Hollywood producer and “Avengers” actor Mark Ruffalo has come under fire in the last week for a casting decision in his upcoming film ”Anything.” The film will feature cisgender man Matt Bomer in the starring role of Freda Von Rhenberg, a transgender woman.
Critics of the decision via Twitter to cast Bomer find producer Ruffalo to be responsible and are demanding that the role be recast to feature a transgender actor.
After Ruffalo shared the movie had already finished shooting and therefore cannot be recast, comments shifted toward asking that Ruffalo not release the film at all.
Public outrage over a cis man being cast as a trans woman is nothing new to Hollywood. In the past few years, the film industry has finally begun showing interest in narratives with transgender central characters, like 2015’s “The Danish Girl” or 2013’s “Dallas Buyer’s Club.” However, more often than not, transgender roles are given to cisgender actors.
Casting a cis man in the role of a transgender woman reinforces the narrative that trans women are simply men playing dress-up.
This idea is not only misguided but also incredibly dangerous, as many trans women are victims of violence from straight men who feel they’ve been tricked.
Hollywood hasn’t exactly done its job in debunking this notion of trickery. In reality, trans women are women — no qualifiers or disclaimers necessary. But to look at the film industry’s recent popular depictions of what a transgender woman looks like, you would find Eddie Redmayne, Jeffrey Tambour, or perhaps even Jared Leto.
It is an actor’s job to play a role that they may not share an experience with, and so theoretically there should be no problem with casting a cis person in a trans role.
But the logic of “a good enough actor can play any role regardless of how they look” is the same logic that has been used to justify erasure of diversity for hundreds of years, all the way back to Shakespearian times, when the only people legally allowed to act were straight white cisgender men.
As an artist, there’s a huge part of me that wants to advocate for unfettered artistic expression. Regardless of what kind of art is being pursued — acting, writing, directing — I think it’s important to push toward new, diverse and interesting story lines.
But like most things, the issue of diversity in Hollywood is multi-faceted and full of nuance. So despite my own endorsement of relentless pursuit of a good story, I draw the line at taking away someone else’s voice.
In other words: it’s never a good move to steal a story.
At its core, that’s what casting a cis actor to play a trans role feels like to me — erasure rather than progress.
In the case of Ruffalo’s upcoming film, I think it may be too late to stop the project in its tracks. The filming has wrapped, which usually means the money is spent and investors will soon be anxious to reap their rewards.
However, the social media outcry against this film is a testament to the growing power of the audience and a step forward in the fight for equal representation for all.
rjdague@indiana.edu
