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Gender!Swap Cast: The Great Escape
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.
I'm not a well man. My teeth. I could tell you stories about my teeth that would make your hair stand on end.
Five gold rings. Four calling birds - bloody singing, I've never worked so hard in all my life.
I'd like to see one of you under similar circumstances.
Danny, I'll see you through the tunnel. I'll look after you. I'll stick with you all the way.
Why didn't anyone think of that before? It's so stupid, it's positively brilliant!
I must say, it's an interesting first twenty minutes.
We have in effect put all our rotten eggs in one basket. And we intend to watch this basket carefully.
It's all right. It's all right, mate. We're just having a friendly little argument.
Afraid this tea's pathetic. Must have used these wretched leaves about twenty times. It's not that I mind so much. But tea without milk is so uncivilized.
This tunnel is mine as much as anybody. I dug it. I built it. I was buried many times. I go when I want.
Colonel Von Luger, it is the sworn duty of all officers to try to escape. If they cannot escape, then it is their sworn duty to cause the enemy to use an inordinate number of troops to guard them, and their sworn duty to harass the enemy to the best of their ability.
One has to ask some very strange things in the job I have.
Come on, Roger. We all know the score here, at least... most of us do. Your idea of this escape is to... start another front, to foul up the Germans behind the lines. All right, that's fine, that's fine. But once we get passed that barbed wire, once we have them looking all over Germany for us, that mission is accomplished. Afterwards, we have some ideas of our own.
I haven't seen Berlin yet, from the ground or from the air, and I plan on doing both before the war is over.
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.
I'm not a well man. My teeth. I could tell you stories about my teeth that would make your hair stand on end.
Five gold rings. Four calling birds - bloody singing, I've never worked so hard in all my life.
I'd like to see one of you under similar circumstances.
Danny, I'll see you through the tunnel. I'll look after you. I'll stick with you all the way.
Why didn't anyone think of that before? It's so stupid, it's positively brilliant!
I must say, it's an interesting first twenty minutes.
We have in effect put all our rotten eggs in one basket. And we intend to watch this basket carefully.
It's all right. It's all right, mate. We're just having a friendly little argument.
Afraid this tea's pathetic. Must have used these wretched leaves about twenty times. It's not that I mind so much. But tea without milk is so uncivilized.
This tunnel is mine as much as anybody. I dug it. I built it. I was buried many times. I go when I want.
Colonel Von Luger, it is the sworn duty of all officers to try to escape. If they cannot escape, then it is their sworn duty to cause the enemy to use an inordinate number of troops to guard them, and their sworn duty to harass the enemy to the best of their ability.
One has to ask some very strange things in the job I have.
Come on, Roger. We all know the score here, at least... most of us do. Your idea of this escape is to... start another front, to foul up the Germans behind the lines. All right, that's fine, that's fine. But once we get passed that barbed wire, once we have them looking all over Germany for us, that mission is accomplished. Afterwards, we have some ideas of our own.
I haven't seen Berlin yet, from the ground or from the air, and I plan on doing both before the war is over.