Luke Evans Weighs in on the Gay Actors Playing Gay Roles Debate

"I wouldn’t have had a career if gay people played gay roles and straight people played straight roles."

Luke Evans doesn’t agree with many prominent gay actors and creators on one issue.

Over the last several years, the issue of whether or not gay characters should be played by gay actors has become a hot topic in Hollywood, and Beauty and the Beast and Fast & Furious star Luke Evans has now spoken out about his opinion.

When the Daily Telegraph asked if he agreed with Russell T Davies’ view that gay characters should be played by gay actors, Evans didn’t quite agree.

“I’m not sure about that,” he said. “Gay people have definitely missed out on gay roles for sure. Russell spoke very powerfully, passionately, about this point. I get it, and I totally think that things do need to change.”

He continued:

“But from my perspective, firstly, I wouldn’t have had a career if gay people played gay roles and straight people played straight roles. I’d have played two roles out of the 36 projects I’ve worked on, or whatever [the number] is.”

Instead, Evans says he relies on “talent and ability, and a bit of luck and timing” to get roles.

In 2021, Davies was talking to the Radio Times about why he cast his show It’s a Sin with gay actors in gay roles.

“I’m not being woke about this,” he said at the time. “But I feel strongly that if I cast someone in a story, I am casting them to act as a lover, or an enemy, or someone on drugs or a criminal or a saint… they are not there to 'act gay' because 'acting gay' is a bunch of codes for a performance. It’s about authenticity, the taste of 2020."

“You wouldn’t cast someone able-bodied and put them in a wheelchair,” he continued. “You wouldn’t Black someone up. Authenticity is leading us to joyous places."

Davies, and others who argue that gay roles should be filled with gay actors, do not argue that only straight people should play straight roles, so it feels like Evans has missed the argument a little bit here.

Instead, the argument is against straight people putting on a performance of what they think a gay person acts like and constantly winning awards from it when there are many talented actors who could deliver a much more authentic performance.

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Luke Evans Weighs in on the Gay Actors Playing Gay Roles Debate