Out actor Alan Cumming has weighed in
on the debate on straight actors playing gay roles.
Cumming was asked about the subject
during an interview with UK LGBT glossy Attitude to promote
his memoir, Baggage: Tales from a Fully-Packed Life.
“Where do you stand in the ‘debate’
around who should be able to take on LGBTQ+ roles?” the interviewer
asked.
“I think it’s interesting that the
conversation has moved on from about actors coming out to actors
playing gay people,” Cumming
answered. “At least that’s a positive thing because I always
used to think, I don’t want to talk about ‘outing.' The more
tension you bring to it, the more the media’s going to talk about
it, and actually it shouldn’t matter. I know other closeted people
in Hollywood, blah, blah – anyway, I don’t mind so much.”
“What I mind is a bad performance
right? I think gayness is different from race or disability in terms
of the offense that it can cause for somebody who is not that to
play. I have played lots of straight people. I think I should be
allowed to play straight people. I don’t mind when straight people
play gay people if they play it authentically. If they play it badly,
well, there’s lots of gay people out there who could have played
this much better. That’s what pisses me off.”
“The other thing is, it’s important
to remember that the reason these straight people play gay people, or
the reason why people who are not from a group play [a member of] a
group is because the minority doesn’t have enough famous people to
be ‘bankable’ stars that the studio deems as important enough to
carry a film. That’s what we have to address, the fact that we
don’t have enough – that’s been addressed in terms of color
now, which I think is great, but disability and queerness and
transness, all these things, we don’t have enough people who are
big enough stars for it not to be an issue. That’s what we have to
look at, more people being represented. It’s all about
representation. That’s the big answer. My short answer is, I don’t
really care so long as people do good performances. As someone who
plays straight all the time, if I’m not convincing as a straight
person, then I shouldn’t get the job,” he said.
Cumming is best known to American
audiences for his portrayal of Eli Gold in the CBS legal drama The
Good Wife. He returned to CBS to play an openly gay CIA agent
searching for a serial killer in Instinct. CBS canceled the
series after two seasons.
(Related: Alan
Cumming praises CBS for gay lead character during Trump
administration.)