Garbage Day! Months Later Andy Serkis Chimes In On the ‘Rub and Tug’ Debate
Andy Serkis "vehemently disagrees" with the backlash Scarlett Johansson faced for planning to play a trans person in "Rub and Tug": “Actors should be able to play anything" https://t.co/K330fC7oKQ
- Variety (@Variety) December 1, 2018
I bet you remember that time when Scarlett Johansson was attached to star in the ‘Rub and Tug’ movie, portraying a real-life transgender massage parlor owner Dante "Tex" Gill. I mean she had no problems playing Asian characters on film, so of course this was a no-brainer for ScarJo. She's that versatile! Once the backlash hit, the proud Yummy Pop owner issued a ridiculous statement, basically telling the people who criticized her for wanting to play the role that “they can be directed to Jeffrey Tambor, Jared Leto, and Felicity Huffman's reps for comment”. Once the popcorn machine pop-pop-pop sound faded, she finally came to her senses and dropped out of the project. That was in July this year.
5 months later somebody still thinks Scarlett shouldn't have had to drop out of the ‘Rub and Tug’ movie. That somebody is a renowned performance capture actor and now a director of such films as ‘Breathe’ and ‘Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle’. Speaking to Variety Serkis while on the topic of Hollywood’s ongoing conversation about actors and representation, namely Scarlett Johansson’s involvement in ‘Rub and Tug’, had this to say about the backlash ScarJo received that eventually forced her to drop out of the project: “I absolutely disagree. I really, vehemently disagree". Wait for it... "Actors should be able to play anything, and that’s why I love this [performance capture] technology. What should be the point is that whatever color your skin is, whatever shape you are, whatever height you are, whatever your makeup is as an actor, you should have the ability to play anything”.
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