Scarlett Johansson has once more faced a major backlash for one of her roles. The Hollywood Reporter revealed the star will reteam with Rupert Sanders, who directed her in Ghost in the Shell, in Rub & Tug; a film which will see her play Dante “Tex” Gill, a trans man who became notorious in Pittsburgh during the late 70s and 80s, opening a string of massage parlours which authorities believed to be “little more than brothels”. An announcement which, unsurprisingly, found heavy criticism for casting a cisgender woman in the role of a transgender man. In response, Johansson’s rep provided comment to Bustle from the actor herself: “Tell them that they can be directed to Jeffrey Tambor, Jared Leto, and Felicity Huffman’s reps for comment.” All three actors mentioned faced criticism for playing trans characters – and all three have expressed that the criticism levelled at them, to some degree, was valid. “I certainly understand the sentiment that a trans actor should play a trans role. And I support it,” Huffman said in 2014. Leto confessed he would “probably pass” on the role of Rayon in Dallas Buyers Club if he were offered it today, despite winning an Academy Award for his performance. When Tambor accepted an Emmy for best lead actor in a comedy in 2016, he stated in his acceptance speech: “I would not be unhappy were I the last cisgender male to play a female transgender on television.” Both Johansson and Sanders similarly faced accusations of whitewashing for her role in last year’s Ghost in the Shell. Follow Independent Culture on Facebook for all the latest on Film, TV, Music, and more.<doc-sep>Here’s a story we’ve heard before: A cisgender actor has been cast as a trans character for an upcoming movie. This time around, the cis actor is Scarlett Johansson and the movie is Rub & Tug, helmed by her Ghost in the Shell director Rupert Sanders. According to trade reports, Johansson will star as Dante “Tex” Gill, a real-life figure who used a string of massage parlors as fronts for prostitution in Pittsburgh during the ’70s and ’80s; Gill was born Jean Marie Gill, but identified as a man. The news of the casting, which Deadline broke earlier this week, stirred up frustrations in the LGBTQ community. But here’s a response we haven’t heard before: Regarding the critics, a rep for Johansson told Bustle, “Tell them that they can be directed to Jeffrey Tambor, Jared Leto, and Felicity Huffman’s reps for comment.” Tambor won Emmys and Golden Globes for his role as a trans woman on Amazon’s Transparent; Leto won an Oscar for his role in Dallas Buyers Club; and Huffman earned a Golden Globe win and Oscar nomination for her turn as Bree in Transamerica. That those critical of the casting should consider cis actors’ accolades for portraying trans people onscreen entirely misses the point that many in the trans community are trying to make: Cis actors taking jobs that could go to trans actors is not only objectionable, but reinforces false implications about trans people. It’s as Nashville and Better Things actress Jen Richards wrote last year in response to Matt Bomer playing a trans woman in the movie Anything: “Every time a cis man gets applauded for bravely portraying a transgender woman on screen, every time he picks up an award for it while sporting a tuxedo, we’re reinforcing the belief that at the end of the day, a trans woman is still really a man.” The same principles apply to women playing trans men. It’s not a coincidence that visibility leads to progress. Gay men and lesbian women were virtually invisible in media decades ago, but as a queer presence grew in pop culture, so too did the culture’s acceptance. For the “T” in LGBTQ, the uphill battle feels steeper. GLAAD’s most recent “Where We Are in TV” report, which analyzes LGBTQ representation on the small screen, noted a staggering “84 percent of Americans say they do not personally know someone who is transgender.” The result is “they only learn about trans people through the images they see in the media.” We’ve seen performances like trans actress Daniela Vega in A Fantastic Woman and Mya Taylor and Kitana Kiki Rodriguez in Tangerine, but the number of cisgender actors playing trans roles seem to outnumber the exceptions. Johansson follows in the footsteps of cisgender actors like Rachel Weisz (set to play Victorian-era trans man Dr. James Barry in an upcoming film), Michelle Rodriguez (who played a man forcibly made into a woman in The Assignment), Elle Fanning (3 Generations), and Hillary Swank (Boys Don’t Cry). Films like these can feel like cisgender men and women telling their view of trans