Search form

Scroll To Top
Popnography

Ben Whishaw ‘Baffled’ By ‘Gay Vs Straight’ Casting Debate

Ben Whishaw

'I do not understand what the problem is. Actors play all sorts of things.'

Pictured: Ben Whishaw in 'Lilting.

Ben Wishaw, who played Q in Skyfall and John Keats in Bright Star, doesn't get the whole straight actor/gay actor casting debate. As he 34-year-old actor, who played a gay character in the indie film Lilting last year, told BT:

"With gay characters being played by straight people, straight characters being played by gay people, come on, we're actors. I do not understand what the problem is. Actors play all sorts of things. I've played murderers, journalists and kings - I'm not any of them. The whole thing is a fiction, it's about imagination, it's play. I am baffled to why it's such a big thing.

"And also, I'm baffled because it feels like we're in a time where there are lots of gay people, not just actors but in all walks of life, and let's be where we are. We're human beings and I don't understand why it's really a discussion now."

RELATED | Ben Whishaw: I Was Afraid to Come Out for a Long Time

Whishaw's statements have come out post-Matt Damon's now infamous gaff in a Guardian profile in which he suggested that all actors -- gay or straight -- would be better off keeping their sexuality a secret.

"The Matt Damon thing, it has probably been taken out of context but I don't understand the heat around it. It feels like a story that's trying to be drummed up, even though there are more important things we should be talking about."

Damon has since gone on Ellen and backpedaled.

[h/t Towleroad]

Advocate Channel - The Pride StoreOut / Advocate Magazine - Fellow Travelers & Jamie Lee Curtis

From our Sponsors

Most Popular

Latest Stories

Alex Panisch