Actor Richard E. Grant has defended his decision to play gay drag queen Loco Chanel in the new movie Everybody’s Talking About Jamie which had its premiere last night at the Royal Albert Hall in London.
It comes after Grant previously told The Sunday Times in 2019: “The transgender movement and the #MeToo movement means how can you justify heterosexual actors playing gay characters? We are in a historic moment.”
When discussing why he took the role and how it came about, Grant said that he asked the director Jonathan Butterell why he wasn’t casting a gay actor or drag queen: “He said, ‘You have sad eyes.’ He pointed out that the whole creative team was gay and we’ve decided you’re the best person to play this part. I told him he’d have to argue and justify casting me. He said, ‘That’s for me to make that decision’.”
In preparation for the role, Richard apparently binge watched 11 seasons of RuPaul’s Drag Race. If he’d have watched any of the UK seasons, he’d have recognised many of them as they were also in attendance at the premiere.
Everybody’s Talking About Jamie hits Amazon Prime Video this Friday 17 September.