actors had no choice and still the majority are straight roles. But it should work both ways, or neither.

I'd be very curious to know if anyone does support this stance and if so, on what basis?

What about a storyline where a woman is in a heterosexual marriage, then has a lesbian affair?

So many questions....

And his comparison to blacking up is silly. Can you "act" gay? Yes. Can you "act" some disabilities. Yes. Can you "act" black when you're white. No. If it's key to the plot then you have to consider how it's portrayed and what's possible.

It sort defeats the point of acting.

I thought one of the exemptions to the Equality Act was in casting decisions. So that you can legally insist that, for example, Othello is played by a black man and Desdemona by a white woman.

In terms of sexuality, I can't see why it matters if the actor can act. I think Johnny Depp once said that he makes all his characters gay? Or someone did, anyway.

If you actually read the interview the point he is making is a bit more subtle than simply "gay characters should be played by gay actors", but let's not let reading the article get in the way of an internet rant.

a lot of gay actors are denied straight roles

If this happened consistently then there would be about 3 gay actors in existence. And the answer would be to stop doing it not introduce even more type casting.

I think there'd be a case for it if gay men were being discriminated against and overlooked for roles based on their sexuality. In that case, a rule that an actor has to be gay to play a gay character would at least guarantee some roles for gay actors. However, as far as I know, there's no accusations of such discrimination taking place. I can think of many gay actors who have done a fantastic job of playing straight men.

Surely that would dramatically reduce the amount of roles available for gay actors, fewer characters are written as gay than are written as straight. Does he mean that gay actors can play any parts but gay parts can only be played by gay actors? What about actors who are bi or choose not to disclose their sexual orientation, do they have to disclose or not get any acting work. I do however have an issue with able bodied actors playing characters with a disability , I believe where possible these parts should be played by an actor with this disability I understand why this may not be possible but e.g Kevin McHale should not in my opinion have played a wheelchair user in Glee.

Russell asserts that you wouldn't put an able bodied actor in a wheelchair. Er, yes you would.

Presumably he's never seen Tom Burke as Cormoran Strike, the detective with a prosthetic leg.

Somebody should tell him that Cillian Murphy is not from Birmingham - how very dare the makers of Peaky Blinders deny all those Birmingham actors that role and just choose the actor they thought would bring the character to life most persuasively and compellingly. What madness IS this?

This was sort of my thing when Elliot Page (Ellen Page) came out as trans, He will still be playing Vanya in umbrella academy whose a woman so... if a trans man can play a woman, why can't a straight man play a game man or a gay man play a straight man (well they do, Barney on how I met your mother comes to mind) it seems there's a lot of double standards when it comes to this...

Well Disney is fucked if actors can only play characters they actually are😂

@JustCuriousToday

This was sort of my thing when Elliot Page (Ellen Page) came out as trans, He will still be playing Vanya in umbrella academy whose a woman so... if a trans man can play a woman, why can't a straight man play a game man or a gay man play a straight man (well they do, Barney on how I met your mother comes to mind) it seems there's a lot of double standards when it comes to this...

I assumed Vanya will come out as trans in next season tbh

You absolutely cannot compel potential employees [actors] to tell you their sexuality in a job interview [audition]. As a proposal that's ridiculous, demeaning and against the equalities act. It would also mean lesbians would never work again, because the world is not exactly bursting with programmes exploring their experience...

@UrAWizHarry

If you actually read the interview the point he is making is a bit more subtle than simply "gay characters should be played by gay actors", but let's not let reading the article get in the way of an internet rant.

I've read the article, thanks, and once you strip away the bits that don't make any sense ("It's about authenticity, the taste of 2020"??) that is actually exactly what he's saying.

I remember in the Archers (before I stopped listening) Nigel Pargeter was killed off by having him fall off the roof of Lower Loxley (his stately home). It was asked at that time why he couldn't have survived but with life changing injuries, but the then editor Vanessa Whitburn said they couldn't have a character with a disability played by an able bodied actor. Not even in a radio programme. This is the same radio programme that has a blind actor playing a sighted character.