GLAAD staff member: ‘Casting cis men in trans roles is toxic and dangerous’
The decision to have Matt Bomer play Freda Von Rhenberg, a transgender sex worker, in the upcoming film Anything has sparked severe backlash. So much so that even the film’s executive producer, Mark Ruffalo, had to defend the choice on social media.
But now a transgender staff member from GLADD, Nick Adams, has spoken out on the decision in a column for The Hollywood Reporter.
Adams said: “The decision to put yet another man in a dress to portray a transgender woman touches a nerve for transgender people, and rightfully so. It’s yet another painful reminder that, in the eyes of so many people, transgender women are really just men.”
“That message is toxic and dangerous.”
Writer and actress, Jen Richards, has been at the forefront of the disappointment, tweeting that she auditioned for the role but they “didn’t care” after she called them out for failing to cast trans women.
Bomer is one of the latest actors to play transgender women in films. Other actors include Eddie Redmayne in The Danish Girl, Jared Leto in Dallas Buyers Club, Tom Wilkinson in Normal and more.
In the column, Adams adds:
“To all those writers, directors, producers and showrunners out there, let me say this: if you don’t see the dangerous real-world implications of casting men to play transgender women; If you are more concerned with the bottom line or with star power or with how your product will sell overseas, then don’t write transgender characters into your projects.”
Anything is an upcoming film adaptation of Tim McNeil’s play of the same name.
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