Is it OK to play gay?

Jack Whitehall - not gay. Problem?

A new Disney movie is in production.

Not particularly massive news in itself, but the film, called Jungle Cruise, will be the first Disney flick to have a major character who is an openly gay man.

The actor taking on this role, and the associated headache of having to deal with the moral arguments that have ensued, is British – namely Jack Whitehall.

Whitehall says he’s “honoured to be part of this epic adventure”, along with co-stars Emily Blunt and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. Whilst there’s plenty of support for Whitehall on social media, there are also many who aren’t pleased at all about him being cast in the role.

That the first significantly gay role in a Disney movie will be played by a straight guy hasn’t gone down well in some quarters, but the arguments for and against this are complicated.

One point of view is that there’s no reason to cast a gay man to play the role – gay actors play straight parts, and it’s rare anyone bats an eyelid. Shouldn’t a role go to the best actor to play the part, regardless of their sexual preference?

Scarlett Johansson saved herself from a lot of further grief when she removed herself from a movie that would have seen her playing a trans role. Ruby Rose (who says she is “gender fluid”) confessed to being thrilled to get the lead role as openly lesbian Batwoman, but has subsequently deleted her Twitter account following abuse.

That said, things get even more complicated at the suggestion of someone playing a part when the character portrayed has a different ethnicity – as in the original book or story. Here, it’s harder to justify and, increasingly, actors are becoming reluctant to take on these roles (or pulling out of them) due to the backlash from outraged members of the public voicing their anger.

Deadpool actor Ed Skrein withdrew from playing a character of Asian heritage in a Hellboy reboot, with the Brit admitting he was unaware of the character’s comic book origins. So is the fault with the movie makers, rather than the actors themselves? Is this purely about the numbers? Is there a financial benefit to ethnicity-bending in a film?

And we haven’t even touched on the thorny issue of disabled characters being played by able-bodied ones.

Jungle Cruise could be rubbish. It might not be what it’s remembered for, though.

This post first appeared as my 'A wry look at the week' column, in The Mail, on Friday the 17th of August 2018. The paper re-titled it as "Playing it too straight, Disney?"

Hot topic this, and exceedingly easy to put your foot in it and offend/antagonise someone, such is the sensitivity around the subject matter, the range of opinions, and difficulty is knowing what language and descriptors are OK to use currently.

So far, no attacks, but as it hasn't appeared on the paper's website, this is the first time it's been online...

(CD A-Z: Still on the home-burnt selection. Currently enjoying a very nice 80s mix by VJTrip...)