Comic actor Rebel Wilson got serious in the debate over whether straight actors should play gay characters.
In an interview posted Sunday by the BBC’s “Desert Island Discs,” Wilson, who is engaged to a woman, was commenting on the political correctness of “if you are something, then now you’re allowed to joke about it.” Meaning that if you’re overweight, you can make fat jokes, she said.
Asked by host Lauren Laverne if that was a “good thing or do you find it restrictive,” the “Bridesmaids” star switched gears.
“I think that’s hard,” she said. “It’s going into this territory of like saying, ‘Well, only straight actors can play straight roles, and gay actors can play gay roles,’ which I think is total nonsense.”
“I think you should be able to play any role that you want,” the “Rebel Rising” author continued. “But I always think, in comedy, your job is to always kind of flirt with that line of what’s acceptable. Sometimes you do step over it but, at the end of the day, you are trying to entertain people. I’ll tell you where you won’t be entertained is if people are always being safe and protective. You’re not gonna get good comedy from that.”
Matt Winkelmeyer via Getty Images
Wilson’s comments added fuel to a controversy that has heated up in recent years. Stanley Tucci, who played a gay man with dementia in 2020’s “Supernova,” said last year: “I really do believe as an actor that you are supposed to play different people. You just are.”
Others have offered strong counterarguments. Writer and producer Russell T. Davies said LGBTQ+ actors should be cast in corresponding roles for “authenticity.” Eddie Redmayne, who played a transgender woman in 2015’s “The Danish Girl,” said in 2021 he would no longer take on such a part to boost representation for others on-screen.
“The bigger discussion about the frustrations around casting is because many people don’t have a chair at the table,” he said. “There must be a leveling, otherwise we are going to carry on having these debates.”