Jack Whitehall’s gay character makes blink-and-you’ll-miss it appearance in new trailer for Disney’s Jungle Cruise
Jack Whitehall with Emily Blunt in the Jungle Cruise trailer (YouTube)
Jack Whitehall will star as one of Disney’s first major LGBT+ characters in Jungle Cruise, yet he only makes a brief appearance in the trailer.
There was some controversy in 2018 when it was revealed that British comedian Whitehall was set to play a gay character in Jungle Cruise. His character was described as “hugely effete, very camp and very funny” figure who “makes clear he has no interest in women”.
At the time, plenty of queer people questioned how sensitive it was to cast a straight man to play a “very camp” gay man -– but it looks like we had very little to worry about. Despite concerns around queerbaiting and inappropriate casting, the Jungle Cruise trailer makes it look as though Whitehall is hardly in the film at all.
Jack Whitehall makes two tiny, fleeing appearances as ‘very camp’ gay character in the Jungle Cruise trailer.
The comedian appears twice in the newly released trailer. In one shot, he stands behind Emily Blunt’s character and in another brief moment he is seen punching a man.
In fact, Whitehall’s appearances in the trailer are so brief that plenty of people will undoubtedly watch the trailer and not even see him in it.
Starring alongside Jack Whitehall in Jungle Cruise is Emily Blunt, Dwayne Johnson, Edgar Ramirez, Jesse Plemons and Paul Giamatti. Whitehall stars as the brother of Blunt’s character in the film.
It’s so cool to be part of something of this scale and also as possibly one of the biggest Disney nerds on the planet so exciting to be working on a project with this much history.
The film is inspired by a Disneyland ride and follows Blunt’s character, a explorer, on a research mission to find a cure to all illness. It will open in UK cinemas on July 24.
Speaking in 2018, Whitehall said he was “honoured” to be part of the film.
“It’s so cool to be part of something of this scale and also as possibly one of the biggest Disney nerds on the planet so exciting to be working on a project with this much history.”
He avoided wading into the controversy surrounding his casting, but plenty of others did, including gay actor Russell Tovey and Idris Elba.
A report in late 2018 suggested that Whitehall’s character will have a big coming out scene where he will make it clear to Johnson’s character that he is not interested in women. However, reports suggested at the time that he will not use the word “gay”.
Disney’s Onward has been banned in several countries for its fleeing queer moment.
Disney is gearing up to release the film shortly after animated flick Onward introduced the studio’s first openly queer character.
Lesbian actor Lena Waithe voiced a gay cyclops in the film, which was released this month. But in typical Disney fashion, the character’s sexuality was only referenced in one, fleeting line.
Despite this, the film has already been banned in a whole host of countries, including Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. Russian censors also removed the line from their version of the film.
While many LGBT+ people are eager to see better representation of queer characters on-screen, many of these films end up being censored and banned in countries that are less accepting of LGBT+ rights.
We will have to wait until Jungle Cruise is released to see just how overt Whitehall’s character’s sexuality is in the film – and to see if it will be banned too.
