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Is it crazy to say that Denis O'Hare wasn't the perfect casting for Liz Taylor?
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No, he was cast perfectly as a person who hadn’t transitioned until later in life. I don’t know that a trans woman would have felt very comfortable dressing up/appearing as a man for all those flash backs either.
Likely no. I had a trans-woman friend who transitioned around age 45. She was asked to dress/present as a man for her parents and the suggestion alone was traumatic. An actor may be prepared to do it to show the journey, but the producer/director would need to take very good care of that actor.
Denis was suburb here❤️.
yeah that's a problem that had always vexed me. how to cast an actor who can play pre- and post- transition versions of the same character
They did it in Orange is the New Black by using the actresses twin brother for pre-transition scenes. Not always possible
oh I didn't know that! that's pretty smart. must be trippy though for both twins lol
wait why is this comment getting downvotes 😭😭
I don't see the problem in this particular case. It was handled well and, from what I remember, Denis did plenty of research for this role. It's an acting gig and if it's handled respectfully it should be tolerated.
People are also different and not every portrayal needs to live up to someones specific idea.
oh I absolutely agree that Denis devoured that role down to the ground and I loved it
No. He was perfect. He was so good that at times, I forgot he was a man. Plus they did a lot of flashbacks when he was a straight male, which may have been hard if they used a trans woman.
Nope. Dude was perfect. He had to play himself before becoming Liz, as well as after, which is really what gave his backstory that much power.
I have nothing against casting trans actors to play trans characters, but I do take issue with the notion that ONLY trans people can play trans people, or ONLY lgbtq actors can play lgbtq characters. That's the whole point of being an actor - being able to convincingly and caringly become someone they are not.
Could you imagine a Hollywood where the only actors allowed to play doctors are those who actually went to medical school? You can only play a cop if you are actually a police officer? In that world, there's literally only one person alive who's ever been president and acted in movies and on TV, and so that would kinda suck.
This topic is weird
it's not a weird thing to talk about trans positive casting
It's pretty weird to dismiss his acting with this character and how much heart he gave to her.
? I didn't dismiss Denis O'Hare. Liz is my second favourite character and I absolutely love what Denis did with the role, just theorising on the multiple ways it could have been done
I'm not transfemme but I am non-binary and I wouldn't want to see any other performer do that role. In general I prefer to have trans actors playing trans characters, but I think it needs to be a "don't default to casting cis, and proceed with care and thoughtfulness if you do" protocol and not a "never cast cis, ever, not even once" protocol.
Admittedly, AHS also gets a bit of extra flexibility from me because it will also cast a trans actress as a cis human woman (rather than as a trans woman, alien, fairy, etc.). You don't see that a lot even today.
actually very valid opinion and the most diplomatic comment I've seen on Reddit in a while lol. I absolutely agree with the casting protocol youve come up with! And yeah I agree AHS has been better about trans positive casting than any other media of its time
If his performance can't be topped, does that not make him the perfect casting already?
He was and I think it shows that a lot of these discussions about only gay/trans actors should portray gay/trans characters lacks nuance. It’s a case by case basis but as long as there’s care and respect in the performance I don’t think one has to identify as the type of person they’re playing. They are acting after all.
Also, as others have stated there are a lot of reasons why trans actors may have not wanted to play that role and since Denis approached the role with dignity and respect I think it works. He’s also stated that they weren’t sure if he was playing a cross dresser, drag queen or trans woman until midway through filming the season as well.