Scarlett Johansson Transgender Casting: 'Fantastic Woman' Director Speaks [Watch] | THR News - video Dailymotion

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Chilean filmmaker Sebastian Lelio, who directed transgender star Daniela Vega in 'A Fantastic Woman,' has weighed in on Scarlett Johansson's casting as a transgender man in an upcoming film.

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00:00Sebastian Lelio has weighed in on the controversy surrounding Scarlett Johansson's

00:03casting as a transgender man in an upcoming film. The Chilean filmmaker directed

00:08breakout transgender star Daniela Vega in the 2017 Oscar winner A Fantastic Woman.

00:13Johansson is set to play the lead in Rupert Sanders' Rub and Tug, a film about the true

00:17life story of massage parlor owner Dante Tex Gill, who presented himself as a male

00:21and who may have been a transgender man. The project immediately received backlash

00:26after it was announced on July 2.

00:28Actresses Trace Lizette from Transparent and Jamie Clayton from Sense8 and The Neon Demon

00:32criticized the choice on Twitter, while Oscar So White creator April Rain also called for

00:37Johansson to step away from the role and not take work away from trans actors.

00:42Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter about his own experience assembling a fantastic woman,

00:46Lelio said,

00:58The director added,

01:00When I decided to cast Daniela Vega to play Marina in A Fantastic Woman, it was an act of artistic

01:05freedom, not political correctness. I wasn't telling the world that transgender roles should

01:09be played by transgender actors. I was only doing what I felt was right for my film.

01:13In the film, Vega played a trans woman who deals with prejudice and rejection from her dead

01:18lovers' conservative family. Her work received critical acclaim and a Platino award for best

01:23actress. It was labeled a transformative performance worthy of an Oscar nom in a THR

01:27guest column by Nick Adams, GLAD's director of transgender media and representation.

01:32According to Lelio, whenever the decision to cast Daniela Vega is interpreted as an

01:36authoritarian gesture — a gesture that tells people what to do — I always raise my hand

01:40and say, no. I'm not commanding anyone to do anything. I'm exercising my artistic freedom.

01:46He added,

01:47If I said transgender roles should only be played by transgender actors, I would be implying

01:52that Daniela Vega shouldn't play a cisgender role, and I believe she has every right to

01:56play a man or a woman.

01:57In their tweets about Rub & Tug, Lizette and Clayton specifically called out the lack of

02:01opportunities for transgender women to play cisgender roles.

02:04Actors who are trans never even get to audition for anything other than roles of trans characters.

02:09That's the real issue. We can't even get in the room, Clayton said.

02:13In his response to the controversy, Lelio said, in part,

02:16I sympathize with the drama of transgender actors who have little chances of exercising their craft.

02:21But I'll never make myself available to join or empower any idea that aims to restrict

02:26one of society's most precious assets, which is the freedom of its artists.

02:30When artistic freedom is threatened, that's a sign that society is becoming authoritarian,

02:34or moving towards behaviors and procedures that start to smell like fascism.

02:38To read more on this story, head to THR.com.

02:40For The Hollywood Reporter News, I'm Lyndsey Rodrigues.

02:42I'm Lyndsey Rodrigues.

Scarlett Johansson Transgender Casting: 'Fantastic Woman' Director Speaks [Watch] | THR News

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