So I started this almost a year ago when I stumbled across a couple of pictures of Hailee Steinfeld and my mind started churning. This is one of my favorite movies of all time, and it's very driven by the gender roles and expectations of the time in which it was set. So the idea of swapping all the genders around excited me, since it raises all sorts of questions about how we relate to each other (if you'll forgive me for getting pretentious). Plus: this is one of my favorite ways to waste time, if you haven't figured that out already.


I finally finished it today, hemming and hawing to the end over certain roles (Lester Bangs, why must you be so difficult to cast?), but I'm pretty satisfied with the end result. I hope y'all enjoy it!


( does anyone remember laughter? )

OH HAI I'M BACK WITH ANOTHER GENDER!SWAP. Seriously, this has taken over my life.






The Social Network: A Gender!Swap Casting
( the cast )

Apparently my mind has gotten so entrenched in gender!swap that I have actually started dreaming about it.

As some of you have heard, the other night I dreamed that I was gender!swap casting The Great Escape--I even dreamed who I'd cast as Hilts. When I woke up, I realized that I had to actually do this (and yes, the lady I cast as Hilts is the same one from my dream--who's to argue with the brilliance of my subconscious?).

The Great Escape is one of my favorite films of all time. I grew up on it, and it's instant happy-making. It's got fun characters, ridiculously enjoyable actors, funny dialogue, adventure, and one of the greatest soundtracks ever written for film. The only thing it doesn't have is women. There's not a single woman with a speaking role in this film (the only ladies who show up are extras). And honestly, this is one of the rare occasions when this makes sense: the film takes place in a German POW camp during WWII, a location that wouldn't be exactly crawling with women, besides Red Cross nurses who might visit from time to time. But what could be more fun than imagining a group of women playing these roles?

A quick summary for those of you haven't seen the movie, provided by imdb: Based on a true story, a group of allied escape artist type prisoners of war are all put in an 'escape proof' camp. Their leader decides to try to take out several hundred all at once. The first half of the film is played for comedy as the prisoners mostly outwit their jailers to dig the escape tunnel. The second half is high adventure as they use boats and trains and planes to get out of occupied Europe.


( the cast )