It’s all about acting
Comedian Phil Evans from Ammanford is known as the man who puts the “cwtsh” into comedy
PUBLICISING his new TV series about the 1980s Aids epidemic, talented television writer/producer Russell T. Davies announced: “Only gay actors should play gay characters, otherwise it’s not authentic.”
Does that mean only murderers should play murderers or a real wizard should play Harry Potter?
When someone gets shot in a film or falls off a high building, should they really die?
Because that would ‘authentic,’ wouldn’t it?
RTD brought Doctor Who back to TV – whether that was a good thing is the subject of another article – so if he used the Tardis to go back into cinema history, he’d find that . . .
Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger played gay cowboys in Brokeback Mountain.
Judi Dench played a teacher attracted to another woman in Notes From A Scandal.
Tom Hanks deservedly won an Oscar for playing a gay man with Aids in Philadelphia.
Michael Douglas won an Emmy for playing Liberace in Behind The Candelabra.
The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation praised Robin Williams’s performance as a gay man in The Birdcage for ‘going against the stereotypes and showing the character’s depth and humanity.’ All those actors were straight. On the other hand, if tough, romantic heroes should only be played by straight men, half of the romantic comedies and action pictures of the 1950s and 60s would never have been made.
‘Confirmed bachelors’ – a euphemism used by the press of the time – like Rock Hudson, Tab Hunter and Raymond Burr played straight characters all through their careers.
An exception was Dirk Bogarde, who played a gay lawyer in “Victim” (1961) but never ‘came out’ in his personal life, even though he resided in be
France with a male partner for years.
RTD also said: “You wouldn’t cast an able-bodied person to play a character in a wheelchair!”
If that’s true, how did Daniel Day Lewis win the 1989 Best Actor Oscar for his convincing portrayal of Christy Brown, who was only able to control his left foot due to cerebral palsy in My Left Foot?
You see, Russell, actors pretend to be cowboys or Indians. Heroes or villains.
Gay or straight.
It’s called ‘acting’!