Hilary Swank reflects on her Oscar winning role in ‘Boys Don't Cry'

Hilary Swank is reflecting on how a trans person couldn’t play the character of a transgender man Brandon Teena in Boys Don't Cry when it was first made, but she thinks now the role should go to a trans actor.

Swank, who won an Oscar for her role in the movie, says actors didn't come out as trans in Hollywood back then and so the role went to her. However, she says now that there are trans actors in Hollywood, if the movie is ever remade, a trans person should get the role.

“Now for the most part, in most places, it's accepted to be a trans person. [But] at that time, people weren't even coming out as gay and lesbian, it was a career killer, or whatever,” she told The Times of London.

“They weren't ready to tell their family, or maybe they weren't even ready to tell themselves,” she added.

She continued, “We're in such different times - I feel like it would be a great opportunity for an actor who's trans to play that role.”

“But I also feel like actors are actors. We are supposed to play different people and I would like to hope trans people are getting the opportunity to play non-trans people as well,” she noted.

Boys Don’t Cry was released in 1999 and also starred Chloe Sevigny and Peter Sarsgaard. Hilary went on to win an Oscar for her performance and bagged her second Oscar for her lead role in Million Dollar Baby.