Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[jwhouk]

MARTEN: "Back in the early days of the strip, Jeph wanted to work on developing my character – mostly, answering why and how an "indie boy" like me was in Northampton. And his backstory was that I had come cross-country from California to chase after a girlfriend, who ended up dumping me."

DORA: "The problem was, Jeph really didn't have the money for extras in the cast. He explained it away by saying he didn't like drawing stuff in the background, but he knew he'd have to start doing it eventually."

MARTEN: "So when we talked about who we'd get to play this 'Vicki' character – the name was all on me, by the way – he really didn't have anyone who could step in and play it, especially not for the flashback scenes."

FAYE: "After a few strips where we'd riffed a bit on music or something, he finally found a gal to come in and do the whole flashback story. We never knew who she was, and I definitely didn't know who she was until after I did the whole milk-splash thing on her."

JEPH: "Yeah, I guess I should have told Cristi that when I asked her to just step in and play the part. She dyed her hair and everything, but she just went ballistic after Faye dumped that milk all over her. Let's just say I had to pay her back big-time for doing that to her." (looks at camera) "At least she got her revenge in the blooper reel we did for the DVD of the first season."

CRISTI: "That was one of the scenes that ol' doofus had forgotten to save to his hard drive. I was not going to get milk thrown at me again without getting something out of it. So we did a couple of takes, and on the second take, instead of letting Faye throw the milk on me, I unloaded on her with a super soaker." (smiling) "The entire cast pulled out their own super soakers and we had a full-on water fight on the set for a good 10 minutes. Fun times."

[jwhouk]

Padma (Padma Pahtishi)

Padma's character came about quickly after "the breakup" arc, as the assitant writers for Jeph came up with the idea of a "mirror universe Coffee of Doom".

Padma was originally supposed to be just a complete mirror opposite of Dora – but one that Marten wasn't supposed to fall for. However, the interaction between the semi-clueless Padma and indie-boy Marten was too much for Jeph to pass up.

The truth was that Miss Pahtishi – who had come to America a few years prior on a scholarship to Julliard – was not going to be able to remain in the strip long-term. Though her accent was never noticeable while she was "on camera", Padma was of Indian/Kenyan descent. She had done acting work as a teenager in some Bollywood films – even having a bit-part in Slumdog Millionaire – but her first love was dance. She intended to return to India in 2012 to work with the Praheep Nuhtekgani Touring Ballet Company, but had literally put off ending her role on the strip until practically the last minute.

Padma doesn't intend to reappear in the strip anytime soon, saying in a statement, "Though I enjoyed my time working with Jeph and the cast, I am doing what I truly love here in the Indian ballet culture. I wish Jeph, Cristi, Marten, Faye and the rest of the cast well in their future."

[jwhouk]

Cosette Hurlbut (Cosette Beauvais- Hurlbut)
   
The real reason why Cosette went so long between appearances in the strip (and where the clumsiness came in) was because Ms. Beauvais-Hurlbut is a member of the US National Motocross Association.

She has had several incidents in competitions which prevented her from appearing in the strip – though her whole neck brace, crutches, cast and red-eye issue was for-real. (She really didn't pop her neck during the ensuing scene after the fire drill, however.)

She gets chided at conventions and meet-and-greets about her characters "name change" – when she was first named in the strip, Jeph called her "Cosette Beauvais", but she later was named "Cosette Hurlbut" when Jeph began using Twitter as an alternative way to promote the strip among social media users. Unfortunately, he'd forgotten the older name – but for good reason.

After her initial appearance in the strip, Cosette had gotten married to the WCW wrestler known as "Dee Hurt" (real name: Deegan Hurlbut).

[jwhouk]

Jim and Samantha (James Whitaker and Samantha Forrester)

Jeph has gotten lucky at times when it comes to casting characters for the strip. When the idea for The Secret Bakery came about, Jeph initially wanted Padma to be the owner of the shop – then, realizing that would be too much like a Coffee of Doom "clone", he thought about having Elliot become the owner. Unfortuantely, Elliot had two more years on his contract with the Tiger-Cats, and couldn't appear in the required strips.

So, Jeph decided to write in a new character as the owner – and, interestingly, one that had never appeared in the strip before: a slightly-older, single (divorced) male with a kid. The only problem? Jeph had no idea who could play the person.

Fortunately, Faye happened to have two of her in-laws in town – her brother-in-law, James Whitaker, and her niece-in-law, Samantha Forrester (her sister's oldest daughter). Samantha had done some acting bits in the past – she had appeared in a few scenes as a classmate of Oscar in the webcomic Evil Inc. Jim had been an avid follower of QC since Faye had recommended it after the first season of the strip was over. Both jumped at the idea of appearing as the divorced owner of TSB and his pre-teen daughter.

[WAYF]

JEPH: Alrighty, here we are, and each one of the cast is going to very quickly and succinctly tell us one of their deepest darkest secrets, and hope that nobody judges them too harshly. Ok, go!

CRISTI: Sometimes I have to fill in on the writing duties instead of Jeph.

CAST: GASP!

CRISTI: Yeah, it's true. Usually you can tell them apart because the punchlines are less funny... you've noticed right?

CAST: (various mumbling) Who? Us? No, I certainly didn't notice any inferior punchlines! No, it's always been great, fantastic even! Don't know what you're talking about!

TAI: I listen to Baroque music.

CAST: ...

TAI: ...What?

MARTEN: Tai, that is so insanely retro that I think even hipsters have forgotten it exists.

TAI: Well, whatever. YOU listen to the Black Eyed Peas!

MARTEN: H-hey! That was supposed to be MY thing!

CAST: (horrified)

FAYE: Please tell me you don't actually like The Time (Dirty Bit).

MARTEN: Good lord no, just, you know, some of their early work.

CAST: (Marten-shaming)

JEPH: Alright, alright, Faye's turn.

FAYE: ... I don't like ice cream.

MARTEN: WHAT??

FAYE: I know, I know! I just don't like things that are cold! And ice cream is one of the coldest things you can eat!

MARIGOLD: How can you even...

SVEN: I have actually tried my hand at writing Country music during my tenure in this comic. And it is completely awful.

MARTEN: Oh go on, give us a listen.

DORA: Yeah, Sven, show us your work!

SVEN: I was afraid you'd say that.

HANNELORE: Oh, go on. It can't be THAT bad!

(One excruciating Extended Play later)

HANNELORE: I stand thoroughly corrected.

DORA: I watch My Little Pony...

TAI: Ah, c'mon, everyone does that nowadays!

DORA: ... the original series.

TAI: ...Ah. Oh.

MARIGOLD: (indicating certain body parts) Well, uh... these... they aren't entirely real.

MARTEN: Oh yeah, we know that.

TAI: Known that for ages.

FAYE: Kind of obvious really, once you think about it.

