Ben Whishaw ‘Baffled’ By ‘Gay Vs Straight’ Casting Debate

Pictured: Ben Whishaw in 'Lilting.

Ben Wishaw, who played Q in Skyfall and John Keats in Bright Star, doesn't get the whole straight actor/gay actor casting debate. As he 34-year-old actor, who played a gay character in the indie film Lilting last year, told BT:

"With gay characters being played by straight people, straight characters being played by gay people, come on, we're actors. I do not understand what the problem is. Actors play all sorts of things. I've played murderers, journalists and kings - I'm not any of them. The whole thing is a fiction, it's about imagination, it's play. I am baffled to why it's such a big thing.

"And also, I'm baffled because it feels like we're in a time where there are lots of gay people, not just actors but in all walks of life, and let's be where we are. We're human beings and I don't understand why it's really a discussion now."

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Whishaw's statements have come out post-Matt Damon's now infamous gaff in a Guardian profile in which he suggested that all actors -- gay or straight -- would be better off keeping their sexuality a secret.

"The Matt Damon thing, it has probably been taken out of context but I don't understand the heat around it. It feels like a story that's trying to be drummed up, even though there are more important things we should be talking about."

Damon has since gone on Ellen and backpedaled.

[h/t Towleroad]