Jeremy Strong calls criticism of straight actors playing gay characters "absolutely valid"

When asked to weigh in on whether criticisms of straight actors playing gay characters are justified or not, Strong responded that “it’s absolutely valid” before launching into a typical Strong rejoinder. “I’m sort of old fashioned, maybe, in the belief that, fundamentally, it’s [about] a person’s artistry, and that great artists, historically, have been able to, as it were, change the stamp of their nature. That’s your job as an actor,” he said. “The task, in a way, is to render something that is not necessarily your native habitat… While I don’t think that it’s necessary [for gay roles to be played by gay performers], I think that it would be good if that were given more weight.”

Strong is essentially taking the same line as Stanley Tucci did last year, when the latter said that he “believe[s] that’s fine” as long as it’s done the right way, “because often, it’s not done the right way.”

“What I do feel, whoever plays any part ever, is that you have to take these things as seriously as you take your own life, and it is not a game, and that these people and their struggles and the experiences you’re trying to render are not a plaything,” Strong continued to the L.A. Times. “If I didn’t believe that I could understand on some deep level his anguish and turmoil and his need… if I didn’t believe that I could understand it or connect to it in a way that is faithful or voracious, I wouldn’t have done it. I certainly don’t do these things just for my own self-aggrandizement.”

The Apprentice premieres October 11 in theaters.