After Playing Harvey Milk In The 2008 Biopic, Sean Penn Has Had His Say On Straight Actors Playing LGBTQ+ Characters
In 2008, Sean Penn won critical acclaim for his performance in the movie Milk, a biographical drama about gay rights activist and politician Harvey Milk — the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in California.
Sean won several accolades for the role at the time, including the much-coveted Best Actor Oscar at the Academy Awards.
While Sean was already very well established in his career by this point — and had previously won an Oscar for his role in Mystic River back in 2003 — he has now claimed that Milk was the huge turning point in his life.
In fact, the star went so far as to say that the new level of success that he enjoyed with that movie led to him being “miserable” on set for his subsequent projects.
In a recent interview with the New York Times, Sean said: “I went 15 years miserable on sets. Milk was the last time I had a good time.”
“I feel like an actor who is playing a leading role and is a known actor and is being paid well has a leadership position on a film, and you’ve got to show up with energy and be a bodyguard for the director in some way,” he went on.
“I was faking my way through that stuff and that was exhausting,” Sean admitted. “Mostly, what I thought was just: ‘What time is it? When are we going to get off?’”
Referencing his acting career, he said: “I was sure it was done, but I didn’t know how I was going to keep my house running or travel freely or things like that if I stopped.”
Sean also told the publication that he wouldn’t be able to play Harvey Milk nowadays as a result of the increased discourse surrounding straight actors playing LGBTQ+ characters.
“It could not happen in a time like this,” he insisted. “It’s a time of tremendous overreach. It’s a timid and artless policy toward the human imagination.”
Interestingly, Sean’s comments come at a time when this particular conversation has ramped up a gear due to how many up-and-coming straight actors have played LGBTQ+ characters in recently released movies.
For example, last year, Paul Mescal played a gay character in All of Us Strangers, and Josh O’Connor has played several LGBTQ+ characters throughout his career — as has Nicholas Galitzine, who recently admitted to feeling “guilt” over “taking up someone’s space.”
Speaking to GQ just last month, Nicholas said: “I identify as a straight man, but I have been a part of some incredible queer stories. I felt a sense of uncertainty sometimes about whether I’m taking up someone’s space, and perhaps guilt. At the same time, I see those characters as not solely their sexuality.”
And it is true that the discourse around this topic is multifaceted, with there being many arguments for and against straight actors taking on these roles.
Arguments against typically come down to two major factors; The first is the fact that openly queer actors tend to be typecast into LGBTQ+ roles, so a straight actor being cast instead is taking an opportunity away from members of the actual community.
In 2021, nonbinary actor Jesse James Keitel highlighted this issue when they told NBC News: “I’ve only played queer roles in my professional career, and I am looking forward to the day when I can play a role that has nothing to do with my gender or sexuality, or my character’s gender or sexuality. I think that’s a privilege that many straight and cis actors don’t realize is even a thing.”
Secondly, actors who are openly queer in the industry have previously spoken out about job offers drying up after they came out — with Matt Bomer recently hitting the headlines when he revealed that he lost out on a career-defining role as Superman when he was outed in the media in the early 2000s.
British star Rupert Everett previously recalled a similar experience, telling BBC Radio 4 in 2010: “Show business is ideally suited for heterosexuals; it’s a very heterosexual business, it’s run mostly by heterosexual men, and there’s a kind of pecking order.”
When asked his view on straight actors taking on queer roles, Rupert acknowledged the stifling impact that it has on queer actors as he explained: “A lot of straight actors are actively searching for gay roles because it is something different to do. I think that’s fine, but that does mean the gay actor who used to just get to play the gay part — like me — has been reduced to drag, really.”
Notably, Rupert’s comments came shortly after acting veteran Richard Chamberlain — who didn’t come out as gay until more than 40 years into his career — told the Advocate: “I wouldn’t advise a gay leading man-type actor to come out. It’s complicated. There’s still a tremendous amount of homophobia in our culture. It’s regrettable, it’s stupid, it’s heartless, and it’s immoral, but there it is.”
Meanwhile, a whole host of straight actors have a long history of achieving critical acclaim for their portrayal of queer characters; Tom Hanks won an Oscar for his performance as a gay man in the movie Philadelphia, as did Hilary Swank for her portrayal of a transgender man in Boys Don’t Cry, which was based on a harrowing true story.
Jared Leto won an Oscar in 2014 for his performance as a transgender woman in Dallas Buyers Club, Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal were both nominated for their roles as gay men in the movie Brokeback Mountain, Eddie Redmayne for playing a transgender woman in The Danish Girl, and Cate Blanchett for her portrayal of a lesbian character in the film Carol.
It has also been argued that it is important for marginalized communities to have “real representation” onscreen as they have the unique lived experience of what it is like to be LGBTQ+, rather than just projecting what they think it is like.
But on the other hand, it has been pointed out that the reality of the situation is more complex than it may seem. For example, director Jamie Babbit told NBC: “To have quote-unquote ‘straight’ actors saying now, ‘Hey, I won't take that part because it's gay, and you should give it to a gay person,’ it feels like another way to stigmatize our stories.”
Actor Kristen Stewart agreed, telling Variety that “it’s a slippery slope” as she explained: “I would never want to tell a story that really should be told by somebody who’s lived that experience. Having said that, it’s a slippery slope conversation because that means I could never play another straight character if I’m going to hold everyone to the letter of this particular law. I think it’s such a gray area.”
It has also been pointed out that this mindset may force LGBTQ+ actors who are not publicly out into disclosing their sexuality.
This was highlighted in 2022, when then-18-year-old Heartstopper star Kit Connor called out critics for “forcing” him to come out as bisexual after he faced backlash for playing a bisexual character in the show as a presumed-straight man.
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