Scarlett Johansson has tried to fend off critics over her new role, playing a transgender character in a new biopic.

It was announced yesterday that Johansson is to take on the role of Dante ‘Tex’ Gill in the movie Rub and Tug, who ran several mob-connected massage parlours in 1970s Pittsburgh, to be directed by Rupert Sanders.

Gill, born Lois Jean Gill, was a woman who lived as a man, wore men’s clothing, and was in a long-term relationship with a woman, Cynthia Bruno.

The announcement was soon followed with criticism that the role should really be played by a transgender man, rather than Johansson.

However in a statement Johansson shot back at her critics, saying: “Tell them they can be directed to Jeffrey Tambor, Jared Leto, and Felicity Huffman’s reps for comment.”

All three actors have played transgender characters, Tambor in Transparent, Leto in Dallas Buyers Club and Huffman in Transamerica.

But despite her remarks, she is still being slated for the decision to take on the part.

British actress Emilia Clarke is Esquire’s Sexiest Woman Alive 2015. (Photo: Vincent Peters/Esquire)

Game of Thrones star and 28-year-old British actress Emilia Clarke has just been named Esquire’s Sexiest Woman Alive 2015, an accolade held by Scarlett Johansson, Rihanna, and Penelope Cruz in the past. “Half pal, half dominatrix. Half kid sister, half sexy queen. The movie star who plays, in her real life, an anonymous, funny beauty. This is the gorgeous balance of Emilia Clarke,” explains writer Benjamin Markovits regarding her appeal. On Game of Thrones, Clarke’s Khaleesi is so fierce that she has her own kingdom in addition to three baby dragons. It’s not a typical role for a rising Hollywood starlet.

Emilia Clarke on the cover of Esquire November 2015. (Photo: Vincent Peters/Esquire)

In the cover story interview, Clarke describes her first audition for Game of Thrones, in which her agent, advocating for her, told the casting director: “I know that the breakdown for this character is tall and willowy and blonde. I know she’s short and round and brown, but I’d like you to see her.” Turns out, she explains, the casting director was looking for someone beyond cookie cutter descriptions: “[S]omeone who could grow before your eyes in one season, who could gather strength and show vulnerability, they wanted the arc…”

After a week of media speculation about her weight gain Lady Gaga struck back at her critics and revealed some of her personal history. "My weight/loss/gain since i was child has tormented me. No amount of help has ever healed my pain about it. But YOU have," she continued. "My boyfriend prefers me curvier, when i eat and am healthy and not so worried about my looks, I'm happy. Happier then I've ever been. i am not going to go on a psycho-spree because of scrutiny. This is who I am. And I am proud at any size. And i love you, and want you to be proud in any form you may take as well." We salute her attitude.
Photo: Getty Images

Rihanna might have an awesome body, but she also has a healthy attitude. In a recent interview with the UK's Daily Mail she gave her perspective on the issues facing young people , "You shouldn't be pressured into trying to be thin by the fashion industry, because they only want models that are like human mannequins."
Photo: Twitter/Rihanna

Anne Hathaway doesn't think we should be putting all the blame on Hollywood - she feels her body is a normal healthy representation "I don't think it's just Hollywood that gives out that message. As a society we put out these unrealistic body images to young women. But I'm a normal shape and Scarlett Johansson is not a skinny, skinny girl. Beyonce Knowles looks after herself and has a beautiful body. Reese Witherspoon looks great."
Photo: Getty Images

Christina Hendricks is a great role model for women in a weight obsessed age. She feels most beautiful when she has a fuller figure, saying recently "I guess my mom raised me right. She was very celebratory of her body. I never heard her once say, 'I feel fat.' Back when I was modeling, the first time I went to Italy I was having cappuccinos every day, and I gained 15 pounds. And I felt gorgeous! I would take my clothes off in front of the mirror and be like, Oh, I look like a woman. And I felt beautiful, and I never tried to lose it, 'cause I loved it."
Photo: Getty Images

