The Craft reboot will include an ‘important’ story about a young trans witch, teases director
Neve Cambell, Robin Tunney and Rachel True in The Craft. (Columbia/Everett Collection)
The Craft: Legacy director Zoe Lister-Jones has teased the upcoming reboot, which features a trans witch played by trans actor Zoey Luna.
Luna, an up-and-coming 19-year-old who has previously starred in Pose, stars in the sequel as Bruja Lourdes, an established and powerful witch who inducts newcomer Lily.
Ahead of The Craft: Legacy’s Halloween release, Jones said it was “important” to her that the film represent the trans community.
“We also have a trans witch, so there are some topics around trans inclusivity and intersectional feminism,” she told Cinema Blend.
“I think including a trans voice in this group of young women was really important to me.”
The director also explained how she believed the original was “ahead of its time” because of its intersectionality.
The 1996 cult classic followed four high school teenagers played by Robin Tunney, Neve Campbell, Fairuza Balk and Rachel True as they discovered the art of witchcraft, all while dealing with issues such as racism, self-image and classism.
The new sequel is set in the modern era, and Jones was determined to showcase diverse women “in all their glory”.
“That is really about women in community supporting each other, rather than turning against each other,” she said.
The Craft: Legacy is already beating every single major Hollywood film from last year.
By featuring a trans character played by a trans actor, The Craft: Legacy already has every single major Hollywood film from last year beat.
An analysis of films released by major Hollywood studios in 2019 found that between them they featured exactly zero transgender characters.
GLAAD’s annual studio responsibility index found that of the 118 major releases, only 22 (18.6 per cent) included any form of LGBT+ representation.
Of the 22 films that did include some form of representation, gay men appeared in 15, lesbians in eight, bisexual characters in just three, and transgender characters in none at all.
Even where LGBT+ characters were included, they were typically confined to supporting roles — with 56 per cent receiving less than three minutes of total screen time. Many instances of representation, GLAAD notes, “were so minor that they were not given names”.
Roughly two years ago, an open letter was signed by high profile production companies and talent agencies to call for more trans inclusion in Hollywood, after many projects with cisgender actors playing trans roles caused controversy.
The letter, organised by GLAAD and the 5050by2020 initiative, said: “As trans people, we have grown up watching stories told about us by people who haven’t done their homework when it comes to the trans community.
“We have been portrayed almost exclusively as tragic victims, psychotic killers, and one-dimensional stereotypes.”
The letter finished by saying, “We believe that when trans people are empowered to help Hollywood tell our authentic stories, it will improve how trans people are treated in the real world.”
The Craft: Legacy will be released October 28 through video on demand.
