Scarlett Johansson is under fire for taking the role of Dante “Tex” Gill, a real-life “sexually ambivalent rub parlor owner” who died in 2003. The movie version of Gill’s life is tentatively titled, “Rub & Tug.”
Gill, as her obituary that we linked above notes:
In all the old newspaper stories about Dante “Tex” Gill, she was always “the woman who prefers to be known as a man,” or some variation of that description, and she sure looked and acted the part.
Short and dumpy, she wore men’s suits and short hair, she talked tough and she may even have undergone the initial stages of a sex change that made her appear masculine.
So there’s the background. And now the outrage because this woman, who may or may not have begun the process to transition to a man, is being played by Scarlett Johansson:
Why cast Scarlett Johansson as a trans man when you could just cast … a man? https://t.co/reZtCF43Xd pic.twitter.com/8Zzqvz9mgr
— Slate (@Slate) July 3, 2018
And they’re mad at her for responding “in the worst way.” The worst way being that she correctly noted that many other actors and actresses who are not trans men or trans women get these roles all the time:
Scarlett Johansson is going to play a trans man — and just responded to criticism in the worst way https://t.co/DEUpXLiGWI pic.twitter.com/yQyah7VVIq
— Mic (@mic) July 3, 2018
And these same folks are still mad that Johansson was cast as in adaptation of the Japanese manga, “Ghost in the Shell”:
there are literally so many trans actors that could’ve been cast in this role. why do we keep casting Scarlett Johansson in roles where she doesn’t fit the criteria? https://t.co/nnD7PKH5Gc
— anthony amorim is lo:st (@AnthonyAmorim) July 3, 2018
Yeah … Hollywood types are pretty mad at that:
https://twitter.com/ira/status/1014331062946631680
Event the Resistance doc weighed in!
What’s next? Is Scarlett Johansson going to play Barack Obama?
— Eugene Gu, MD (@eugenegu) July 4, 2018
Now, it’s important to note that these folks aren’t standing up for “short and dumpy” actresses here, which most certainly does not describe Johansson. We assume Johansson was chosen as their might be some, well, you get it. From Vulture:
Despite feuding with the mob, serving time for tax evasion, and running “an anabolic steroids ring that helped fuel the Pittsburgh Steelers’ NFL dynasty,” it will reportedly be Gill’s “fiery romance” with wife Cynthia Bruno that forms the “emotional core” of the film.
It’s a safe bet that this film is DOA:
Hey, remember when Scarlett Johansson told James Franco she wanted his Time's Up pin back then went to dinner with her best pal Woody Allen?
— Hanna Ines Flint (@HannaFlint) July 3, 2018
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