Nicholas Galitzine Says Attention on Looks Makes Him Feel Like ‘Cut of Beef’

Nicholas Galitzine is opening up about the difficulty of hearing comments about his appearance — and how he hopes to be “taken seriously as a performer.”

The star of The Idea of You, 29, recently spoke with British GQ for a GQ Hype cover story released Wednesday, May 8 about how embodying a “good-looking” character makes him feel as an actor.

“I think the most important thing to me is that I’m taken seriously as a performer,” Galitzine said. “I’m not gonna ask you to cry me a river here, but it’s been difficult being part of a conversation that feels very much like I am a cut of beef at a meat market.”

After sharing that his feelings apply to both casting and audience reception, Galitzine added: “I think that being my defining feature is something I’m constantly terrified of.”

And while Galitzine has captured audiences’ attention for his acting skills in recent years, he also revealed that he used to be “disgusted in some ways” by his appearance — specifically certain facial features, and what he called his “rugby-player thighs” and “big arse,” adding that he sees fan comments online about the dark bags under his eyes.

Elsewhere during the GQ discussion, Galitzine — who has previously appeared in Bottoms, Red, White and Royal Blue and 2021’s Cinderella — spoke about his conflicted feelings playing LGBTQ characters as a straight actor.

In Red, White & Royal Blue, the actor played a gay British prince and in the Starz series Mary & George, he plays another queer royal. His previous roles have also included a closeted rugby player in the 2016 film Handsome Devil and a bisexual character in 2020’s The Craft: Legacy.

“I identify as a straight man, but I have been a part of some incredible queer stories. I felt a sense of uncertainty sometimes about whether I’m taking up someone’s space, and perhaps guilt,” he said.

“At the same time,” he adds, “I see those characters as not solely their sexuality.”

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Galitzine also recently told HuffPost that “there’s sort of a plethora of reasons” why he ends up in LGBTQ+ roles, sharing that he has “so many friends within the community, and I know so many of them didn’t feel like they had these stories growing up.”

“I think with all of these characters the thing that I find really intriguing as an actor is that underbelly of vulnerability and having to hide oneself,” Galitzine said. “I’m very interested in identity. … I think they’ve all just been really rich characters in of themselves.”

In The Idea of You, Galitzine’s latest role, he plays a 24-year-old pop star who gets into a relationship with Anne Hathaway’s Solène character. The film, based on the 2017 novel by Robinne Lee, is now streaming on Prime Video.