Italian movie director Luca Guadagnino has addressed criticism about casting straight actors into gay/bi roles.
Guadagnino is best known for his 2017 hit, Call My By Your Name, based on the 2007 novel by André Aciman. The movie featured a romance in Italy between 17-year-old Elio (played by Timothee Chalamet) and a 24-year-old graduate, Oliver (played by Armie Hammer).
Related: Armie Hammer has been keeping his hands busy during the pandemic
In recent years, there has been increased lobbying for gay and bi roles to go to gay and bi actors – performers that have often found themselves sidelined by the movie industry in the past.
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In an interview with British newspaper The Independent, Guadagnino, who is gay himself, was asked about calls to offer queer roles to queer actors.
He responded that he doesn’t quiz actors about their sexuality before casting, and says that gay people are incredibly diverse so that one can’t assume that one gay person will be better at playing a gay character than a straight person just because they share the same sexual orientation.
“I read too much Freud to be taking seriously these kind of critics,” he said. “Meaning that I honestly don’t believe I have the right to decide whether an actor is straight or not. Who am I to know what somebody is thinking of himself or herself within themselves.
“Yes, Armie is a straight man with a wife and children and the same can be said of Timothée. But do I ask them to swear on their sexuality, on their identities, on their desires, before I cast them? I don’t!”
“If I have to cast what people think is the real thing for a role, I wouldn’t be able to cast. I cannot cast a gay man to play Oliver. I have to cast Oliver to play Oliver because the identities of gay men are as multiple as the flowers in the realm of earth,” he said.
“So there is not a gay identity. One person who is gay is completely different to another person who is gay.
“So, if I have to be accurate to this kind of dull remark, I could cast Oliver but Oliver doesn’t exist. He’s a creature of [novelist] André Aciman. We go back to the last point I want to make which is that the beauty of acting is the possibility of the creation and embodiment of new selves through the art of acting.”
He went on to say that if actors are cast based on their own life experiences, The Silence of the Lambs might have needed to find a serial killer to play Dr. Hannibal Lecter.
“Does Mr. Hopkins need to be a serial killer himself to play that role?”, he asked.
Guadagnino was also asked about criticism from the screenwriter of Call Me By Your Name, James Ivory. The veteran screenwriter has previously expressed disappointment that the movie had no nudity, and called it a “bullshit” decision on Guadagino’s part to drop the nudity from the script.
“Nobody who knows my work can say to me with a straight face that I’m shy about male or female or other gendered nudity,” Guadagnino said. “So the critique or note that James gave was, in a way, devoid of pragmatism or a relationship with the movie itself.
“My question to him is does this movie need full-frontal male nudity. I don’t think so. It doesn’t.”
Related: Sequel to André Aciman’s ‘Call Me By Your Name’ to be released in 2019
Following the success of Call Me By Your Name (it won Ivory a Best Screenplay Oscar at the 2019 Academy Awards, among other awards), a sequel novel by Aciman – entitled Find Me – was published last year.
Guadagnino said in March that he intends to film the sequel, with both Hammer and Chalamet reprising their roles. However, the development of the project has currently been placed on hold because of the COVID pandemic.
dhmonarch89
since we are CONSTANTLY told we CAN’T play str8- it would be nice for gay men in the industry to help us out a little- that shouldn’t be a lot to ask for! Anyone who thinks stiff and a board Armie Hammer was the best person to cast clearly doesn’t know a lot about acting.
jjose712
Well, he cast an actor known for being an homophobe for the main gay character of his tv show so this is not exactly a surprise.
Acting is pretending to be someone you are not, but it’s pretty clear the i f you are an openly gay actor in HW you will find trouble to get gay and straight roles, and in my oppinion most of the people who are making it difficult are gay themselves
Selverd
lol Jack Grazer is not a homophobe
jjose712
His twitter feed says otherwise
Selverd
Really? What tweets?
Black Pegasus
My problem with the casting has nothing to do with the sexual orientation of the actors. I, along with an untold number of people believed the casting choices were not age appropriate. Meaning Armie Hammer looked nothing like the 24 yr old he was attempting to play onscreen. He looked 34 in the opinion of many.
Also Timothee looked much younger than a typical 17yr old. He looked 14 in the eyes of many people. This misalignment sickened me each time I saw them in a trailer. To this day I refuse to watch that film.
Cam
It did lose some of it’s appeal considering Hammer looked like a well preserved 40 year old.
