{"id":44290,"date":"2024-01-22T16:49:07","date_gmt":"2024-01-22T15:49:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/?p=1964957"},"modified":"2024-01-22T18:22:49","modified_gmt":"2024-01-22T17:22:49","slug":"christopher-eccleston-says-he-rejected-billy-elliot-because-it-was-offensive","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/rss_feed\/christopher-eccleston-says-he-rejected-billy-elliot-because-it-was-offensive\/","title":{"rendered":"Christopher Eccleston says he rejected Billy Elliot because it was \u201coffensive\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

The star also criticised the evolution of acting as an increasingly “academic pursuit”. <\/p>

By David Craig\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Monday, 22 January 2024 at 15:44 PM<\/p>

\n\n

Christopher Eccleston has revealed that he turned down a key role in Billy Elliot as he felt it provided an \u201coffensive\u201d representation of working-class parents.<\/p>\n

The popular comedy-drama, which became a major awards contender on its year of release, follows a young working-class boy (played by Jamie Bell) who discovers an unexpected love for ballet.<\/p>\n

In an interview with The Independent<\/a>, the typically straight-talking Eccleston comically described Billy Elliot as \u201cthat f***ing ballet film everyone went mad for\u201d.<\/p>\n

He went on to reveal that he was approached for the role of Billy\u2019s father, Jackie (ultimately played by Gary Lewis), but deemed the character\u2019s hardline stance against a career in the arts as an \u201coffensive\u201d portrayal of working-class parents.<\/p>\n

That opinion stems from his own upbringing as the son of Ronnie and Elsie, a forklift truck driver and a cleaner respectively, both of whom were wholly supportive of his own ambitions to be a performer.<\/p>

He explained: \u201c[I\u2019m] tired of seeing working-class parents portrayed as being vehemently against their kids going into the arts\u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cI was offered a meeting to play the father [in Billy Elliot]. But I said I\u2019m not going to do that, it\u2019s offensive.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a middle-class view of the working-class experience, made for the American market. F**k it!\u201d<\/p>\n

The former Doctor Who<\/a> star went on to criticise the multiplying academic barriers into an acting career, which he argues would have prevented himself, Gary Oldman and numerous other prominent figures from carving out a space in the business.<\/p>\n

\u201cI got into a school that was grant-assisted by the Inner London Education Authority thanks to Ken Livingstone,\u201d said Eccleston.<\/p>\n

\"Christopher