Writer defends ‘The Assignment’, the film about forced sex change

The writer of The Assignment, a film that features Sigourney Weaver as a psychopathic gender reassignment surgeon, has strongly defended its content.

Recently released, the film, which was previously titled ‘(Re)Assignment’ and ‘Tomboy’, features Michelle Rodriguez as a contract killer who is forced to undergo reassignment surgery by Weaver’s character, who then proceeds to seek revenge against her.

The film was widely panned by the transgender community, but the film’s screenwriter Denis Hamill hit out at critics this week.

Speaking to Variety, Hamill said: “First of all, the character is not transgender. To be transgender, you have to believe you are in the wrong body.

“He’s forced into a body into which he does not identify with. He’s gone through a sex change, but it’s not a gender change. It’s not at all making fun of or exploiting the people in the transgender community, who I have nothing but sympathy for.

“Politically, everybody who made this film is a progressive person. The last thing we wanted to do was insult anybody. It’s pure entertainment.”

Director Walter Hill said: “The movie is consistent with transgender theory… he’s a guy inside his head, we had no idea when we were getting ready to make the movie that this was going to be a volatile subject. I’m certainly not here to make the journey of transgender people more difficult. As a matter of fact, I even find the suggestion insulting. We live in times where identity politics are rather prevalent, and people politicize almost everything.”

Lead actress Michelle Rodriguez previously rejected criticism of the film because she is bisexual.

She said: “What is transgender? Is it a psychological thing or is it an operation, and does the LGBTQ community own the operation? Do they have a branding right over a sex change? Are they mad that somebody decided to take their branded transgender operation and use it on heterosexual people?

“It’s a B-movie noir genre comic book take on something. I’m bisexual. I do guys. I do girls. You can’t really argue with me because I’m you.

“So if I do a movie, I’d never do a movie with the intention of offending anybody in the LGBT community because I’m a part of it.”