stories, especially when there’s no trans talent in front of or behind the camera. At their worst, these films can perpetuate the notion that trans men aren’t actually men but rather women dressing as men. In 2015, trans actors like Transparent‘s Trace Lysette and Shameless‘ Elliott Fletcher addressed the lack of Hollywood representation through a PSA produced by ScreenCrush and GLAAD. “We’re mocked, our bodies are shamed or made into villains, reduced to plot twists and punchlines. We’re even erased from our own history. Imagine if this was all you saw of yourself. It’s no wonder you’re scared of us,” they said in the video. If these are the images that the reported 84 percent of Americans are seeing, it’s no wonder harmful laws, like North Carolina’s HB2 bathroom bill, are able to pass. The HRC Foundation and the Trans People of Color Coalition updated their 2017 report on violence against the trans community in January 2018 with a more chilling statistic. According to the research, 28 transgender people were killed by anti-trans violence in 2017 — the highest number ever recorded by this study. HRC President Chad Griffin called the “tragic stories” of this report a reflection of “the obstacles that many transgender Americans — especially trans women of color — face in their daily lives.” He added, “It is crucial that we know these stories in order to combat the transphobia, misogyny, and racism fueling this violence so that we can end this epidemic before it takes any more lives.” Castings like Johansson in Rub & Tug don’t directly lead to this environment, but the image could wind up spreading misinformation that contributes to toxicity towards the trans community. If the 84 percent of Americans only know trans people through what they see on screen, the fear is that real trans men won’t be seen as men, and trans women won’t be seen as women. All the progress that’s been made can often feel as part of an endless, frustrating cycle: a cisgender actor lands a transgender part, a backlash ensues, a director makes a statement defending the casting, and the situation remains more or less the same. Anything director Timothy McNeil said he “didn’t hold open castings” for Bomer’s part because “Matt became involved with the project at an early stage and we felt then (and still feel today) that we were extremely fortunate to have him.” The Danish Girl director Tom Hooper acknowledged “there is a problem” in the industry with the lack of opportunities for trans talent, but he said he wanted to put his Elizabeth I actor Eddie Redmayne “in the lead of a film.” Similar responses came for The Assignment and 3 Generations. This isn’t to say someone like Johansson isn’t capable of playing a trans person. In an ideal world, any actor could virtually play any part. The creative environment for trans actors just isn’t often ideal. Even with series like the history-making Pose—the show with the most trans series regulars to date—and Transparent, trans actors still struggle to secure auditions for roles, as both Lysette and Sense8‘s Jamie Clayton echoed on social media. “Actors who are trans never even get to audition FOR ANYTHING OTHER THAN ROLES OF TRANS CHARACTERS. THATS THE REAL ISSUE,” Clayton tweeted of Johansson’s casting. “And not only do you play us and steal our narrative and our opportunity,” Lysette wrote, “but you pat yourselves on the back with trophies and accolades for mimicking what we have lived… so twisted.” Tambor and Huffman, two of the actors cited in Johansson’s statement, have even spoke out in support of casting trans actors. “I would very much like to be the last cisgender male playing a transgender female. I think we are there now,” Tambor said while accepting an Emmy win in 2016 for Transparent. (The actor was fired earlier this year from the Amazon series over sexual misconduct allegations he has repeatedly denied.) Huffman in 2014 told The Huffington Post: “I certainly understand the sentiment that a trans actor should play a trans role. And I support it…. What can I say — I think transgendered [sic] people have been marginalized for a long time and I think you see that in people who are not trans playing them.” Now there’s a Care2 petition calling for the studio behind Rub & Tug, New Regency, to recast the role of Gill — something that also happened with Johansson and Sanders’ Ghost in the Shell. The 2017 film, adapted from the anime of the same name, was accused of whitewashing as Johansson played The Major, a character traditionally depicted as Asian. “I certainly would never presume to play another race of a person,” the actor had said. “Diversity is important in Hollywood, and I would never want to feel like I was playing a character that was offensive.” Sanders said in 2016 he had no regrets. “I stand by my decision. She’s the best actress of her generation,” he told reporters.<doc-sep>The obituary in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette - which refers to Dante as a "she" throughout - says: "For years, according to police, Ms Gill ran a string of [massage] parlours as fronts for prostitution, all the while insisting that she was a man and telling everyone she wanted to be known as 'Mr Gill'."<doc-sep>
