Neil Patrick Harris has defended the casting of straight actors in gay roles, saying there’s “something sexy” about it.
The actor, who is gay, can next be seen playing a Savile Row tailor in Russell T Davies’ new gay drama It’s a Sin.
The Channel 4 series follows a group of university students who move to London in 1981 and have their lives turned upside down by the AIDS crisis.
Davies cast gay men to play the gay characters in the show, and recently told The Independent: “I’m trying to avenge hundreds of years of inequality. The series has also unashamedly cast gay people in straight roles. I think that’s fine because, believe you me, from the age of eight we are studying straight people and how to fit in with them.”
Weighing in on the debate, Harris told The Times: “I’m not one to jump on to 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.”
He added that he was a fan of Davies’ Nineties series Queer as Folk, in which straight actors played the main gay roles.
“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,” he 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. There’s a nervousness that comes from the newness of it all. To declare that you’d never do that, you might miss opportunities.”
Harris said he intends to keep on playing straight characters. “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?”
It’s a Sin premieres on Channel 4 on 22 January.
