Stanley Tucci Stands by Playing Queer Roles as a Straight Actor: It’s Done ‘the Right Way’

Stanley Tucci is addressing the ongoing debate over straight actors playing queer characters.

Tucci, who famously starred as a gay fashion editor in “The Devil Wears Prada,” opened up about the legacy of the role during the 17th anniversary of the film.

“Obviously I believe that’s fine,” Tucci said during BBC Radio 4’s “Desert Island Discs” show about playing queer characters. “I am always very flattered when gay men come up to me and talk to me about ‘The Devil Wears Prada’ or they talk about ‘Supernova,’ and they say that, ‘It was just so beautiful,’ you know, ‘You did it the right way.’ Because often, it’s not done the right way.”

Tucci also played a gay character in 2020 film “Supernova.” He is married to Emily Blunt’s sister, whom he met during “The Devil Wears Prada.”

“An actor is an actor is an actor,” Tucci continued. “You’re supposed to play different people. You just are. That’s the whole point of it.”

Tom Hanks, who won an Oscar for playing a gay man with AIDS in 1993’s “Philadelphia,” told The New York Times Magazine last year that he would not star in a queer storyline today.

“Let’s address ‘could a straight man do what I did in “Philadelphia” now?’ No, and rightly so,” Hanks said at the time. “The whole point of ‘Philadelphia’ was don’t be afraid. One of the reasons people weren’t afraid of that movie is that I was playing a gay man. We’re beyond that now, and I don’t think people would accept the inauthenticity of a straight guy playing a gay guy.”

He added, “It’s not a crime, it’s not boohoo, that someone would say we are going to demand more of a movie in the modern realm of authenticity.”

In contrast, Zachary Quinto called out the assumption that queer actors cannot authentically portray straight characters.

“There’s still a tremendous amount of fear around particularly openly gay men in our industry,” Quinto said. “There is this long-held and stubborn belief that to identify as an openly gay man on some level means you’re inherently less masculine, inherently less believable as a straight character.”

Quinto added earlier, “You look at how many straight actors play gay roles, and how that door doesn’t swing the other way as much…There’s a lot of controversy surrounding people playing roles that are actually in line with who they are authentically. It’s an interesting time, right? Part of the nature of being an actor is to step outside of ourselves and have experiences that aren’t in line with who we are. But the political climate, and the race for equality, has kind of shifted the ground around that notion and I think we have to be patient and see how things settle.”