Trace Lysette and Jamie Clayton have criticised Scarlett Johansson (Frederick M. Brown/Getty, Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty and ANGELA WEISS/AFP/Getty) Transgender actresses have hit out at Scarlett Johansson after she defended her decision to play the role of a trans man. The Avengers star will reunite with Rupert Sanders, who directed her performance as a canonically Asian character in Ghost in the Shell – a film which was also accused of queerbaiting and straightwashing – to take on the role of real-life trans man Dante “Tex” Gill in Rub & Tug. Transparent star Trace Lysette and Sense8‘s Jamie Clayton both condemned Johansson, with Lysette calling her decision “a mess” and “so twisted.” Writing on Twitter, Lysette said: Oh word?? So you can continue to play us but we can’t play y’all? “Hollywood is so f**ked… I wouldn’t be as upset if I was getting in the same rooms as Jennifer Lawrence and Scarlett for cis roles, but we know that’s not the case. A mess. Lysette, whose stand against co-star Jeffrey Tambor’s alleged sexual abuse of her led to Tambor’s exit from the show, then clarified: “I ❤️ Jlaw btw… no shade.” And not only do you play us and steal our narrative and our opportunity but you pat yourselves on the back with trophies and accolades for mimicking what we have lived… so twisted. I’m so done… — Trace Lysette (@tracelysette) July 4, 2018 She continued: “And not only do you play us and steal our narrative and our opportunity but you pat yourselves on the back with trophies and accolades for mimicking what we have lived… so twisted. I’m so done…” Clayton, who was the first trans actress to play a trans character that was written by a trans writer on Sense8, wrote in mostly capital letters as she voiced her anger directly at Johansson and Sanders. “Actors who are trans never even get to audition FOR ANYTHING OTHER THAN ROLES OF TRANS CHARACTERS. THATS THE REAL ISSUE,” she said. Actors who are trans never even get to audition FOR ANYTHING OTHER THAN ROLES OF TRANS CHARACTERS. THATS THE REAL ISSUE. WE CANT EVEN GET IN THE ROOM. Cast actors WHO ARE TRANS as NON TRANS CHARACTERS. I DARE YOU #RupertSanders @NewRegency #ScarlettJohansson https://t.co/RkrW8MeGcG — Jamie Clayton (@MsJamieClayton) July 4, 2018 The actress, who also criticised cisgender actor Matt Bomer for playing a trans sex worker in Anything, added: “WE CANT EVEN GET IN THE ROOM. “Cast actors WHO ARE TRANS as NON TRANS CHARACTERS. I DARE YOU #RupertSanders @NewRegency #ScarlettJohansson.” After being widely panned for taking on the role of Gill – a massage parlour and sex work business owner in 1970s and 80s Pittsburgh who self-identified as a man and told people to call him Mr Gill – Johansson responded. She said in a statement to Bustle: “Tell them that they can be directed to Jeffrey Tambor, Jared Leto, and Felicity Huffman’s reps for comment.” All three of these actors are cis people who have played trans characters – Tambor in TV show Transparent before he was fired over sexual misconduct allegations this year, Leto in 2013 film Dallas Buyers Club and Huffman in Transamerica, a 2005 comedy-drama. None of the actors name-checked by Johansson have responded to PinkNews’ requests for comment. And instead of dismissing the controversy, the statement appeared to pour fuel on the fire. Lesbian stand-up comic Rhea Butcher also made a good point about the issue, writing: “The main reason it’s wrong in 2018 to cast cis actors as trans characters, in two sentences: ‘He plays a transwoman.’ ‘She plays a transman. '” The main reason it’s wrong in 2018 to cast cis actors as trans characters, in two sentences: “He plays a transwoman.” “She plays a transman.” Perpetuates the “confusion” around trans identity which leads to violence against trans and gender nonconforming people. Ok, thanks. — rb (@RheaButcher) July 4, 2018 Butcher added that this “perpetuates the ‘confusion’ around trans identity which leads to violence against trans and gender nonconforming people.”