Back in May we published about a new project Matt was just finished filming, titled “Anything”. We had only a few informations about it back then, specially about which part Matt would be playing.
This week media outlets started publishing about it, and Bomer will be playing a transgender sex worker.
“Anything” is based on McNeil’s play of the same name. Lynch plays a man who is suicidal over the death of his wife and moves from Mississippi to Los Angeles, where he can be under the watchful eye of his protective sister, played by Tierney. He then begins an intense friendship with Bomer’s character, a transgendered sex worker. The unlikely new couple must reconcile their vastly different backgrounds as they fill the void in each other’s lives.
The movie also stars Maura Tierney, Micah Hauptman, Margot Bingham, and Melora Hardin. Mark Ruffalo and Great Point Media’s Robert Halmi and Jim Reeve are executive producing.
Sadly, reactions on social media to the news that Matt Bomer is set to portray a trans sex worker have been been anything but positive. Hollywood has a history of casting cisgender actors as trans—see: Eddie Redmayne in The Danish Girl, Jared Leto in Dallas Buyers Club, and Jeffrey Tambor in Transparent—and while those actors, including Bomer, are incredible, the trans community outlined the problems in casting a cis actor.
On Wednesday afternoon Mark Ruffalo addressed the backlash around Bomer’s casting on Twitter. “To the Trans community,” the actor wrote. “I hear you. It’s wrenching to you see you in this pain. I am glad we are having this conversation. It’s time.”
In all honesty I suggested Matt for the role after the profound experience I had with him while making "The Normal Heart".
— Mark Ruffalo (@MarkRuffalo) August 31, 2016
Matt didn’t comment on the matter. No words yet on when Anything will be released.