Ultimate Desperate Housewives' own Jovana G. was invited to a press junket to interview the cast and director of Transamerica. Below is her review. Be sure to watch the trailer and view exclusive interviews at iFilm. In one of the most thought-provoking and well-received films of the holiday season, Transamerica is a refreshing look at the redefined modern American definition of “family.” The film stars Felicity Huffman as a born-again Christian and pre-operative male-to-female transsexual, holding down several jobs and penny-pinching in the hopes of paying for a final gender-alteration surgery. Before allowing her to proceed with the surgery, her psychologist forces Bree to find and confront the 17-year-old son she finds out she fathered long ago. Bree finds Toby in New York City, living as a rebellious teenager who sells sex for money, and is afraid to tell him the truth. They decide to embark on a cross-country journey together, one that changes their lives forever and bring them closer as they learn essential truths about themselves and each other. Fans of Ms. Huffman, who plays the lovable and somewhat quirky working mom Lynette on Desperate Housewives, will scarcely recognize her as she transforms herself completely for her role as Bree Osbourne. Huffman, who completed the film before her Housewives turn, admitted that serious work went into the transformation, including costume design and a turn with a vocal coach in New York to nail the masculine undertones of the effeminate voice she uses in the movie. Additionally, more so than the physical transformation required for the role, Ms. Huffman felt a need to convey the story of her character and the psychological journey she undergoes in the film. Ms. Huffman met and talked extensively with transsexual communities while preparing for the role, and when asked if it changed her interpretation of the role, Huffman said, “Absolutely! I wanted to delve into the role with genuineness and a real sense of honesty about a lot of the discrimination and other stuff that these people go through. I wanted to bring that out in the role with as much honesty and dignity as I could.” Ultimately, her dedication to the details is not only what pulls of the role with such smashing success, but what caught the eye of the film’s writer and director, Duncan Tucker. When asked what Huffman specifically brought to the movie, Tucker said her concern with externals, such as being cognizant of hand movements, juxtaposed well with his concern as a writer with the internals, such as the emotional truth of the characters. All of the stars and director were emphatic that this movie is, at its heart, about relationships and human transformation. Kevin Zegers, who play Bree’s son Toby, said that “It’s not about being gay, or transsexual. It’s a movie about two people taking a cross-country trip together and learning about each other and growing closer.” It’s a sentiment echoed by Ms. Huffman and Mr. Tucker. Tucker equated the road trip that the two take across America as a representation of Bree’s journey with her son—the open road symbolizing their relationship. Finally, Ms. Huffman herself feels that the movie is not an edict on sexuality, merely that the characters’ sexuality serves as a backdrop for what is really a dual coming-of-age story for two people who were both sexually abused in their youth, who both feel a vacuous need for love and approval, and who both learn about themselves and each other in the process of self-acceptance.