Dunnedin
As a “Peach”, I figure that everyone has their own opinion about things. In Maurice, directed by Ivory, all the “gay” characters (except one) were straight. So? It was the story that mattered. The complaint that Armie Hammer looked “too old” and Timothee Chalamet looked “too young”…you do know that almost all “teenagers” in movies are played by actors in their 20s and 30s (Chalamet was 20). So we’re judging people by “how” they look rather than reality. Shades of homophobia.
Leash
I think the director missed the point a little bit, I agree that you don’t have to be gay to play someone who is gay. The problem is that openly gay actors having a harder time getting roles or to give an example will most likely not be casted as the next Bond or similar “tough macho guy” roles.
Crystix
This story is still about a 24 yr old going after a highschooler. Let the straights play the pedo roles.
Joshooeerr
Here’s a thought… Look up “pedophilia” or “pederasty” and find out what it actually means.
Charlie in Charge
So was Dirty Dancing.
Cam
The issue is, directors refuse to cast LGBTQ actors by claiming there aren’t any that are famous enough to carry their movie.
And the reason there aren’t any famous enough? Because directors refused to cast LGBTQ people so there is no way for them to GET famous enough.
jjose712
Chalamet was not famous when he played the role and Hammer tanked everytime he tried a lead role, so not the best example.
There are plenty of gay actors who could do exactly the same (and some people still think Hammer was a miscast because frankly, he is very handsome but he doesn’t look like a 24 year old at all)
Liquid Silver
It’s called “acting” for a reason. I’m actually kind of pleased that straight actors are willing and happy taking gay roles.
Cam
You’re pleased that straight actors are “WILLING” to take gay roles?
Try to make your trolling less obvious. This isn’t 1975.
Liquid Silver
Oh, apparently it’s my turn for some troll attention. You’ll find I tend to ignore the screeching. It’s really not generally worth my time or energy so you might want to find another target. Bye.
Cam
@Liquid Silver
Just so I have this straight, you created an entire post telling me you WEREN’T going to respond to my comment.
So….do you actually READ your posts before you click “Submit” under any of your screenames?
And by the way, if you want to keep pretending you aren’t a troll account, you may want to stop giving the exact same response you”ve given under 3 other screenames.
Thanks for playing!
jjose712
Playing gay roles is not a risk anymore, and generally a straight actor receives a lot of attention for doing it (at least now nobody calls them brave for doing it).
There are straight actors who are not even gay friendly playing gay roles right now
Kevin_in_207
The fact of the matter is that there was no electricity between them. The characters were usually just stating lines without any Realistic emotion. Even Elios’ most emotional scenes were devoid of true feeling. It was a movie about two people who had a friendship. Nothing more.
GentlemanCaller
A correct and sensible response from the director, which is why he (and I) will be dragged here. Honestly, does he have to demand that closeted gay actors play closeted gay characters? Only tops can play tops? In a coming of age film, both actors must be gay AND virgins? How much does a director have to pry into the lives of his actors to ensure that they match the characters they are portraying? This purity path has led us to the expected nonsensical results. Good job, folks.
Liquid Silver
Exactly. But you’re being nuanced and thoughtful so I think you can, indeed, expect to get dragged. 🙂
Or, “This is why we call it acting.”
jjose712
Nobody will demand gay actors if they cast one from time to time.
A couple of years ago there were 11 nominees for gay/lesbian/queer roles. All of them were straight.
There nothing wrong with cast a straight actor for a gay role, but some of those castings are really dubious.
We have straight actors who seem pretty unconfortable with affection scenes (which makes me doubt they were the best for the role) and of course the ones who need to mention their girlfriend every five seconds because someone somewhere could thing they are not straight.
It’s curious that gay actors seem to have no such a problem on theatre or tv, but the film industry is a totally different story
Donston
Sexuality, gender, orientation, identity and how you present yourself to the public are too individual to be constantly obsessed with the identities of the actors you hire. I do agree with Luca on that. And I assume that around 50% of actors are “queer” in whatever ways no matter how they present themselves or whatever identities they embrace. Still, this is a complicated issue, and casting in Hollyweird is still problematic as hell. Any male actor who claims to be homosexual and/or connects to “gay” and/or is unabashed about having same-sex passions, romantic inclinations, relationship ambitions automatically has limited appeal and limited career potential, is automatically cut off from getting many high-profiles roles, including “gay” roles. Furthermore, despite there being so many “queers” in the industry homophobia, internalized homophobia, pressures to stay closeted, straight/hetero-leaning worship are still prevalent in Hollyweird. So many out actors have talked about the industry’s hetero pressures and talked about how quickly cut down their careers became when they came out. It’s a complicated topic, but you need to consider and acknowledge this stuff. Dying on the “it’s just acting” hill is so 2010s, and it dismisses all the nuances of a complicated topic.
