'Game of Thrones' star Kit Harington calls out Marvel on lack of gay actors
Kit Harington has put Marvel Studios on the spot, asking why it is yet to cast an openly gay actor in a starring role.
In an interview with Variety at the Toronto Film Festival, the Game of Thrones star explained that something has got to change.
“There’s a big problem with masculinity and homosexuality that they can’t somehow go hand in hand,” he said.
“That we can’t have someone in a Marvel movie who’s gay in real life and plays some superhero. I mean, when is that going to happen?”
He is right too.
Other than Sir Ian McKellen in the X-Men movies and Ezra Miller, who plays The Flash in the DC Extended Universe, there are precious few – if any – openly gay actors featuring in such movies.
And as it to confirm Harington’s remarks, Miller, who has defined his sexuality as ‘queer’, has said that he was chastised for coming out, because it might affect his chances of scooping leading roles.
“I was told by a lot of people I’d made a mistake,” he told Shortlist in an interview last year.
“Folks in the industry, folks outside the industry. People I’ve never spoken to. They said there’s a reason so many gay, queer, gender-fluid people in Hollywood conceal their sexual identity, or their gender identity in their public image. I was told I had done a ‘silly’ thing in… thwarting my own potential to be a leading man.
“I was given a lot of stern talking-tos.”
While there are openly gay characters in both Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D and Jessica Jones, the Marvel films are notably lacking.
Not only is there a lack of LGBTQ representation, it’s even been cut out in the past.
A scene from Thor: Ragnarok which would have confirmed the bisexuality of Tessa Thompson’s character Valkyrie was cut, despite protestations from director Taika Waititi.
It reportedly distracted from ‘vital exposition’ in the movie.
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