‘Darby and the Dead’ Director Silas Howard and Star Nicole Maines Took Full Advantage of ‘a Window of Representation’ for Trans People (Video)

thewrap.com:

one tampon joke. And we were like, ‘Are we going to make this character trans for one joke? Yeah.”For Howard, who has directed four feature films now and a whole lot of television, it was a moment of “complete freedom,” and one that he didn’t take lightly.“I think this is the first time I just had the, the complete freedom with myself and the actor to decide,” Howard told TheWrap. “We knew her character was queer, but we got to decide if her character was out, and if so how?

And I really — it was a real conversation between us. It wasn’t like, ‘This is what I want, you figure it out.'”Maines was particularly fond of the placement of the joke in the movie, remembering just how big of a thing it is for young women to discuss their periods in early adolescence.“It’s just such a good place because I mean, for young trans girls, the whole tampon conversation is always — it’s such a thing,” Maines said. “It’s such a — I remember being in high school, surrounded by my friends talking about their periods and talking about like, just the whole kind of culture behind it, and the bonding aspect of that for the girls, and feeling that otherness.

And for Piper, I was like, that’s such a right place for a joke, there has to be a joke there.”According to both Maines and Howard, there were a few versions of the punchline that they tried together.

Maines noted that there was a ton of room for improv on the set, and she really ran with the opportunity. But, in the end, they opted for the two-word throwaway line, and are pretty pleased with that call.“Total throwaway!