Sanders' casting has upset transgender actors as Johansson, a woman who was born a female, has been cast as Dante "Tex" Gill in the forthcoming film Rub and Tug; a brothel owner and mobster in 1970s Pittsburgh who, although also born female, assumed the identity of a man.
This is not the first time Sanders and Johansson have courted controversy. Their 2017 film, Ghost in the Shell, an adaptation of the Japanese manga of the same name, sparked accusations of whitewashing after Johansson, a white woman, played Motoko Kusanagi, a Japanese character.
Johannson has come under fire for showing little remorse about choosing to take on the role. The actress told US feminist culture website Bustle: "Tell them that they can be directed to Jeffrey Tambor, Jared Leto, and Felicity Huffman's reps for comment."
Lysette accused the 73-year-old actor of sexual misconduct last year. The actress claimed that Tambor told her, "My God, Trace. I want to attack you sexually", after she emerged in her costume of skimpy pyjamas.
She then said that Tambor "came in close, put his bare feet on top of mine so I could not move, leaned his body against me, and began quick, discreet thrusts back and forth against my body". Tambor officially departed from the series at the beginning of this year after three women came forward to accuse him of sexual misconduct.
Tambor responded to the claims and expressed, "deep regret if any action of mine was ever misinterpreted by anyone as being aggressive" but denied that he had "deliberately harassed anyone", saying "the idea is simply and utterly untrue."
Lysette also shared a tweet from transgender Sense8 actor Jamie Clayton which lamented the lack of opportunities for trans actors in Hollywood, something that trans Orange is the New Black star, Laverne Cox, has also discussed.
Last year was one of the deadliest ever recorded for transgender people in the US, with the Human Rights Campaign recording 28 deaths. So far in 2018, at least 14 transgender people were fatally shot or killed by other kinds of violence.
This article originally appeared on the Daily Telegraph.
