Ben Hardy (Eastenders, Bohemian Rhapsody, X-Men) plays Luke in Unicorns alongside Jason Patel in the romance film.
There has been an increase in the stories told about queer people from all walks of life. But even with that increase, the question of representation has remained at the forefront of many people’s minds.
The question of what portrayal is good representation has accelerated in the past few years. The debate about whether non-queer actors should play queer characters is as important as it is divisive.
In Unicorns, Hardy plays a single father whose encounter with a drag queen turns his life upside down.
Luke falls in love with Aysha, but to accept those feelings, he must reevaluate everything he believes to be true about himself.
He has navigated the world as a straight man, but his attraction to Aysha has him questioning everything.
Predictably, the question about Hardy’s sexuality has come up, and in an interview with City A.M., he talked about identity and why it is a little complex for him.
Hardy approached the question from a labels perspective. The jury’s still out on labels, with different generations being pro or anti-labels for different reasons.
“We’re all just people, we’re all so multifaceted. Why stick to one label or one thing?” said Hardy, talking about labeling oneself.
He continued,
“I think it can be empowering, don’t get me wrong, especially when those labels have been marginalised, but yeah, I think it’s much more interesting…
“We’ve just met, there’s a million things I don’t know about you. You could tell me you’re queer, bi, pansexual, straight, whatever, but that doesn’t mean I would know you. There’s so much more to know about you than that.”
Hardy acknowledged the complexity of the topic by highlighting the downsides of labels. When asked if there is a power in avoiding labels, Hardy admitted that he didn’t know.
“I don’t know if it’s powerful. I don’t know. I suppose my answer would be, I don’t know,” he said.
“I’m just, you know, I’m Ben.”
Ben Hardy – City A.M.
Ben Hardy Confronts “The Discourse” Again
Being at the center of representation discourse is not a first for Hardy. His first brush with controversy came from his cover of Attitude Magazine in 2016.
At that time, Attitude, a publication for LGBT people, had featured several stars on its cover. One would think that they would have put queer people on it, but for many issues, it was the same type of people.
The publication — and several others — had come under scrutiny for settling into the status quo by uplifting cishet white celebrities at the expense of the community.
Ben Hardy’s cover was not the first, but it was ironic that the issue featured a report on race, the LGBT community, and the media.
Yet, there was the cover featuring a cisgender, straight, white man. Mic highlighted the reactions from users in this post.
Ben confronted many thoughts while starring in Unicorns. He was worried about the reception but worked past it.
Our inner voice can sometimes sabotage us and prevent us from pursuing something that can be quite fulfilling.
“. . . sometimes you have to just ignore the voices in your head,” says Hardy. You do it anyway because you would have no one to blame if you didn’t try.
Watch the Unicorns trailer above.