Scarlett Johansson found herself the subject of much controversy last year – not only because of her casting as a real life transgender crime boss Dante “Tex” Gill in the now-aborted drama Rub & Tug, but also her handling of the subsequent backlash when she responded that her critics “can be directed to Jeffrey Tambor, Jared Leto, and Felicity Huffman’s reps for comment.”
At the time, Johansson was coming off criticisms of whitewashing surrounding her role in the live-action Ghost in the Shell movie, but after brushing aside her critics she ultimately decided to drop out of the project. And now, during an interview with Vanity Fair, the actress has admitted that she handled the situation poorly.
“In hindsight, I mishandled that situation,” Johansson told the outlet. “I was not sensitive, my initial reaction to it. I wasn’t totally aware of how the trans community felt about those three actors playing – and how they felt in general about cis actors playing – transgender people. I wasn’t aware of that conversation – I was uneducated. So I learned a lot through that process. I misjudged that…. It was a hard time. It was like a whirlwind. I felt terribly about it. To feel like you’re kind of tone-deaf to something is not a good feeling.”
Johansson – who become the subject of many memes and jokes following her comments that “an actor I should be allowed to play any person, or any tree, or any animal because that is my job” – has since went on to star in Taika Waititi’s Jojo Rabbit and will next be seen reprising her role as Natasha Romanoff for Marvel Studios’ Black Widow prequel movie, which opens in May 2020. Whether we’ll see her as a tree at some point later in the year remains to be seen.
Originally published December 1, 2019. Updated November 30, 2019.
