Mark Ruffalo responds to criticism after casting Matt Bomer as trans sex worker
Mark Ruffalo has responded to criticism after casting Matt Bomer as a transgender sex worker.
It was confirmed this week that the gay Magic Mike star has signed up to lead Tim McNeil’s drama ‘Anything’, which Ruffalo is executive producing.
Based on a play of the same name, the plot features a suicidal widower (played by John Carroll Lynch) who moves to Los Angeles and forms an unlikely friendship with a transgender sex worker (Bomer).
The news has not gone down well with some members of the transgender community, who are angry to see Bomer following in a line of cis male actors to play transgender women.
Eddie Redmayne, Jeffrey Tambor, Jared Leto and Andrew Garfield have all been criticised for taking transgender roles in the past, while trans actors and actresses struggle to find work.
Ruffalo responded: “To the Trans community. I hear you. It’s wrenching to you see you in this pain. I am glad we are having this conversation. It’s time.”
“In all honesty, I suggested Matt for the role after the profound experience I had with him while making ‘The Normal Heart’.”
Jamie Clayton, a trans actress who appears in Netflix series Sense8, was among those to pick on the trend addressing Bomer and Michelle Rodriguez, who is also playing a transgender man in an upcoming film
Clayton tweeted: “I really hope you both choose to do some actual good for the trans community one day.”
