There was a huge outcry for whitewashing when it came to Scarlett Johansson playing the lead of Ghost in the Shell, but now she's teaming up again with GitS director Rupert Sanders to bring to screen a biopic called Rub & Tug. Johansson had been cast to play the transsexual lead, and now there are a lot of people have come out angry online demanding that the role be given to a trans actor.
With Johansson in the middle of yet another storm of haters, she had released a statement to Bustle pointing out how hypocritical all her critics were being. When asked to comment, Johansson said:
"Tell them that they can be directed to Jeffrey Tambor, Jared Leto, and Felicity Huffman's reps for comment."
Just in case you didn't know, all three actors that she named all played trans characters onscreen, despite being cisgender; Tambor played a trans woman in Transparent, Leto in Dallas Buyers Club, and Felicity Huffman in Transamerica.
In the film, Johansson is set to play kingpin Dante "Tex" Gill, who was born Lois Jean Gill. Gill had run several massage parlors to front for prostitution as well as a steroid ring for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Gill was also known to have used the LGBT community to gain support for his underground empire.
If you ask me about all this hassle, I think there's nothing wrong with Johansson being cast in the role where a character starts out as a woman. Why would they even hire an actual trans man for the role, if they needed the person to be a woman in the beginning, following her transformation in the film? Would you expect the movie to go through all the trouble of reverting a trans man back to their female appearance just so they could play the role?
There may be a lot of hate now, but I respect Rupert Sanders and Johansson for sticking to their guns after all this backlash. Hopefully the movie turns out great.
No release date has been set for Rub & Tug.
See Also: Marvel Interested in Cate Shortland to Direct Black Widow Movie
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