Viggo Mortensen has defended his decision to write a gay role for himself in his directorial debut Falling.
The film, which Mortensen wrote, directed and stars in, sees the star play a gay man who finds himself looking after his elderly, homophobic father.
When asked about his decision, as a straight man, to play a gay character, Mortensen made a joke alluding to another part in his film: “I apologise to all the proctologists for casting David Cronenberg,” he said.
Mortensen told Reuters: “There are certain characters I’m not going to play. I wouldn’t play Eric, the Chinese-Hawaiian American [in the film].”
The actor added that writing the lead character, John, as gay was not intended as “a gimmick, anchor or some trigger”.
He said he decided to rewrite John’s sexuality during a scene where he receives a phone call from his partner. “I thought, what if it’s not a wife? What if it’s a husband?” he said.
“I’ll try that. I’ll write the next scene and see how it feels. If it doesn’t work or feels somehow not right for the story, then I won’t use it, but I liked it.”
Falling also stars Lance Henriksen and Laura Linney.
It will be released on 4 December.
