Actress Hilary Swank has revealed her thoughts on her role in the critically acclaimed film Boys Don’t Cry.
Speaking with Variety, the two-time Oscar winner opens up about whether she would take the role today, stating: ‘Twenty-one years later, not only are trans people having their lives and living, thankfully, we still have a long way to go in their safety and their inclusivity.”
She continued: “But we now have a bunch of trans actors who would obviously be a lot more right for the role and have the opportunity to actually audition for the role.”
Boys Don’t Cry is a film based on the true story of Brandon Teena, a trans man whose life was cut short after falling victim to a fatal hate crime.
Regarding trans visibility in the late ’90s, the actress states: “I mean, trans people weren’t really walking around in the world saying, ‘Hey, I’m trans’.”
Swank also touches on the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the new representation and inclusion standards that will be set in place for the 2024 Oscars.
“In order to create change and to really make people tell stories that represent the world in which we live in, which is a colourful world full of all different types of people, rules like that need to be set,” she says.
“It does a great disservice to people who are living in the world because they don’t get to see themselves represented on the screen in a way that makes them feel seen and heard.”
The need for more LGBTQ+ visibility in Hollywood has been a topic of conversation in recent years.
In the 2020 GLAAD Studio Responsibility Index, the organization, states: “There were zero transgender or non-binary characters counted in mainstream releases this year”
The same report also listed an incredible increase in LGBTQ+ representation in television.
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