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Firth has been tipped for an Oscar nomination for his portrayal of a gay college professor in A Single Man
A Single Man
Colin Firth: 'There are uncrossable boundaries facing gay actors'
Straight actor Colin Firth has said there are "uncrossable boundaries" facing gay actors which prevent them from being cast in leading roles, and that he feels "complicit" in the problem.
Firth was speaking at last night's UK premiere of Tom Ford's directorial debut A Single Man, in which he plays a gay college professor.
He said: "There might be risks for a gay actor coming out. The politics of that are quite complex, it seems to me.
"If you're known as a straight guy, playing a gay role, you get rewarded for that. If you're a gay man and you want to play a straight role, you don't get cast - and if a gay man wants to play a gay role now, you don't get cast.
"I think it needs to be addressed and I feel complicit in the problem. I don't mean to be. I think we should all be allowed to play whoever - but I think there are still some invisible boundaries which are still uncrossable."
Firth's comments echo those of Rupert Everett, who has advised young gay actors to hide their sexuality, saying his own career "hit a brick wall" after he came out in 1989.
"It's not that advisable to be honest. It's not very easy. And, honestly, I would not advise any actor necessarily, if he was really thinking of his career, to come out," he told the Observer in December.
"The fact is that you could not be, and still cannot be, a 25-year-old homosexual trying to make it in the British film business or the American film business or even the Italian film business. It just doesn't work and you're going to hit a brick wall at some point."
Firth won the best actor award at the Venice Film Festival last year for his portrayal of gay college professor George Falconer in A Single Man, and has been tipped for an Oscar nomination.