MARIGOLD: What?? How did you already know?!

HANNELORE: Uh, well... that might have something to do with my embarrassing secret...


 

[jwhouk]

NOTE: The following set of interviews were never aired for the original "Behind the Scenes" special.

DORA: "We all knew it was going to end between Faye and Sven. We just didn't know exactly how it was going to end."

SVEN: "I had always figured that it was going to end because my character was going to screw someone else behind her back – and that would set her off."

FAYE: "We all knew what was gonna happen, right? We just didn't know the particulars. Or who would do it."

JEPH: "The lothario thing was always going to be what would end the relationship. Dora was pressing me to end it sooner, because she was getting uncomfortable explaining to her parents why her husband was sleeping with another cast member."

DORA: "Jeph decided that it was going to have to be a country music singer, since it would fit with Sven's role as a country music writer. And in so doing, he wanted to have a name that would show his general contempt for the genre as a whole."

FAYE: "And the name was a doozy: Kelly Swiftwood."

SVEN: "Kelly Swiftwood." (shakes head) "It was over the top."

DORA: "Way over the top. So much so that his lawyers told him that it might not be a good idea to go forward with the name."

SVEN: "So we all sat down and did some brainstorming of what her name could be."

DORA: "Lydia came up with the name 'Gina Riversmith', figuring it sounded like a good name for a country music starlet."

FAYE: "A country music starlet who was also a nymphomaniac when alcohol was involved."

SVEN: "Jeph loved it so much that he actually had Lydia include it in some dialogue in the strip – right before Cosette made her first appearance."

DORA: "Only problem was, Cosette had no desire to even touch the role. And Lydia had already revealed that she was in town for a concert by that point, and Jeph had already planned to have Cosette be the little redhead who hit on Marten."

COSETTE: "Dee made it really clear to Jeph that there was no way in HELL that his girlfriend was gonna pose nude in a webcomic."

SVEN: "So he started looking around, frantically. Asking everyone in the cast, friends, family – even family members of the cast."

VERONICA MILLER-REED: "Yeah, he asked me if I knew anyone who'd be willing to do it. I told him he was slightly insane for writing himself into that kind of corner."

JEPH: "I was getting nowhere fast. I knew I wasn't going to be able to extend out the Cosette storyline longer than a week or so, and no one wanted to play the role of the young country music starlet and nympho." (pauses, then looks into the camera)

"So I made a phone call. She kinda owed me one, because I did her a huge favor at Comicon the year before. When I told her what I wanted, she told me I was ####ing nuts. I told her that we'd put her in costume, and that it wouldn't even look like her. She turned me down again. I told her I'd make sure the nude scene was done tastefully, and no one would ever know it was her. She refused. I promised that I would have the staff involved all sign non-disclosure agreements that would keep them from ever saying anything about who played the role of Gina Riversmith. She was about to hang up on me when I made my final offer."

(pause)

"A full case of Absolut vodka."

SVEN: "Jeph gave me the call to come in late that night, after the rest of the cast had already left after filming their scenes. I was really surprised when I saw who it was, but we did the scene in one take."

(looks uncomfortably into the camera)

"She was really getting into it. And she was also a bit inebriated."

JEPH: "A lot inebriated. It was just her, me, Sven and the cameraman. At her insistence."

SVEN "The next afternoon, she came in and did a few stills that would end up in the Google search segment – and she did the digital altering of the photos herself. She also did the digital editing of our scene, just to make sure that no one could recognize her in the scene."

(pause)

"She destroyed the rest of the clips from the scene after Jeph had posted the strip that evening."

FAYE (sitting nervously next to Dora and Sven) "We all signed the non-disclosure agreements willingly before she left."

(all three look at each other nervously)

"Her use of a flamethrower to destroy the clips and the negatives of the promo stills was a huge incentive."

DORA: "And none of us have ever revealed who played the role of Gina Riversmith."

SVEN: "Never. Not even with bribes or cajoling."

HANNELORE: "Even I never found out who it was. Marten and I had left after the Drunken Scrabble scene, and I was already home and in bed when this all happened."

MARTEN: "I had my suspicions, but Jeph never told me. And I always figured it was never that important."

JEPH: "No one. Not Cristi, not Penelope, no one ever knew who came in to play that role. And no one ever figured it out."



DANIELLE CORSETTO (creator, Girls With Slingshots) "Oh, yeah, Jeph and I go back to our mutual early days of webcomic production. He helped out a lot with the development of Hazel in my webcomic, and I helped him out a lot with his comic. I was the one who encouraged him to have Marten and Dora break up, just to keep the characters fresh and all that."

(pause)

"Of course, he pushed me to do the same thing in my comic between Haze and Zack, but that's something else entirely."

(another pause)

"So what exactly was the reason for this interview, again?"

(pauses for a question from off-screen)

"What?"

(another pause, her face suddenly falling)

"How do you know that?"

(another off-screen explanation; she turns and looks into the camera with a death glare)

"Excuse me. I have to talk to someone."

(takes off her earpiece and mic and storms off stage; a moment later a hand reaches in front of the camera)

"Gimme that, you're not airing that."

(A blip sounds)

JEPH (who is holding an icepack up against the right side of his face, as he has apparently been hit hard with something) "Yeah, no one is ever going to reveal who actually played the role of Gina Riversmith in the comic. We all agreed to that."

SVEN (sitting on one of three chairs next to Faye and Dora on the interview set, talking quietly to them): "He didn't really call her in here to try to get her to admit to it, did he?" (Faye and Dora look off to the side of the set in horror as they see Danielle come charging in)

DANIELLE: "That's IT, this is NOT going to be airing anytime soon!"

(reaches the camera and it suddenly cuts out to black)

MALE VOICEOVER: "The interviews you just saw were originally thought to have been lost after Miss Corsetto's rampage on the set of Behind the Scenes. However, a copy of all of them were preserved for posterity – and the unlockable Special Extras part of this DVD version of the special."

(pause as the source of the voice is finally determined to be…)

R.K. MILHOLLAND: "And I didn't agree to any non-disclosure clause, so she can come after me all she wants. She knows what dirt I've got on her otherwise."

(smirking)

"And she #### well knows she's got nothing on me."

[DSL]

HARRISON FORD: "So I said, Jeph, you can type this shit, but no one can say it. He did end up changing the way Faye talked, but I always wondered if that was why all my scenes got cut out of Hannelore's couch dream sequence."

[jwhouk]

Good one.

Veronica Reed (Veronica Miller-Reed)
MARTEN: "Jeph let Faye and I fill in a lot of the back-story parts of our characters that he hadn't developed in the original framework of the script. Faye was the one who came up with her character being from Savannah – and how her accent didn't come out until after she had a few drinks in her. She already had the role of the overprotective and PTSS-suffering mom (and deceased dad) written into her character, but mine – well, Jeph left it open-ended.

