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Michelle Rodriguez Made 'Trans-Hitman' Movie Because Industry Is 'Low On Controversy'

Ben Arnold

Michelle Rodriguez has justified making the controversial ‘trans-hitman’ thriller ‘(Re)Assignment’ by saying that she did so because she’s ‘bored with the status quo’ of Hollywood.

The movie, directed by ‘The Warriors’ helmsman Walter Hill, has come under fire for its treatment of transgender issues.

In it, Rodriguez’s character is given a sex change by a rogue doctor, played by Sigourney Weaver, as revenge for a hit he’s taken out.

Transgender people and activists have called for a boycott of the movie, for portraying the transitioning of gender as a punishment, or a suitable act of revenge.

Posting a picture of herself in full beard prosthetics, she wrote: “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.

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“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.

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

“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 (sic).

“Lol hope y’all will enjoy the flic sometime, when we sell it of course… It’s interesting to say the least.”

Not all users took her rationalising well, however.

One hit back, saying: “Haha wow trans women are so funny they look so fake hahahaha hilarious.

“F**k making trans folks the punchline. F**k movies where being trans is contrived as “punishment” for characters who do bad sh*t. This is f**king nasty. Your way of kicking against the status quo is transphobia, which, surprise, is part of the status quo.”

Meanwhile, critics have savaged the movie.

Describing the movie as a ‘total disasterpiece’, Vulture‘s Kyle Buchanan wrote: “Needless to say, in the year 2016, a movie that treats gender-reassignment as the ultimate karmic punishment for mass murder might be a little out of step with the times.”

The Guardian‘s Benjamin Lee added that the movie was ‘staggeringly incompetant – like it was made for a dare’.

Image credits: Instagram/SBS Productions