Transgender men audition for ScarJo’s roles in parody video

Agroup of transgender men have teamed up to star in a parody video that features them mock-auditioning for cisgender (when personal identity is the same as birth gender) roles that Hollywood actor Scarlett Johansson has played in her career.

The parody video comes in response to the controversial casting of Johansson as a trans man in the upcoming film Rub & Tug, which will be directed by Rupert Sanders.

The parody is produced by the queer online magazine INTO, and features trans actors D’Lo, Justin Chow, Scott Turner Schofield, and Rocco Kayiatos — they’re stepping into Johansson’s roles of Natasha Romanoff aka Black Widow from The Avengers films; and Anna in He’s Just Not That Into You (2009).

In the end, an off-screen casting director offers Schofield the voice role of Samantha in Her (2013), played by Scar-Jo, but he turns it down. “I’m just having a lot of trouble because cis women are really marginalised in Hollywood,” says Schofield in response to the role offer.

“I know there are people who have lived this experience and who bring a lot of authenticity to it and I feel a little weird taking that [away] from them,” he adds.

The parody video is captioned: “What if trans men got cast in the few roles that are made for trans men?”

In Rub & Tug, Johansson will play Jean Marie Gill, who became trans man Dante ‘Tex’ Gill in 1970s Pittsburgh, US.

THE PARODY VIDEO FEATURES TRANS ACTORS D’LO, JUSTIN CHOW, SCOTT TURNER SCHOFIELD, AND ROCCO KAYIATOS

PHOTO: DIMITRIOS KAMBOURIS/GETTY IMAGES/AFP Scarlett Johansson has been criticised for taking a transgender role when she is, in fact, cisgender