FAYE: "We got into the whole 'whose family is worse' discussion before we did those strips where he talked about his parents, and he mentioned his parents had divorced after his mom finally figured out his dad was a closeted gay man. I made the off-hand comment that the only way it could be worse is if his mom turned out to be a dominatrix or something."

MARTEN: "Close – she did do some acting as a burlesque dancer in college. Which is how she met my father, at USF (University of San Francisco). But her whole life was for her teaching career."

VERONICA: "I've been a professor at Stanford University now for about 14 years –about three years after Henry and I divorced. I lecture in the human biology department of the school – mostly to undergrads in the 100-level courses. It does give me some free time to pursue acting, though. Mostly things on campus."

DORA: "I was the one who came up with the Bettie Page angle. I suggested to Jeph that it would not only take Marten's awkwardness to another level, but it would also bring an interesting development to the character."

JEPH: "I'd toyed from the beginning that Dora's character was bisexual. Thing is, short of her trying to make out with Faye – which Faye told me in no uncertain terms would happen only over her DEAD BODY – I had no way of showing it in the context of the strip. Then came the Bettie Page angle – and the interplay came naturally."

VERONICA: "When I'd done burlesque shows at USF, I'd gone under the stage name of Veronica Vance. I just dusted it off and played the part for a bit. Tell you the truth, I loved it. Unfortunately, I couldn't get away from the campus to make another appearance until the post-breakup storyline. If I could, I'd be appearing more often." (Shrugs for the camera) "Alas, I have a few more years before I get tenure and can just leave whenever I feel it necessary."

MARTEN: "What she doesn't want to mention is that she wasn't kidding about the whole incident with Steven Tyler. I remember that because mom has always cringed whenever she hears the opening riff to 'Walk This Way'. And she HATES American Idol."

VERONICA: "No comment."

Wil (Charelston Willingford II)

The role of Wil, Sven's friend from school, was originally slated to be played by someone a bit more famous than the current "Wil" (Charles Wilford, who goes by his stage name in the strip). Uber-geek extraordinare Wil Wheaton, who had appeared in background scenes of QC in the past, continually turned down overtures by Jeph to join the cast as a lovelorn poet who falls for one of the baristas (namely, Penny).

As has happened frequently in QC history, it was one of the current cast members who suggested someone to fill a role – and that someone just so happened to be Penny herself.

PENNY: "Charles and I had known each other for quite some time before the strip even started. Jeph had wanted my character to get involved with someone, but Steve and I were far from a match. So I suggested Chas, and he came in with his poem about the Large Hadron Collider, and – well, the rest is history."

Charles also declined to be interviewed for the Behind the Scenes special, but Penny does acknowledge that the two of them are still dating and living together. She has been coy about the possibility of the two of them joining the ranks of the married cast members of QC, though: "He hasn't asked me yet, and I'm not pushing things."

[jwhouk]

John Ellicott-Chatham (John Ellicott), Francis York (Frank Stafford, Ph.D), Lieutenant Abby Potter (Abagail Potter, Lt.Cmdr., Springfield Composite Squadron, Civil Air Patrol) and Dr Bernadette Case (Oprah Winfrey)

HANNELORE: "Every time we hit the convention circuit, I was always asked the same thing by at least one person: 'When are we going to find out about your dad?'"

JEPH: "I had the character of Hannelore's dad mapped out long before the Space storyline. I'd always wanted to do a whole storyline about him and his space station – but never could get Topatoco to put it in the budget."

HANNELORE: "I had met John Ellicott several times at various conventions – he was usually there because he'd played a Ferengi dignitary on Deep Space Nine, and he was big into sci-fi roles. He had been a technical advisor to Jeph with the robots in the strip, and it was pretty much always assumed he was going to end up playing my dad when the time came for it.

JEPH: "The incredible success of the release of Volumes 1 and 2 gave us the impetus for it – and suddenly, we got a phone call from NASA."

FRANK STAFFORD (NASA public relations liason, Johnson Space Center, Houston): "I'd been reading QC for a while to that point, and I knew that with the end of the space shuttle program, we needed some impetus to encourage space exploration – and travel. I'd toyed with the idea of using Jeph's ideas to further the space program, but I couldn't convince anyone to do it. (looks into camera) And then, Elon Musk (of Tesla Motors and SpaceX fame) got his daughter a plush version of Pintsize."

ELON MUSK: "She was just all about this goofy webcomic that featured these little robots, and she told me about this one character whose father lived on a space station. I read a bit about this, and decided to contact Jacques through my liaison at NASA (Stafford)."

STAFFORD: "I was thrilled, Jeph was thrilled, and I was just amazed at how quickly everything came together. All the null-G scenes that Jeph wanted to do were easy – we got Marten, Hanners and Marigold up in one of the Vomit Comets and did the shooting in mockup cabins, and we even helped Jeph out with the CGI backgrounds."

JEPH: "What really floored us was how they helped us out with the mockups for the space station. It made it just that much easier for me, knowing all I had to do was write the scripts."

HANNELORE: "The idea as to why we were going up there was going to be the easy one – a birthday party for my 'dad'. What we were going to do when we got up there was going to be up to Jeph."

JEPH: "Come on, you KNOW what it was going to be about." (looks at camera) "Null-G makeouts." (laughs) "Seriously, I did want to develop some relationships for Marigold and Marten, but I think everyone knew it was going to be about Hannelore's background."

MARTEN: "Everything kinda came together right there after Thanksgiving of 2011. We knew Faye was going to be out because she was in her last month with Jeffrey, and Dora and Sven were really looking forward to having a proper honeymoon after several years of marriage. What we didn't realize was that there were going to be people beating down the door to get a walk-on role on the Station."

JEPH: "Including that strange phone call we got from Harpo Productions."

Even the large amount of makeup and the glasses couldn't hide Oprah Winfrey's walk-on role during the Space storyline as Doctor Bernadette Case. Winfrey, who admitted to being a secret fan of the strip, played down her role as the "ship's doctor", only relishing in the fact that she helped contribute to some of the background of Hannelore's beloved character. (She was not interviewed for the documentary because of other commitments.)

FAYE: "Yeah, I'd known about Oprah being a fan for some time. One of the first times we did 3C (Chicago Comic Con), she actually sent one of her reps to our table with free passes for a taping of her show. Tai and I got to meet her backstage. She told us her favorite character was Hanners, and it was just a natural when it was made known that HannerDad was finally going to make an appearance."

JEPH: "Musk's daughter got her walk-on role as one of the 'singing scientists' – something that she came up with as an idea to begin with. Stafford wanted to play a lovelorn scientist who was even more awkward at makeouts than Marigold – which I'd never even thought of happening with her."

