Neil Patrick Harris loves seeing actors play unexpected roles.
In a new interview with U.K. newspaper the Times, the star of the new AIDS-era drama “It’s a Sin” was asked about recent comments by series creator Russel T. Davies on the issue of straight actors playing gay characters.
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“I’m not being woke about this… but I feel strongly that if I cast someone in a story, I am casting them to act as a lover, or an enemy, or someone on drugs or a criminal or a saint… they are not there to ‘act gay’ because ‘acting gay’ is a bunch of codes for a performance,” Davies told Radio Times. “You wouldn’t cast someone able-bodied and put them in a wheelchair, you wouldn’t Black someone up. Authenticity is leading us to joyous places.”
Harris doesn’t quite see things the same way, though, telling the Times, “I’m not one to jump onto labelling. As an actor you certainly hope you can be a visible option for all kinds of different roles. I played a character [in ‘How I Met Your Mother’] for nine years who was nothing like me.”
The actor cited the performances of straight actors Aidan Gillen, Craig Kelly, and Charlie Hunnam as gay men in Davies’ own 1999 series “Queer as Folk”.
“It was one of the real true turning points for me as examples of sexy guys behaving as leads in something of import, not as comic sidekicks,” Harris said. “I think there’s something sexy about casting a straight actor to play a gay role, if they’re willing to invest a lot into it.”
He added, “There’s a nervousness that comes from the newness of it all. To declare that you’d never do that, you might miss opportunities.”
Talking about his own intention to continue playing straight roles, the openly gay actor said, “In our world that we live in you can’t really as a director demand that [an actor be gay or straight]. Who’s to determine how gay someone is?”
Harris also said he believed Davies’ comments were “speaking more about the joyfulness of being able to be authentic,” and that they weren’t meant as a hard and fast rule.