However, the biggest issue with the casting of ‘Call Me’ is Armie looking borderline 40, not no damn 24. Also, him and Timothée had like zero chemistry.
Jim
“…and the same can be said for Timothee…” HA! Dream on, he’s gay as a goose.
James
ANOTHER NARCISSISTIC LOSER WITH A CAMERA.
Max
stop it. that statement is just immature.
Godabed
He’s right about 1 thing, there are different flavors of gay men, not all are the same. That being said, his answers is also nonsensical. For most of history cis straight white men have played all roles including minorities and women. That wasn’t a statement about sexuality, it was a statement about privilege and exclusion. That’s what this question is about. Straight cis men never lost the right to place minorities, but they shouldn’t be given a gold star for doing it. Great actors are given the opportunity to act, and that’s what gay actors by not being given these roles or opportunity to even audition are denied. It would be much different if gay actors weren’t type caste, and in more recent history with the many movements there has been some gains. But there has also been the inevitable push back. When you look at the gay films that have been Mainstream majority of them were all lead by straight actors. Dallas Buyer’s Club, Brokeback Mountain, Moonlight, Call me by your Name. All of these films won awards those actors careers blossomed, well except for Moonlight but racism is at play in the industry there.
Guadagnino, Call me by your name… I enjoyed this movie and the actors, but your reasoning is just plain bullshit. You could have found two exceptionally talented gay actors to help in the industry instead you made a nonsense excuse why you went with the status quo.
Cam
It’s cute to see the trolls accounts in here screaming over the non existent situation where a straight actor might lose roles and that one out of every 10,000 roles might not go to a straight actor.
If Hollywood hadn’t spent the last century excluding LGBTQ actors they wouldn’t be in this situation.
Joshua333
Maybe we should jump ship and create our own version of Hollywood?
mecmass
I’ll never understand people who aver that anyone who disagrees with them or has a differing opinion is a troll. People like you and Donald Trump.
wjtsht
Just a few titles off the top of my head …
Philadelphia – Tom Hanks (straight) Antonia Banderes (straight)
Broke Back Mountain – Heath Ledger (straight) Jake Gyllenhaal (straight)
Milk – Sean Penn (straight) James Franco (straight) Emile Hirsh (straight) Diego Luna (straight)
J. Edgar – Leo DiCaprio (straight) Armie Hammer (straight)
Love, Simon – Nick Robinson (straight) & spin off Love, Victor – Michael Cimino (straight)
Dallas Buyers Club – Jared Leto (straight) McConahey (straight) played a heteroized version of the real life gay character.
Moonlight – Trevante Rhodes (straight) – the younger one not sure
Before Night Falls – Javier Bardem (straight) Johnny Depp (straight)
In & Out – Kevin Klein (straight)
Call Me By Your Name — straight — straight —
Beach Rats – Harris Dickinson (straight)
Priscilla Queen of the Desert – Terence Stamp, Hugo Weaving, Guy Pierce, Bill
Hunter (straiiigghhhttt)
To Wong Fu – Wesley Snipes (straight) Patrick Swayze (straight) John Leguizamo (straight)
The Danish Girl – Eddie Redmayne (straight)
Transamerica – Felicity Huffman (straight / female)
Inheritance (a play, but all they cast all straight men in the leads)
The Kids Are Alright – Anette Benning (straight), Julianne Moore (straight)
A Single Man – Colin Firth (straight) Nic Hoult (straight)
Mapplethorpe – Matt Smith (straight)
Birdcage – Robin Williams (Straight) Nathan Lane (gay!)
But it’s just coincidence that the straight men are right for the roles …
Donston
Hollywood wants to feed people the same BS they’ve been for decades, and folks just aren’t buying it any longer. There are maybe one or two high-profile “queer” films every year. And 90% of the time the roles are played by cis actors who present themselves as “straight” or at least hetero-leaning and with hetero-romantic/hetero-relationship ambitions. That is no coincidence. That’s not an accident. If the patterns weren’t so persistent no one would care about the identities of any of the actors or how they publicly present themselves. An openly “gay” actor in a “gay” role doesn’t cause much of a stir. Nor does it make the project feel as awards bait-y. Yet, no “gay” guy is getting high-profile, leading “straight” roles in major projects. While many male actors are egotistical and very dependent on their sex appeal and their appeal towards women. So, investing in dudes who have unabashed homo attractions, passions, preferences, romantic love, relationships is not something the industry is interested in. At the end of the day, Hollywood is still about the bottom line, opportunities and image. And that’s not gonna change.
