Romeo Beckham’s acting debut raises an uncomfortable question about gay roles

Romeo Beckham is set to make his acting debut in the upcoming film Forty Love (Picture: Matt Baron/Shutterstock) Romeo Beckham  has chosen a sure-fire way for his acting debut to receive plenty of attention: Play gay. It was recently announced that the 23-year-old son of David and Victoria Beckham is set to make his screen debut in Forty Love, a romantic drama about a tennis prodigy who finds himself falling for a male rival.  The story follows Sacha Gallo (played by Paul Kircher), a superstar with a bright future carefully planned by his coach-father.  But soon, a handsome new contender appears in the tennis world (Beckham), and as the synopsis explains: ‘For the first time, Gallo faces an opponent of an entirely different nature — love. A force as exhilarating as it is destabilizing — and far more dangerous than anything he has encountered on the court.’ If the early descriptions are anything to go by, it’s exactly the kind of project that’s trendy right now, given the recent success of homoerotic sports films and TV shows like Challengers and Heated Rivalry . It also sounds like a smart choice for Beckham’s first role, given that one of Hollywood’s favourite shortcuts to credibility has been for straight actors to play dramatic gay characters. The film is a romantic drama about a tennis prodigy who finds himself falling for a male rival. (Picture: Anthony Harvey/Shutterstock) Of course, I’m not saying that’s necessarily what Romeo is doing. None of us know what’s in his head, and perhaps he simply loved the script. It’s also possible the gay characters in the film will get a happy ending. But I’m not optimistic. Join Metro's LGBTQ+ community on WhatsApp With thousands of members from all over the world, our vibrant LGBTQ+ WhatsApp channel is a hub for all the latest news and important issues that face the LGBTQ+ community. Simply click on this link , select ‘Join Chat’ and you’re in! Don't forget to turn on notifications! The debate about LGBTQ+ stories in film and TV usually centres on whether gay roles should go to gay actors, which is a fair question, and one that doesn’t have an easy answer. Acting is, by definition, about becoming somebody you are not. If we insist that actors can only play versions of themselves, storytelling quickly becomes very limited. Plenty of actors have made compelling arguments on that front, and I don’t think there’s anything inherently wrong with a straight actor playing a gay character. Brendan Fraser managed to do two things the Oscars loves: play gay and go through a massive body transformation (Picture: Everett/Shutterstock) But what interests me more than rehashing that tired old argument is analysing why these roles are so often viewed as markers of serious artistic intent in the first place. Afterall, Romeo has quite a lot to prove. After not quite making it as a footballer, he’s been more or less a professional nepo baby for the last several years. So what doe