Straight Actors Can Play Gay Roles Too: Rebel Wilson Slams Sexually-Restrictive Casting as “Total Nonsense”
Rebel Wilson has weighed in on the ongoing casting debate, slamming the idea of restricting gay characters to gay actors and confining straight roles to straight folks.
In a Sunday interview with the BBC Radio 4 show, Desert Island Discs, radio presenter Lauren Laverne asked the 44-year-old Pitch Perfect star if women can get away with different jokes like their male counterparts.
“I’ve definitely said a lot of edgy jokes—and said them sometimes in very public places like the BAFTAs,” she said. “Yeah, I don’t think there’s a different standard.”
“It’s more this thing about if you are something then, now you’re allowed to joke about it. So say if you are overweight, you can say jokes—but if you’re not… that’s kind of what’s currently happening. So it’s not really gendered,” she explained.
But when asked if this was a good or bad thing, Ms. Wilson elaborated that categorizing the issue as one or the other is difficult.
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 actress added.
“In comedy, your job is to always 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. If people are just always being safe and protective, you’re not going to get good comedy from that,” Rebel Wilson elaborated.
Wilson came out at the age of 42 through an Instagram post.
The actress hard-launched her relationship with girlfriend Romana Agruma (founder: @lemonlimonbrand) with a sweet caption: “I thought I was searching for a Disney Prince… but maybe what I really needed all this time was a Disney Princess.”
Just two days later, the Bridesmaid star revealed to The Australian that she was forced by Andrew Hornery of The Sydney Morning Herald to publicize her relationship.
Ms. Wilson shared that the invasion of privacy put her in a less-than-ideal situation as she didn’t get a chance to tell people close to her before the information became public.
“There are levels to telling people. You tell your close family and your friends and not everybody. Across our two families, not everybody is as accepting as what you’d hope for, and we were trying to be respectful to those people and tell them in our way,” she clarified.
“It was just a hard few days, especially for my partner, who’s not used to being in the public eye and having to deal with stuff like that,” Wilson continued.
In her recent interview, she also shed light on the effect coming out had on their respective families.
“I’m lucky in my case, even though I come from a very conservative background, it went very, very well… My grandparents, who are in their 90s, are just so chilled and cool with it.”
Sadly, the same couldn’t be said for Ramona’s family. “Her father still doesn’t talk to her, but we’re hoping that will change,” she admitted.
