Viggo Mortensen defends playing gay character in directorial debut Falling
Actor said he did not write himself gay role as ‘gimmick’
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.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.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments