Scarlett Johansson drops out of transgender role

[Broadway Joe]

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/amp/news/scarlett-johansson-drops-trans-film-rub-tug-backlash-1127003?

Isn't this a bit ridiculous? She's an actor playing a part? Where does the line end with this stuff? Can only straight people play straight roles now? Jared Leto won an Oscar for his role in Dallas buyers club, was there outrage then?

Out of all the important issues out there letting actors... act shouldn't be something some are flipping out over. It's absurd. 

[Lily Garland]

Would you approve of a white actor playing a black character? A Latinx character? An Asian character?

Pose has shown that there’s no shortage of amazing Trans actors. Let them finally get some representation in major Hollywood films.

Good for her for stepping down. I think the time of calling heterosexual and cis-gendered actors “brave” for playing members of our community is finally. over.

[Tag]

This film will probably not see the light of day now.

[dearalanaaaa]

Watch the producers cancel the movie, Scarlet be defamed more than she already is and both of them be out of a job. What a mess, maybe it wasn't the best idea to even deal with a trans character if they couldn't find an actor who was also trans or wouldn't cause so much backlash. I'm all for representation but not when it's harming people.

[qolbinau]

I am appalled at our community if they caused this. Having one of the most popular and mainstream actors bring transgenderedness to as wide an audience is possible is EXACTLY what we need. Stopping this from going ahead is counter productive and will stop progress, not take it forward. Now there will be no transgender character role models to help show trans kids or non-trans kids it’s ok. I hope you’re happy.

[RippedMan]

As a gay male actor, I really wish we'd get over this topic. We're actors, we act, we create, we play parts. I think this is really, really stupid. And could have been such an amazing opportunity for the community. I mean, Matt Bomer just played a trans-woman and no one cared, but yet Scar Jo does it and we're outraged? You think this movie will now get the exposure it could have gotten? Heck no. And yeah, I'm sure there are plenty of transgender actors who are great, but the ones I've seen are...not great. 

[BobbyBubby]

Have you watched Pose, Ripped? All amazing Trans actors. And the guy on Shameless is a solid actor, as well.

[ArtMan]

Most Trans actors that I am aware of, are not a big enough name/draw to carry a major or indie motion picture.  Most producers are just not going to invest millions of dollars.  This film will never be made.

[Alexander Lamar]

Let’s not compare sexuality with gender identity. Totally different and the cishets are confused enough as it is. 

[henrikegerman]

I appreciate the concern in the transgender acting community (and non-acting community) that, especially since there might well be few roles for transgender actors, that transgender roles go to transgender actors.  Including, obviously, great transgender roles.   

But there's an irony here.  I don't just mean the concern that without a star who's cisgender (as nearly all stars are) a project like this might never be made (as significant as that concern is).

Objecting to a cisgender (or cisgender identified) actor playing a transgender role - is that objection antithetical to a politics that views gender as non-binary?

Is it a reasonable position to support people who transform from their assigned genders (i.e. that gender self-actualization is valid in real life) but to criticize actors who transform from their assigned genders in roles (i.e. that gender fluidity is invalid in art - or at least that fluidity across cis and transgender lines is invalid)?   

Does this position troublingly conflict with non-binary gender?  A rule that cisgender actors should only play cisgender roles - wouldn't that, ironically, approach gender as a rigidly immutable and binary concept?  

[RippedMan]

Are cisgender actors now only allowed to play those roles? That seems to be the idea. And I watched Pose and wasn't taken by it. 

[TotallyEffed]

From what I’ve read, she would have been playing a trans man who hasn’t transitioned yet.

[darquegk]

Pittsburgh (cishet) man weighing in for local perspective: there was some long-term ambiguity about the main character's personal identity. As a Pittsburgh underworld legend, Dante Tex Gill had long been seen as a butch lesbian who liked to cross-dress and play with gender-bending (liked to be addressed as Sir), but never publicly identified explicitly as a man. It was only recently that close associates of Dante have publicly stated that Dante may have identified as trans, not as a gender-nonconforming lesbian.

I believe the script for this project had pushed the butch lesbian angle, before being retooled as a trans role. Either way, it tells you a lot about Hollywood casting mores when you consider that ScarJo was not only up for the same role as, say, Lea DeLaria or Dot-Marie Jones, but beat them for it.

[Broadway Joe]

The rock should have committed more and cut his leg off for the role, people really have lost their damn minds...

https://deadline.com/2018/07/paralympian-chides-dwayne-johnson-amputee-skyscraper-casting-katy-sullivan-disabilities-1202427187/

[CarlosAlberto]

So I guess in this "new" world a gay actor should not play a straight character. I guess the "act" is being taken away from "acting".

[Jordan Catalano]

Carlos, welcome to 2018.

[qolbinau]

Amen

[Mister Matt]

If we're talking about broadening the opportunities of trans actors, I'm far more interested in casting more trans actors in their gender-identified roles.  Trans-can-only-play-trans seems counter to the purpose as it inherently implies cis-can-only-play-cis.

[CarlosAlberto]

Jordan Catalano said: "Carlos, welcome to 2018."

Yeah, it sucks @ss. Back in 1983 Vanessa Redgrave played transgender tennis player Renée Richards in the television film, “Second Serve”. She gave an amazing, Emmy nominated performance for playing a transgendered woman. It’s obvious this would not go down well today. 

I need to ask, why wasn’t there this uproar when Jeffrey Tambor was cast in “Transparent”?

What will this all lead to? Gay actors will only be allowed to play gay characters? Straight actors will only be allowed to play straight characters? 

What about ethnicity or nationality? Should Jodie Foster not been cast in “Anna and the King” because she wasn’t British? 

I remember the uproar back in 1995 when Jennifer Lopez was cast in “Selena” because she’s of Puerto Rican descent and not of Mexican descent. 

 

[Jordan Catalano]

Christ.

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/movies/ny-ent-dwayne-johnson-skyscraper-amputee-20180716-story.html

[UncleCharlie]

Jordan Catalano said: "
Christ.

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/movies/ny-ent-dwayne-johnson-skyscraper-amputee-20180716-story.html"

Truly, the unkindest cut of all.

[Islander_fan]

I get it, being inclusive is a good thing. However, it needs to be realized that at the end of the day, this is acting. None of it is real, not to mention the fact that on top of that, Hollywood producers only care about which actor would end up bringing them in more money.

[robskynyc]

ArtMan said: "Most Trans actors that I am aware of, are not a big enough name/draw to carry a major or indie motion picture. Most producers are just not going to invest millions of dollars. This film will never be made."

EXACTLY. well maybe with the exception of laverne cox, but i dont even this shes big enough of a draw for hollywood. like someone else said, trans ppl are lucky that someone like Scarlett was bringing awareness. I dont recall people being so butthurt over Hilary Swank in Boys Dont Cry. or Felicity in Trans America.

[Jordan Catalano]

Plus, there’s the fact that Laverne Cox can’t act.

[ScottyDoesn'tKnow2]

I just thought it'd be interesting to note that the reason why ScarJo was hired in Ghost in the Shell was because of her box office draw. I know a lot of people have tried to rationalize her casting but it did hit a nerve with those who are more cognizant about the history of whitewashing Asian characters. Plus, on the business side, people rationalized it by saying there were no Asian actors who would be big draws for this film and it would be a BO failure without someone of her stature. It was still a Box Office bomb but nobody blames her for it or at least not to the point where it hindered her career. However, had they actually cast an Asian person for it and it was a a BO failure, then the lesson many studios and would-be experts online would have learned was to not cast any more Asian people. 

The reason why I bring this up is because Crazy Rich Asians has now made more money than any non-Marvel or animated (where we don't see her face at all) ScarJo film. I think some times people make too big of an ado about an actor's drawing power in of itself when it's really the material that attracts people and ensuring its marketed in a way to inspire people to go and simply timing and being put out at a time where the subject matter of the film would interest people (something that is very difficult to guess). Then the movie has to be good enough to garner great word-of-mouth. The movie that is the subject of this thread would most likely not be a big box office draw with or without ScarJo, so why not try to find someone a little more authentic to the role. This is more of a prestige picture anyway that is made to garner critic's attention and possibly awards. Some times those movies do become hits, but it takes a special recipe and great timing and interest in the subject matter for that to happen.

In the end of the day, I think it's the rationalization as to why we hire someone like ScarJo and not acknowledging it's a cycle Hollywood has created and keeps perpetuating, the very little opportunities many actors of different gender identities, ethnicity, race, color, etc. receive and the long history of accepted discrimination in casting and all the sub-issues that all of that entails that explains why there's an uproar now. I think if there was simply many more opportunities and trans actors start getting cast in non-trans roles then people in the community would better accept ScarJo playing a pre-transitioning trans character because she's not taking the ONE role that could have gone to a trans actor.