In a rare and fierce public statement, Ruby Rose has taken aim at Sydney Sweeney over the new film, Christy.
Starring Sydney, the movie is a boxing-biopic that traces the life of boxing legend and domestic violence survivor, Christy Martin.
Taking to Threads, Ruby Rose claimed that she had originally been attached to portray Christy, who is also queer, and that in the early stages of production the film was almost entirely made up of a queer cast.
“The original Christy Martin script was incredible. Life changing. I was attached to play [Christy],” the Australian actor wrote.
“Everyone had experience with the core material. Most of us were actually gay. It’s part of why I stayed in acting. Losing roles happens all the time.”
Ruby Rose went on to slam Sydney for her portrayal of the boxing legend, accusing her of “ruining the film”.
“For her PR to talk about it flopping and saying SS did it for the ‘people’,” she wrote, making reference to the film’s poor box office performance on opening weekend. “None of ‘the people’ want to see someone who hates them, parading around pretending to be us.”
“You’re a cretin and you ruined the film. Period. Christy deserved better.”
Christy had one of the lowest box office performances in history, pulling in just US$1.3 million on opening weekend.
Sydney hasn’t responded to the posts but defended the film on Instagram, writing she was “so deeply proud” of the movie, the story, and representing Christy Martin, whom she described as “strong and resilient”.
Queer representation has long been one of Hollywood’s biggest failings, with a long history of straight, cis actors portraying real-life queer people. In 2018, Scarlett Johansson famously received backlash when it emerged that she was attached to star as Dante “Tex” Gill, a trans man. After taking on feedback from trans actors, activists, and filmmakers, she exited the project.
Before her, Eddie Redmayne was criticised for his portrayal of Lili Elbe, one of the first known people to undergo gender-affirming surgery. Despite an Oscar nomination for his performance, he later said that if he had his time again, he wouldn’t take the role.
Other actors who have faced similar criticism include Jared Leto, Alicia Vikander, Hilary Swank and Armie Hammer.
And so Sydney is just the latest actor to join the long list of heterosexual actors to portray queer people. It only acts to reinforce the systemic barriers that queer actors face, preventing their access to the few queer roles that exist.
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