Fergie from the Black Eyed Peas has been a classic yo-yo dieter, but as the years have gone by she has lost much of her anxiety about always looking rail thin, telling Glamour magazine "I have learned more and more to enjoy my body when I have a few extra pounds on, just being more voluptuous ... I say, focus on the body part that you feel most comfortable about. My legs don't change much, so a good look for me is a short black dress with long sleeves. If you see me in that, you know I've gained a few pounds, which is fine."
Photo: Getty Images

Heidi Klum might have in many people's minds the perfect body but still hasn't been immune to criticism most recently German designer Wolfgang Joop said Heidi could never be a runway model because she " is simply too heavy and has too big a bust." But Heidi couldn't care less, she is on record saying that she would much rather be a role model for happy, healthy, curvy women.
Photo: Twitter/Heidi Klum

Jessica Alba feels that becoming a mum gave her new perspective and confidence on her body. She wrote in her blog "Before having Honor and Haven, I was super-critical of my looks and worried more about inevitable changes to my body. I couldn't even say the word 'sexy' to describe myself without feeling funny and awkward."
Photo: Twitter/Jessica Alba

Former American Idol singer Jordin Sparks subscribes to the accentuate the positive school of thinking, she found new confidence in her body following recent weight loss. "I'm still learning to love my body every day, but I've realized I have to accentuate the positive—like my curves and my waist," says Sparks. "As much as people talk about it, it does make me stand out from the other celeb girls out there. At the end of the day, I know I can knock 'em dead with my killer smile."
Photo: Twitter/Jordin Sparks

Kate Winslet refused to use a body double when she was working on the extraordinary film 'The Reader', urging more people to be upfront about the tricks that Hollywood uses to make stars look perfect. She told UK's Marie Claire "I do think it's important for young women to know that magazine covers are retouched. People don't really look like that. In films I might look glamorous, but I've been in hair and make-up for two hours. With the nudity in The Reader, for example, even I was like, 'Damn, I look good.' It was a bit of body make-up. I don't believe in pretending those things don't go on."
Photo: Weinstein Company

Say what you like about Kim Kardashian (most people do) but with her healthy curves she has provided a healthy alternate role model for women away from the size zero fashion industry standard. Growing up in Hollywood she has says she felt the same pressures "Learning to not be insecure took some time. I would always see skinny models and think I didn't fit in, but I realized I can't change my reality; I can only do what I can to improve my body and work out to stay fit and healthy."
Photo: Twitter/Kim Kardashian

Broadway star and Glee actress Kristin Chenoweth recently stripped off in GQ magazine, overcoming issues with her own body image. "I've always had a tiny pooch in front," says Chenowith. "Even when I'm at my thinnest, I still have that. I don't particularly like it, but I've learned to say 'Hey, this is you—accept it.'"
Photo: GQ

There’s been talk of Scarlett Johansson’s Marvel superheroine Natasha Romanoff getting her own solo movie for years - and now, the president of Marvel Studios says the company are “committed” to making it happen.

In an in-depth interview with Deadline, Kevin Feige confirms a ‘Black Widow’ movie is on the studio’s agenda after 2019.

“We’ve announced the next nine movies, 10 counting ‘Civil War,’ through the end of 2019. Where we go beyond that are ongoing discussions that we’ll focus on in the next few years because we have a lot to do before then… I would say certainly the one creatively and emotionally that we are most committing to doing is Black Widow.”

Asked why, Feige explains, “We think she’s an amazing character. We think Scarlett Johansson’s portrayal of her is amazing. She’s a lead Avenger and has amazing stories in her own right to tell that we think would be fun to turn into a stand-alone franchise.”

Having been introduced early on in the Marvel Cinematic Universe in 2010′s ‘Iron Man 2,’ Black Widow has since appeared in both ‘Avengers’ movies and the last two ‘Captain America’ solo films.

Johansson has long since made it known she’d be on board for a solo Black Widow film, and directors Joe and Anthony Russo call the idea a ‘no brainer’ (as you can see in the video below).

Doing Avengers-like business, Disney and Marvel Studios’ Captain America: Civil War opened to a massive $202.2 million at the foreign box office, one of the biggest biggest starts of all time and nearly matching the launch of Avengers: Age of Ultron.