MARIGOLD: "Frank was fantastic in the scenes we were in. He was even understanding over my real-life case of space-sickness after our little Vomit Comet escapades. He also got an autographed copy of Naruto from me."

MARTEN: "That only left who I was going to try making out with."

HANNELORE: "I thought it'd be funny if my dad kept thinking that Marten was trying to make out with me, but Jeph and Marten agreed that it wouldn't be believable enough. Though we did get that one 'schtup my daughter, eh?' scene in during the birthday party."

JEPH: "I was going to do some random scientist, or something to that effect – and then we met the Potters."

MARIGOLD: "No, not those Potters. That would have geeked me out too much." (pause)

"Okay, all right, I admit – that lousy Harry Potter fanfic really was mine. Huge Harry Potter fan. One of the few things I have in common with the 'character' that Jeph gave me. Seriously, though – a few years ago, right after the Angus storyline, I tried my hand at getting a pilot's license. On my first training flight, I accidentally set off my ELT (emergency locator transmitter – the "black box") on a rough landing, but didn't bother to check in my post-flight inspection. After I got home, these three people wearing green uniforms with blue nametags appeared at my door to ask if I had been flying that day. Turns out the Civil Air Patrol squadron in Springfield had been doing training that day, and couldn't figure out why they were getting a signal from the plane I'd used."

(sighs)

"ANYways, it turns out that some of the members of the squadron were fans of the strip. When Jeph was looking for some extras, I made a few calls and the Potters were more than willing to help out."

ABAGAIL POTTER: "I had been involved in CAP when I was a kid – went through the cadet program, got my Mitchell and Earhardt awards, and was trying for my Spaatz when two things happened. First, I got into a car accident that left me with several scars on my hip – I got hit side-on and the door caved in on me while I was in the passenger seat. Second, I was trying for my pilot's license when I found out something: I had moderate deuteranopia."

(pause)

"Yeah, that's right – colorblind. It had never come up before then, so I never knew. It also dashed my hopes at getting into the Air Force."

MARIGOLD: "Abby and her family were involved in CAP, on and off, even after she started working as a fitness instructor in Springfield. I'd gotten to know them after my little 'run-in' with them, and they were both thrilled at the idea. They had wanted the entire squadron to join them, but all this stuff was coming together so quick – and it was the holidays at the time, too."

STAFFORD: "Jeph told us about the Springfield CAP group. We were all for it, but at the last minute it was only Potter and her father that could make the trip down to Houston."

ABBY: "My dad and I went with the QC cast to Johnson Space Center, where they had this whole space station mockup thing. It was just too awesome. Dad enjoyed his little bit as the 'Major' (which is his actual rank in the CAP), though he didn't understand the anime references. He wasn't too keen with how Jeph wrote my character, but I absolutely loved it."

MARTEN: "She didn't love the Vomit Comet at first, though. Puked up through our first take of the scene at the 'observatory.' She got over it with some scopamine meds, and we did the whole scene in one take before she had any follow-up issues."

HANNELORE: "That whole storyline was the most fun I ever had since joining the QC cast. And I just loved how we managed to develop the character while doing it. Wouldn't mind doing it again. (pause) Except, of course, for all Vomit Comet stuff. Watching everyone else get sick was not something I'd want to do again."

Spacestation and Spaceship (and avatars; voiced by Peter Hodgkins and Paul Hodgkins)

Both Station and Spaceship's avatars were CGI "holograms". The technology was paid for by Lenovo, who provided Topatoco Studios with the hardware to develop them.

The two avatars are actually voiced by twin English vocal professionals Peter and Paul Hodgkins. Neither like being interviewed on camera, and as such declined to be interviewed for the Behind the Scenes special.

[Carl-E]

You're having WAYYY too much fun with this! 

[Redball]

Sure, but aren't we all?

[jwhouk]

I just took the ball and ran with it.

[Carl-E]

...past the goalposts, out of the stadium, and into the next town...


Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining!  It's good stuff, and impressive, really!  But... don't you have a job?

[Border Reiver]

You say that like its a problem.

[jwhouk]

I have a job. I just work at night.

And a lot of these ideas just come to me, y'know?

[Is it cold in here?]

If I had your job I would devote as much thought as I could to my hobbies.

[jwhouk]

Bingo.

[Silentbanksy]

So um, it's Marten? Right?

Honey, please, i'm off the clock. Call me Mary.

[jwhouk]

Hannelore Ellicott-Chatham (Hannelore Chatham)
JEPH: "The one person I get the most questions about, whether it's at cons, or interviews, or anywhere I make an appearance, is, of course, Hannelore."

Jeph admits freely that the idea of Hannelore's character was never part of the plot of QC from the beginning, but he did realize after the "Talk" storyline that he needed to expand the strip outward from it just being about the five main characters (Marten, Faye, Dora, Steve and Pintsize).

JEPH: "I thought about Marten having this creepy stalker-like girl who followed him everywhere – a little like that gal who followed Charlie Sheen's character around on Two and a Half Men. But I didn't want her to be an eventual love interest for Marten – or for anyone else in the cast. And one day, I came up with the idea – give her OCD."

HANNELORE: "When I read for the part, I just knew that this was going to be huge. And I loved the concept of the creepy stalker girl with OCD. We read that whole Scrabble game scene (with Marten) and it was just perfect."

JEPH: "The explanation has always been that, as her character developed, she was just originally on some pretty heavy medications at the start. (looks skyward) I admit it – I had absolutely no idea where to go with her character. That's kinda why she got so much control of her character."

CRISTI: "A little bit too much control, if you ask some of the others around here." (pause) "Of course, not within hearing distance."

MARTEN: "She got to be so popular, especially after the whole Faye-Sven hookup arc, that she was perceived as having taken over the entire strip."

HANNELORE: "Yes, I'm aware of the Joan Crawford whispers. To those people, I say – GET A LIFE. I'm not this big, scary person like I portray in the strip. I'm also not really OCD – though the character's quirks have made me start washing my hands three times after using the bathroom and such."

FAYE: "Hanners got made out to be like her on-screen mother's 'James Bond villainess'. Truth is, she had all these great ideas, and it was working every time she suggested something. Jeph basically agreed to the 30% stipulation, just out of sheer thankfulness."

HANNELORE: "I haven't used the clause, of course. Jeph's made sure I'm in at least 80 strips a year. I just asked him to do it because – well, I couldn't always rely on my trust fund and my physics degree."

RAVEN: "Yep, I used to think I had the highest IQ among the cast. Then she came around and we started having arguments about the Higgs Boson and whether or not the Large Hadron Collider could actually find it." (smiling) "That was one of the things I missed about the strip when I left for congress."

