Andrew Scott, sitting down with a league of actors for The Hollywood Reporter, contributed to a conversation about representation in Hollywood. The actors opened up about their thoughts on multiple issues that have cropped up with the problem of representation. This includes questions related to what kind of actors can play certain roles, and how the media addresses certain marketable terms to particular groups.
Andrew Scott and Colemon Domingo engaged in a spirited conversation about what they think about the politics that has developed around representation and transformation in Hollywood. Scott pitched to all actors present a particular way to describe actors who are also gay, emphasizing that we stop defining things like ‘gay’ and ‘openly gay’ as modifiers. The conversation also grew to involve who could play who, and the overall approach the industry has taken up.
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Andrew Scott believes it is time to drop the word ‘openly’
While discussing the advent of representation and how it has helped actors leave a mark on the industry, Andrew Scott was asked his thoughts about how the industry has changed since he first came into it. Domingo was also asked about his thoughts on the matter, which is when Scott decided to reveal his pitch to the group. The actor said:
“I am going to make a pitch for getting rid of the expression ‘openly gay’.Hear me out. It is an expression that we actually only ever hear in the media. You are never at a party where you say ‘This is my openly gay friend’. Has that ever happened? You never say it. Why do we put openly under that adjective? You don’t say you are openly Irish. You don’t say you are lefthanded, or whatever.”
The actor brought up the thought to a thunderous round of laughter at the table, but his fellow actors saw the point. The term has largely become a descriptor that is used in terms of a person’s entire personality.
It is rarely used in the body of a media text unless it is a part of the headline first. This does merit a nuanced look into why there should be an understanding that ‘openly’ makes ‘gay’ a modifier, something that needs to be hidden ‘normally’.
Andrew Scott also believes that Hollywood is clamping down on the wrong thing
Scott is firmly of the belief that the efforts that have been put into the industry for representation might be slightly misaimed. They very much believe that we should be solving the prejudice in the industry i.e. who gets to play and profit off of certain characters, rather than the characters themselves. The actor said:
“You know we are talking a lot of representation and transformation. Look, I wouldn’t be here if representation hadn’t improved, but I do think transformation is very important for actors. We love it. We love it when our mother tells us a story and she turns into a wolf because it speaks to our empathy, and it frightens us sometimes to be able to sort of go ‘Okay, well, I can’t, because I don’t have the same biographical story as someone else.”
Following this, Domingo chimed in with a somber “Accurate”, pointing out how these sentiments are not of Scott’s alone. The fear very much speaks to the killing of empathy, such that the industry would then begin to gatekeep stories from talent that can do it right, based on their biographical experiences rather than their ability to handle their craft.
This could produce an industry that is more divided than united because you are encouraged to ever walk in another person’s shoes. Lightening the mood, Mark Ruffalo chimed in with an “I am openly straight”, causing his Avengers co-star, Robert Downey Jr, to call himself ” Straight by default.”
The problem Scott highlights has been devouring Tinseltown for quite some time now. While representation has caused a lot of actors to get meaningful opportunities, it has now matured into a means of limiting and pigeonholing talent. While it affords them opportunities, it also takes away from what they should be getting a chance to do as well.
