Lord of the Rings star Viggo Mortensen defends playing gay character in new film
He says character is not "a gimmick, anchor or some trigger"
Viggo Mortensen has defended playing a gay man in new film Falling.
In the movie, Mortensen plays the husband of a man whose homophobic father comes to live with them while dealing with dementia.
The star, known for roles in Lord of the Rings and Green Book, also directs the film.
Addressing the debate while speaking to Reuters, Mortensen pointed out that he cast David Cronenberg as a proctocologist in Falling – despite the famed director knowing little about the field in medicine dealing with disorders of the rectum, anus, and colon.
“There are certain characters I’m not going to play”
“I apologise to all the proctologists for casting David Cronenberg,” he joked.
The 62-year-old added: “There are certain characters I’m not going to play,” adding “I wouldn’t play Eric, the Chinese-Hawaiian American,” referring to another character in the film.
Mortensen also insists that his character John is not “a gimmick, anchor or some trigger”.
“I thought, what if it’s not a wife? What if it’s a husband?” Mortensen said of his decision to make John a gay man. “I’ll try that. I’ll write the next scene and see how it feels. If it doesn’t work or feels somehow not right for the story, then I won’t use it, but I liked it.”
Falling, Mortensen’s directorial debut, is due for release in the UK on 4 December.
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