Many disagree that the former 'Wizards of Waverly Place' actress, who is straight, portrays the openly gay explorer in upcoming movie 'In the Shadow of the Mountain'.
- Nov 12, 2020
AceShowbiz - Selena Gomez has been dragged on Twitter for taking on the role of an important character from LGBTQ+ community. The 28-year-old singer/actress has been announced to play trailblazing gay mountaineer Silvia Vasquez-Lavado in an upcoming biopic.
Titled "In the Shadow of the Mountain", the film is based on upcoming memoir of the same name by Vasquez-Lavado, The Hollywood Report reports. The Peruvian-American explorer became the first openly gay woman to complete the Seven Summits, the tallest mountain on each continent from both the Messner and Bass lists, in June 2018.
Elgin James, FX's "Mayans MC" co-creator who also wrote and directed "Little Birds", has been tapped to write and direct "In the Shadow of the Mountain". Scott Budnick is producing through his company One Community, alongside Oscar winner Donna Gigliotti and her Tempesta Films banner.
Gigliotti said of turning Vasquez-Lavado's story into a big-screen project, "Silvia is a force of nature. Scott and I are so excited to work with Elgin and Selena to tell this story of resilience, courage, adventure and humanity."
Budnick added, "We are thrilled to get to work bringing Silvia's incredible and inspiring story to life onscreen."
While Gomez has a quite long list of acting credits, many disagreed that she got chosen to take on the role of the real-life lesbian figure. "There are plenty of gay actors in the world who could play this person," one person expressed objection to the casting.
"But she's not gay. Where are all the lesbian actresses," another reacted to the reports. "as much as i like selena it is kind of interesting how people are praising her for taking a role from lgbt actors but ripped Scarlett Johansson a new one for taking a role from a marginalized group of people like what?"
One other person thinks that Gomez didn't deserve the role because of her "mediocre" skills. "I'm less upset at the gay thing and more upset that Selena somehow gets all these roles while being a mediocre actress," the said person argued.
However, many have defended Gomez's casting, with one rhetorically asking, "the actors who play psychopaths in movies are psychopaths in real life?" Another clapped back at the critics, "Sooo, only gay actors can play gay people now? Are they gonna go back in time and cancel Brokeback Mountain?"
A fan is already rooting for the "Monte Carlo" star, gushing, "OMG SELENA GO GET YOUR OSCAR."
