*Note: This list originally ran on July 9th, 2007
For a straight actor to successfully play a gay character is not as easy as one might think. Not everyone can pull a Heath Ledger in Brokeback Mountain, a River Phoenix in Private Idaho, or even a Robin Williams in The Birdcage. When I see a movie about gays with a straight lead and director and it fails, I often wonder how the voice would have been different with a gay director or gay actor. Would Cruising be the same film if the director were gay? Here are just a few gay characters played by straight actors that we all could’ve lived without.
Will Smith in Six Degrees of Separation
Will Smith wasn't a terrible actor in the 1993 film Six Degrees of Separation; however, it was obvious he was a little green for the role. Smith played the role of Paul,...
For a straight actor to successfully play a gay character is not as easy as one might think. Not everyone can pull a Heath Ledger in Brokeback Mountain, a River Phoenix in Private Idaho, or even a Robin Williams in The Birdcage. When I see a movie about gays with a straight lead and director and it fails, I often wonder how the voice would have been different with a gay director or gay actor. Would Cruising be the same film if the director were gay? Here are just a few gay characters played by straight actors that we all could’ve lived without.
Will Smith in Six Degrees of Separation
Will Smith wasn't a terrible actor in the 1993 film Six Degrees of Separation; however, it was obvious he was a little green for the role. Smith played the role of Paul,...
- 5/13/2009
- by claycane
- The Backlot
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