Staff writers Teddy D’Ancona and Thomas Deakin review and interview Siobhan McCarthy and Nico Carney on their new film She’s The He
In our current reactionary film culture, audience and critical reception to a film are inseparable from the current societal or cultural moment that is altering our means of perception. Specifically, at a time when right-wing governments are on the rise in Europe and North America, there has been a worrying rise in transphobia and rhetoric directed at dehumanising trans people and even removing their right to inhabit the identity that most reflects their internal self. This trend has been enhanced by the baffling critical success of the highly transphobic and demeaning Emilia Perez in 2024 and the privileging of transphobic voices in Hollywood through Donald Trump’s appointment of vehement conservative Jon Voight as Special Ambassador to Hollywood.
In this ongoing culture of eradication for trans people in both America and the mainstream film industry, it is a blessing to see a movie constructed from the DNA of 2000s teen comedies such as Mean Girls (2004) and Superbad (2008) in how it examines the inevitability of growing up and maturity leading to the distancing of friendships in an explicitly teenage style of comedy, where profundity is matched by sexual moments of gross-out chaos, synthesised with a decisively modern and sincere examination of modern transness. Thankfully, that movie has come in the form of Siobhan McCarthy’s She the He. Whilst the narrative is probably slightly heterosexualised for mass appeal in comparison to the iconoclastically and sexually charged movies of the New Queer Cinema movement, there is still an unapologetic queerness to this new independent low-budget feature that I was very grateful to capture the UK Premiere of at the London Film Festival back in October.
It stars Misha Osherovich and Nico Carney as Ethan and Alex, two teenage students who feign coming out as transgender to infiltrate the women’s school locker room. Using a transphobic stereotype as its narrative hook, akin to the truly abyssal original films of The Daily Wire, the movie soon flips its premise on its head in an nuancedly juvenile portrayal of adolescence and queerness. Rebellious as it is genuine, McCarthy’s rejection of conventional queer narratives and experiences in turn amounts to a powerful affirmation of the necessity of rebellion in a culture where the enforcement of heteronormativity is veering on the fascistic. This rebellion is especially positive because it culminates in an eschewing of the trans misery narrative to instead present an optimistic ending that rightly shows the happiness that can emanate from being your authentic queer and trans self.
She’s The He functions as a modern Glen or Glenda (1953) for our constantly evolving and improving queer and trans culture in. Both movies are proudly unconventional and semi-autobiographical movies made by trans or gender non-conforming people to accurately reflect their subjective perception of a world where they fight against oppression through representation. I hope that, once this film finally gets a UK release, people both in and outside the LGBTQ+ community can find joy in its entertaining comedy of gender subversion, and that even low-budget productions like this can be a positive sign that the future of cinema is a progressive not a regressive one.
Following our preview screening at The London Festival, Roar was fortunate enough sit down with She’s The He director Siobhan McCarthy and star Nico Carney. What followed was a insightful and hilarious conversation on the cultural moment their film speaks to as a teen comedy classic to come. Roar would like to express our many thanks to Emma Deakins of Strike Media for making this interview possible.
This is your directorial debut and a pretty incredible one at that. It feels like a throwback in so many ways, while at the same time providing much-needed insight into the trans experience. Walk me through how this originated?
Siobhan: I mean the project came so much out of me being stuck at home during COVID when I was at college and having to re-litigate all the movies I grew up watching and loving. She’s the Man was huge for me, Clueless—that was my childhood. That was what defined me.
It dovetailed really perfectly into me realising that it would be really for someone to make one of those high school comedies that was actually about transness. And given that no one was doing it, the most logical conclusion was for me to do it! I got so lucky to find all of these incredible collaborators. I wrote the script and made the movie in about a year’s time altogether, which is an insane timeline.
It’s certainly a throwback to juvenile, yet truly sincere, noughties teen comedies that our generation grew up watching. Superbad and Mean Girls come to mind. Would you call these inspirations or did you have something else in mind when crafting this story?
Siobhan: Superbad was a huge deal to us, like that’s the core.