While she does mention that she dislikes all of the fanfic and fawning over her character – which has sometimes made convention appearances difficult to take – she brushes it all off as being part of the job. Of course, she points out, "I do have that collection of African tribal spears and shields on display in my home (in Cambridge, Massachusetts). And the leaders of the Mokawi tribe of East Sudan showed me how to use that blow tube dart to disable an enemy from a thousand yards."

[jwhouk]

Amir Afridi (Draegan Delmar) and Natasha (Natasha Willington)

The old story about out-of-work actors who are part-time waiters? It happened with the role of Amir. Draegan really was working at Tapas Nu Kegas in Northampton when Jeph realized he'd seen him play for a neo-punk metal band.

JEPH: "Amir was the driving force for the creation of Deathmøle. He really wanted to get a band together, and I really wanted to make music – but I was scared to death of actually getting out in front of a crowd and performing."

Draegan was not available for interviews at the time of the special, as he is touring in Japan and performing his own music. However, he has credited Jeph in earlier interviews as being the driving force behind his music career.

Shortly after the introduction of Deathmøle, Draegan proposed to Jeph that he and Natasha could go on a tour, performing Jeph's music with the help of some session players, under the name "Deathmøle". Jeph loved the idea, and managed to write around the two appearing in the strip with the idea of Marten getting hired to work in the Smif library. The pair toured for several months to sold-out shows – pausing only to return to Northampton for Ellen's funeral.

After completing the tour, Natasha was reluctant to continue in her role as Ellen's roommate. However, she was enjoying working with Draegan as they toured as Deathmøle. The pair continued the world-wide tour, taking Jeph's music as far as Australia before returning to do some strips where Nat clumsily played her guitar.

Right around the end of the Faye/Sven hookup arc, Nat and Drae had a bit of a falling out over further touring as a band. Drae wanted to do a European tour, while Nat wanted to get back to school and finish her degree. The disagreement led to an off-screen argument that ended up in Jeph writing Nat out of the band – something she agreed to willingly. (By the way, the "But it's heavy!" comment was all her.)

Drae went on to do his European tour – but under his own "name" ("Amir Afridi of Deathmøle"). When he finally returned after the Marten-Dora breakup, he made a brief return, helping Jeph do some more recording. As mentioned previously, he is out on tour playing both Jeph's stuff and his own stuff under the Amir Afridi pseudonym.

Beatrice Chatham (Martha Stewart)

FAYE: "We had always joked that there was only one person who could possibly play Hannelore's mom."

MARTEN: "Martha Stewart."

DORA: "Martha Stewart."

HANNELORE: "Yeah, but she wasn't exactly beating down our door to work with us."

MARTEN: "That was all on Jeph. He had Pintsize make that comment right after Faye and I had moved into the apartment. I think we all figured we'd never actually see Hanner's parents – or we'd find out that she had been lying about the whole thing."

FAYE: "That was what I'd thought, too. Even said that in the strip."

DORA: "So we're all reeling a bit from what had happened to Ellen; Steve's trying to keep from going over the edge with this gal he met at Smif (Meena); and Natasha's hurrying back with Drae from their touring as Deathmøle."

MARTEN: "THAT was where the weirdness started."

FAYE: "Turns out that Ellen's mom is Martha's sister-in-law. There were some uncomfortable moments at the funeral, but Hannelore broke the ice and talked to her about the role."

HANNELORE: "She was a little reluctant at first."

DORA: "Try more like 'screaming there was no way in HELL she was going to do it.'"

HANNELORE: "I convinced her, though, that she would be able to make fun of all of those stereotypes of being an Evil Overlord villainess. That and the agreement that the character wouldn't look anything like her."

MARTEN: "The short hair and the black pantsuit helped. The whole time, I actually saw her as Beatrice and not Martha Stewart."

FAYE: "She was fantastic to work with. A real pro. She even got a nomination for best guest appearance in a webcomic at the Copper Comic Awards for that arc."

HANNELORE: "I don't think we'll see her play the role again, though. She lost out to that one gal who played a sniper on Schlock Mercenary." (shrugs) "Maybe we can get Oprah to convince her to come back to do the role again."

DORA: "Oprah???"

FAYE: "Long story."

---
Okay, I'm done for a while. I have a compilation of all these, including the Penelope one WAYF put up and a few other "edited" versions of other posts. If I get a bit, I'll see about putting them up on Scribd.

[Redball]

It's been a great read, making me think the compilation should be read with another archive binge.

[jwhouk]

And as promised:

Questionable Content: Behind The Scenes

[DudeReadThis]

I've only finished page 1 of this "Behind the Scenes", but my god, this REALLY makes me want to see a live action QC TV show.

[WAYF]

Danielle Corsetto with long red hair?

*brain implodes*

No wonder we couldn't recognize her...

[jwhouk]

From the super-secret notes that Milholland put up, she did a lot of the stuff on her knees because she's taller than Sven.

And they got her hair extensions.

[WAYF]

AUGUST 1ST
2028
8:30 PM

25 years ago, the legendary webcomic that spawned a multi-million dollar franchise began. It was... Questionable Content, and it was a revolution in internet entertainment. Which leaves the world to wonder:
WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

Marten Reed: After a failed attempt to get his music blog out of the comic and into the real world, Marten entered into a collaborative partnership with Jeph, Amir and Hannelore to bring the Deathmøle virtual band to life. A short but highly successful career followed, and the group managed to put out three very-well-received albums and a worldwide tour before Amir decided to leave the group to pursue a spirit quest not unlike that which the character of Wil underwent in the comic. Though making any more music was clearly out of the question, Marten and Hannelore have recorded the occasional song together for charity.
At time of recording, and despite his celebrity status, Marten is living in a modest inner-city apartment in Massachusetts, as befits his hipster persona. He can often be seen fighting squirrels in the local park.

Faye: After a hugely successful stint as the face of Weight Watchers, Faye tried her hand at being a gym instructor, then a martial arts instructor. The former was brief and, to quote Faye herself, "intense", and she developed a reputation for pushing her class to the point of exhaustion. While this was effective for some people, they were in the minority, and her martial arts classes went over much better with people who were only taking a casual interest. While not as enthusiastic about violence as her character had been in the comic, Faye had developed a passion for Muay Thai on the set, and today her martial arts classes are so successful that students recognize each other by randomly sparring in the middle of the street.
At time of recording, she is running her martial arts classes out of a private practice in New York.

Dora: The least active in the public sphere now that the comic is finished, all that is known about Dora is that she is married, with two children, and she lives in peace in Hawaii. She is apparently dedicated to maintaining this peaceful lifestyle, as when we approached her for an interview, she stood outside her house holding a broadsword. We got the message.

