Advertisement

SKIP ADVERTISEMENT

Why Scarlett Johansson Shouldn’t Play a Trans Man

Ms. Boylan is a contributing opinion writer.

Scarlett Johansson.Credit...Damon Winter/The New York Times

“It’s everything you’ve always wanted to do,” read the promos for “Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” “And Audrey Hepburn’s the one you’ve always wanted to do it with!”

When I think of that classic 1961 film now, I imagine Hepburn’s character, Holly Golightly, swanning through Manhattan in an amazing hat. But for all its fabulous charm, “Tiffany’s” can be nearly unwatchable. The problem, of course, is Mickey Rooney, who is cast as “Mr. Yunioshi.” With Mr. Rooney outfitted in giant buck teeth, speaking in a mock Japanese accent — well, the racism of the yellowface is more than enough to wreck the film.

Years later its director, Blake Edwards, said, “Looking back, I wish I had never done it.”

Mr. Rooney, for his part, said, “Those that didn’t like it, I forgive them and God bless America, God bless the universe, God bless Japanese, Chinese, Indians, all of them and let’s have peace,” a statement that even now seems like a curious misunderstanding of who in this situation is most in need of forgiveness.

I thought of “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” last week when it was announced that Scarlett Johansson would be playing the part of a transgender man, Dante Gill, in a new film called “Rub and Tug.” There’s been a heartfelt cry of protest from the trans community, a group understandably made weary by film after film about our lives without any actual trans people being involved.

The trans actress and activist Jen Richards tweeted, “Until the world stops erasing/oppressing/murdering us, trans women play trans women, trans men play trans men, nonbinary people play NB people. If your project needs a ‘star’ for financing, then it’s simply not good enough.”

People who are not transgender have been quick to shout things like, “This is why it’s called ‘acting!’ ” and to wonder what the fuss is all about. Cisgender folks who’ve never walked in our shoes can’t believe the hubris of trans people insisting that we play ourselves in film and television roles, rather than having other people imitate us.

Megyn Kelly assembled a whole panel of people on her show on Thursday who agreed that objecting to Ms. Johansson’s casting “takes away from the creativity of Hollywood.” Incredibly, of the four panelists, including Ms. Kelly, not a single one was trans. Which, if you think about it, is kind of like putting together a group to talk about the #MeToo movement that consists only of men.

It’s true, of course, that creativity and imagination are at the core of an actor’s craft. At the same time, some kinds of casting are simply insulting and offensive, Mr. Rooney’s “Mr. Yunioshi” being one painful example. The use of blackface, to say the least, is another.

Still, there was a time when I felt that getting any film about trans experience made was triumph enough, and I was willing, back then, to endure cis actors playing us. When Will Forte portrayed me on “Saturday Night Live” in 2006, my initial reaction was to be charmed; I made similar allowances, begrudingly, in 2014 when Jeffrey Tambor was cast as a transgender woman in “Transparent.”

But the days of transface are numbered. “I’d like to be the last cis man playing a transgender woman,” Mr. Tambor said, when he accepted his Emmy for Transparent in 2016 (in a role from which he has since been fired). “It’s time to hand out the keys to the kingdom and open the gates.”

There are two reasons why we should open those gates. First, as Ms. Richards makes clear, there are hundreds, if not thousands, of trans actors ready to play these parts. We deserve the chance to represent our own truth.

Secondly, there’s usually something slightly off when cisgender actors play us. People who aren’t trans don’t see it; they give each other awards and weepily hail their bravery. Jared Leto and Eddie Redmayne were lauded for their courage in portraying trans women on film (“Dallas Buyers Club” and “The Danish Girl”) — but not so much by transgender women themselves, many of whom found the performances mannered, studied and implausible.

If you haven’t walked in our shoes, you wouldn’t notice the difference. But we have, and we do.

Trans actors should play trans roles because we can do the best job. The freedom to live our lives out loud ought to include the chance to make art from the complex, difficult, joyful reality of our lives.

When Hollywood tells us that they love us, that we belong to them, we need to resist.

Like Holly Golightly, we need to say, once and for all, “I’ll never let anyone put me in a cage.”

Jennifer Finney Boylan (@JennyBoylan), a contributing opinion writer, is a professor of English at Barnard College of Columbia University and the author of the novel “Long Black Veil.”

Follow The New York Times Opinion section on Facebook and Twitter (@NYTopinion), and sign up for the Opinion Today newsletter.

A version of this article appears in print on  , Section A, Page 21 of the New York edition with the headline: Trans Actors Should Play Trans Roles. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

Advertisement

SKIP ADVERTISEMENT