Cate Blanchett will fight for straight actors’ rights to play gay, transgender roles
CATE Blanchett has defended the right of straight actors to play gay roles, hitting out at a growing social media argument that those characters should be portrayed only by those actors who are themselves gay or transgender.
Confidential
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HOLLYWOOD heavyweight Cate Blanchett has defended the right of straight actors to play gay roles, hitting out at a growing social media argument that those characters should be portrayed only by those actors who are themselves gay or transgender.
“I will fight to the death for the right to suspend disbelief and play roles beyond my experience,” Blanchett said at the Rome Film Festival yesterday.
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The 49-year-old Aussie star and dual Oscar-winner earned a nomination for her portrayal of a gay woman in the 2015 film Carol but is straight and married to playwright Andrew Upton.
“The whole process as an actor for me is an empathetic one where you try and understand someone else’s reality,” she said.
Blanchett said reality television “had an extraordinary impact, a profound impact on the way we view the creation of character”.
“Particularly in America, I think, we expect and only expect, people to make a profound connection to a character when it’s close to their experience,” she said.
Blanchett said her next role was to play someone whose “political persuasions are entirely different to my own” and she was looking forward to working her out.
The issue has ignited recently with straight British performer Jack Whitehall coming under fire after he was cast as the first gay Disney character, while Scarlett Johansson was forced to quit a film in which was to play a transgender character after widespread criticism.