Ezra Miller rejects labels, saying: ‘F**k identity’
Fantastic Beasts’ Ezra Miller has warned against using labels (Tristan Fewings/Getty)
Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald actor Ezra Miller has lashed out at labels, warning that seeking an identity can cost you “your life, your safety and your soul.”
The US star, who came out as queer in 2012 and said earlier this month that he doesn’t see himself as a man or a woman, was asked by the Indo-Asian News Service if he had created his own identity in Hollywood, to which he responded: “F**k identity.”
He conceded that it was “useful to create a space for oneself as oneself, whatever that expression is at the given time,” but added that “we can never satisfy the thirst of our spirit with a single confined identification.”
Fantastic Beasts star Ezra Miller warned against reducing people “to the lowest common denominator” (Roy Rochlin/Getty)
“We reduce everyone to the lowest common denominator”
— Ezra Miller
Miller, who reprises his role as Credence Barebone in the second Fantastic Beasts film, said labels exist to put people in boxes, constraining each other because we find human complexity too much to deal with.
He said it was “fascinating that we all naturally see to limit each other for the ease of our own minds,” condemning this inclination to reduce people “to the lowest common denominator.”
The 26-year-old actor, who last week revealed he was in a group of polyamorous lovers, dismissed any notion of him identifying as polyamorous, calling the practice of identifying by one label or another “probably the most unfortunate natural tendency.
Ezra Miller has used the build-up to Fantastic Beasts’ release to speak out repeatedly (Butch Dill/Getty)
“Human beings are cool because we can actually choose which natural tendencies we want to foster and bring to the surface of our perception and engagement. But we have just unfortunately chosen the worst ones.”
Ezra Miller: Searching for an identity is dangerous
He linked this seemingly inbuilt desire with belief, which he called “very dangerous,” adding that it was “such a volatile power.”
The Fantastic Beasts star explained that as far as he was concerned, “people want to feel, in this confusing mash-up of subatomic particles, a clear and identifiable and understandable purpose and titular identity for existing.
Fantastic Beasts’ Ezra Miller said seeking an identity can cost you “your integrity, maybe your life, your safety, your soul” (Pascal Le Segretain/Getty)
“And there are lots of salesmen who are ready to give it to you for the right price, which usually involves your integrity, maybe your life, your safety, your soul.”
The star said that he had struggled with his identity “to a massive extent,” adding that pretending to be another person on camera “exacerbates the problems with identification which we all already have,” bringing it to the surface “like a terrifying pimple.”
Ezra Miller shows off his awesome self
Miller, who has said he’s “fine” with using he/him pronouns, has proudly spoken about and shown off his sexuality in the build-up to the Fantastic Beasts sequel.
Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter on his 95-acre farm in Vermont, Miller explained what he was looking for in a sexual partner.
“I’m looking for a rooster-type man”
— Ezra Miller
He explained that his roosters “will die for any of the chickens,” distracting eagles who are targeting the young birds by pretending to be injured and easier pickings for the predators.
“That’s masculinity,” he said. “I’m going to pretend to be weak, I’m going to pretend to be vulnerable so that you attack me before you’d attack one of the women in my posse. You feel me?”
He added: “I’m looking for a man like that. I’m looking for a rooster-type man.”
Fantastic Beasts star Ezra Miller is queer and part of a polyamorous sex group (John Phillips/Getty)
The actor turned heads earlier this year when he showed up to Comic-Con as sexy Toadette, and has repeatedly caused a stir at Fantastic Beasts premieres.
He wore a majestic padded gown to the Fantastic Beasts world premiere in Paris earlier this month, which some Twitter users said looked like a “human sex toy” or a Dalek from BBC show Doctor Who.
And for the UK premiere, the Fantastic Beasts actor dressed as a swan and inked the deadly Harry Potter spell “Avada Kedavra” on his hands, posing for photos with spiky hair, glitter below his eyes and several large rings on his fingers.
