'The Inspection' Star Jeremy Pope Says Being Gay Has Cost Him Film Roles

For Jeremy Pope, "The Inspection" was a breakout role for the actor, which he aced with a critically-acclaimed performance. But making it in Hollywood as an openly gay actor in a homophobic film industry still isn't easy said Pope in a new Variety interview.

Pope told the entertainment magazine that just before he got the role in "The Inspection," he lost out on another role because he is gay.

"The short version is: I'd been given an opportunity to lead a studio film. And even though I didn't love the script, it meant something," he explained. "But it was one of those things that would get me in the conversations, get me in front of directors and people at studios. As people know, that is currency and helps where the comma on your check goes and the opportunities you're given."

Then he had a conversation with the director.

"But I got into an interesting conversation with the director where he basically said I didn't have the ability to connect with a female character because I was gay," Pope said. "In the moment, I was negotiating how to defend myself. But at the end of the day, that spoke so much more to where he was at and his journey in life versus who I am or what I know I bring to a project."

And so he chose to go with the A24 film starring opposite Gabrielle Union and stay true to who he is.

"So I had to say 'eff that energy' because it's going to take too much from me. And literally in that same breath of knowing that don't serve me is when the phone rang and it was 'A24 wants to have this conversation about The Inspection.'"

He added, "It was like I had to be tested to really know my worth and affirm myself," he said.

In the end, he felt the "The Inspection" was exactly where he needed to be.

"So it was just I had to go through that and understand my worth and my existence and how I want to show up in this business and what I'm willing to tolerate and not tolerate. So I think, like I said, life has to do life's thing," he said. And we are glad it did.

Pope has been nominated for a Golden Globe for his role in "the Inspection" and previously earned two Tony nominations, a Grammy nomination and an Emmy nomination.

Read the full interview at Variety.com.