Troye Sivan and Nicholas Galitzine are proof that people love watching a twink, but Joe Locke is hoping to break out of that role.
In a conversation between the Agatha All Along actor and Daredevil star Charlie Cox for Variety’s Actor on Actor series, Locke talked about loving the roles he’s played so far but admitted he wants to play characters other than “skinny gay twinks” in the future.
“When you first start working in this industry, you get cast very close to who you are,” Cox said of the normal career trajectory for actors. “As you work more and more, the industry allows you to try more things. And you want to do different characters and play parts that you wouldn’t necessarily have been cast in early on.”
Locke agreed that he has fallen prey to getting typecast, but that his own experience has made him perfect for the gay roles he has played on shows like Agatha All Along and Heartstopper.
“At the moment, a lot of the auditions I get sent are for the same skinny gay twinks — which is great,” he said. “And I’m really good at playing that, because I am a skinny gay twink.”
But the 21-year-old star confessed that he’s been eating more lately to try to put on weight so he can audition for other roles, but so far, he hasn’t had any success.
I’m struggling now [because] I want to do the opposite of that. I’ve been trying to put on weight recently. I just can’t do it.”
Cox shared that he had to start guzzling protein shakes and lifting weights for the first time in order to pack on the muscle for his role in Daredevil.
“They needed me to put on significant muscle quite quickly, and it was really hard. It was a lot of protein shakes. I’d never had a protein shake in my life, and I’d never been to the gym,” he said.
Locke joked that he was hoping being on a Marvel show would do that for him, but they didn’t want him to bulk up. “I thought when I was getting Agatha, like, ‘Great, I’m going to get paid to go and put on loads of muscle.’ And they’re like, ‘Oh, no, no …’ I was like, ‘Great, cool. Thanks, guys,’” he said.
Cox then asked if there is an actor’s career that he’d like to emulate.
“I’m so worried about being boxed in,” Locke said. “I’m really grateful that I’ve been able to play loads of great queer characters, but I don’t want that to define my career.”
Locke said that he looks up to Jonathan Bailey and Colman Domingo who “is an incredible openly queer person” and has had a diverse career where he’s managed to play both queer and straight roles.
The young star said he loved his Agatha All Along character Wiccan because “his queerness isn’t a defining feature,” which goes such a long way when it comes to positive LGBTQ+ representation on screen.
“The whole point of representation is to change people’s opinions about things. You can’t do that without positive representation, where it’s just a part of them. It’s great that Marvel felt willing to have that sort of representation on-screen,” he said.
Cox responded, "Well, for what it’s worth, I think you’re too talented to be boxed in.”
