Arts & Entertainment
Dustin Lance Black says ‘amazing trans actors’ aren’t hard to find
the screenwriter says they had many good auditions
Dustin Lance Black (Washington Blade file photo by Michael Key)
Dustin Lance Black says finding transgender talent for acting projects isn’t as hard as Hollywood makes it seem.
Black cast transgender actors in his upcoming miniseries “When We Rise” and told PrideSource it wasn’t difficult to find them.
“The big surprise is, it was not hard to find amazing trans actors and actresses to play these parts,” Black says. “What was difficult was deciding who to cast because so many great tapes came in. So, I call bullshit on Hollywood if they say it’s difficult. And if they think it’s difficult, then they should call our casting directors because they found unbelievable trans actors and actresses, and it was actually tough to decide who to cast.”
When making casting decisions Black says he looks for both experience for the role and acting talent.
“First and foremost, when I’m casting any role, I’m gonna look for somebody who can bring a part of their experience to the role. They still have to be a great actor, so if I can’t find anyone in the world who shares some experience that they’re about to portray in this character, who’s also a good actor, then I’ll happily go for someone else,” Black says.
The screenwriter also remembered that it was a challenge to find openly gay actors for his film “Milk” but says times have changed.
“When we were doing ‘Milk,’ that’s what we said we wanted to do, and the studio gave us full permission to do that,” Black says. “So, we called agents and manager friends and they all said they didn’t have any gay actors or actresses, which is funny since I knew some of their clients were gay. It was very frustrating, but thankfully that’s begun to change as well, particularly in this young generation of actors and actresses who, in one way or another, have come out on social media when they were kids and there’s no putting them back in the closet in today’s social-media age.”
“When We Rise” premieres on Monday, Feb. 27 on ABC.
Baltimore
This John Waters interview has been edited for readability — but perhaps not human decency
Pope of Trash dishes on Trump, plane etiquette, last meal, and more
By WESLEY CASE | At 80 years old, John Waters is still the ideal dinner guest — incisively sharp, quick-witted and funny as hell.
The chic Baltimore native proved it again and again in a recent Zoom interview, calling from his summer home in Provincetown, Mass.
The occasion was the Blu-ray releases of two of his movies — the 1977 dark comedy “Desperate Living” and his enduring 1988 musical “Hairspray” — on June 23 by the Criterion Collection, which publishes restorations of films it deems culturally important. The Criterion stamp of approval has become the gold standard among cinephiles.
“It’s like getting an award,” said Waters, who wrote and directed both films.
The rest of this article can be read on the Baltimore Banner’s website.
The Washington Blade held the seventh annual Pride on the Pier at The Wharf DC on Saturday, June 13.
(Washington Blade photos by Landon Shackelford)
The 2026 Lost River Pride Festival was held on the scenic grounds of the Lost River Farmers Market in Lost City, W.Va. on Saturday, June 13. Headliner Tom Goss performed at the festival and gave a second performance at the nearby Guesthouse Lost River.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)
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