She’s the He! is a campy reclamation of the gender-bending sex comedies

Misha Osherovich (Ethan) and Nico Carney (Alex) in She’s the He! // Courtesy of Obscured Releasing

Conservative groups have been claiming for years that transgender people are a threat to private spaces like bathrooms and dressing rooms. With She’s the He!, first-time director Siobhan McCarthy turns that wrongheaded notion on its head and fights trans panic with laughter

On the cusp of graduation, high school seniors Alex (Nico Carney) and Ethan (Misha Osherovich) pretend to be trans women in order to dismiss gay accusations and for Alex to get closer to his crush, Sasha (Malia Pyles). In the process, Ethan realizes she really is trans, an identity that is well understood by fellow student Davis (Mark Indelicato), who acts as the knowledgeable yet hilarious voice of reason in a sea of idiot teenagers. The film tackles identity and relationships, resulting in a cartoonish coming-of-age sex comedy.

McCarthy, who also wrote the film, infuses satire into every aspect of She’s the He!, like Sasha painting her toenails using cigarettes as toe separators. But authenticity seeps through into the moments that matter, especially where Alex and Ethan’s friendship is emphasized. In a montage where the duo tries on outfits, featuring improvised lines and genuine laughs, you can feel Carney and Osherovich having fun together.

The Pitch spoke with McCarthy, Carney and Osherovich about the movie’s inspirations, influences and more. 

Editor’s note: Some of these answers have been condensed for length and clarity.

The Pitch: Siobhan, you’ve spoken about how this film takes fictional conservative talking points and plays them out on screen. What was your experience satirizing these ‘nightmares?’

Siobhan McCarthy: I think laughter and comedy are the best weapons against fear. It’s a trope in storytelling going back to It (1990). The logic of She’s the He! is so ridiculous, the only character I could logically write to come up with this idea is a horny 17-year-old boy.
People hear a message a lot better when they’re laughing.

She’s the He! is also an ode to 90s and 2000s teen movies; what are the biggest inspirations of that era that you drew from?

Nico Carney: Booksmart, Mean Girls, and Superbad. Those sort of buddy comedies where you ask, ‘How did they get away with being an asshole to their friend the whole time and still be lovable by the end?’ 

Misha Osherovich: Some Like It Hot, which might be one of the smartest moves that this movie makes because it takes the man-in-a-dress trope and it puts the trans experience inside of it. Malia Pyles does a perfect Marilyn Monroe in this movie. 

McCarthy: Easy A, Clueless, and especially 10 Things I Hate About You.

Mark Indelicato (Davis) in She’s the He! // Courtesy of Obscured Releasing

My favorite part of the film is when a used pad acts as a weapon, followed by a bloody fight scene. As audience members, we’re accustomed to seeing blood, but almost never menstrual blood. What was behind that decision? 

McCarthy: American censorship often censors sex and sexuality onscreen but is absolutely happy to represent blood and violence. The backline of the choice to subvert and make that censorship as complicated as possible because menstrual blood is blood. I wanted to use this historically canonized imagery to present a question and gray area in this heteronormative system that is trying to create a box for how accessible or appropriate this film is. 


Nico, you portray a ridiculous caricature of the straight man.
Misha, you’re playing someone going through a profound journey with her gender. How did your own identities inform your performances?

Carney: As Alex, I get to make all the stupid choices that a teenage boy would make. That was very freeing, both from the comedic perspective to uninhibited, but also, because I didn’t get to live my high school years as a boy.
It was really exciting for me to get to go back and experience things that I didn’t get to as a child.

Osherovich: This movie fell at a really interesting time for me because I’m only so far into my transition. It was a very meta experience reliving high school days with a largely queer crew around me. Having a trans costume designer is huge as well; I own 3 or 4 dresses and one of them is from this movie. That’s how new to womanhood I am. At times, it was really scary, but often really fun.

I want to talk about Davis (Indelicato). His character acts as a denunciation of gender/sexual rigidity. Why was it important to emphasize the evolving nature of identity rather than labels?

McCarthy: I thought it was really important to have someone in the film who had a quieter, longer-term, nuanced interaction with transness and queerness. Davis has not only been in a relationship with a trans person but also inherently has been a queer person. Of all of the characters, he’s kind of the most grown—even including the grown-ups. It felt like an important perspective, someone who can actually speak with clarity.

She’s the He! releases in theatres June 5, and will be screening at the Arkadin Cinema in St. Louis on June 17.