And in some individual markets, Civil War came in ahead of Ultron, while it scored the biggest debut of all time for any film in Mexico ($20.6 million), Brazil ($12.3 million) and the Philippines ($7.5 million). All told, Civil War rolled out in about 63 percent of the foreign marketplace this weekend.

Civil War lands in the U.S. on May 6, along with China and Russia.

The superhero movie — which opens in the currently boasts a 94 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes. (If that holds, it will be the best-reviewed Marvel film to date.)

Civil War is bigger in scope than the previous Captain America films, and it’s already paying off. Chris Evans returns in the title role as Steve Rogers/Captain America, while a wide array of other Marvel superheroes appear in the film, including Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) and the new Spider-Man (Tom Holland).

The film sees the Avengers fractured into opposing factions when the government wants to intervene and control the superheroes. One faction is led by Captain America and the other by Iron Man.

Scarlett Johansson, Sebastian Stan, Anthony Mackie, Don Cheadle, Jeremy Renner, Chadwick Boseman, Paul Bettany, Elizabeth Olsen, Paul Rudd, Emily VanCamp, Frank Grillo, Martin Freeman, William Hurt and Daniel Bruhl also star.

Captain America: Civil War has started setting records just days after it was released.

The superhero caper, which stars Chris Evans, Robert Downey Jr and Scarlett Johansson, has yet to open in America but it gave a preview of its might in 37 international territories over the weekend, taking in an estimated $200.2 million (£137 million).

That includes record openings in Mexico, Brazil and the Philippines for the film some expect to be the year’s biggest hit.

Once it lands Stateside, Disney will have accounted for three of the top five movies of the year, along with The Jungle Book and Zootopia.

The Jungle Book is currently reigning at the US box office, trouncing a handful of underperforming new releases to rule for a third consecutive week.

Jon Favreau’s live-action Rudyard Kipling adaptation earned $42.4 million (£29 million) in its third week at North American theatres, according to studio estimates. One of the year’s biggest hits, it has now totalled $684.8 million (£468.7 million) globally.

The weekend’s debuts withered under the stampede of The Jungle Book.

Did Scarlett Johansson just reveal what ended her marriage to Ryan Reynolds?

Though the 31-year-old actress doesn't mention her ex-husband of three years by name, she opened up in Cosmopolitan magazine's May issue about the "challenging" logistics of being with another actor.

"There has to be a real understanding of how you share your time, especially when two people's careers are going at the same rate," the Captain America: Civil War star said. "Or even if one person is more successful than the other, that also proves challenging. There may be a competitive thing."

James White/Cosmopolitan
The one-time couple split in 2011, and both have since remarried. Johansson said "I do" to Romain Dauriac in a secret ceremony in October 2014 and welcomed their daughter, Rose, one month later. Meanwhile, Reynolds tied the knot with Blake Lively in 2012 and they had their own daughter, James, in December 2014.

In the same interview, the Black Widow actress opened up about a relationship that made her hit "rock bottom."

The director of The Jungle Book said it would have been “odd” not to feature prominent female characters in the film like the classic Disney animation.

Jon Favreau joined Oscar winners Sir Ben Kingsley and Lupita Nyong’o on a jungle-themed red carpet at El Capitan theatre in Los Angeles for the movie’s world premiere.

Based on Rudyard Kipling’s famous book and inspired by Disney’s 1967 film, The Jungle Book uses live action and computer-generated animation to tell the story of Mowgli, a boy raised by a family of wolves, who is hunted by battle-scarred tiger Shere Khan, voiced by Idris Elba.

Favreau said he turned to Scarlett Johansson to provide the voice of hypnotic snake Kaa and the film includes a high-profile role for the character Raksha, a female wolf voiced by 12 Years A Slave actress Nyong’o.

He told the Press Association: “Times are different now. It seems odd to have all-male characters. In the ’67 film, it was an all male cast.

“In Kipling’s (book), there was a prominent character we really played up called Raksha. She really is the heart and soul of the central relationship with Mowgli.