You may not believe that a word could be a homophone of its own plural, but try saying the titles of The Highwayman (2022) and The Highwaymen (2018) out loud, and don’t force yourself. You’ll hear what I mean!
2018 was a busy year for homophones, seeing the release of Rosie, Rosy, The Favorite, and The Favourite (the one with the “u” in it is the Oscar nominee you’ve probably heard of).
There were a few more movie pairings that I could’ve given a full spotlight. A couple of them are “R-dropping homophones” like Shark (with Burt Reynolds) and Shock and Harlow and Hollow. But a lot of movies are obscure for good reasons, and I had to draw the line somewhere.
I was a lot more successful at finding movie homophones than homophones in other media. Searching through my list of books, I found two pairs, but one is disputable: Candida by George Bernard Shaw versus Candide by Voltaire.
My sources differ as to how Candide is actually pronounced in the States, but both works are indisputable classics and quite different. Candida centers around a love triangle and the question of what makes a truly fulfilling relationship and marriage; Candide is a sharply satirical road story about folly in times of crisis, about the progressive disillusionment of the title character through a series of misadventures.
Cane by Jean Toomer is a 1923 series of linked vignettes about the Black American experience. Cain, the last novel by Jose Saramago, is a satirical retelling of Genesis in which God is far from a good guy and Cain wanders Forrest Gump-style into various biblical events, finally doing away with humanity by killing Noah’s family.
What about in TV? Excepting the technically-but-not-really cases like SportsCenter vs. SportsCentre and Hawaii Five-O versus its remake Hawaii Five-0, I could find one pairing…Martial Law and Marshall Law…but Marshall Law was only a nine-episode miniseries without much fame or distinction. At least Martial Law lasted a couple of seasons.
Still, it’s mildly interesting that the shows interpret their wordplay in opposite directions. Martial Law is a cop show, featuring a Jackie Chan movie’s idea of an officer, and Marshall Law is a lawyer show with two sisters working out their sibling rivalry while working at the same firm, one overqualified for her job, the other underqualified for hers.
But there’s one more connection between homophones and Hollywood I should mention…a movie that paired two homophone actors, who were then linked romantically as well. That’d be Vanilla Sky, with Tom Cruise and Penelope Cruz. (Not to dis Cameron Diaz’s wonderful work, but she’s third on the marquee.)
I’m pretty sure Cruise and Cruz, despite the brevity of their relationship, made their mark as the only Hollywood homophone power couple. (What would be their portmanteau? “Cruiz”?)
I haven’t had time to study whether there are any other well-known movies that pair soundalike names, though. (I’m pretty sure there are movies featuring actors with the same last name—Will and Jaden Smith have worked together now and then, for a start.) That’ll have to be for some other time…unless you’ve got any in mind to add to the comments!