She's the Man
Short description
Viola Hastings plays soccer better than most of the boys, so when her school cuts the girls' team, she takes an unusual route to keep playing. With her twin brother Sebastian away in London, she poses as him to join the squad at his new boarding school, Illyria. The scheme works until she falls for her roommate Duke, who is focused on Olivia, who in turn becomes drawn to Viola in her disguise as Sebastian. The situation grows more tangled when the real Sebastian comes home earlier than planned, unaware that his sister has taken his place on campus. The film is a modern take on Shakespeare's Twelfth Night.
Andy Fickman directed, following his 2004 debut Who's Your Daddy?, with a screenplay by Karen McCullah, Kirsten Smith and Ewan Leslie. Amanda Bynes leads as Viola, alongside Channing Tatum as Duke, Laura Ramsey as Olivia, Vinnie Jones as Dinklage, David Cross as Gold and Julie Hagerty as Daphne. The production brought together 78 credited cast members and 180 credited crew.
Made for about 20 million dollars, the film took in roughly 57 million worldwide, a solid return on its budget. On IMDb it holds a 6.8 rating from 3,369 votes, while the film critics' rating stands at 5.1 from 114 reviews, so viewers have been noticeably warmer toward it than critics. It runs 105 minutes and was released in March 2006.
What's left behind the scenes
- Brandon Jay McLaren, who played Duke's friend Toby, actually participated in football competitions and received a scholarship to play for his college team.
- The idea for the film came to screenwriter and producer Ivan Leslie after he saw Sam Mendes' production of Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night" at the Donmar Warehouse in London, starring Emily Watson. When writing the screenplay, the role of Viola was immediately intended for Amanda Bynes.
- The plot of the film is a very loose, modern adaptation of William Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night" and contains numerous references to it. The school where the main characters study is called Illyria, after the country where Shakespeare's play takes place. The character of Duke is based on the character of Duke Orsino in the play (the name Duke literally translates to Herzog in English). Duke's friends in the film are named Toby and Andrew. In the play, Toby is Olivia's uncle and Andrew is one of her suitors. However, in the play, Viola does not pretend to be her brother, but simply a man, calling herself Cesario. In the film, "Cesario" is the name of a restaurant where several key scenes take place.
- The argument in the car between Viola and Paul, when Viola first arrives in Illyria, was completely improvised by the actors.
- Malcolm's tarantula, to whom he addresses his monologue, was named Malvolio, after a character from Shakespeare's play.
- The creators originally intended Jesse McCartney to play Sebastian, as he had similar facial features to Amanda Bynes. Due to commitments to other projects, the actor was unable to participate in the film and the role went to James Kirk.
- The opening scenes of the film were shot in Vancouver, Canada, on the coldest June day in its history. It was so cold that crew members had to wear jackets and other warm clothing, while the actors were in beach attire.
- On Viola's first day in Illyria, a poster for a school production titled “What You Will” can be noticed. This is also an alternative title for Shakespeare's play “Twelfth Night,” on which the film's plot is based.
- On the wall in Duke's room, you can see a poster for the relatively obscure Canadian band «Sum 41» for its album «Chuck» (2004).
- At the start of filming, Amanda Bynes had absolutely no soccer skills. Despite this, she performed a significant portion of the soccer scenes herself. Amanda Bynes' stunt double in these scenes was Shannon McDonald, who lives in Richmond, British Columbia and also appeared in one of the minor roles. Shannon McDonald's husband also doubled for Channing Tatum in some of the soccer scenes.
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