Sir Ian McKellen weighs in on gay-for-pay actors – Queerty
Knighted Companion Of Honour, former Magneto, and all-around gay icon Ian McKellen has once again weighed in on whether or not straight actors should play gay roles.
The oft-debated topic came up this week when McKellen was in attendance at a 25th anniversary screening of the Holocaust drama, Bent.
Adapted from a play of the same name, director Sean Mathias’ 1997 film tells the story of Max (Clive Owen), a gay man living in 1930s Berlin who is arrested by the Gestapo after the infamous “Night of the Long Knives” and sent to a concentration camp. McKellen co-stars as “Uncle Freddie,” who attempts to help Max by organizing papers so that he can flee the country.
While Bent‘s heavy subject matter (and NC-17 rating) makes it a tough watch, the film has been commended for putting a spotlight on the persecution of the LGBTQ community during the Holocaust. Owen, who is straight, has also been praised for his authentic, tear-jerking performance as the film’s gay protagonist.
Related: The Nazis came for us too. Bent recalls the horror of the queer Holocaust.
In a post-screening Q&A, McKellen praised his former co-star. “Nothing wrong with that performance,” the actor said of Owen. “For those of you who think only gay people should be allowed to play gay parts.”
As McKellen went on to remind the audience, he once played Max in the West End theatrical production of Bent—at a time when he was still in the closet (though, as he notes, he was secretly dating Mathias then).
This isn’t the first time the celebrated actor has weighed in on so-called “gay-for-pay” work. During an in-depth interview with the BBC earlier this year, McKellen touched on the subject when journalist Amol Rajan brought up the controversy surrounding Dame Helen Mirren’s casting as Israel’s former Prime Minister Golda Meir.
“There are two things: is the argument that a gentile cannot play a Jew and is the argument therefore that a Jew cannot play a gentile?,” McKellen asked. “Is the argument that a straight man cannot play a gay part, and if so does that mean I can’t play straight parts and I’m not allowed to explore the fascinating subject of heterosexuality in Macbeth?”
“Surely not. We’re acting. We’re pretending,” he continued on. “Now, are we capable of understanding what it is to be Jewish? Are we going to convince a Jewish audience that we’re Jewish? Perhaps we don’t need to because we are just acting.”
Related: Ian McKellen’s viral TikTok moment with Olly Alexander was a rallying cry for all LGBTQ people
Bent is currently streaming via Kanopy, Pluto TV, Tubi, and Fubo TV. It’s available to rent via Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, and Google Play.