Everybody’s Talking About… Richard E. Grant?
As I drank my morning coffee and read the morning news (Twitter) I came across an article about the new film rendition of the West End musical “Everybody’s Talking About Jamie”.
The popular musical, based on the documentary, “Jamie: Drag Queen at 16”, tells the story of a young queer boy, Jamie New, who aspires to be a famous drag queen. The musical is a celebration of LGBTQIA+ culture, as we get to watch Jamie, with the help of his mother Margaret, and seasoned drag queen, Loco Chanelle, become his idealized self. Because of the nature of the musical, you may be surprised to hear that the article I stumbled across focused not on the actor playing Jamie, or any of the drag performers who would be involved in the production, but rather, chose to highlight actor Richard E. Grant who would be starring in the film in the role of Loco Chanelle.
Although this is neither the first nor the last time a heterosexual actor will be stepping into a queer character, this choice seems particularly mind-boggling. Although Grant is an absolutely lauded actor, with nominations and accolades to boast, it seems intrusive to have a straight man occupying the heels of a character such as Loco Chanelle.
Drag culture is undeniably sweeping the nation, thanks in no small part to the Emmy award-winning mega-franchise RuPaul’s Drag Race. Although we have seen many Drag Race alumni appearing in popular films and series as of late, including Willam Belli and Shangela Laquifa Wadley in A Star Is Born, Ginger Minj in Dumplin’, and Katya Zamoldochikova in Love, Victor, these roles have continued to only stay within the range of cameo to guest appearance. None were given the opportunity to be rounded characters and were in many ways tokenized.
The role of Loco Chanelle already differs from many of these other “drag roles” because the character splits the screentime between their drag persona and their de-dragged self, Hugo Battersby. AlMany fans of Drag Race have enjoyed getting to see their favorites in and out of character, thanks to the show’s talking head confessionals and “Werk Room” moments.
Similarly, Hugo is a fully developed character with a backstory and aspirations of his own; the film even promises to deliver a new song detailing Hugo’s experience with both the AIDS crisis and Margaret Thatcher’s response to the queer community. Although it is admirable of the film to put in the work to tell this story, it seems to fumble the ball by not casting someone who actually represents the community they are featuring.
Drag Race winner and New York City drag legend Bianca Del Rio had formerly taken on the role of Loco/Hugo on the West End. Her early 2019 run in the production was extremely well-reviewed that she would return for a second engagement later that year. Ironically, Grant said he was inspired largely by Del Rio’s stint on Drag Race, where she showed both her biting insult comedy as Bianca and a motherly, nurturing side out of drag as Roy Haylock. Del Rio has also ventured into film, starring in two installments of Hurricane Bianca. With this experience under her belt, name recognition, and a real understanding of the LGBTQIA+ community, one may think Del Rio herself would be a perfect fit for the role.
Many other accomplished queens, or even known queer entertainers such as Alan Cumming, Billy Porter, or Harvey Fierstein, could easily lend their talents to the role. The film did choose to cast drag performers as the supporting queens, Laika Virgin, Sandra Bollock, and Tray Sophisticay. This makes the decision to cast a heterosexual actor such as Grant even more questionable.
With Loco being such a critical part in introducing Jamie to queer culture and history, it’s a shame the casting does not give such a major opportunity for someone to make history as one of the first drag performers in a major role in a large scale movie. More importantly, let’s hope that Richard E. Grant’s casting does not overshadow that of openly gay actor Max Harwood, who will be making his film debut as Jamie!
Everybody’s Talking About Jamie’s premiere is currently delayed due to COVID-19, but you can watch the trailer here.
