Michelle Rodriguez defends 'transphobic' new action film on the basis that she's bisexual

Michelle Rodriguez defends ‘transphobic’ new action film on the basis that she’s bisexual

Michelle Rodriguez’s new movie (re)Assignment sparked intense criticism when it was first announced last October for its controversial story line which sees the Resident Evil starhitman seek revenge after being forced to undergo gender reassignment surgeyr.

As the film’s release date approaches, however, Rodriquez has defended what she describes as a “crazy b movie” in an Instagram post which includes a photo of her being made-up as a man, complete with prosthetic beard.

“It’s in the B Movie genre, a culture shock pic, shot like a ‘film Noir’ graphic novel. I played a male assassin for four days in the movie, boy was that beard itchy,” Rodriguez explained in the post.

The 38-year-old added that she felt her body “comes off hermaphroditic” in the film. ‘Hermaphrodite’ is another word for an intersex person who has reproductive organs normally associated with both male and female sexes.

Heheheh at TIFF promoting ‘TomBoy A Revengers Tale’ producers are convinced the new movie title should be re-assignment but I’ll stick to the title I signed on to shoot… ‘Tomboy’. It’s in the B Movie genre, a culture shock pic, shot like a ‘film Noir’ graphic novel. I played a male assassin for four days in the movie, boy was that beard itchy. Then out revenge, a twisted Doctor played by Sigourney Weaver decides to take my character’s manhood away with a sex change to teach him a lesson. I never felt more like a woman than when I played a man. For the rest of the film I was a man stuck in a newly operated sex changed body. I had fake boob covers to look like man implants & I wore a fake hairy ‘mangina’ which you can’t really see cause they made it so hairy. In retrospect I’m I glad took the plunge, the industry seems to be running low on edgy creativity & ‘real take a chance’ controversy, sometimes it makes me want to scream, instead I did what I always do when I’m bored with the ‘status quo’, I shot crazy b movie Indy to express my frustration. I wish I had more than a few weeks to prepare for this flic, I would have gained a lot more weight, & we would have made some hairy arms to match my Mediterranean look. I feel that my skinny build sometimes comes off hermaphoditic in the film, especially when you add the crazy male chest for the nude sequences. Lol hope y’all will enjoy the flic sometime, when we sell it of course… It’s interesting to say the least.

A photo posted by Michelle Rodriguez (@mrodofficial) on Sep 13, 2016 at 2:28pm PDT

According to the BBC, Rodriguez has also appeared to claim that the film is above reproach because she herself is a member of the LGBT community.

“You can’t really argue with me because I’m you,” she said, adding that she would “never do a movie with the intention of offending anybody in the LGBT community” because she is “part of it.”

Meanwhile, Rodriguez’s co-star Sigourney Weaver, who plays the crazed doctor responsible for the reassignment surgery, has also defended the film’s subject-matter, insisting that nobody was “demeaned or denigrated” by it.

“It’s not a Disney movie – it is noir,” the 66-year-old added.

Early screenings of (re)Assignment have received a number of negative reviews across the board.

The Guardian awarded the film t one out of five stars, and commenting that “Every single decision made by [director, Walter] Hill is bad,”

Meanwhile, review aggregator Metacritic currently gives it a 32 out of 100, based on nine reviews, indicating “generally unfavourable reviews.”

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