Elle Flanning plays a F2M teen in an upcoming movie. Nice to see our brothers getting some recognition:

https://www.yahoo.com/movies/elle-fanning-is-transformed-as-a-transgender-teen-for-102537302587.html

I think that's great! But now we'll have to put up with the endless stream of complaints about choosing cisgender actors over trans actors to play a trans role.

* sigh! *

Quote from: Michelle-G on November 14, 2014, 08:00:50 AM
I think that's great! But now we'll have to put up with the endless stream of complaints about choosing cisgender actors over trans actors to play a trans role.

* sigh! *

You can't please everyone. People just need to be grateful there's a major motion picture that seems supportive with big name, high profile actors.

I'll watch for that one. It looks like Ms. Fanning is already going for a  Hilary Swank-style Oscar grab. It's amazing she's only 16. She's quite an established star at such a young age.

Thanks for posting that video - the symbolism is freaking awesome and I think it captures a lot of our journeys pretty well.

I was hoping she was playing MTF. I think if you can't get someone that is transgender to play a transgender role, you need to get someone of the correct gender identity. Yet Hollywood keeps getting this backwards.

As I doubt there's a glut of trans actors I don't care who plays the role as long as it's done with dignity and sensitivity.

Quote from: awilliams1701 on December 30, 2014, 11:33:30 AM
I was hoping she was playing MTF. I think if you can't get someone that is transgender to play a transgender role, you need to get someone of the correct gender identity. Yet Hollywood keeps getting this backwards.

May I disagree?

Most trans guys who've been on T for any length of time have features that are far too male to be convincing as a female-bodied person. This may work better.

I thought the casting of Felicity Huffman in Transamerica hurt the movie. I didn't get a sense of someone fighting their body the way so many MtFs do. Casting a female-bodied person in a FtM role makes that battle easier to show.

And I'm heretical enough to believe that if we want transgender actors/actresses to play cisgender parts, we better be willing to see cisgender actors/actresses play transgender parts.

You can't fake hormones.  You can't fake what going through the wrong puberty does to your body, and you can't fake what HRT then corrects.  I don't think cis people should play trans people, like ever.  Not just for this one reason, but it's a big one.

Quote from: awilliams1701 on December 30, 2014, 11:33:30 AM
I was hoping she was playing MTF. I think if you can't get someone that is transgender to play a transgender role, you need to get someone of the correct gender identity. Yet Hollywood keeps getting this backwards.

I fail to see how that makes a difference. Acting is about playing a role, not about actually BEING whomever the actor is portraying. Or is Tom Cruise actually a fighter pilot? Is Will Smith actually white? Is Jamie Foxx actually a blind musician?

And besides, how many young trans actors are there in Hollywood who could play this role?

1. Harmony Santana (assuming ethnicity is not a factor in this role)
2.
3.
4.
5.

. . . and add as many blank spaces as you want until you get tired of doing that.

Tying transgender roles to trans actors is not transgender equity or trans representation in Hollywood. It's tokenism, just like it was when all black actors got all the black stereotype roles, and nothing else. If we want trans equity in Hollywood then trans actors need to be cast in roles that are NOT transgender characters.

More often than not they portray MTF with a male actor and make no effort to make him look like anything more than a guy wearing a dress. It doesn't help us at all. We aren't men wearing dresses, we are women. We make an effort to look feminine. We even make an effort to blend in with other women. That's why I think if they can't get a trans girl to play an MTF, they should get a girl to play MTF. If the movie takes place during her transition, then make an effort to make her look more manly at the beginning and let her femininity come out in the end.

Quote from: BunnyBee on December 30, 2014, 01:38:39 PM
You can't fake hormones.  You can't fake what going through the wrong puberty does to your body, and you can't fake what HRT then corrects.  I don't think cis people should play trans people, like ever.  Not just for this one reason, but it's a big one.

Quote from: awilliams1701 on December 30, 2014, 01:46:46 PM
More often than not they portray MTF with a male actor and make no effort to make him look like anything more than a guy wearing a dress. It doesn't help us at all. We aren't men wearing dresses, we are women. We make an effort to look feminine. We even make an effort to blend in with other women. That's why I think if they can't get a trans girl to play an MTF, they should get a girl to play MTF. If the movie takes place during her transition, then make an effort to make her look more manly at the beginning and let her femininity come out in the end.

Right on to both of you! 

I understand that there aren't many famous transgender actors and actress... but really it's not like this Elle Flanning is really this popular... Why can't they just use a transgender actor instead? We need real transgender actors to play role like this one. The same goes for Transparent, and Dallas Buyers Club (even though I loved Rayon played by him), the only ones that got it right are the producers in OITNB

The answer is star power, plain and simple. They don't care about activism or trans rights, although that will sell some tickets. They care about star power and they (old hollywood) thinks that'll bring in $ at the box office.

OITNB was a pretty daring experiment that happened to turn out well, IMO.

Quote from: BunnyBee on December 30, 2014, 01:38:39 PM
You can't fake hormones.  You can't fake what going through the wrong puberty does to your body, and you can't fake what HRT then corrects.  I don't think cis people should play trans people, like ever.  Not just for this one reason, but it's a big one.

I assume they would and have achieved this with the makeup department.

Also, while I am very grateful that they are doing this and making some pretty high-end media for this, I am always a little bit nervous about these things coming out... I am very worried of being disappointed, but I sincerely hope they do a good job with this.

 It's exciting we get a trans film, but it's still kinda upsetting there has been no mention of at least transgender people participating in the making of the film. I mean, if they didn't care enough to look for trans people to get to play the role and didn't get trans input, how well will it go? If they get it wrong it'll be a really bad thing for the trans community, since we don't get much good media attention as it is.
I wonder what were the makers motives to make this movie. (Regardless I'll watch it so I know whether or not it is a correct representation.)

I honestly agree with several posts already here. While it's great that we're getting some big-name representation, it's still irksome that a cisgender actress (read: female) has been chosen to play a transgender male. It's kind of a slap to the face for aspiring transguy actors and transguys as a whole, the idea that we're still just girls in masculine clothing.