Last year, following widespread criticism, Scarlett Johansson withdrew from playing the lead role in mob drama Rub & Tub, owning to the fact that she, as a cisgender woman, was cast as Dante “Tex” Gill, a transgender man. This backlash mimicked another casting choice by the actress made the year prior, when she played the lead in Ghost in the Shell, a sci-fi film based on a popular Japanese anime.
Johansson has remained relatively quiet in relation to her casting decisions, but her recent comments in a new interview with As If magazine, she admitted she isn’t happy that “political correctness” is policing what actors can and can’t do when it comes to choosing roles.
“You know, as an actor, I should be allowed to play any person, or any tree, or any animal because that is my job and the requirements of my job,” Johansson explained. “I feel like it’s a trend in my business and it needs to happen for various social reasons, yet there are times it does get uncomfortable when it affects the art because I feel art should be free of restrictions.”
She added, “I think society would be more connected if we just allowed others to have their own feelings and not expect everyone to feel the way we do.”
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While Johansson previously defined her Ghost in the Shell role as “essentially identity-less” upon the film’s release, she was initially dismissive of the pleas to give her Rub & Tug role to a trans actor, saying to critics, “tell them that they can be directed to Jeffrey Tambor, Jared Leto, and Felicity Huffman’s reps for comment.”
Tambor, Leto and Huffman have all previously played trans women.
Following the release of her new interview, which saw major backlash, Johansson is claiming her words were “taken out of context”.
In a statement to People from her rep, Johansson said that while she stands by her quotes in As If, they were “edited for clickbait” and “widely taken out of context” by outlets who reported on the interview.
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“An interview that was recently published has been edited for clickbait and is widely taken out of context. The question I was answering in my conversation with the contemporary artist, David Salle, was about the confrontation between political correctness and art. I personally feel that, in an ideal world, any actor should be able to play anybody and Art, in all forms, should be immune to political correctness,” she said in the statement.
“That is the point I was making, albeit didn’t come across that way. I recognise that in reality, there is a widespread discrepancy amongst my industry that favours Caucasian, cis-gendered actors and that not every actor has been given the same opportunities that I have been privileged to. I continue to support and always have, diversity in every industry and will continue to fight for projects where everyone is included,” Johansson continued.
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