Transgender actor-comedian Eddie Izzard, who plays a male lead in the World War II espionage thriller Six Minutes to Midnight, says that “pronouns do not define me,” and he’s “not going to make a big deal” about it, as “it’s not the be-all and end-all” of what being transgender is about.
“I came out 35 years ago. The pronouns isn’t the thing,” Izzard told Entertainment Weekly. “Pronouns do not define me. I’m gender-fluid. So I’m not going to make a big deal.” Six Minutes to Midnight was shot in 2018, two years before the Izzard announced that his preferred pronouns are “she/her.”
“Everyone should calm down on this,” Izzard said. “Because I’m playing a male role, I give people permission for whatever they wish. Just call me Eddie or whatever. This shouldn’t be the big deal. It’s not the be-all and end-all of what being trans or LGBT is about. It shouldn’t be the thing that trips us up. It’s trying to get people to live and let live.”
In the film, Izzard plays Thomas Miller, a half-German, half-English teacher who takes a last-minute job at an English finishing school that caters to young German women just 17 days before the start of World War II, according to the movie’s IMDb page.
Izzard also suggested that the story for the film, which takes place during the Nazi era, began to resonate with him more after President Donald Trump took office.
“[The story] wasn’t even resonating that much, and then Trump came in,” Izzard said. “I was working on it before Trump got into power, and then he did the big lie when he tried to steal the country and steal the election away.”
“It shows that it doesn’t go away. When World War II was won, those Nazis went quiet. They did not implode, they just went quiet,” he added.
Izzard went on to say that he now considers Six Minutes to Midnight “very much a film for our time.”
“If you do not learn from history, we are doomed to repeat it,” the actor said. “We’ve done this before, so it’s as if some people in the world are saying, ‘Hey, the 1930s, let’s try them again.’ And we’re trying to say it’s not good, you’ve got to know about this stuff. It now sits as very much a film for our time.”
Earlier this year, Izzard defended famed Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling, who has been labeled transphobic amid the ongoing debate over gender identity and its impact on women. “I don’t think J.K. Rowling is transphobic,” Izzard said.
You can follow Alana Mastrangelo on Facebook and Twitter at @ARmastrangelo, on Parler @alana, and on Instagram.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.