‘Will & Grace’ star Eric McCormack defends straight actors playing gay roles
Will & Grace star Eric McCormack has defended straight actors playing LGBTQ+ roles.
McCormack, who is best known for playing Will Truman on NBC sitcom Will & Grace, spoke recently about his casting as a gay character, and how straight actors should still be able to play LGBTQ+ roles.
Speaking on Good Morning Britain earlier this week, the actor said: “There’s no part I’ve ever played where I wasn’t playing something I’m not. It’s part of the gig. And I’ve always said, if gay actors weren’t allowed to play straight actors, Broadway would be over.”
He continued: “So this is what we do. I’d like to think that I represent it well. I came from the theatre, and one of my best friends was a gay man. So I think I took their spirit and their message in what was otherwise just a sitcom and represented it, I hope.”
Speaking on whether he thinks the casting for his role in Will & Grace would be the same if it were made today, McCormack said: “Well, I guess the answer would be, they’d have to say in the casting room, ‘And you’re gay, right?’ which I don’t think they can say.”
He added: “I would like to think in general that the best person for the role, the one that comes in and knocks it out of the park, is the one that gets the part.”
The topic of casting for queer roles has circulated the industry over the last few years, with several actors weighing in on the subject.
Speaking of Eddie Redmayne’s performance as trans pioneer Lili Elbe in The Danish Girl, Ben Whishaw said: “Going forward, there will be other films in which the role is given to someone who lived that experience. Why shouldn’t a role like that be given to someone who knows, inside, what the character is? I’m all for that.”
It’s A Sin creator Russel T Davies gave his thoughts back in 2021, suggesting that only gay actors should be cast in gay roles to preserve “authenticity”: “It’s about authenticity, the taste of 2020. You wouldn’t cast someone able-bodied and put them in a wheelchair, you wouldn’t black someone up. Authenticity is leading us to joyous places.”
Earlier this year, actor Paul Mescal opened up about being a straight man playing a gay character, ahead of the release of All Of Us Strangers, in which he and Andrew Scott share an on-screen romance.
The Normal People star said about the topic: “It depends who’s in charge of telling the story. The issue is that there have been so many queer performances in cinema that have been offensive, but that’s because the filmmakers and the actors have been careless.”
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Alex Berry
NME
