Taron Egerton says there’s a ‘certain amount of trepidation’ playing a gay character
The actor - who identifies as straight - starred as Elton John in 'Rocketman'
By Steve Brown
Words: Steve Brown
Taron Egerton said there’s a ‘certain amount of trepidation’ playing a gay character when heterosexual.
The actor starred as Sir Elton John in the musical biopic Rocketman which is based on the early life of the iconic singer and also stars Richard Madden and Jamie Bell.
And now while speaking to GQ, the actor said he didn’t want ‘camp it up’ but the ‘Candle in the Wind’ singer is not a ‘camp man’.
He said: “The thing I was nervous of… There’s a certain amount of trepidation around playing a gay character when you’re a heterosexual.
“Because you don’t want that community to feel you’re doing some sort of caricature or something.
“I didn’t want to camp it up, because Elton is not a camp man. I knew quite acutely that wasn’t what I wanted to do.”
In our June issue, the former Attitude cover star – who identifies as straight – weighed into the debate about whether a queer actor should have been given the opportunity to play the openly gay singer.
He said: “It’s easy for me to sit here as a white heterosexual man and say I should be able to play a part I want, but I completely understand why a gay actor would feel that this an opportunity for which they would be better suited.
“The way I feel about it is that Elton asked me to play in a movie about his life. I am proud and privileged to be playing this person who happens to be gay.
“And I want to live in a world where people are excited about playing people who are different from themselves, and I believe that there is something inclusive and progressive about that.”