Actor Christopher Eccleston, star of Doctor Who, The Leftovers and Thor: The Dark World, believes that straight, white, middle-class male actors like him are “the new pariahs of the industry.”
In a BBC 5Live interview, Eccleston told Nihal Arthanayake that he was struggling with his career.
“Quite rightly, I’m a dinosaur now,” the 58-year-old said. “I’m white, I’m middle-aged, I’m male, and I’m straight. We are the new pariah in the industry. “We’re all seen through the lens of Harvey Weinstein et al., and I can feel that the opportunities are shrinking, as they should do.”
“I’ve lived off the fat of the land for 30 years of my career, but I still have to pay my mortgage, I still have to support my kids, so I don’t welcome the uncertainty at all. The unpredictability was far more welcome to a younger person.”
Eccleston seemed to be trying to strike a balance between appreciation for his own success and gratitude for the change in the industry while also lamenting his lack of opportunities.
The actor recently appeared in the Channel 4 series Close to Me and stars opposite Lenny Henry in My Name is Leon, a one-off BBC drama about a nine-year-old mixed-race child living within the care system in the Eighties.
Eccleston added that he views himself as a failure because he did not make the most of his opportunities. “I believe I’m a much better actor now than I was in my twenties, as I should be.”
Arthanayake sounded stunned at these comments, but Eccleston explained: “In the Nineties, I had two incredible film roles: Jude in Jude the Obscure and Derek Bentley in Let Him Have It… I fell short in both those performances. Those were my chances to really, really hit it and have far more influence and control over the kind of stuff I did.”
The actor’s comments follow an open letter calling for more women aged 45 and over to appear on the screen. The letter was signed by several British stars, including Keeley Hawes, David Tennant, Lesley Manville, Richard E Grant, Zawe Ashton, Meera Syal and Juliet Stevenson.
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