Sean Young Joins Pooya Mohseni In Trans Thriller ‘Heather’ From Tony Repinski

Dino-Ray Ramos
·2 min read
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EXCLUSIVE: Blade Runner icon Sean Young has joined the cast of the transgender-themed thriller Heather written and directed by filmmaker Tony Repinski. Young will star alongside trans actor Pooya Mohseni and Nick Mathews.

Production on Heather was interrupted last March due to the pandemic but now the thriller is on track and will resume filming next week in Sag Harbor, Long Island.

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Heather follows a philanderer (Mathews) who is lured into a kinky encounter by a provocative woman played by Mohseni. Things take a turn when he discovers she has undergone gender reassignment and was once the boy he terrorized in high school. Young plays the “sugar momma” to Matthews’ character.

A former SEAL Team 6 Chief and CIA contractor, Repinski told Deadline that the inspiration for the film came when his friend told him a story about how she was bullied during high school. She has since transitioned and years later she was reunited with her bully, and, in a plot twist, he ended up becoming her boyfriend. Repinski took this story and started writing Heather.

In a time when authentic representation is paramount — specifically in the LGBTQ community — Repinsiki admitted that he was a total stranger when it came to telling this type of story. However, he just wanted to get the story out of his head and on paper. From there, he was open to learning to ensure that trans representation in Heather was told properly. Once the first draft was finished, it went through many revisions — and Mohseni played a large part in helping craft an authentic representation of the trans character. In addition, the film was partly financed by a considerate donor in the LGTBQ community that chose to remain anonymous.

The thriller adds to the move towards more inclusive storytelling and authentic casting. Pose has further opened the door for more stories spotlighting trans performers and experiences. Sam Feder’s Netflix Disclosure has also contributed to the representation of trans voices in front of and behind the camera. The documentary spotlights the problematic history of representation of the trans community in film and TV over the years and serves as a call to exchange to help bolster change.

Heather is Produced by Michael Bregman (Carlito’s Way, The Bone Collector), Summer Crockett Moore, and Tony Glazer. Bregman and Repinski are also developing an action/humor-driven unscripted series set in Texas that focuses on a retail business operated by several former Tier-1 United States Military contractors.

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