Universal Pictures International has come under fire for giving actress Laverne Cox a male voice in the Italian-language version of Promising Young Woman. The film was released in 2020 in the U.S. and recently won an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. The movie stars Carey Mulligan and Adam Brody and centers around a young woman, traumatized by a tragic event in her past, who seeks out vengeance against those who crossed her path. Cox plays a charter named Gail in the film.
Promising Young Woman was scheduled to be released in Italy on May 13, but has since been pushed back after Universal Pictures Italy posted a clip of Una Donna Promettente on May 6. According to Variety, the now restricted video features Carey Mulligan’s Cassie chatting with Gail, her coffee shop boss and lone friend played by Cox. In the edited version, Cox has a masculine tone and her parts were voiced by Roberto Pedicini. Universal Pictures International was attacked on social media for being insensitive to the transgender community, which caused them to issue an apology.
“We are deeply grateful to Laverne and the transgender community for opening our eyes to a bias that neither we nor many in our industry had recognized,” a spokesperson from Universal Pictures International said in a statement to Variety.
“While there was no malicious intent behind this mistake, we are working diligently to fix it. We have begun redubbing Ms. Cox’s voice with female actors in our international territories and are pushing back release dates to ensure the correct version is available. We are sorry for the pain caused but are thankful that we can address the situation on this film and prevent similar mistakes from happening again on future projects,” the statement concluded.
Cis men were however cast for the versions released in Spain, which released in April. The movie production company has attempted to right its wrong and the film’s Germany release date was pushed back to re-dub with a woman’s voice like in Italy. The home entertainment release of the film in Spain will be redubbed with a woman’s voice as well.
Cox, who recently signed on with E! to handle the network’s red carpet coverage during awards season, has yet to comment on the voice-over mishap.
