Scarlett Johansson clarifies controversial casting comments

Scarlett Johansson has opened up about the backlash she received over a controversial comment. Photo / AP

Scarlett Johansson, 35, has responded to the comments she received this summer after stating she believes any actor "should be able to play any person, or any tree, or any animal".

The statement came after the actress dropped her role in a film based on the life of a transgender man due to criticism, according to PageSix.

"In hindsight, I mishandled that situation," Johansson recently told Vanity Fair of her previous comments.

"I was not sensitive, my initial reaction to it. I wasn't totally aware of how the trans community felt about those three actors playing – and how they felt in general about cis actors playing – transgender people. I wasn't aware of that conversation – I was uneducated."

In 2017, the star was also accused of whitewashing Ghost in the Shell, a popular Japanese manga.

Johansson went on admit she "misjudged" the situation, adding, "It was a hard time. It was like a whirlwind. I felt terribly about it. To feel like you're kind of tone deaf to something is not a good feeling."

Johansson went on to release a statement after claiming her original comments were taken out of context:

"An interview that was recently published has been edited for clickbait and is widely taken out of context," she wrote. "The question I was answering in my conversation with the contemporary artist David Salle was about the confrontation between political correctness and art. I personally feel that, in an ideal world, any actor should be able to play anybody and art, in all forms, should be immune to political correctness. That is the point I was making, albeit didn't come across that way.

"I recognise that in reality, there is a widespread discrepancy among my industry that favours caucasian, cis-gendered actors, and that not every actor has been given the same opportunities that I have been privileged to," Johansson went on. "I continue to support, and always have, diversity in every industry and will continue to fight for projects where everyone is included."

The comments originated from a 2019 July interview with As If magazine where Johansson discussed the interlinks between political correctness and art.

"Acting goes through trends," she said. "You know, as an actor I should be allowed to play any person, or any tree, or any animal because that is my job and the requirements of my job. There are a lot of social lines being drawn now, and a lot of political correctness is being reflected in art."