If you were worried that Eddie Redmayne would disappear the way of Adrien Brody after winning the Oscar for Best Actor in a Leading Role, then fear not! The first image for his next high-profile project has just been released (pictured above). The actor will headline "The Danish Girl", a biopic about Lili Elbe, the first woman to undergo a sex-change operation.
The film will be the second collaboration between Redmayne and director Tom Hooper, who previously worked together on the Academy Award winning "Les Miserables". The film's screenplay has been adapted from David Ebershoff's novel of the same name, by Lucinda Coxon. It's no doubt a high-profile project; buzz is pretty loud given Redmayne's newly coronet status as an Oscar winner and Hooper's own Oscar past. But this is anything but good news, and I'm here to tell you why.
Redmayne's attachment to the project has no doubt attracted a lot of financing and publicity, but the fact that this is a story about a transgendered woman being portrayed by a cisgendered man is extremely problematic, and insensitive. The reason being, is there's no reason why they couldn't have cast a trans actress in the role. In fact, if the filmmakers or producers had any real empathy towards the story of the person they were telling, they would have cast a trans actress.
It's clear from the coverage of the story that picked up immediately after Redmayne's Oscar win that the studio is trying their best to capitalize off of his involvement, and attract buzz early in the game to label him as a frontrunner for awards consideration. The film was originally slated for a 2016 release, but it was recently announced that the film will receive a limited release in L.A. and New York in November of this year, where it will expand to more theaters based on its box office performance. This is a traditional strategy for awards contenders, and a way for studios to generate word of mouth/buzz.
As someone who has seen many movies, I understand that part of the challenge, and thrill of acting is to come at a character's headspace from an outsider's perspective; a lot of the great performances have been played by actors who are nothing like the characters they're portraying (Reese Witherspoon in "Wild" and Mo'Nique in "Precious" are two that come to mind), but I don't think that applies here. Had roles like this been offered to trans actors in the past, there might not have been such a stink around this casting decision. But the fact of the matter is that cis actors and actresses are cast in the roles of trans characters all the time. It also happens with gay, lesbian and bisexual characters too; straight actors are cast in those roles more often an actual gay, lesbian or bisexual actors or actresses.
It's something that transcends movies too; it speaks volumes about our society. When cisgendered (which means you identify with the gender assigned to you at birth), straight actors are cast in these roles, they're heralded for being brave and fearless. But the majority of society doesn't echo this sentiment about actual gay, lesbian, bisexual or trans people. It's why we have countless reports of the disappearances, relentless beatings or deaths of trans men and women, why people are still fighting for same sex marriage in this country, and why there are those who still feel bisexuality is "just a phase". I remember during the 2013 awards season when Jared Leto was the frontrunner for his role in "Dallas Buyers Club", many of his interviews had countless questions about what it was like to wear a dress, or shave his legs and wear makeup, etc. I give Leto props for trying his best to make it more about the actual character than the superficial elements, but the fact remains that our society enjoys gay, lesbian, bisexual and trans characters when they're being played by anyone but a gay, lesbian, bisexual or trans actor or actress; It’s brave to be gay, lesbian, bisexual or trans unless you’re actually gay, lesbian, bisexual or trans.
And so here we have an opportunity to present an honest depiction of a transgendered woman's life and struggle, and maybe give representation to a group that sees very little of it, and we continue to shut them out from telling their own stories. But what really rubs salt in the wound, is that this is such a ploy for awards. Lili Elbe’s story and legacy will be used to generate laurels and critical acclaim with no sense of actual empathy or feeling for who she is and what she stood for, and once the dog and pony show that is Oscar season is over, and the cameras are turned off, it will be tossed to the side and forgotten about.
The cast and crew of “Selma” did right by their film’s subject matter, they did not shy away from the correlation that the Selma marches and Martin Luther King Jr. had to the Ferguson protests, and the case of Eric Garner. Ava DuVernay and many of the people involved with the making of the film wore “I Can’t Breathe” T-Shirts to the film’s premiere in New York, in support of Garner, and were vocal about the importance of the film in shining a light on events like those in Ferguson. It’s a shame that the people behind “The Danish Girl”, so shamelessly passed on an opportunity to draw attention to the fight and struggle for the many trans men and women being persecuted in this country, the people we never hear about, but who are on the front lines of the fight for the LGBT community.
Awesome post.
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