‘Rub and Tug’ Will Now Feature a Trans Actor in Lead Role Instead of Scarlett Johansson; Will Be a Series Instead of a Movie
Posted on Tuesday, July 21st, 2020 by Ben Pearson
Scarlett Johansson drew major heat in 2018 when word came out that she would be playing a trans man in Rub and Tug, a feature film intended to reunite the actress with her Ghost in the Shell director Rupert Sanders. After a loud backlash to that casting announcement, Johansson eventually stepped away from the project altogether, and we haven’t heard any updates about its status…until now.
Rub and Tug, which tells the story of massage parlor kingpin Dante “Tex” Gill and his run-ins with the mafia in 1970s Pittsburgh, is being reworked from a movie into a TV series, and the producers have hired a trans writer to write the pilot script. And the lead role, the one that Johansson was once slated to play? That part will now be played by a trans actor.
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