Sean Penn claims he wouldn’t be able to play a gay character today: “It’s a time of tremendous overreach”

Posted On June 25, 2024June 25, 2024

Sean Penn has discussed his 2008 project Milk and his depiction of Harvey Milk, the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in California. The actor has claimed that role wouldn’t be possible now due to “timid and artless policy.”

In Milk, Penn took on the real life role of Harvey Milk, who served as a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. As he fought for gay rights and against discrimination, he used his platform for good. Tragically, in 1978, he was assassinated by a former city supervisor who was against him and his cause.

The role was a triumph for Penn who took home the Academy Award for ‘Best Actor’, as well as plenty of other accolades for both his performance and the film at large. However, in a recent interview with The New York Times, Penn claims that wouldn’t be allowed to happen now.

Reflecting on the film, he said Milk was “the last time I had a good time” on a film set. “I went 15 years miserable on sets,” he continued. He claimed this was because he feels like “an actor who is playing a leading role and is a known actor and is being paid well [and] has a leadership position on a film.” Of that pressure, he explained, “You’ve got to show up with energy and be a bodyguard for the director in some way.”

“I was faking my way through that stuff and that was exhausting,” he continued. “Mostly what I thought was just, ‘What time is it? When are we going to get off?’…I was sure it was done, but I didn’t know how I was going to keep my house running or travel freely or things like that if I stopped.”

In comparison, Milk felt freeing and fun for Penn. It was a project he greatly enjoyed, but the actor now says his casting would be blocked by politics. “No. It could not happen in a time like this,” Penn said. “It’s a time of tremendous overreach. It’s a timid and artless policy toward the human imagination.”

Claiming that a straight man wouldn’t be allowed to play an openly gay character now, Penn dips his toes into a wider debate over representation in film. The debate over whether gay characters should be played by gay actors has taken up a lot of time in cultural conversation lately, stuck between the issue of wanting more work and representation for LGBTQ+ performers and not wanting identity to police the industry.

However, in 2023, Paul Mescal played a gay man in All Of Us Strangers despite being straight himself. “Historically, when there’s been performances that have been deemed offensive, it’s when actors or storytellers are attempting to play a sexuality,” Mescal said, defending his position. “It’s impossible. And I often times think that one of the least interesting parts of these characters is their sexuality.”

There is a long history of straight actors playing gay characters, which Penn exists within. While it’s true that some depictions have leaned too far into stereotypes or have become offensive in nature, it is possible to respectfully play somebody outside of an actor’s personal orientation, and Hollywood seems sure to continue letting people do so, despite what Penn believes.

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