Director Deb Hagan just shattered another glass ceiling for rising feminists: the gross-out comedy.
Hagan, who joked about having a 14-year-old boy's sense of humor, wasn't the most likely candidate to direct College"" - the new comedy starring three ""Superbad""-look-alikes trying to survive a college visit and featuring a cast that includes womanizing frat boys, an ""Assless Chaps Guy"" and anonymous ""Penthouse Pets."" Still, Hagan defied the odds and by her final interview with the film's writer, Adam Ellison, Hagan had just one more gender barrier to leap. That conversation, Hagan recalled, went like this:
Producer: ""You have to make sure you don't short me on boobs.""
Deb: ""Adam, you can have all the tits you want.""
A few hours later, the deal was done and a pioneer was born.
Okay, so she's not exactly Betty Friedan, but Hagan doesn't seem to care whether her fellow females shower her with praise or make her their pariah. Taking a cue from the feminists themselves, she's doing what makes her happy, to hell with gender stereotypes.
""I think guys in general are just given permission to be a bit raunchier than women and maybe that's not fair,"" Hagan said, who experienced the male sense of humor first-hand growing up with a younger brother.
While she admitted movies aimed strictly at men under 25 can be a bit low-brow - critics have already stained ""College"" with the label - Hagan said the character relationships and stories in those movies are usually more honest, relatable and real than movies aimed at young women.
""One of the problems that I have with female-driven movies is, I don't see the female characters as being super relatable, they're not the chicks I'd hang out with,"" Hagan said.
To keep her dialogue as authentic as possible, Hagan said she rewrote the film's original script extensively, drawing from her own freshman-year experience at the University of Delaware as ""research for this film.""
Hagan, who is making her directorial debut with ""College"" and has a background in marketing, has a firm grip on the business side of her industry and knows how to write for her audience.
""I think I have a handle on what makes guys giggle,"" she said. When that wasn't enough, Hagan said she leaned heavily on her three stars - Andrew Caldwell, Kevin Covais (of ""American Idol"" fame) and Drake Bell (most remembered as the kid who flipped off Tom Cruise in ""Jerry Maguire"") for touches of realism.
Hagan may know what makes her audience tick, but she's certainly not oblivious to her unique influence over a film that's been pitched as this generation's ""Animal House"" and ""American Pie"" - films often shunned as chauvinistic.
""One thing I tried to do was protect the female characters a little bit. I tried to make them a little bit more grounded,"" Hagan said. She also pointed out that, while she held up her end of the ""boob"" bargain, she ""tried to use it in a way where it feels like it comes from the growth of the characters, so it's not completely gratuitous.""
Feminists may get ripped off on that deal, but ""College"" is in theaters now.
