Michelle Rodriguez, Sigourney Weaver to Star in Trangender Revenge Thriller ‘Tomboy’
Ugh, Hollywood. Always recycling the same old ideas, rehashing the same creative properties, endlessly reusing ideas until every last available cent of profit has been wrung out it like a bloodsoaked washcloth. So long as audiences keep gobbling them up, studios will continue to crank out their Tranformerses and their Mans both Bat- and Spider-. It’s like every day brings news of yet another gen-X staple from the ‘80s receiving a high-polish modern-day update in a naked attempt to capitalize on misplaced nostalgia for a warmly remembered past. When will Hollywood finally try out a little originali— what’s that you say? A transgender revenge thriller starring Michelle Rodriguez and Sigourney Weaver? Forget we said anything.
Today’s hottest exclusive comes from The Hollywood Reporter, and it concerns an enticing new film titled Tomboy with a hell of a logline. An elite hitman gets double-crossed by his gang and delivered to an underground black-market surgeon referred to only as The Doctor, who then drugs him and reassigns his gender against his will. Now an elite hitwoman, she embarks upon a rampage of vengeance until she can track down the sinister medical (un)professional. Rodriguez will play the lead role during both the male and female portions of the film, and Weaver has signed on to portray the Doctor. As if this wasn’t tantalizingly strange enough, The Warriors director Walter Hill will take the helm on the picture.
Issues of transgender visibility and rights have become increasingly vital over the past couple years, and so a fear that the film may lack the delicacy and sensitivity to handle the hot-button material would not be entirely unfounded. Casting cisgender actors to portray trans roles is already seen as a serious faux pas by activists, and it certainly seems like the film’s focus will not be on the trials faced by those who undergo the experience of transitioning from one gender to another. Even so, the notion of “transgender revenge rampage” is simply too tempting to pass up.