Hannelore: Aside from her successful career as the drummer for Deathmøle, Hannelore was inspired by her work on Questionable Content to take up baking. After working for various bakeries around the world, she decided to set up her own brand, which these days distributes such products as cookies, gingerbread and fairybread to supermarkets worldwide. Fans of the comic keep an eye out for the cookies she bakes in the shape of the comic's cast members, which she announces announces a batch of every year. Of these, the Faye cookie is usually the favourite at parties, since it is typically spiked by Hannelore herself with Emergency Bourbon.
At time of recording, she is working on a recipe for baking strawberries into cookies in the company's headquarters in Virginia. Company estimates claim that on any given work day, there are three pairs of binoculars in the bushes outside the building, waiting for Hannelore to clock off.

Wil: Having developed a distaste for the English language due to his character's awful poetry, Wil decided upon finishing his tenure in the comic that he would work in a field that had as little to do with the English language as possible. Under Tai's tuition, he decided to become a DJ focused mainly on dubstep music, but after a while he tired of this and realized that he did indeed appreciate the English language after all. He subsequently came into his own after deciding to remix Don McLean's "American Pie", Pink Floyd's "Time", and other songs which had the lyrics as their main focus. He enjoys a modest yet passionate fanbase, who regularly come to see him improvise such remixes at the club where he works in London.
At time of recording, he lives in Hertfordshire, England, and works as a DJ every Saturday in London. He otherwise works as a cashier in Sainsbury's.

Marigold: In one of the most hotly anticipated merchandising projects of the entire QC franchise, Marigold took on the task of writing and directing a full season of Magical Love Gentlemen. It was a runaway success, and ran for eleven full seasons before Marigold decided to step down from the project. She claimed that this was due to having done everything that she wanted to do, and because she found herself unable to handle the constant blushing and nosebleeding hazard that came from writing and directing such a show. As the executive producer, Jeph decided that it was the perfect time to axe the project, diverting the rest of his and Marigold's attention to DVD sales, poster art, licensed video games and Con appearances. To this day, Magical Love Gentlemen retains a large and widespread fanbase.
At time of recording, Marigold lives in a luxury apartment in New York, which she has fully customized to resemble her parents' basement.

TAI: Aside from being a ghost-writer on Magical Love Gentlemen, Tai found work in a school program for sex education. By the time the program realized who she was, it was too late to change their decision. In trying to find an excuse to get rid of her again, they unwittingly gave Tai new notoriety as an outspoken and powerful advocate for better sex education in schools, a battle which she eventually won. With help from her fellow advocates, a new sex education program was drawn up, geared, in theory, towards the needs and wants of a new generation of adolescents. Tai herself added that such a course should, in the spirit of its subject matter, be as fun and entertaining as possible without sacrificing its educational value. As if in testament to Tai's success, cases of teen pregnancy have dropped nearly 80% in the U.S since the new educational program was introduced.
At time of recording, Tai is on a date with our camerawoman. It seems to be going well.

Yelling Bird: In the same vein as FilmCritHulk, Yelling Bird found a handy niche for his persona and talents as a blogger with emphasis on politics and society, who used his crude way of communicating to deliver some surprisingly intelligent analysis and discourse. To this day, his Twitter account remains active, and is considered by many a bastion of common sense and obscenity.
At time of recording, Yelling Bird is working on a Guinness World Record attempt for Biggest Bird Nest in the Shape of Human Genitals. The project is based in California. Visit it... if you dare.

[Is it cold in here?]

Well done!

[DSL]

From the super-secret notes that Milholland put up, she did a lot of the stuff on her knees because she's taller than Sven.

And they got her hair extensions.

You might want to take cover. Corsetto says on her GWS blog she's planning a madcap driving and signing trip next year. Day 5 is Madison. Day 6 is Minneapolis.

[jwhouk]

She'll miss me by a hundred miles.

[cesium133]

Yelling Bird: In the same vein as FilmCritHulk, Yelling Bird found a handy niche for his persona and talents as a blogger with emphasis on politics and society, who used his crude way of communicating to deliver some surprisingly intelligent analysis and discourse. To this day, his Twitter account remains active, and is considered by many a bastion of common sense and obscenity.
At time of recording, Yelling Bird is working on a Guinness World Record attempt for Biggest Bird Nest in the Shape of Human Genitals. The project is based in California. Visit it... if you dare.

An obscene political pundit. That sounds awesome, though I'm sure it's probably been done before.

[WAYF]

Yelling Bird: In the same vein as FilmCritHulk, Yelling Bird found a handy niche for his persona and talents as a blogger with emphasis on politics and society, who used his crude way of communicating to deliver some surprisingly intelligent analysis and discourse. To this day, his Twitter account remains active, and is considered by many a bastion of common sense and obscenity.

WOAH. I TOTALLY CALLED IT.

[Madmartigan]

STEVE:  "No, I don't do all my own stunts.  I mean seriously, some of the stuff Jeph's wanted doing over the years could have seriously injured anyone not a professional stunt guy.

I'm liking how my part developed, and we may see more in later, but right now I just like having the time to spend with the kids and watch them grow."

LEWIS BLACK (voice of Winslow):  "I love this gig!  The kids are really professional about this and the author has been really good about working around my schedule.  I haven't been able to go off on one of my rants 'in character' yet, but I think that doing that would spoil the dicotomy for what I'm best known for and the character."

Lewis Black would definitely be Pintsize over Winslow.  Maybe Jack Black.  Heck, I could actually see Seth McFarlane as Pintsize.  In Stewie's voice.  Now that'd be creepy.

[Pilchard123]

I got a job crying an unidentified corrosive fluid on sofas.

That'll be sixty dollars.

[WAYF]

CLAIRE: I think one of the great aspects of the show that we never really talk about is Jeph's ability to cast people. Usually he doesn't give them a character; he just writes. We decide, to a certain extent, how our characters are going to be. One of the great things about my storyline was that the big reveal that, you know, I was trans, Jeph and I were the only people who knew that I was going to say that. We didn't tell Marten at all. So we just kind of dropped it on him to see how he, the person, reacted to it. That "thanks for telling me"? That was real, and genuine. Jeph made a great choice in choosing him to be the main character. I don't imagine there's too many people in the world who would have reacted in the same way that he did.
The other clever thing that Jeph did was not tell me that my character was trans until the day I needed to know. I'm not actually trans in real life either, so it was pretty surprising for me. So we had that whole meeting where we discussed my backstory and how my brother Clinton (who's not actually my brother by the way. HIS hair is a dye job). Anyway, yeah we called in Clinton as well and we discussed how the two of us relate to each other, cause up until that point we hadn't really interacted. And I wondered why we hadn't had this talk at the beginning, but then as we were leaving Jeph said to me, "Keep doing what you're doing." And I realized, he didn't tell me because I'd spent the entirety of my introduction playing, and being, a woman. Which was exactly how Jeph wanted a trans woman to be viewed: just a normal woman. And I think that's really clever, and Jeph really does have a knack for picking the right people for the right roles...

