In recent years, Hollywood has been surrounded with casting controversies and Johansson has been no stranger to them. After the poorly received Ghost in the Shell, it was a surprise when the in demand actor revealed that she would take on the role of trans massage parlor manager in Rub and Tug. It was no surprise that the news would be received negatively, especially following the mulitple films in recent years which found themselves in hot water including Matt Damons Great wall, Tilda Swinton's Role in Doctor Strange, Netflix's adaptation of acclaimed horror manga Death Note, and even Johansson herself, being cast in Ghost in the Shell, that even went so far as to test technology to make her appear "more asian." News spread of the controversial casting, with trans actresses Trace Lysette and Jamie Clayton, speaking out against the decision. It is important to note that the person attached to directing this film, Rupert Sanders, also worked with Johansson on Ghost in the Shell. When the controversy became a major talking point, Johansson's tone deaf response of, “Tell them that they can be directed to Jeffrey Tambor, Jared Leto, and Felicity Huffman’s reps for comment,” did not go over well, and was meant to allude to several actors who had played trans roles and received acclaim. While they did at the time, the political climate as well as the conversation around the trans community is continuing to change rapidly, and taking roles from an already small community is keeping them from having the opportunities cisgender actors, like Johansson, have always had. This is also a historic year for trans actors, with the first trans actor Daniela Vega, winning an award for her role in A Fantastic Woman. After several weeks of controversy, Johansson announced today that she will be withdrawing from the film, a rare move for any actor. The last high profile withdraw was Ed Serkin, known for his role as the villain in the first Deadpool film, leaving the new Hellboy reboot after finding out he was playing a role originally meant to be cast by a Japanese-American actor. We also saw a casting controversy with Natalie Portman's sci-fi film, Annihilation, as well as Cocaine Godmother with Catherine Zeta-Jones as recent as earlier this year. Scarlett Johansson is part of a long Hollywood trend of picking valuable actors to boost ticket sales, and while that isn't surprising, the power of social media and the backlash from these marginalized communities, most certainly had an effect on the box office revenue of all the films listed above. Hopefully, not only Johansson, but other actors and actress will be careful choosing their roles in the future.
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