Tom Hooper’s “The Danish Girl” turns ten this fall. Remember that movie? I wouldn’t blame you if you didn’t. Sure, it won Alicia Vikander, the Oscar for supporting actress, but it was pute Oscar bait, in the worst sense if the term. Mopey, melodramatic and predictable.
Vikander has decided to throw the film she won an Oscar for under the bus, and not because of its quality, but rather because of its non-conformist casting.
“I’m the first one to say it already feels extremely dated,” she told British Vogue.
Redmayne himself has admitted regret. In a recent interview with The Sunday Times, he said, “No, I wouldn’t take it on now. I made that film with the best intentions, but I think it was a mistake…The bigger discussion about the frustrations around casting is because many people don’t have a chair at the table.”
The 2015 film, which dramatizes the lives of Danish painters Lili Elbe and Gerda Wegener, cast Eddie Redmayne as Elbe, one of the first recipients of gender reassignment surgery. Redmayne earned an Oscar nomination for the role.
Vikander has called the film a “learning experience” when it comes to representation. While she praised Redmayne’s performance as “wonderful,” she acknowledged the broader conversation: “I totally understand the criticism that has been out there, because we need to make change and we need to make sure that trans men and women actually get a foot in and get work. My only concern is that we may need to get to a point in the end where we have trans women and men playing cis characters. Because that is the main thing, you know?”
Back in 2015, Redmayne tried to address the controversy head-on, telling IndieWire that “many trans people worked on the film,” and expressing hope for a future where trans actors could play both trans and cis roles. “One should be able to play any sort of part if one plays it with a sense of integrity and responsibility,” he said.
Redmayne has clearly done a 180 since those comments. However, at least one filmmaker never wavered: Joe Carnahan, the director behind muscular films like “The A-Team” and “Narc,” has been on the ‘Danish’ Girl hate-train from day one.
A few years after the film’s release, Carnahan didn’t hold back. And no, it wasn’t about the lack of trans representation.
I hated The Danish Girl so much. I said, ‘Could you make a poster for The Danish Girl and blow it apart?’ And they said, ‘Yeah, we can do that.’ I fucking hated that movie with the white-hot heat of a thousand suns. I think [the people who worked on it] are all really talented, I just hated that movie, me personally. I’m sure they hate my movies.
His reasoning is simple: Cregger sees himself first and foremost as a writer, and he has little interest in shaping stories around the predetermined “data points” that come with established IP.