Tomorrow, Tuesday, July 23rd, trailblazing director Silas Howard will appear at the Queer Rhapsody Film Series in Los Angeles to screen his film Darby and the Dead followed by a conversation with Moi Santos.
The director, who is best known for his work on the GLAAD Media Award winning series Pose, Transparent, and A League of Their Own, as well as Dickinson, is among the first out trans filmmakers to direct a major studio-made film. His first feature film By Hook or By Crook is a seminal transmasculine work.
Howard spoke with GLAAD’s Allison Bloom to talk about the film, as well as his experience as a trailblazing trans filmmaker.
The film follows Darby, who after a near-death experience, gains the ability to see dead people. She becomes introverted, preferring to counsel spirits with unfinished business. This changes when Capri – the school’s Queen Bee – dies and pleads with Darby to convince her friends to proceed with her canceled “Sweet 17.” To appease Capri, Darby must reintegrate into high school life and find renewed joy among the living.
Darby and the Dead features a diverse and exciting cast from rising LGBTQ stars like Auliʻi Cravalho and Nicole Maines to Hollywood legends like Tony Danza. Howard reflects on his favorite memories working on the film like, “Tony playing ukulele for cast and crew, and Auli’i singing from Moana when her character wrapped.”
“However, some favorite memories were conversations about the tropes we wanted to push back on i.e. no body shaming snarks and making sure the characters felt authentic and reflected the world we live in,” he continued. “When filming Darby’s glow-up we had many conversations about the transformation with Rielle and her mom to make sure it was authentic to her, ultimately deciding it was important for her hair to go from straightened to natural.”
In the film, pioneering trans actress Nicole Maines stars as a popular cheerleader at Darby’s school. Howard talks about the decision to subtly reference her character being trans in a casual and realistic way. “I’ve spent the majority of my creative life working very hard to avoid explaining narratives. “Explain yourself!” is what adults say to children who’ve done something ‘wrong.'”
He goes on to say, “We knew her character was queer and crushed out on Darby, but whether or not she was out as trans character was a conversation I got to have – just Nicole and I.” He says, “That was such a privilege actually – for one to be a trans guy directing a studio-backed teen genre film, and that she and I got to pick the moment and way for her character to out herself to the audience. I remember Nicole saying ‘well, we’re about to do a scene in the girls locker room, so it’s kind of hard to resist.'”
He continues, “She then came up with an incredible bunch of improved lines after we spoke about it with the other cast members in the scene. One question was ‘is that offensive that my character forgot Piper was trans?’ Nicole and I responded immediately ‘no!’ Nicole added ‘that just means I’m hella fish.'”
Howard talks about how exciting it is to be a part of this shift towards inclusivity in Hollywood and where there is still room for growth. “I think it’s two steps forward, one step back. And the current political climate which has chosen trans people as its sacrificial lamb certainly doesn’t help. I’m really proud of my team at Hulu and 20th Century, as well as the whole cast and crew, because they all really cared about intentional and thoughtful inclusivity.”
“That said,” he continues, “we are still in an industry that is heavily cis, white and male dominated. So for the most part, those are the people who are given the chance to try new things and even the chance to fail, while remaining hirable. I hope that changes. We already know that everyone benefits from a diversity of stories and voices, including the executive ranks.”
Queer Rhapsody is a Los Angeles based film festival taking place July 19th – 28th that was organized by the UCLA Film & Television Archive. The festival centers the joy, healing, and narrative reinvention of contemporary LGBTQIA+ cinema. Get your tickets here!