Halle Berry is going to be cancelled

Halle Berry has suggested she is planning to play a transgender man in an upcoming film.

During an Instagram Live with hairstylist Christin Brown, the former X-Men star spoke about her plans for the potential future project.

Berry explained the film was pitched to her some time ago, but was put on the back-burner ahead of production on her directorial debut Bruised, in which she plays a disgraced MMA fighter.

She said: “[It’s] a character where the woman is a trans character, so she’s a woman that transitioned into a man. She’s a character in a project I love that I might be doing.”

Halle Berry continued: “This project got pitched to me right when I was the brink of making Bruised, but I so was in the mindset of getting in the body to play that, and I don’t know how long I can play an MMA character, so I had to get that out… but this got pitched to me, and I thought, after I do this movie, that’s the character I’m going to play.”

“I want to experience that world, understand that world. I want to deep dive in that in the way I did Bruised. Who this woman was is so interesting to me, and that will probably be my next project, and that will require me cutting all of my hair off.”

She added: “That’s what I want to experience and understand and study and explore… it’s really important to me to tell stories, and that’s a woman, that’s a female story – it changes to a man, but I want to understand the why and how of that. I want to get into it.”

Berry’s comments come two years after Scarlett Johansson was strongly criticised for signing up to play the role of a trans man in the film Rub and Tug.

After pleas from the trans community, Johansson eventually opted to drop out of the project, which was ultimately cancelled despite calls to recast it with a transgender star.

There are fears Berry’s film project could end up the same way, after the clip was noted by The Geekiary.

One writer appealed to LGBT+ film stars to “reach out to Halle Berry” and discuss the project with her.

In the wake of the Rub and Tug debacle, a number of major Hollywood production companies backed a 2018 letter that called on the industry to “use its power to improve the lives of trans people” by telling trans stories “authentically” with trans actors and creatives.

The accompanying TRANSform Hollywood guidebook for creatives cautions against casting major cisgender stars as trans people in projects.

It says: “The world is evolving, and today it is a mistake, especially if you are cross-sex casting (a cis man to play a trans woman, or a cis woman to play a trans man.) It simply isn’t cost effective to take this risk; recent projects which cast cis actors to play trans roles have felt the tide of public opinion turn against them and have taken a hit at the box office.”

The problematic history of trans representation in Hollywood was recently chronicled in the Netflix documentary Disclosure.

Eighthours wrote:I've read the Resetera tea leaves. They're already going nuts over this:

Halle Berry has suggested she is planning to play a transgender man in an upcoming film.

During an Instagram Live with hairstylist Christin Brown, the former X-Men star spoke about her plans for the potential future project.

Berry explained the film was pitched to her some time ago, but was put on the back-burner ahead of production on her directorial debut Bruised, in which she plays a disgraced MMA fighter.

She said: “[It’s] a character where the woman is a trans character, so she’s a woman that transitioned into a man. She’s a character in a project I love that I might be doing.”

Halle Berry continued: “This project got pitched to me right when I was the brink of making Bruised, but I so was in the mindset of getting in the body to play that, and I don’t know how long I can play an MMA character, so I had to get that out… but this got pitched to me, and I thought, after I do this movie, that’s the character I’m going to play.”

“I want to experience that world, understand that world. I want to deep dive in that in the way I did Bruised. Who this woman was is so interesting to me, and that will probably be my next project, and that will require me cutting all of my hair off.”

She added: “That’s what I want to experience and understand and study and explore… it’s really important to me to tell stories, and that’s a woman, that’s a female story – it changes to a man, but I want to understand the why and how of that. I want to get into it.”

Berry’s comments come two years after Scarlett Johansson was strongly criticised for signing up to play the role of a trans man in the film Rub and Tug.

After pleas from the trans community, Johansson eventually opted to drop out of the project, which was ultimately cancelled despite calls to recast it with a transgender star.

There are fears Berry’s film project could end up the same way, after the clip was noted by The Geekiary.

