Two decades after her Oscar-winning performance in Boys Don’t Cry as Brandon Teena, actress Hilary Swank has reflected on the role and addressed whether she would take on the transgender role now. Unsurprisingly, Swank shared her view on the evolving understanding of transgender issues, and concluded that she would not consider starring in the movie now. In a recent interview with The Times of London, Swank discussed the significant changes in attitudes towards transgender people since the film’s 2000 release, which depicted the real-life story of a transgender man murdered in a hate crime.
Boys Don’t Cry
Release Date October 22, 1999
Runtime 118 min
Distributor(s) Searchlight Pictures
During the interview, Swank acknowledged the shift in perspective regarding who should portray transgender characters in film. A hot topic of the last several years, the actress said:
“Now for the most part, in most places, it’s accepted to be a trans person. [But] at that time, people weren’t even coming out as gay and lesbian, it was a career killer, or whatever. They weren’t ready to tell their family, or maybe they weren’t even ready to tell themselves. We’re in such different times — I feel like it would be a great opportunity for an actor who’s trans to play that role.”
However, Swank also joined those who have voiced the opinion that being an actor means that anyone should be allowed to play any role regardless of their own gender identity. She continued:
But I also feel like actors are actors. We are supposed to play different people and I would like to hope trans people are getting the opportunity to play non-trans people as well.
Transgender Characters Have Continued to Generate Strong Reactions
Despite many transgender characters appearing in popular TV shows and movies, and several prominent transgender stars finding their place in Hollywood, attitudes towards the subject is still a very volatile place – especially on social media. Only a few months ago, the BBC revealed that they had received a number of complaints following the introduction of the transgender character of Rose in one of Doctor Who’s 60th anniversary episodes.
The subject of playing transgender characters is also something that has been under more scrutiny in the last several years. Back in 2020, Halle Berry was set to star as a trans woman in a new movie, but voluntarily chose to walk away from the role to allow the transgender community to have “the opportunity to tell their own stories.”
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Additionally, many actors have reflected on past roles where they have played transgender characters. This included Eddie Redmayne, who appeared as transgender painter Lili Elbe in The Danish Girl and was heavily criticized for taking on the role. Similar to Swank, Redmayne shared a belief that any actor should be able to play any role, but also acknowledged that “a leveling” is required before that can happen. He told The Guardian in January:
“A few years ago, I did a workshop with trans actors at the Central School of Speech and Drama. A lot of them were quite rightly interrogating me about my choice to do The Danish Girl, and pointing out that many trans actors don’t go to drama school because they don’t see it as an opportunity. Unless there are parts that you think are possible for you to play, why would you? I believe everyone wants to be able to play everything. That’s what we dream of as actors and should do. No one wants to be limited by their gender or sexuality but, historically, these communities haven’t had a seat at the table. Until there’s a levelling, there are certain parts I wouldn’t play.”
In recent years, there have been several trans actors that have appeared in breakout roles, which has started a slow shift in the casting of transgender stars in prominent roles. These have included Yasmin Finney’s role in Heartstopper (which was followed by her role as Rose in Doctor Who), Ian Alexander becoming the first trans actor to play a trans character in the Star Trek franchise, and Jamie Clayton following up her role in Sense8 by taking the lead role of Pinhead in the reboot of Clive Barker’s Hellraiser.
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