Nico: It definitely felt [like] the most direct parallel to this story in terms of the friendship and the characters. Especially the character of Alex to Jonah Hill’s character in Superbad. That was definitely an influence I was pulling from, certainly just beyond the overall structure and the world we were living in.
Ethan and Alex certainly feel like modern iterations of Jonah Hill and Michael Cera characters in their co-dependent best friendship. You and Misha Osherovich are an absolute joy to watch in these roles. What was it like working together?
Nico: When I met Misha, I thought she was so wonderful and really easy to chat with. She’s such a professional from the jump. I knew I was going to be in good hands. I think that the two of us have a much pared-down version of that dynamic where I’m a little bit more energetic and she’s a little bit more grounded. There’s a version of Alex and Ethan that are us, I think, without the brash and crude stuff. I hope without the annoyingness.
I am New York based, but I was out in LA for the entire shoot. I would pick her up and drive her to set every day. We definitely got to spend a lot of time together outside of the shoot…I think that definitely helped us find this bond that translated to the screen.
Would you call Ethan’s story somewhat semi-autobiographical? Because, in that case, who would Alex be based upon from your own life story?
Siobhan: It’s funny because I think both of them are somewhat autobiographical for me as a person. Honestly, most of the characters are somewhat autobiographical for me or based on people that were in my life.
There’s a lot of universality in the trans experience and a lot of specificity in the trans experience. So it’s funny to make a movie that’s trying to speak to its universality. There is this foundational core of absurdity, camp and complexity that just exists within being trans. Wanting to perform some of the worst traits of gender and also wanting to feel at home in your existence… Once you’re learning the ropes of a new gender, that’s all so complicated, that I feel like most of us, regardless of our identity, had a version of the gender experiences that are laid out on the table.
I feel that’s a commonality for all of us and I really hope that these characters speak to a different version of my personal experience within basically every gender on the planet. I’ve gone through the ringer of pretty much every pronoun in the world. At this point, I hope it gives me some kind of autobiographical ability to speak to some form of the human condition within gender.
Absolutely. I think what your film does so well is that in joking about these issues, it normalises that experience. Unfortunately, in mainstream comedy, a lot of transphobic humour has been given a platform.
Siobhan: Mm-hm!
Acclaimed comedians have partially made a living off of it in their routines. It feels like it’s not just for comedic purposes. It’s spreading hurtful messaging under the guise of edgy humour. What is your message to entertainment companies that, intentionally or not, endorse its negative impact?
Nico: I mean I’m a stand-up myself, so obviously it’s been a disheartening thing to watch these legends of comedy fall down this pitfall of hate and transphobia, making a buck off of really harming a lot of people… While I think they seem to believe that their words exist in a vacuum of a comedy special, obviously these things have an impact and also this trickle down effect, enabling idiots in the comments.
It’s just disheartening. Comedy is meant to be something that is anti-establishment and is punching up. I guess I would just hope that these platforms think for themselves… Beyond what’s funny, beyond what’s making somebody laugh, what do you actually wanna put out there? Do you want it to be associated with these people who are saying horrible things all the time or do you wanna try and make the world a friendlier place for everybody?
Siobhan: I think that you put it really wonderfully… Honestly punching down is a pretty insider and pretty boring way to be. I really hope that these companies have a desire to be cool enough to be an outsider. I’m just hoping that they catch on that we’re pretty cool —speaking like this and making these kinds of jokes – it’s a lot cooler than punching down on vulnerable people.
When can we expect this film in the UK? We’re yet to have a confirmed release date here.
Siobhan: I mean we’re really hoping to have it to y’all and the world next year, that’s sort of our timeline as it stands right now. I think we can make that happen. Either through an official channel or if what the world needs is an unofficial bootleg channel, you’ll be able to recommend it to people on the back of an anarchistic collective somewhere in Shoreditch.
Nico: Yeah! And if all else fails we’ll just burn a bunch of DVDs and start mailing them out!
Siobhan: Start mailing them out, yeah! If we get to that point and you need a DVD let me know!
Nico: Hard media’s coming back!
Siobhan: Hard media’s coming back, baby!
English with Film Studies Undergraduate at King's College London.
