5. His Girl Friday (1940): The most awesome of all on this list, you owe it to yourself to see this movie, starring Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell. Originally it was a 1928 Broadway play called”The Front Page”about two best guy friends who were newspaper reporters. One friend, Hildy Johnson, decides he’s had enough, finds a nice girl, and plans to marry and movie to Albany and live a quiet life. But Walter Burns has different ideas, and spends the play unraveling all of his plans, while creating a sensational story for the front page that delves into the morality of capital punishment. Then someone had the bright idea to change the role of Hildy Johnson to a woman. Walter Burns is her ex-husband, and spends the movie trying to convince her that she shouldn’t settle down, get married, and raise a family in Albany, but she should stay in the big city and keep her job as his star reporter (and marry him again). Yes, there was a movie made in 1940 that had as its plot that being a housewife is boring and a woman should pursue a career instead.

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4. The Paper (1994): Glenn Close’s character was written for a man. But, like His Girl Friday, to which it pays homage, a woman was cast in the role. The character was scarcely changed not at all, and it works just fine.

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3. Ringu (1998, original Japanese version, later adapted quite well into The Ring in the US): The Japanese film Ringu was originally a book that featured two male friends in the lead. In the film, one of the sexes was swapped so that it became a former couple who had a child together. This then sets the stage for an interesting choice on the part of one of the characters later.

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2. Flight Plan (2005): Jodie Foster’s lead role as a mother on an airplane desperately seeking her daughter, who she insists has vanished from the airplane midair, was originally written for a man. However, the director felt that it would be a stronger bond if played by a woman.

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1. Alien (1979): Sigourney Weaver’s role of Ripley in Alien was originally supposed to be played by a man, but Weaver was cast in the role instead. Director Ridley Scott, who was shortly to become known for the strong women roles in his films, left the character unchanged despite the change in sex.

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Extra! Here’s a music video that switches one of the people from female to male, and becomes far better as a result: