Scarlett Johansson Says She 'Mishandled' Transgender Role Reactions
by Steve Russell2018 saw Black Widow actor Scarlett Johansson drop out of a movie following a critical online backlash over her casting in the fact-based drama Rub and Tug. The film told the story of Dante "Tex" Gill, a transgender man who ran a massage parlor in Pittsburgh during the 1970s and '80s that turned out to be a front for a prostitution ring. Before his death in 2003, Gill lived his life as a man and preferred masculine pronouns, and Johansson was primed to play the transgender character. However, while the actor was initially somewhat defiant over the reception, her opinion has since changed.
"In hindsight, I mishandled that situation," Johansson told Vanity Fair. "I was not sensitive, my initial reaction to it. I wasn't totally aware of how the trans community felt about those three actors playing—and how they felt in general about cis actors playing—transgender people. I wasn't aware of that conversation—I was uneducated. So I learned a lot through that process. I misjudged that…. It was a hard time. It was like a whirlwind. I felt terribly about it. To feel like you're kind of tone-deaf to something is not a good feeling."
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When originally faced with the backlash, Johansson issued a statement highlighting what she thought of as hypocritical, selective criticism. She pointed to Amazon Prime's Transparent in relation to her casting, saying, "Tell them that [people with critcicisms] can be directed to Jeffrey Tambor, Jared Leto, and Felicity Huffman's reps for comment." She would later pull out of the movie, issuing another statement that acknowledged the insensitivity of her initial comments and support for the trans community.
Johansson is set to star in Black Widow, a prequel movie set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe that will take place following the events of Captain America: Civil War. Directed by Cate Shortland, Black Widow stars Scarlett Johansson, David Harbour, Florence Pugh, O-T Fagbenle and Rachel Weisz. The film arrives in theaters on May 1, 2020.
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