Andrew Scott says it’s ‘dangerous territory’ to stop straight actors playing gay roles
The 'Sherlock' star is set to join season two of 'Fleabag' as a straight priest
By Steve Brown
Andrew Scott has said it’s ‘dangerous territory’ to stop straight actors playing gay roles.
The openly gay actor became a household name after starring in Sherlock and is now set to join season two of Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s comedy/drama Fleabag where he plays a straight, Catholic priest.
And while speaking to Huffington Post, the actor opened up on his thoughts on the continual debate that straight actors should not play gay roles.
He said: “I think it’s dangerous territory to go down sometimes to think that we’re only allowed to play our own – not just our own sexuality, but our own nationality or identity – that we’re only allowed to… represent things that are within our experience.
“When you go see a play, you’re thrilled that somebody is pretending to be somebody else, that’s the magic of it.
“So otherwise it’s just a form of well-shot reality television. I think the joy of storytelling is that ‘this is not real’, it’s something that we love from when we’re kids, we love transformation and that’s how it reads for me, and I think it’s very important we don’t talk in absolutes when it comes to casting.
“I think we have to look at every individual situation and make sure everyone gets the chance to play all the different parts.
“But I think going down the road of, ‘a person is that, they have to play that’, is dangerous.”