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Mark Ruffalo addresses controversial casting of Matt Bomer as trans woman

“I hear you. It’s wrenching to see you in this pain. I am glad we are having this conversation.”
By · Updated on June 3, 2021

The film is “in the can,” as they say in Hollywood, meaning production has wrapped on Anything, the new Matt Bomer film in which he plays a transgender sex worker, living next door to a newly widowed man from Mississippi. And actor Mark Ruffalo — who worked with Bomer on The Normal Heart — is responding to online criticism that a cisgender actor was cast instead of a transgender actor.

Ruffalo doubled as executive producer on the film and took responsibility for the casting on Twitter:

That was a followup tweet to this one, in which he acknowledged that he was now aware of the hurt the casting caused:

Both Bomer and Ruffalo have been hit hard on social media ever since Variety broke the news earlier in the week about the casting.

To critics who called for the part to be recast and the film, reshot, Ruffalo was kind but firm:

One of those looking to help Ruffalo learn is trans writer, actress, filmmaker and activist Jen Richards, who auditioned for another part in the film but wasn’t chosen. She tweeted extensively this week about why the casting matters and was one of the first to thank Ruffalo for addressing the controversy.

Bomer has not responded via social media.

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