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Movies

Cate Blanchett Defends Straight Actors Playing Queer Characters

"I will fight to the death for the right to suspend disbelief and play roles beyond my experience."

Raffy Ermac

Digital Director, Out.com

Raffy is a Los Angeles-based writer, editor, video creator, critic, and digital director of Out Magazine. The former editor-in-chief of PRIDE, he is also a die-hard Rihanna and Sailor Moon stan who loves to write about all things pop culture, entertainment, and identities. Follow him on Instagram (@raffyermac) and Twitter (@byraffy), and subscribe to his YouTube channel.

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Raffy Ermac

byraffy

October 22 2018 1:59 PM EST

November 08 2024 5:09 AM EST

During a recent appearance at the Rome Film Festival, two-time Oscar-winning actress Cate Blanchett talked her experience promoting 2015's critically-acclaimed movie Carol, and how the press constantly asked her about if being queer is necessary when playing queer roles.

"And I will fight to the death for the right to suspend disbelief and play roles beyond my experience," Blanchett said, according to The Hollywood Reporter. "I think reality television and all that that entails had an extraordinary impact, a profound impact on the way we view the creation of character. I think it provides a lot of opportunity, but the downside of it is that we now, particularly in America, I think, we expect and only expect people to make a profound connection to a character when it’s close to their experience."

She continued:

"Part of being an actor to me, it’s an anthropological exercise. So you get to examine a time frame, a set of experiences, an historical event that you didn’t know anything about. But also I'm about to play a character whose political persuasions are entirely different to my own, but part of the pleasure is trying to work out what makes her tick."

Blanchett's defense of non-LGBT actors playing LGBT roles comes on the heel's of recent controversy surrounding Jack Whitehall, a straight, British comedian, being cast in the role of Disney's first explicitly gay character for the upcoming, live-action adaptation of Disneyland's Jungle Cruise ride.