Johansson defends transgender casting
Scarlett Johansson is defending her decision to play a transgender man in the film Rub & Tug, currently in pre-production.
Earlier this week, Deadline reported that Johansson would be reteaming with her Ghost in the Shell director Rupert Sanders for a movie about Jean Marie Gill, also known as Dante (Tex) Gill, a Pittsburgh crime kingpin and massage parlour owner who presented as a man.
Casting Johansson in the role received instant backlash, but in a statement issued via her representative to Bustle on Wednesday, she dismissed any criticism.
“Tell them that they can be directed to Jeffrey Tambor, Jared Leto and Felicity Huffman’s reps for comment,” she reportedly told the outlet.
Her response refers to cisgender actors who have taken on transgender roles, with Tambor playing a transgender woman in TV show Transparent, Huffman portraying a transgender woman in 2005 film TransAmerica and Leto taking on the part of Rayon in 2013’s Dallas Buyers Club.
One of the people to criticize casting Johansson in Rub & Tug was April Reign, the activist behind the #OscarsSoWhite campaign in 2015. Johansson, 33, was accused of whitewashing her character in Ghost in the Shell, based on a Japanese manga figure.
“Scarlett Johansson received considerable backlash for Ghost in the Shell, when she played a whitewashed Asian character. The movie tanked. Undeterred, she has teamed up WITH THE SAME DIRECTOR to play a trans male character in Rub & Tug,” Reign wrote.
Johansson is currently filming Taika Waititi’s Jojo Rabbit.