Earlier this week, rumors began to swirl that White Lotus star Theo James was in the running to play gay pop superstar George Michael in a film based on his life.
The story gained traction after Theo appeared on Watch What Happens Live and expressed interest in portraying the pop icon should a film ever be greenlit.
“Oh yeah, I would love that, he’s an icon,” he said. “He’s a lot of Greek, and I’m a lot of Greek. Put that Greek together, and you get falafel.”
The Advocate posted the story on their Instagram, which prompted openly gay singer Adam Lambert to post the following comment:
For those of you not familiar, George Michael was part of the duo Wham! before going solo. He gave music lovers huge global hits such as Faith, Careless Whisper, Father Figure and Freedom! 90.
The singer-songwriter came out as gay after soliciting an undercover cop for sex in a public bathroom. He would later turn lemons into lemonade via the single Outside, where a public restroom transforms into a disco.
Michael died on Christmas day in 2016.
While Theo James is definitely a good looking man, I get where Adam is coming from. There's such amazing queer talent who deserve a shot, but Hollywood is more interested in drawing familiar names for those big blockbuster numbers.
If they do decide to move forward with making the film (which George's estate has stated is not happening, and they will not endorse any film based on his life) I hope they don't decide to gloss over his sexuality like they did with Bohemian Rhapsody.
You would have never known Freddie Mercury was gay watching that film with the way they focused on him in a relationship with women more than he was with men. His queer side was more or less implied rather than shown.
I get the overall frustration of straight actors being rewarded for playing gay, such as Rami Malek playing Freddie Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody and Taron Egerton playing Elton John in Rocketman.
However I think it's time we give some gay actors the opportunity to get their feet wet in those type of roles.
While we're talking about Adam Lambert, check out the video for his cover of Holdin' Out For A Hero, which is off his upcoming covers album High Drama below...
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