The Jared Leto Question

[giovanni_hotel]

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.

Condescending much??

It's disingenuous to argue because you personally don't know of any prominent trans-actors there must not be any TS capable of playing basically themselves in a movie.

That's what screen-tests are for, to see if someone can sell a line in a script in front of a camera.

Call me crazy, but my gut tells me there are TS women out here with enough of a dramatic sense to act in a movie..playing a transwoman.

Rabbiteyes isn't pigeonholing TS in trans roles, but I agree with her point if you're going to have an actor play a trans character on film, it wouldn't hurt to seek out a TS actor.

It's not uncommon for people from underrepresented communities to be cast as first time actors in movies and be quite excellent in those roles.

Cambodian Haing S. Ngor had NEVER ACTED IN A MOVIE before he was cast as a Cambodian refugee in The Killing Fields. He won Best Supporting Oscar.


For character roles, it's really not that uncommon for first time actors to be cast and do a terrific job.


It's ludicrous to expect TS actors to pay their dues working their way up through repertory theatre etc., before they've 'earned' the right to play TS roles.

I think it's really difficult for some demographics in our society to understand how phony and demeaning it is to routinely see OTHER people starring in roles other than the ACTUAL people the actors are attempting to portray.

[the_corner]

Do you hire a transsexual to portray a transsexual in a movie? Maybe. More than likely NO.

No, you do not hire a doctor to play a doctor on screen, or a cop to play a cop. No, you do not hire a real terrorist to play a terrorist on screen. Its called a role and you hire a PROFESSIONAL ACTOR.

Emphasize in the word PROFESSIONAL.

Somehow people tend to underestimate the jobs of others and to magically think that "you can do them", well, sorry, but no, YOU CAN'T.

The fact that you do something in real life does not imply that you can do it within a film set and keep up with the part.

And by the way, as a producer, you do not gamble your hard earned budget on a project with no professionals that does not guarantee that you will be able to complete the job successfully.

When you guys comment about Jared Leto maybe not meeting a trans once or twice in his life, well, how do you know? How do you know the work that he did to prepare for the part?, it sounds like a bunch of prejudiced statements from some people that have little right to judge others.

Dallas Buyers Club is a UNION show. How many TS SAG union actors are out there?... that are willing to play the part... and that can actually play the part? Not many (if any) I can guarantee you that.

Do not make the mistake of underestimating the work of others, and to somehow thing that you or you're community is somehow entitled to something that you're not.

[VictoriaVeil]

Do you hire a transsexual to portray a transsexual in a movie? Maybe. More than likely NO.

How many TS SAG union actors are out there?... that are willing to play the part... and that can actually play the part? Not many (if any) I can guarantee you that.

Do not make the mistake of underestimating the work of others, and to somehow thing that you or you're community is somehow entitled to something that you're not.

DO you hire a transexual actor for a role.. I say Yes. And before you jump on me, I agree the actor should be professional. How many can play the part? More than you think. How many are SAG? Very very few as you have to get hired to enter the union (catch 22)

Do i think he Jared did well, absolutely. Do I think a Ts performer could do the gig. In a heartbeat.

My two cents.

[giovanni_hotel]

A TS playing a TS in a movie is now considered an undeserved entitlement??lol

Wow.

Jared Leto was playing real life for all too many TS. He didn't discover some unknown emotional depth in the psyche of transwomen.

The producer and director of Dallas Buyer's Club made no effort to find or screen-test a TS to play the role.

To assume it's because none existed is myopic and dismissive.

When the character is a woman, you try to find a female actor. When the character is a man, it doesn't hurt to cast a dude in that role.

Being trans isn't some pretense. If being a TS is inherent to the character on film, you as a director are better off making the honest effort to find a TS to play the role.

[the_corner]

DO you hire a transexual actor for a role.. I say Yes. And before you jump on me, I agree the actor should be professional. How many can play the part? More than you think. How many are SAG? Very very few as you have to get hired to enter the union (catch 22)

Do i think he Jared did well, absolutely. Do I think a Ts performer could do the gig. In a heartbeat.

My two cents.

I give you this. If I was doing this show, would I hire a transsexual? I would tell you that I would consider it.

But that doesn't mean that I would do it, because there are other variables in the game that go beyond idealistic choice, and in the end, you do what you have to do to get the project going, and that's all.

[Quiet Reflections]

other than the girl in orange is the new black Im not sure I have seen a good ts actor/actress. Im sure there have to be some out there but being good at one role doesn't mean you can pull off any role. I think they made the right choice for marketing and his onscreen chops, And while im not a fan of jared leto he has done some good movies, has it been a while since the last one.....sure but then he is busy touring in a platinum selling band.

[robertlouis]

My guess is Buyers Club will be a short footnote in "the progression of the tranny" down the road.

And it will be the black face period...when cis straight men played trans women.

I agree entirely. And in due course it will be looked on as just as embarrassing as the portrayal that gained Hattie McDaniel the first Oscar to be awarded to an African-American in Gone With The Wind. And it took another 30 years for civil rights legislation to be carried into law.

Call me over-optimistic, and in spite of the rabid hostility of various blue states to equal marriage and transsexual rights, there is definitely a positive trend towards acceptance, and it won't take thirty years.

But while we're discussing Jared Leto's suitability, consider the competition for the best supporting actor role. Barkhad Abdi was nominated for his role as the lead pirate in Captain Phillips and imho filled the screen every bit as powerfully as the double Oscar winner Tom Hanks.

And had he ever acted in a film before? No. Paul Greengrass wanted as much realism as he could get, so chose a Somali without acting experience.

Irony, anyone?

[robertlouis]

A view from within the transsexual community. Grishno is occasionally provocative but usually talks a lot of sense.

[Prospero]

I agree with the general thrust of the arguments here. It should have been a transsexual. But as Robert louis says, it's a marker on the road. After all would anyone but an Indian play Gandhi today. Yet in 1982 Ben Kingsley was cast in the role.

Oh and Leto was actually pretty good.

[robertlouis]

Ben Kingsley was actually born Krishna Pandit Bhanji, the child of an Indian father and English mother, but the general point is well-made.

Taking it back still further, I remember watching the film of Olivier's Othello at school and being taken aback by the black stain Olivier as Othello left on Desdemona's (Maggie Smith's) cheek after an embrace.