Halle Berry Facing Scrutiny Over Thoughts About Playing a Transgender Man

Oscar-winner Halle Berry came under scrutiny after she revealed in an Instagram Live interview on Friday she was preparing for a project in which she would play a transgender man. Berry was criticized for taking a role from a transgender actor and misgendering the character throughout her interview. On Monday, Berry announced she was withdrawing herself from consideration for the part.

Berry sat down for an hour-long interview with hairstylist Christina Brown and said she was considering taking the role of a transgender person who transitioned from a woman to a man. “[It’s] a character where the woman is a trans character, so she’s a woman that transitioned into a man,” the actress told Brown, reports E! News. “She’s a character in a project I love that I might be doing.”

Berry said the project was pitched to her just before she began work on Bruised, which is slated to debut during the Toronto Film Festival in September. “This project got pitched to me right when I was on the brink of making Bruised and making my directorial debut and I so was in the mindset of getting in the body to play that,” Berry said. “But this got pitched to me, and I thought, after I do this movie, that’s the character I’m going to play.”

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The Monster’s Ball star said she was going to do a “deep dive” into the “world” of the trans community. She said the character was “so interesting to me” and it would be her next project. She would have to cut off her hair for the part. She also called the movie a “female story” that is “important” to share.

Social media users quickly took offense to Berry’s words, noting she is a cisgender star taking a part from a trans actor. The filmmakers behind Disclosure: Trans Lives on Screen, a new Netflix film about Hollywood’s portrayal of transgender people, called Berry out on Twitter, asking for her to reconsider playing a trans man. After Berry announced she would not play the part, the filmmakers thanked her for “listening and learning.”

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In her statement Monday, Berry apologized for her comments and said she now understands “that I should not have considered this role, and that the transgender community should undeniably have the opportunity to tell their own stories.” She is “grateful for the guidance and critical conversation” she had over the weekend and will “continue to listen, educate and learn from this mistake. I vow to be an ally in using my voice to promote better representation on-screen, both in front of and behind the camera.”

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Trans rights groups and activists have been pushing Hollywood to stop casting cisgender actors as trans people. In 2018, Scarlett Johansson was set to play a transgender character in a movie called Rub and Tug, but she withdrew from the part after facing backlash.

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After Berry released a statement confirming she would no longer take the part, many thanked her for her decision. “We are pleased that [Berry] listened to the concerns of transgender people and learned from them. Other powerful people should do the same. A good place to start is by watching [Disclosure] to learn about trans representation in media,” GLAAD said in its own statement.

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