Guy Pearce shot to fame as a gay drag queen in the critically-acclaimed 1994 film The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. Photo / Getty Images
Guy Pearce shot to fame as a gay drag queen in the critically-acclaimed 1994 film The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. Photo / Getty Images
Australian movie star Guy Pearce has apologised for “starting a fire” with a series of now-deleted tweets arguing that non-transgender actors should be able to take on transgender roles onscreen.
On Monday, Pearce - who shot to fame as a gay drag queen in the critically acclaimed 1994 film TheAdventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert - tweeted a message which posed “a question” to his 71,000-plus followers.
“If the only people allowed to play trans characters r trans folk, then r we also suggesting the only people trans folk can play r trans characters? Surely that will limit ur career as an actor?” he wrote. “Isn’t the point of an actor to be able [to] play anyone outside ur own world?”
It sparked a tense online debate, with some arguing that the very few available trans roles should go to trans actors, prompting another tweet from Pearce, 55.
“OK, so if this debate is actually about trans actors not getting the opportunities to work like other actors do, then let’s be clear about that & state that precisely,” the LA Confidential star wrote. “That’s a very different point. Good to be exact, I say.”
He added: “Also, why should one’s personal position be relevant when it comes to casting? That’s private. It’s our own business. And as we know it doesn’t truly confirm our ability to be convincing.
Guy Pearce attends Telluride Film Festival, 2019. Photo / Getty Images
“I have to say in all my years of work, most people I speak to don’t truly actually understand what acting entails. There are a lot of projections going on. There r also many people out there with incredible life experience who fall flat when camera is rolling. It’s an art form.”
The original tweet and the debate that followed has since been deleted by the actor.
Pearce took to Twitter again on Wednesday to apologise for his posts, admitting that the “complex and sensitive” subject was not broached appropriately.
I posted a tweet yesterday that I shouldn’t have, which to prevent upsetting anyone else I have now deleted. A fuller apology and explanation of the point I was raising is attached xx Guy pic.twitter.com/bu1vLQcPFm
“I see that raising the question of gender identity within the casting process on a platform like Twitter was not a good idea,” he wrote in the lengthy statement.
“For that, I apologise, enormously. I acknowledge it has only stirred up and inflamed attitudes and made us all dig our heels in. I take responsibility for that and, again, apologise for starting a fire.
“This is a subject that needs to be discussed face-to-face, person-to-person and over a good amount of time where we are all heard and understood.”
The former Neighbours star went on to explain that the backlash he had received for his role in Priscilla had prompted him to “raise the question”.
“For 30 years now I’ve had many people ask me since doing Priscilla ‘Don’t you think gay people should’ve played those roles?’ and now many similar discussions are occurring about trans actors and trans roles,” Pearce said.
“It has led me to reflect even more about acting as an art form and its place in the world.
“Our industry is already a cesspool of politics, bums-on-seats funding, nepotism and favouritism.
“It’s clear a great many minority communities are under-represented on screen and that so too are actors from those communities.
“But I don’t believe artists should have to announce their personal identity, sexual preference, political stance, disability, religious beliefs, etc to attain work.”
He added: “The point I wanted to raise was one about defending the definition of acting and nothing more. Throwing the subject onto one minority group in particular was unnecessary, especially from a man like me, with a ‘Full House’ of privilege. I’m in no position to complain about fairness, at least not on my own behalf.
“I believe that to suggest ‘acting’ can only come from our own lived experience annihilates our imagination. I wouldn’t want that restriction placed on a minority actor or any actor for that matter, myself included.
“What I will say though, if I am going to play miles outside myself, it better be good. And on that metric I have always been willing to be judged, as I would hope the actor with lived experience is.”
Pearce’s tweets follow years of heated debate over whether non-transgender actors should be cast in transgender roles.
Scarlett Johansson backed out of plans to play a transgender man in Rub & Tug following an intense backlash in 2018, while Eddie Redmayne admitted that he regretted playing a transgender woman in 2015 film The Danish Girl.
In 2020, Hugh Sheridan was targeted by trans activists protesting his lead role casting in Hedwig and the Angry Inch, which was later cancelled altogether.
