Saying you can't separate Simon from mark is not only weird but also very disrespectful towards Mark, he put all that effort into making sure he plays the character perfectly just for some people to say they see them as the same
It's not being disrespectful towards Simon, it's disrespectful towards Mark and the hard work he put into Iron Lung and his portrayal of Simon. This says "I don't see Simon as a character separate from his actor because his actor isn't a Hollywood star like Ryan Gosling is."