One writer appealed to LGBT+ film stars to “reach out to Halle Berry” and discuss the project with her.

In the wake of the Rub and Tug debacle, a number of major Hollywood production companies backed a 2018 letter that called on the industry to “use its power to improve the lives of trans people” by telling trans stories “authentically” with trans actors and creatives.

The accompanying TRANSform Hollywood guidebook for creatives cautions against casting major cisgender stars as trans people in projects.

It says: “The world is evolving, and today it is a mistake, especially if you are cross-sex casting (a cis man to play a trans woman, or a cis woman to play a trans man.) It simply isn’t cost effective to take this risk; recent projects which cast cis actors to play trans roles have felt the tide of public opinion turn against them and have taken a hit at the box office.”

The problematic history of trans representation in Hollywood was recently chronicled in the Netflix documentary Disclosure.

https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2020/07/06/h ... film-2020/

Danger, Will Robinson! What say you, GRcade?

Tineash wrote:Thanks for framing this in the most annoying way possible, great job.

Grumpy David wrote:I would have thought at 53, Halle Berry is too old to look like an MMA fighter.

Moggy wrote:Scarlet Johannson hasn't been "cancelled" and she's said plenty of inappropriate things.

Very few people actually get cancelled, they have to really cross the line or do something illegal (and even then most of them are still working!) for that to happen.

Moggy wrote:

Grumpy David wrote:I would have thought at 53, Halle Berry is too old to look like an MMA fighter.

Yeah, she looks ancient

Grumpy David wrote:Very glad I'm not on twitter, it's a terrible medium for any kind of debate.

Grumpy David wrote:

Moggy wrote:

Grumpy David wrote:I would have thought at 53, Halle Berry is too old to look like an MMA fighter.

Yeah, she looks ancient

I've not seen her in a movie since X Men from 14 years ago. Looks like she's not aged a day!

LewisD wrote:Halle berry showed off her considerable talents in the Movie Swordfish quite nicely I thought

Ironhide wrote:Is it really that much of an issue that a straight cis actress portrays a gay or trans character?

Its still a fairly niche/challenging subject for a Hollywood film so I'd imagine having a well known actress in the lead role helps ensure a wider (i.e. people of all genders/sexual orientations) audience sees it.

Moggy wrote:Scarlet Johannson hasn't been "cancelled" and she's said plenty of inappropriate things.

Very few people actually get cancelled, they have to really cross the line or do something illegal (and even then most of them are still working!) for that to happen.

The pushback on "cancel culture" usually just means "wah wah wah why are people criticising me".

Moggy wrote:

Ironhide wrote:Is it really that much of an issue that a straight cis actress portrays a gay or trans character?

Its still a fairly niche/challenging subject for a Hollywood film so I'd imagine having a well known actress in the lead role helps ensure a wider (i.e. people of all genders/sexual orientations) audience sees it.

It's a big issue if you're a gay/trans actor and can't get any parts. And then you see a cis actor take a role that's "yours".

Jezo wrote:

Moggy wrote:

Ironhide wrote:Is it really that much of an issue that a straight cis actress portrays a gay or trans character?

Its still a fairly niche/challenging subject for a Hollywood film so I'd imagine having a well known actress in the lead role helps ensure a wider (i.e. people of all genders/sexual orientations) audience sees it.

It's a big issue if you're a gay/trans actor and can't get any parts. And then you see a cis actor take a role that's "yours".

Imagine being such a bad actor you heavily rely on a role to have the same sexuality as yours.

Note: I support LGBTQ+ and Trans rights. If gay/trans peoples' opportunities are being limited because of who they are, that is obviously bad and I hope the right thing, justice, happens asap. Please don't take this half-joke offensively. I know the industry is riddled with issues like this, while this case doesn't appear to be an indication of this particular issue, it could very well be. Though a big name like Halle Berry attempting to positively represent a trans woman is still positive for the community imo.