EMILY (in the background, flapping her arms): BUTTERFREE! BUTTERFREE!

CLAIRE: ...it's almost uncanny, sometimes.

--
Wow, the forum system actually warned me that I was engaging in thread necromancy before I posted.

[jwhouk]

Well done, and worth the necro'ing.

[Valdís]

"I'm not actually trans in real life either, so it was pretty surprising for me."

So not even in webcomics are trans people played by actual trans people.

[Carl-E]

And Artie in Glee isn't really confined to a wheelchair, either.  That's how TV works, and I always took the conceit of this thread to be a "what if QC were a TV show?" sort of thing. 

But I agree - the line, "Just keep doing what you're doing" would have worked better if the actress playing Claire was trans* in real life.  And not being told her character was also trans until the last minute just would make it more brilliant. 


It does, however, remind me of some of the early gay characters on TV, where the actors went and said, "Of course, I'm not really gay" (whether they were or not), to make them seem "safe".  You may think we've come a long way, but in reality?  Not so much. 


(And now I'm remembering an interview with Robin Williams and Nathan Lane about The Birdcage where he said something about "a straight man playing a gay man, and a gay man playing a straight man" to which Nathan replied, "Please, I'm a comic, not a straight man!")

[K1dmor]

 Daniel Radcliffe, in "Kill Your Darlings" movie interview, been asked "What it’s like to play a gay character":
 "You never see a gay actor getting asked what it’s like to play straight - to my knowledge, at least, there is no difference in how heterosexual and homosexual people fall in love."

[Valdís]

But Cisgender people don't have gender dysphoria, so that actually doesn't apply, K1dmor. The point is just that most things dealing with it are narratives written, directed and played by people who aren't Trans. Of course that doesn't make good portrayals impossible... but they usually aren't.

I don't find anything novel about a "reveal" that another one isn't, because they practically never are. If anything I'm not sure how to feel about casting a cis person and actually needing to tell her to just continue "being a woman". That should tell you why it'd be a problem with portraying actual trans people in the first place.

Or that there'd be something clever, rather than insulting, in casting a cis woman as "right for the part" to achieve her only being viewed as a woman [who happens to be trans].

[WAYF]

Despite all appearances, many parts of my above post were typed in a hurry (cause I had this idea and I just HAD to type it out before leaving for university), so I'm sorry if bad wording made my point sound a little bit wrong.
I have plenty of time now, so
The thing I was trying to get across was actually exactly like what k1dmor said: Were QC a TV show played by real actors, there'd be a whole media storm surrounding this issue and the actress playing Claire would get inundated with questions about "what's it like to play a character who's so ~trans~ and so ~different from us~ that we WANT TO KNOW"
*media beat-up*
The point is of course that trans women shouldn't be seen as any different from cisgendered women. (that word still sounds wrong to me...) In my hypothetical Behind the Scenes I decided to make Claire's actress born a woman because Claire is a lot more than her body parts. She has a whole personality, you know, just like everyone else. And it'd be far more important to look for someone who could properly respect those personality traits than just look for someone who was trans themselves, because at the end of the day, whether you're trans or not probably doesn't have any impact whatsoever on your ability to act.
God, this is getting long-winded...
I do get your point about needing to tell her to continue "being a woman" as it were, but here's where I was coming from:

(click to show/hide)

As I said, or heavily implied, Claire being trans has little to no impact on her personality, which is what we see most of in day-to-day QC. Except when it does in other media.
When Willow Rosenberg, and by extension Tara Maclay, were revealed to be lesbians in Buffy: The Vampire Slayer, it was great. They had a relationship which was full of all the good times and the bad times of any other relationship, and it really set the standard for other people wanting to write homosexual relationships (not just teasing it for ratings purposes). Except that since the reveal, Willow seemingly had to keep stating that she was gay when discussing attractive males the particularly egregious example being when Anya discussed the possibility that she might be attracted to Xander, and she simply responded "Well, hello? Gay now." Except that she HAS been attracted to many males during the run of Buffy: In chronological order of attraction, Giles, Xander, Oz (long-term boyfriend, yet), Count Dracula and RJ Brooks. Being a lesbian fundamentally changed the way Alyson Hannigan played the character of Willow. In the latter case, instead of simply accepting her attraction to him, she plots to turn him into a girl just so that they can be together, just because doing so would apparently violate the "lesbian" clause of her character which wasn't at all present for the first three seasons.

What I was trying to get across with the "continue being a woman" thing was this idea that playing a trans character shouldn't make a fundamental change in the way that character is played, and I'm sorry if that came across badly.

[jwhouk]

As the OP, I have to agree with the concept behind this thread. This was imagined to be a takeoff on those old VH1 "Behind The Music" shows, with a good dollop of "Real Hollywood Stories" thrown in.

Heck, I was the one who suggested that Gina Riversmith was played by Danielle Corsetto, for cryin' out loud.

As for Claire - it wouldn't surprise me the least if the character (if this was a TV show - and it isn't, by the way) was played by a non-trans* woman. There's some good reasons for this, actually:

1. Jeph likely had a particular idea for the character, but wasn't sure about the gender at the time he came up with it;
2. It would be easier to hire an actress that fits the idea of the character first, and then have them grow into the role;
3. It would also be a lot easier to find a non-trans* actress to play the part - and that's just from a sheer numbers standpoint (I mean, really, how many red-headed trans* women with glasses and freckles who are also actresses are out there, anyways?).
4. My original concept for the two characters in the BTS was that Clinton and Claire are actually played by two separate, non-related persons, and that Claire was actually a "talent search" winner who happened to fit the role.
5. I'd contend it would be more mind blowing if the following happened:

CLAIRE: "The real secret on the set of QC, though, is that though I'm the one who plays the trans* character in the strip, I'm not the cast member who really is trans*. (looks into the camera) That's right, I just outed one of the cast members. I'll let them decide to come clean about it."

(Cut scenes to the various members of the cast)
DORA: "Sven can vouch that I'm not trans*."
EMILY: "Not me, either."
HANNELORE: "Are you KIDDING? I may play an asexual woman, but I'm very much all woman, thanks."
LEWIS BLACK (Voice of PINTSIZE): "Why are you asking ME about this?"
STEVE and COSETTE: (both look at each other, turn, look at the camera, and shake their heads)
SVEN: "Dora can vouch that I'm not trans*. (pause) What? She already said that?"
FAYE: (holding up her boobs) "All natural since the ninth grade. Sorry."
MARTEN: "Wait, that pretty much eliminates everyone, doesn't it?"

(pause for dramatic effect, then)

JIMBO: "I got hooked on testosterone pills when I was in high school. Transitioning was easy, since my boobs weren't very big to begin with. Besides, I loved the idea of playing the drunk redneck at a bar!"

[DrBear]

LEWIS BLACK (Voice of PINTSIZE): "Why are you asking ME about this?"