I don’t need to know an actor’s identity. I don’t care about identities. I don’t have to know anyone’s lifestyle, who they’re dating, where they fit in the romantic, sexual, emotional investment, relationship ambitions spectrum. But you have to acknowledge the patterns, biases and nuances when discussing this topic. If you don’t do so you’re in denial, ignorant or bigoted.
Dick Gozinia
Thank You @wjtsht. There are hundreds of excellent gay actors that could play these gay roles. They cast $traight men so that $traight women will come $ee the films. I would go so far as to say the Armie Hammer was miscast; he is too old and doesn’t seem remotely gay. I think casting straights to play gays would be like casting white people to play black people.
linedrive
Does the reverse apply as well? No gay actors playing straight roles? I can’t imagine anyone but Matt Bomer as Neal Caffrey on White Collar. Neal was a ladies’ man. Matt is decidedly not.
Donston
To me it’s not about skill or what you can be convincing as. It’s about limitations, hetero pressures, hetero privilege and casting bias. Matt got cast in that role when he was closeted. Since publicly embracing a gay identity and revealing he has a husband and kids his career got quickly chomped down. And he hasn’t seen a big role since. And this was someone who was billed as “the next big thing”. The same thing happened to Luke Evans. They’re still getting work, but it’s apparent that they’re paying the price for being “out” and having no embarrassment about being into their sex. And we know there’s a double standard because folks in the industry constantly reveal those double standards and defend them. Hell, the writer of ‘Fifty Shades’ flat-out said that she didn’t consider Matt because casting a “gay” man with a husband to play a “straight” guy who’s supposed to be a woman’s fantasy was ridiculous to her. Yet, we see supposed “straight” guys and actors in hetero relationships being promoted to “gays” and being made into sexual fantasies for “gay men” all the time. There’s still a lot of biases, double standards and pressures in the industry. Almost every “out” actor has talked about that. These are the things that people who constantly say “it’s just acting” need to acknowledge.
linedrive
I don’t disagree with anything you said and I know it cannot be an easy road. But…by the standard being proposed (no roles outside your sexual identity), Bomer shouldnt have been considered for Fifty Shades after he came out, and that sucks – although I’m not sure that would have done his career any favors. It’s a very constricting position to take because it almost seems that we’re asking to trade one double standard for another.
Donston
I personally don’t want any double standards. I don’t feel an actor should have to present himself as “gay” to get cast in a “gay” role. I just think it’s foolish and manipulative for industry people to constantly lean on the “it’s called ‘acting’ for a reason” tag line. When you do that without acknowledging the industry’s problematic patterns, prejudices, biases, double standards, limited opportunities for certain “queers” then you come off as a dismissive asshat. And in Luca’s case, he’s showing his age and his inability to perceive nuance. You always have to be aware of those things and aware of things like homophobia, internalized phobia, a right to privacy, a right to not publicly adhere to some identity, hetero pressures, masculine pressures, “straight” privilege, the gender, romantic, sexual, affection, emotional, relationship spectrum. If you’re not aware of all this stuff and don’t bring these things into the conversation then you have nothing to contribute to these types of topics. Whittling things down to one line (it’s just acting) is dismissing all nuance and all reasonable qualms. It’s quite ignorant, and folks aren’t buying it any longer.
pavel20
I don’t see an equivalency here. We have numerous stories about gay men being denied straight roles. To point out Matt Bomer, who, by the way, was not publicly known as being gay when he was cast in White Collar, is literally using the rare exception to justify giving straight actors an advantage in playing roles whether those roles are straight or gay. I continue to think about Billy Eichner saying recently we should have the right to tell our stories.
linedrive
@Donston: Beautifully said. I didn’t mean to oversimplify. Of course there are nuances and built-in prejudices that have to be considered in the conversation. It isn’t a simple issue from any perspective.
Liquid Silver
Oh, no, of course not, you can always cross the reverse line in an extremist’s head. See the song, “What’s yours is mine, what’s mine is mine…”
Dick Gozinia
Does anyone read the comments that are longer than the original article? Not me.
witchboybrian
I do think there should be a balance in casting.
Not every gay character has to be played by a gay actor, but some of them should be.
How many openly gay actors has he hired in the past? If the answer is none, then it is a bigger problem.
