A newly-circulating rumor that a trans-identified male actor will star in the latest adaptation of the critically acclaimed horror novel Carrie has sparked outrage from critics on social media. Although the casting is currently unconfirmed, Hunter Schafer, a male who identifies as a “woman,” is reportedly in talks to play the titular role.
The film, adapted from Stephen King’s award-winning novel, follows the story of a lonely teenage girl from an abusive household who learns she has telekinetic powers. After getting her period for the first time while showering in the girls’ locker room, her classmates, including the most popular girl in school, Sue Snell, mock her by throwing tampons at her.
Feeling remorseful for bullying Carrie, Snell invites her to attend the prom with her boyfriend, Tommy Ross. Following a disturbing prank conducted by the antagonist Christine Hargensen and her boyfriend Billy Nolan resulting in Ross’ death, Carrie, overwhelmed by rage, goes on a town-destroying rampage, killing hundreds of people.
After the news about Schafer began to circulate, some were quick to question why the remake of the cult classic would potentially cast a male to play a pubescent teenage girl, especially one whose menstrual cycle acts as a major plot catalyst.
On X (formerly Twitter), one user who goes by the handle @LadieLabrys called it “misogyny” to consider Schafer for the role, labeling it an “insult” to women and girls.
“They’re laughing in our faces, these men mock our pain, mimic— dress up like us and finger wag when we bite back,” she added. “Enough is enough. This is misogyny.”
“Who the fuck thinks it would be a good idea to have a whole bepenised man play the role in which the character visibly gets her period in the [locker] room and is bullied for it,” she continued in a thread that went viral on the platform.
“What a fucking mockery! I’m sick of this shit! Ryan Murphy already cast a man to play a pregnant mother in the new [American Horror Story] series. It’s a slap in the face. This is renaissance theater era misogyny, in which men are considered more suitable at playing women than actual women.”
In response, another user commented: “Reminds me of the romantic comedy ‘Together Together,’ in which a trans woman plays a surrogate mother.”
According to The Cinemaholic, Schafer, who rose in popularity after appearing as a transgender high school student in HBO’s hit drama Euphoria, is the only actor currently rumored to star as Carrie.
In the ninth grade, Schafer was reportedly diagnosed with gender dysphoria but has expressed that he likes people to know he is “not a cis girl” because that is not something he is or feels like he is: “I do like people to know that I’m not a cisgirl because that’s not something that I am or feel like I am,” he said. “I’m proud to be a trans person.”
Speaking with Dazed in 2019, Schafer also admitted he is “closer to what you call a lesbian,” and two years later posted on X that his sexuality is “bi or pan or something.”
Last year, Schafer was forced to delete a Instagram post in which he uploaded a disturbing, hand-drawn diagram “explaining” his gender identity journey.
The diagram, initially uploaded in 2018, prominently featured text stating “my gender was so influenced by a need to be used by men” and that he had felt “femme under the conditioning of being gay” but didn’t feel “femme enough without being a victim of rape.”