I had always pictured Lewis Black as the voice of Yelling Bird.

[Latias]

5. I'd contend it would be more mind blowing if the following happened:

CLAIRE: "The real secret on the set of QC, though, is that though I'm the one who plays the trans* character in the strip, I'm not the cast member who really is trans*. (looks into the camera) That's right, I just outed one of the cast members. I'll let them decide to come clean about it."

What is mind-blowing about outing someone in front of many people without their permission, other than how mind-blowingly rude it is? "Come clean about it" is also a terrible choice of words, it's as if you're suggesting they're living a dirty lie.

[Valdís]

I'm very sleep deprived and annoyed at the moment. So here comes rambling.

The thing I was trying to get across was actually exactly like what k1dmor said: Were QC a TV show played by real actors, there'd be a whole media storm surrounding this issue and the actress playing Claire would get inundated with questions about "what's it like to play a character who's so ~trans~ and so ~different from us~ that we WANT TO KNOW" *media beat-up*

Those questions hardly seem like they'd be asked if she was actually trans. Which, y'know, you decided to not be the case. I also already noted that the comparison K1dmor made doesn't work.

The point is of course that trans women shouldn't be seen as any different from cisgendered women. (that word still sounds wrong to me...) In my hypothetical Behind the Scenes I decided to make Claire's actress born a woman because Claire is a lot more than her body parts. She has a whole personality, you know, just like everyone else. And it'd be far more important to look for someone who could properly respect those personality traits than just look for someone who was trans themselves, because at the end of the day, whether you're trans or not probably doesn't have any impact whatsoever on your ability to act.

Which is what Jeph is already doing, yet somehow you require someone assigned female at birth to be sure that she'll be acceptably passable as a "regular woman" to make that point. How is that not insulting? It also does matter more than you know. Try going back a few generations and telling a black person that blackface is really in their best interest, because they're a minority so it'd be bothersome for them to find a decent black actor for a role. Besides, the personality is all that matters, right? Now, I don't particularly have a problem with the few good portrayals of trans experiences in that fashion, but more often than not.. it ends up mattering.

And QC-Claire was always a woman too. Her parts have nothing to do with it.

I also don't see why you felt the need to point out how "wrong" the literal opposite of trans- sounds to you. Do you also object to "Heterosexual"? See, there's that important distinction again: Gender dysphoria is something you feel, but when they're aligned it feels non-existent to you, unlike ever-present attractions. You clearly demonstrate that it is not an experience you relate to, so why would I think actors in general have experiences to draw upon in that regard?

Being a lesbian fundamentally changed the way Alyson Hannigan played the character of Willow.

Which is infinitely more likely to happen when you cast a cisgender person to play a transgender character. You have a far more ready source of the reality than getting away with things similar to such bisexuality-erasure. Not to mention how often writers/actors will just presume they know what they're doing (presumably because they read a paragraph on it once) without asking anyone trans.

As for Claire - it wouldn't surprise me the least if the character (if this was a TV show - and it isn't, by the way) was played by a non-trans* woman. There's some good reasons for this, actually:

Obviously. I already said as much. In fact, it was specifically my point that most trans characters aren't actually. But it's hardly the perfect person to get the points across if she needs to be reminded to still be a woman.

Also having your own voice is important, no matter how convenient it is to overlook it. There comes a point where external narratives drown out real ones in the media.

I mean, really, how many red-headed trans* women with glasses and freckles who are also actresses are out there, anyways?).

Several of those things are easily changed as a matter of being an actor. Fundamental identity and experience isn't. Both of these persons, trans or cis, are fictitious. It's just deciding to take that aspect of her person away. No pragmatic factors involved. The answer could be "Only one transwoman in the world is an actor.. and she got the part" for all you know.

What is mind-blowing about outing someone in front of many people without their permission, other than how mind-blowingly rude it is? "Come clean about it" is also a terrible choice of words, it's as if you're suggesting they're living a dirty lie.

+1 to all of this.

HANNELORE: "Are you KIDDING? I may play an asexual woman, but I'm very much all woman, thanks."

What the actual fuck, jwhouk..

JIMBO: "I got hooked on testosterone pills when I was in high school. Transitioning was easy, since my boobs weren't very big to begin with. Besides, I loved the idea of playing the drunk redneck at a bar!"

So many problematic things, so little time.. "Getting hooked on"..? "Transitioning was easy"..? Because of "Boob size"..? Sigh.

(click to show/hide)

[Latias]

I only briefly skimmed through this thread, and... I certainly missed some stuff. Not good stuff. There's no need for me to go through everything Valdis responded to and repeat what was said, but one thing in particular really stood out.

HANNELORE: "Are you KIDDING? I may play an asexual woman, but I'm very much all woman, thanks."

There's ignorance, and then there's... whatever this is. This is on of the same level as casually suggesting that the Aryan race is the master race and that anyone who isn't Aryan is less than human. To suggest that a transgender woman is somehow less of a woman than someone who was born with a typical female body... that's absolutely disgusting. I want to say more, but... there aren't really words for this. I just want you to know that this is completely fucked up and that what you say has a real impact on other people's lives, in this case an extremely negative impact.

[Carl-E]

(click to show/hide)

Horrifyingly, beautifully stated.  People tend to understate internal struggles, simply because they are internal, and there are rarely words enough. 

[Is it cold in here?]

So, if you were casting for a trans character, who would you audition? A cis actor, on the grounds that the important thing is to match the character's brain setting and any actor of the right sex can do that? Or a trans actor, to take advantage of the actor's life experience of feeling gender dysphoria and enduring the social environment? Or just whoever impresses you most on the audition?

It's a sore point with other minorities to have non-matching actors cast to portray them. The reasons seem to include desire for authenticity, equal job opportunities, and the fundamental respect that leads to making job opportunities equal.

[Carl-E]

I think it has more to do with being an authentic representative of a group.  Having a trans* character is forward looking (especially one that's trerated well).  Having a trans* character played by a trans* actor gives the trans* people viewing it a sense of ... belonging?  No, more like acceptance, I think. 

Now, having a trans* actor play a cis* character would be revolutionary....

But in some respects, we're talking the basic equivalence of blackface in the 20's. 


TBH I like the conceit that Jeph didn't even know where Claire's character was going to wind up when he made that bigendered character sketch for Clinton ages ago (would someone find that, please?)  The difference is, with a single speech bubble, Claire's whole past was recreated before our eyes (and in our heads).  That's something you can't do with a real actor! 

[Is it cold in here?]

Wasn't there a trans actress who played a cis character in a James Bond film?

[Mr_Rose]

Wasn't there a trans actress who played a cis character in a James Bond film?

Now there's a confusing take on gender politics. "We just wanted to make it clear that James Bond is an equal opportunity misogynist."