Calpernia, I just went to the sundance website and It looks great. The people who worked on this film are grade A. Although I havent seen the film, Im pretty sure It will recieve attention for Emmy and Golden Globe possible nomination. Talk about exposure potential, even though that's not the reason the movie was made. Can't wait to see it, but in the meantime.......

MERRY CHRISTMAS
meemee

Possible Reason 2. In a smaller budget or indie film, they can risk not having a major name, but then they have to fall back on (gasp!) talent. So they hold auditions, and probably a lot of TS women audition in addition to a lot more men. But TS women, as a demographic, tend to have less money and fewer educational opportunities. We spend the first half of our life (or more) just coming to terms with who we are, so we tend to find ourselves playing catch-up at 30 (like me) with actors who have been studying and performing since they were 8. So we go in, look cute, and get upstaged by someone who knows the acting business better. This isn't their fault. It’s a business and we're in it to win. A big part of the solution is for TS actresses to get better at their craft through professional training. But you cant deny that there is also a lot of bias against us still... It's risky to compare any situation to that of African Americans, but I personally think it's similar to the problems Black actresses faced in early Hollywood. It was difficult to get the training, and when they did have talent and training, they were forced to play maids and tap-dancers, just as we are forced to play prostitutes, psychos and punch-lines. Slowly but surely movies like Soldier's Girl will help erode those negative images, even though a TS is not in the title role.
But I personally plan to get out here in Hollywood and see what I can do as an actress and performer, in my own small way... We shall see on that. In terms of this movie, I admit when I first heard a man was playing me, I was unhappy about it. But when I met Lee, I was confident that he was the person for the role. He looked like me back in 1999: Very early on in my transition. He was sweet and gentle and shy, with a devilish streak and real strength behind the softness. Plus he is a Julliard graduate, and I really got the sense that he could bring the role to life and make people care about the character he was portraying.

* Butterfly: No they didn't change any names of the principal characters. Most of the supporting characters are composites or "inspired-by" charcters, though. For example, there is a performer named "Typhoon", and you may remember the Connection's own "Hurricaine" was working there at the time. Hmm... =) Also the club is called "Visions", to avoid legal stuff. I don't mind... the Kill-nection was one of the cruelest places I've ever worked. When Barry died the owners never sent a card or anything other than to have a message relayed saying "Don't bring those news cameras in the club. Bad publicity." As if I was controlling the news...