In July 2020, Halle Berry became the focus of a controversy that sparked a debate about who should play transgender characters in Hollywood. The actress, who won an Oscar for Monster’s Ball, had revealed that she was considering a role in which she would play a trans man. Days later, she announced that she would no longer consider taking it on and issued an apology.
It all began during an Instagram Live conversation with stylist Christin Brown on July 3, 2020. When they talked about her upcoming project, Berry said she had been offered a character she found fascinating and would probably have to cut her hair to play.
“It’s a character in which the woman is trans, so she’s a woman who transitioned to a man”, she explained at the time. She also said she wanted to understand that experience and explore the character’s story. However, by repeatedly referring to the character as female and describing the character’s story as a female story, she drew criticism from trans people and from those who questioned whether a cisgender actress—that is, someone whose gender identity matches the sex they were assigned at birth—should take on the role.
The discussion wasn’t limited to Berry: for years, some members of the trans community had been calling for greater opportunities for trans actors to play trans characters, in an industry where those roles had often gone to cisgender performers.
On July 6, the actress posted a statement acknowledging her mistake and confirming that she was stepping away from the project. Her message read:
«Over the weekend, I had the opportunity to talk about my consideration of an upcoming role as a transgender man, and I would like to apologize for my comments. As a cisgender woman, I now understand that I should not have considered this role and that the transgender community should undoubtedly have the opportunity to tell its own stories.
I’m grateful for the guidance and critical conversation over the past few days, and I will continue to listen, educate myself, and learn from this mistake. I am committed to being an ally and using my voice to promote better representation on screen, both in front of and behind the camera».
The LGBTQ+ organization GLAAD praised Berry for listening to trans people’s concerns and learning from the criticism. The controversy also brought to mind other similar cases in Hollywood, such as Scarlett Johansson’s, who left a project in 2018 in which she was set to play a trans man.
The name of the film Berry had been offered was never made public, and the actress was never officially cast in the role. So the images circulating of her playing with a mustache or showing underarm hair are not from the film or a portrayal of the character: they are independent images that can serve as a visual reference, but not as proof of what she would have looked like on screen.
The controversy left a question that remains relevant in the film industry: who should have the opportunity to tell a story when the character represents an experience the performer has not personally lived?