Donston
The last line in your post is something I realized a few years ago. Most openly gay/bi/queer/whatever filmmakers and storytellers simply do not hire openly homosexual male actors, male gay-identifying actors or actors who are publicly unembarrassed about having same-sex passions, romantic inclinations, relationship ambitions. They don’t hire them for any major roles, yet alone “gay” roles. That pattern shows how much internalized homophobia, closet case praise, straight/hetero-leaning worship and homo inferiority complexes still runs deep in a lot of “queer” artists. Those feelings especially seem persistent in many artists who are over the age of 40. This is something a lot of these industry people don’t want to confront. Even though I’m not a fan of much of his work, this is where I give Ryan Murphy some credit. Many of these guys seem to get off on getting “straight” actors to “gay act”, and that’s what drives their casting decisions. Once again, something else people don’t want to talk about or acknowledge.
Norm
They made 2 straight guys kiss, LOL. Each kissed a boy and they liked it! LOL. See you at the bars, LOL.
CarterATL
Everyone can only play roles that align exactly with their own life experiences now. Don’t even think about playing a cancer patient if you’re healthy and have never been sick!
CarterATL
Another tragic example of privilege in casing was the movie “Cats”. I think we can all agree the film would have been much better had they cast real cats instead of human actors. How dare Judi Dench take a role away from an aging cat?!
James Oldman
I do and don’t see his point. For years non white roles were played by white actors with make-up. Go back further female roles were played by young boys.
I do believe it is time that when casting a role for a gay/bi/transgender person it should be given to a person from that community. We are still reading where actors/actresses do not discuss their sexuality as they know it will hinder their career.
If the barriers were completely removed that would be another story and for the younger generation growing up the more openly gay people they see in roles depicting gay characters the easier it will be to feel good about being gay. I know in my case growing up in the 50’s in a redneck part of the country to admit you were a queer was almost a death sentence.
Spidey137
Chemistry is key. Armie and Timmy had CHEMISTRY. You can’t fake electricity. I know it’s acting, but come on.
Put Richard Madden (unconfirmed, but out) and Brandon Flynn in the roles. Even though they are alleged exes, would they have had the combustible chemistry that Armie and Timmy did? I doubt it.
Donston
I really did not buy the dynamics in Call Me Bu Your Name. And I thought Armie’s performance was borderline poor and he was severely miscast. But that’s beside the point. Like Luca and many others you’re turning this into strictly a conversation about skill or who is convincing. That is not confronting the numerous issues and qualms people have.
Spidey137
Donston, I reread your very valid posts. I think the issue is more with hiring gay actors for straight roles. Rupert Everett said coming out cost him his career after some very good performances.
Meryl Streep gets almost great role for a woman over the age of 50 (exceptions like Helen Mirren and others apply).
I’ve been watching a lot of round tables (or zoom tables as we are in COVID). It’s important to bring women, people of color, handicap, LGBT, etc. to the table.
Yes, four straight white dudes did star in two of the greatest gay movies of all time, “CMBYN” and “Brokeback Mountain.” I think Heath Ledger was robbed of an Oscar for the latter, although the win did go to Phillip Seymour Hoffman, another straight, white actor going gay in a fantastic performance.
It’s good to have these discussions. I just caution against discounting films because of the sexuality of the actor.
I know Armie has his critics, but he was fine in CMBYN. The film is really Timmy’s showcase and he knocks it out of the park. His best moments are wordless…curiosity, longing, anger, heartbreak–it’s all on his face. His performance is unimpeachable (a pun). Would he have been just as good opposite a gay actor? No doubt at all.
It’s an important discussion, but Luca isn’t in the wrong. He made a beautiful movie and stands behind it, rightly so.
BaltoSteve
The idea that the actor who can best embody the character; regardless of gender identity, orientation, race, ethnic or national origin; getting the part is a great dream. It’s a dream that I personally love.
Unfortunately, that isn’t the reality that we live in. There are still major internalized biases that influence casting choices and even well meaning Woke folk still have biases.
jayceecook
I wish he would move past this ridiculous argument and focus on the more important thing. Defending his choice to make an utterly overrated, bland, and unsexy film.
bachy
I didn’t care for CMBYN because I found the acting forced, unconvincing.
But what most of the arguments here seem to be forgetting is that moviemaking is a “business.” Big name actors are retrofitted into roles because big name actors fill seats. A cursory look at Hollywood history will show you that attractive actors fill seats. And heterosexual actors fill seats because if the stats are correct, the population (and hence the movie-going public) is 90% heterosexual and they enjoy watching big name, attractive, fellow heterosexuals strutting around on the screen. It’s not rocket science, people.
Film is not some kind of “pure” art form determined entirely by naked talent and truth-telling. It’s also a business and in case you hadn’t noticed these m-fkers are here to make money. And if they want the BIG money they’ll do what it takes, make the compromises necessary, to make the film a big m-fking hit. You don’t have to like it to “get it.”