A comedy feature about two high school friends who pose as trans women is heading to theaters.
Obscured Releasing has acquired U.S. distribution rights to writer-director Siobhan McCarthy’s feature She’s the He and plans to release the indie film theatrically later this year, The Hollywood Reporter has exclusively learned. Misha Osherovich and Nico Carney star in the movie that premiered last year at SXSW.
She’s the He focuses on high school friends Ethan (Osherovich) and Alex (Carney), who pretend to be trans women during the final week before graduation to help Alex connect with a crush. In the process, Ethan realizes she is actually trans.
Osherovich earned a nomination for best breakthrough performance at this year’s Film Independent Spirit Awards.
Suzanne Cryer (Broad City), Mark Indelicato (Hacks), Malia Pyles (Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin), Emmett Preciado (Good Trouble), Aparna Nancherla (Another Simple Favor), Kyle Butenhoff (Monsters), Tatiana Ringsby and Emma Orr round out the cast. Halley Albert and Vic Brandt serve as producers.
“By taking conservative talking points at face value and playing out their worst fears on screen, She’s the He seeks to undermine and defang these harmful ideas while satirizing the very media that has fueled this fear-mongering,” McCarthy says. “Showcasing a trans woman in the leading role not only subverts expectations but reclaims a space where trans women have often been reduced to tropes or erased entirely. Casting primarily trans men as the cis male characters allows us to further subvert conservative anxieties around bathroom access and challenge the flawed notion that clothing dictates gender.”
In her review for THR, critic Lovia Gyarkye called the film “reliably delightful” and added, “At a time when the lives of trans people face greater threats because of Trump administration policies and cultural fearmongering, She’s the He gains greater resonance via the way it tackles this reality.”
