The Jared Leto Question

[Ben]

Could've gone w/ Laverne Cox.

[fred41]

Yeah...she's in "Orange is the New Black"....a Netflix series.It's very good,and she very good in it....can't wait for next season.

[sukumvit boy]

Kind of a ,"Damned if you do and damned if you don't " ,situation.

[Tina Francis]

...And so, would this supposed trans actor hired to play this role adhere to the script as written and approved by the executive producers? (i.e., the shooting screenplay, as it was eventually shot)...Rabbiteyes, do you live in LA, have you had any interaction with 'industry types'?...well I have lived here my whole life, and I have never met a more intransigent bunch of pricks anywhere...

[giovanni_hotel]

There are plenty of trans-women capable of holding their own on screen. It's all about the inclination and intent of the director.


In Captain Phillips starring Tom Hanks, the director actively sought out and cast real Somalis to play key roles. As an artist particularly a director you want to portray a realism, an authenticity on screen to move the narrative and draw the viewer into your artifice of reality.

Are there men who could play women's roles in movies?? And vice versa?? Of course.
But no matter the talent of the actor, you'd lose some of the authenticity of the character.

The director of DBC sounds like he believes personally that TS are all CD/DQ anyway, so what's the big deal about having Jared Leto starring in one of the primary roles??

Because he couldn't bother to seek out trans-actors, he blithely conjectures TS actors simply do not exist. Real winner there.


TS are actively involved in a modern civil rights struggle not for acceptance, but mere recognition as transgendered people. Not as cross-dressers. Not as drag-queens.

If the character is openly transgender, I think the director has due diligence to at least try to locate a TS to play the role.


At some point in the future I wholeheartedly agree with Rabbiteyes we'll look back at this period where everyone but transgenders were cast to play themselves in the same way we view past White actors in Blackface to play Othello, or wearing red face paint to play Native Americans.

For a trans-woman I understand why it's totally unacceptable for anyone except a TS to play a TS in film.

[lifeisfiction]

Its not uncommon for directors to work with certain cast. Christian Bale played a Jewish man in American Hustle. I think it depends on what the director is looking for, a lot times you have a movie that has to make back its profit and sometimes directors while stick with actors who have a track history of stellar performance. Now does that mean that there is no trans actor who could have done the role well, no. I can feel people thinking it should have casted a trans person. (Spoiler alert) I thought the character was trans mtf, but then at one scene when the character was meeting the father, I could see why the director went that direction. The director wanted Leto to be a tv not a ts. Makes a big difference in casting.

[Rabbiteyes]

...And so, would this supposed trans actor hired to play this role adhere to the script as written and approved by the executive producers? (i.e., the shooting screenplay, as it was eventually shot)...Rabbiteyes, do you live in LA, have you had any interaction with 'industry types'?...well I have lived here my whole life, and I have never met a more intransigent bunch of pricks anywhere...

Actually...yea I do. I was living in hollywood for the last 4 - 5 years (now up in glendale).

I have friends that are writers, directors, actresses, and know tons of visual effects people. I've also been involved in a few films myself (not as an actor, but as more the development side of things...storyboarding, or character concepts / vfx).

Trans people being involved in the shoot could have DEFINITELY shifted the film away from some of the more problematic aspects.

Instead, they had some cis straight guy whos ideas of trans (or women) are rather questionable. Heck, even how he views prostitutes seems rather sketchy.

I still find it insane that so many are arguing that the idea of a trans woman playing a trans woman is unreasonable. Especially when the results of having no trans people (as we have just witnessed) was a rather damning portrayal.

"The other investment Leto made was to get into character as Rayon before he even got the role. Director Jean-Marc Vallée says he “never met Jared Leto. I met Rayon; I don’t know Leto. Jared never showed me Jared. During our first meeting he was Rayon, and he tried to seduce me. He was so into the character and had dressed as Rayon.”"

Are you kidding me?

[RallyCola]

this thread has proven to be no different than any other here...everyone so entrenched in their opinion with no actual debate.

rabbiteyes is making nonsensical posts because in one breath she would like trans actors to have fair shot at trans roles and in the other breath she pigeonholes trans actors into trans roles. its a ridiculous POV and contradictory when you read the sum of her posts.

moreover some of the statements about trans actors APPEAR unfounded...giovanni states that there are trans actors capable of holding their own. i know of none. if there are trans actors that have held their own with other big talent, please let me know where to find them. i contest that no trans actor has yet earned mainstream tv or movie success for their acting chops so that statement by giovanni is equally ridiculous.

runningdown is just an idiot who cannot read. i am not even going to bother because those of you who can read clearly see what my point is from my previous posts.

as far as DBC goes...the fact is that the producers did what served them best...hired an actor that would aid them in making the most money. i think they got what they were looking for. jared leto did a fine job with his role AND given his competition for this year's supporting actor award, deserved the trophy.

[RallyCola]

I still find it insane that so many are arguing that the idea of a trans woman playing a trans woman is unreasonable. Especially when the results of having no trans people (as we have just witnessed) was a rather damning portrayal.
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i'm not saying it is unreasonable...i'm saying it is demeaning for a trans actor to be limited to that type of role because of their personal disposition. moreover, it moves nothing forward and would attract improper attention. the spectacle would be on that actor just because she or he is trans...not for their skill and that makes it far less meaningful than it should be.

that you don't understand that is pretty sad.

[Wanderer1]

I would love to see t-girls in the movies and on the tube, but I suspect that the pool is small, but surely some are available, and like with GG, a good number of models turn into actresses(or at least try to).