Andrew Scott says Barbie film impacted gay men who grew up concealing dolls

By Hannah Roberts, PA Entertainment Reporter

Andrew Scott has said “an awful lot of gay men” who saw the Barbie film would have thought about how they had wanted to play with dolls as a child but were restricted from doing so.

Scott, 46, discussed fashion, sexuality and what it was like to explore style as a young person while speaking to Soho House’s editorial director Teo van den Broeke about the latter’s new memoir The Closet.

Dublin-born actor Scott said: “With the Barbie movie that came out, I think there’s an awful lot of gay men who understood, it was like ‘Oh, I really wanted to play with that’. But then somebody would come in and I’d drop that doll.”

Greta Gerwig’s film, which follows the Mattel doll as she has an existential crisis and enters into the real world, hit cinemas in July.

Scott has previously spoken about his sexuality and told The Independent in 2013 that being gay is “just a fact”, saying that he does not want to “trade on it” as he is a “private person”.

The actor, who was dubbed the “hot priest” when he appeared in series two of Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s hit series Fleabag, also spoke about the lack of LGBT representation when he was growing up and how this can influence someone’s identity and self-esteem.

“I think there’s something about when your very identity is being questioned,” he said.

“Certainly when we were growing up, I think maybe to a lesser extent now, I hope so. But there was no representation, so you’re providing yourself with an identity, and you’re attracted literally to things that are bold because you feel so insecure about the way you are.

“So actually, to be able to be bold is a really wonderful thing. And I think sometimes clothes or music or even television or those early cultural references are so, so incredibly important to us.”

Scott then spoke about how young gay people are often “attracted towards stuff that might be perceived as more feminine”, before they “understand that it’s unacceptable”.

Discussing the importance of being bold with fashion, even when it can seem “ridiculous”, Scott added: “Of course we have to be sort of cautious about trends, but there’s something about jumping into trends that I think is kind of wonderful that you go, ‘Well, this is ridiculous’…

“But the idea of kind of jumping into it going, ‘Yeah, I’m going to do that’, then you look back at stuff and you think, ‘Oh my God, I jumped wholeheartedly into that’.

“And it’s just something very present-minded about sort of getting involved with something and knowing actually that it’s slightly ridiculous and there’s something kind of playful about it.”

Scott has also appeared in TV series Sherlock as Jim Moriarty and is in the upcoming film All Of Us Strangers with Normal People star and fellow Irish actor Paul Mescal.

He is currently starring in Vanya, Simon Stephens’ version of Anton Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya at the Duke of York’s Theatre in London’s West End.