The Lord of the Rings fame actor Andy Serkis has defended actress Scarlett Johansson, who got dropped from the film Rub & Tug in which she was going to play a transgender following backlash from the LGBT community.

In an interview to Variety, Serkis said: "Actors should be able to play anything, and that's why I love performance capture technology.

"What should be the point is that whatever colour your skin is, whatever shape you are, whatever height you are, whatever your make-up is as an actor, you should have the ability to play anything."

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So, in the wake of the backlash, Johansson dropped out of the film and a replacement is yet to be announced, reported metro.co.uk.

It's not the first time Johansson has got into trouble with her casting in a role. She was earlier accused of the film Ghost In The Shell when she was controversially cast as Major Motoko Kusanagi, a character who was Japanese in the original series that the film was based on.