Scarlett Johansson faces backlash for trans role

[PunkTheFunk 124,389]

News broke yesterday that Scarlett Johansson would be re-teaming with her Ghost in the Shell director Rupert Sanders for the movie Rub & Tug, about a Pittsburgh-based crime boss who was known for mob feuds and running a string of massage parlors that doubled as prostitution hubs during the 1970s and ‘80s. The star of that story is Dante “Tex” Gill, born Jean Gill, who was described in his 2003 obituary in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette as “insisting that she was a man and telling everyone she wanted to be known as ‘Mr. Gill.’” Ire against the casting choice started online, calling out Johansson — a cisgender woman — for seemingly taking on the role of a transmasculine man. (In addition to using male pronouns, Gill also dressed in a masculine style.) Johansson has now responded to the anger through a representative in a brief statement to Bustle: “Tell them that they can be directed to Jeffrey Tambor, Jared Leto, and Felicity Huffman’s reps for comment.”

Tambor, Leto, and Huffman have all previously played trans women on film and television. There is not much information readily available about Gill, but he was additionally described by his cousin, a film critic at the time for the Post-Gazette, which ran his obituary, as “an anomaly for her day, someone who had to hide her sexuality as a single woman in the transgender community, which at the time was so underground it had yet to acquire that label.” It was also speculated that Gill “may even have undergone the initial stages of a sex change that made her appear masculine.”

http://www.vulture.com/2018/07/rub-and-tug-casting-backlash-scarlett-johansson-responds.html

Scarlett is currently trending on Twitter as a result of the backlash:

What do you think girls? Is this casting choice okay? Are you against it? Is everyone overreacting? Should Scarlett Johansson star in the next Martin Luther King biopic?

[weed 73,515]

Lmaoooo messss Scarlett girl stop with these roles 

[StarstruckIllusion 52,355]

It’s so pathetic. Hollywood is so superficial. If you’re not traditionally gorgeous, you’ll flop, and lbr, it’s not hard to imagine a trans person not getting a role bc they don’t pass well enough. 

This is a great opportunity to uplift a trans actor (especially when there’s probably a lot worse cisactors), but no… and funny how it’s Scarlett again. Sis have you not learned a thing from Ghost In A Shell? What’s next, playing T’Chala in Black Panther 2?

[River 115,109]

the problem is not her, but the transphobia of Hollywood.. the only reason they don't cast a transgender is because they want to make it clear to you that "it's a woman dressed like man".. and this is the main problem..

[BLACKOUTbritney 22,352]

"So does scarlett johansson just have a bucket list of inappropriate identities she's working through portraying, or..."

This had me screaming lmfao

Scarlett sis

 

[Quartz 12,514]

I actually like her acting and if her name is on the roster, I will happily watch. Can everyone calm down, if they want to cast a woman for this role and you don't agree, then don't watch it. That's how they know that what they're doing is not OK for people. They listen to money. 

[Arturo 40,746]

7 minutes ago, BLACKOUTbritney said:

"So does scarlett johansson just have a bucket list of inappropriate identities she's working through portraying, or..."

This had me screaming lmfao

Scarlett sis

 

You’d think after the backlash she got she wouldnt want this role.  

[Ziggy 11,636]

Tbh I’m surprised a producer would think their wouldn’t be backlash to this...how thick ya gotta be? Isn’t it their job to be knowledgeable about the financials of these projects and what may affect them?

[Cyber Babylon 2,774]

they can recast gaga for the role

[LOVE JUNKIE 3,299]

2 minutes ago, Ziggy said:

Tbh I’m surprised a producer would think their wouldn’t be backlash to this...how thick ya gotta be? Isn’t it their job to be knowledgeable about the financials of these projects and what may affect them?

it's almost as if they're doing it on purpose

it didn't work well for a sci-fi blockbuster but it is a lot of publicity for a small oscar-bait movie

plus a lot of the gp is openly transphobic and doesn't give af

so while twitter might be outraged I'm sure a lot of people won't be

Spoiler

but it'll prob flop either way lbh

 

[LOVE JUNKIE 3,299]

2 minutes ago, Chris Martin said:

they can recast gaga for the role

not a Jo Calderone comeback

[Haroon 49,685]

Acting is acting  You don't need to face the same struggles or lead the same life as the character you're portraying. Also, at the end of the day the movie has to make money and famous faces are regularly used to promote movies.

I can't remember all of this backlash when Eddie Redmayne starred in The Danish Girl either  

[ItsTommyBitch 12,640]

Not her doing this after Ghost in the Shell... and with the same director. Mess.

[jsn 1,647]

You'd think those 2 would think twice about doing something dumb like this after Ghost in the Shell flopped hard partly due to a similar controversy 💀

And lol @ her thinking just because other people did it before it gives her a free pass to continue doing it

[Knife 6,855]

She's making bank off those Marvel movies, so in her mind she's got nothing to lose.