Straight Man To Play Gay Icon?

[mushroom25]

https://metro.co.uk/2023/01/19/adam-lambert-isnt-happy-theo-james-might-play-george-michael-18128179/?ito=facebook%7Csocial%7Cmetroukfacebook&fbclid=IwAR14g15uaNBvGD0tbbCHS0LZy0i51WdpZcWKSvqPLcM5qjFQw3NX7KKrSYY

can gay roles only be played by gay actors?

[barry1010]

No, and gay actors would be limiting their own roles if they could only play gay people.

[jourdain2]

Of course not. Actors are just that, they play different people, that's their skill. Some are better at it than others.

[237SJ]

No. Michael Douglas was brilliant in Behind the Candelabra.

[Canary42]

Not this old chestnut again. Widely debated by thespians. But it's a ridiculous concept; for example should Macbeth only be played by a murderer ?

[JimF]

John Hurt's portrayal of Quentin Crisp was stunning.

[Khandro]

Homosexuals playing homosexuals usually over-camp it.

[fender62]

john inman, In 1999, at the age of 64, Inman astounded his friends by announcing that he had been straight all his life and that, furthermore, he had been involved in a "serious relationship" with a woman for 28 years. No one seemed to know who she was.

[JimF]

John Inman was in a long-term homosexual relationship, later a civil partnership as soon as that was possible, with a man called Ron Lynch. He was the sole benefactor of his multi-million pound estate.

[choux]

Michael Douglas played Liberace in 2013 and the film also starred Mat Damon as Scott Thorson. It is up to the viewer to decide if they made a good impression...

[barry1010]

Inman's long term partner was Ron Lynch, they had a civil partnership in 2005

[Arksided]

As a straight man I really don’t give an @rse

[gness]

Am I overthinking to wonder if only gays should play gays then only Queens of Egypt should play Cleopatra?

[Canary42]

Exactly gness.

A bit tricky casting Jack the Ripper !

[fender62]

barry1010, mine was a copy paste, but..he was a funny actor, still find are you being served funny, specially the film adaptation, as for john
well hope he had a happy life, gave millions a laugh every week.

[Deskdiary]

Err, isn’t it called acting?

There was a furore when Bryan Cranston gave a brilliant turn as a quadriplegic (I can’t remember the name of the film) and some people were saying the role should have gone to a disabled actor.

Somebody with one arm is disabled, so would a one-armed actor have been more suited to the role just because he was disabled? Of course not.

Let’s turn it on its head. Would it be acceptable for gay people to be barred from playing straight people? Again, of course not.

[sandyRoe]

As far as I know the actor who played Ian Dury in the film biography wasn't disabled.
A good actor can be convincing in whatever role they have.

[Mozz71]

Remi Malek won an Oscar for his portrayal of Freddie Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody. It shouldn't matter. The job of an actor is to pretend to be someone else.

Having said that, I remember the AB uproar at a black Anne Boleyn a couple of years back, so who knows?

[roopower]

If Anne Boleyn can be black, anything goes

[jourdain2]

I think that the problem with the Ann Boleyn is that everyone knew what she looked like so the skin colour was a major distraction. Like a white man playing Othello without 'blacking-up'.

[pixie374]

It's a shame... I love Adam Lambert, but that makes no sense at all.