Speaking toVanity Fairfor the cover story of the publication’s awards issue, the actress, 35, admitted that she “mishandled that situation.”
“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,” she said.
“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,” she added.
Scarlett Johansson.Steve Granitz/WireImage
After her casting in the filmRub & Tugas Dante “Tex” Gill” — a transgender person who owned a massage parlor in Pittsburgh’s underground sex industry in the 1970s — drew backlash in 2018, a representative for Johansson said in astatement toBustle: “Tell them they can be directed to Jeffrey Tambor, Jared Leto, and Felicity Huffman’s reps for comment,” referencing other cisgender actors who have portrayed trans characters.
Johansson later exited the project, tellingOut Magazinethat “in light of recent ethical questions raised surrounding my casting as Dante Tex Gill, I have decided to respectfully withdraw my participation in the project.”
Scarlett Johansson.Daniele Venturelli/Venturelli Daniele/WireImage
Elsewhere in theVanity Fairprofile, the actress teased her upcomingBlack Widowstandalone movie for Marvel.
“I did not want it to be an origin story,” she said of the 2020 release. “I did not want it to be an espionage story. I didn’t want it to feel superficial at all. I only wanted to do it if it actually fit where I was with that character. I had spent such a long time peeling those layers away—I felt that unless we got to something deep, then there was no reason to make it.”
Johansson can currently be seen inMarriage StoryandJo Jo Rabbit, both of which are playing in theaters.
source: people.com
