Showbiz legend John Cameron Mitchell is touring North America with a 4K restoration of the 2001 cult movie adaptation of his career-defining off-Broadway punk-rock musical Hedwig and the Angry Inch, with a Montreal stop at the Beanfield Theatre on June 30.
Mitchell wrote, directed, and starred in the musical and film which won the Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical, a special Tony for his performance, an Obie Award, the Best Director award at the Sundance Festival and a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor.
I last interviewed Mitchell 25 years ago, for an HOUR alt-weekly cover story when the film was screened at Montreal’s Just for Laughs Festival. Mitchell was candid and outspoken then, and remains so today. I recently caught up with the queer icon while he was portraying Mary Todd Lincoln in the play Oh Mary! at the Lyceum Theatre in New York City.
Mitchell, 63, returns to Montreal – a city he loves – on June 30 for a Hedwig screening that will be followed by a live post-screening conversation, audience Q&A and a special acoustic performance, as well as post-show meet-and-greets.
Hedwig was considered a commercial flop after its release. But its legacy grows with each passing year. Why does the film feel fresh and important 25 years later?
John Cameron Mitchell: For many people, Hedwig doesn’t feel dated. I wanted something timeless. So I avoided the tricks of the moment of the day, and I shot on film, which was still happening but was going away. I was more inspired by films of the 70s, like All That Jazz and Cabaret, though the film feels like it could be at any point pre-cell-phone. Our audience has always been wildly mixed. It’s never been just queer or trans or gay or goth or punk. It’s become a fairy tale for all kinds of misfits. And it keeps gathering young fans, which makes me very happy.
Like New York, Montreal is a big gay liberal city. But I still feel the queer community needs to be more vigilant. What do you think?
John Cameron Mitchell: Queerdos are always on the list of scapegoats, with immigrants, Jews and dark-skinned people. I think you’re right, but I don’t think the answer is to double down on identity politics, which starts to get separatist. When you’re on the lifeboat, when civilization is reaching its rocky late capitalist stage, we all need whoever is in the boat to help us. You don’t throw out good people who can row. I’ve always felt that identity politics at its worst is capitalist. If you force an identity on someone, you can sell to them.
In my July 2001 HOUR cover story about Hedwig, you told me, “Pride is like an infestation—I feel like a freak among a majority.” How do you feel about Pride today?
John Cameron Mitchell: Pride got very ugly, especially in the U.S. Corporations and capitalism go where the wind blows. It doesn’t go where morality blows: “If Trump says queers and DEI need to go, then we will now disinvest, take all of our money out of gay and queer initiatives.” They’re all cowards. It’s bean counters making risk-averse decisions. Because they never really cared in the first place. They just want to make money. To me, it’s not a surprise, and in some ways a bit of a relief. We never wanted them in the first place. Ultimately, you’re not really our friends. You’re just a fair-weather friend. Rough-weather friends are the ones we all want. So to me, maybe Pride is going to go back to the way it was a bit more, which was more homemade DIY, more punk.
In 2019 I traveled to New York for World Pride where instead I joined the inaugural Queer Liberation March organized by the Reclaim Pride Coalition. On the Great Lawn at Central Park I saw Larry Kramer whom you first met in 1991 at an ACT UP New York meeting.
John Cameron Mitchell: Interestingly, on that Queer Liberation stage in Central Park, Steven Trask and I sang “Midnight Radio” right before or after Larry. He was our gay Moses, trying to lead us out of the wilderness and out of bondage. And sometimes prophets have to scream to be heard. Larry was always about hyperbole because sometimes that’s what gets people on the street. Early on when he talked about safe sex, people thought, “Oh, you’re a prude.” In retrospect, he was prescient. When I went to an ACT UP meeting near my house, they were discussing shutting down the bridges and tunnels. When I said that in San Francisco people died when they did that because ambulances couldn’t get through, Larry screamed at me “WE’RE dying!” and I was shouted down. It wasn’t really a place for moderation, because most of the people there were HIV positive, so they were facing a death sentence. I totally understand the fury and the anger.
Off-Broadway a year later you were starring in Larry’s semi-autobiographical play The Destiny of Me. Did he remember you?
John Cameron Mitchell: No, everyone’s yelling at him and he’s yelling at everyone. But he was delighted by my audition. I was a little goyish boy playing a young Jewish boy, and I feel like I got at the heart of his youth, so he was very happy.
You played Mary Todd Lincoln in Oh Mary! How does it feel to be performing before a live theatre audience again?
John Cameron Mitchell: Being on Broadway again is interesting. You know, I hadn’t really been on in 11 years. But it’s like riding a bike, you just get back up. You know, no one could ever do eight shows a week for Hedwig. We had to keep it at seven. But eight shows for Oh Mary! is definitely doable. I’m tired but not broken. It’s been wonderful!
Do you prefer making films that last forever, or do you prefer performing for a live audience?
John Cameron Mitchell: I do love the theatre, especially because it is impervious to digital documents or, you know, visual interruption. There’s a great joy in this is now and will never be seen again.
Do you think a film like Hedwig would get greenlighted in America today?
John Cameron Mitchell: Not with that budget or that cast and director. Because I had never directed a film before. And I’m directing myself. I was not a bankable star. So it was a miracle that the film was made. Those days are gone because we are now dealing with risk-averse committees in the AI era who research everything and do not go on intuition. They go on probability.
Your Montreal tour stop is in an absolutely beautiful century-old theatre.
John Cameron Mitchell: I’m so excited! The last time I was in Montreal was for an event at Cinéma L’Amour.
Yes! Cinéma L’Amour is Montreal’s last-remaining porn theatre. You were there for a Pervers/Cité festival midnight screening of Shortbus in August 2017.
John Cameron Mitchell: It was delightful! I love the history of that place. You know, Montreal and my new home city of New Orleans many have things in common. They’re colourful and have a kind of punk aesthetic. They’ve not turned Montreal into a Quebecois theme park or New Orleans into a Mardi Gras theme park yet, the way other places have become, like Vegas and Nashville.
You have worked with so many great divas, from Patti Lupone to Glenn Close. Who was the most intimidating?
John Cameron Mitchell: The most intimidating were probably Cynthia Erivo and and Nicole Kidman. Both are extremely self-possessed. You know, a lot of actors – to counteract bad directors – end up directing themselves. It’s hard to break them out of that. With Nicole, I tried a lot of stuff to get her out of her tricks. And she responded. With Cynthia we worked on the musical podcast Anthem: Homunculus. So I’m writing five or six songs for Cynthia who I think is a genius, but she’s also extremely tough. I think she’s had to make her way, not getting a lot of help. Because sometimes when you’re not conventionally gorgeous in the way that Hollywood knows and wants, you have to fight harder. Cynthia had to fight. Both Nicole and Cynthia are art warriors.
How do you feel when people call you a living legend, John – because you are!
John Cameron Mitchell: I’ve never heard that before, but it makes me think I’m going to die and be a dead legend. I like my position as an influential sublebrity. I like being able to walk down the street and not be recognized, but maybe once a day, someone gives me a nod or a wink or a thank you. It’s different from, say, a Nicole Kidman, who has been in many things and people sort of see her as a kind of product. I’ve never felt like a product.
INFOS | John Cameron Mitchell: Hedwig and the Angry Inch 25th Anniversary Movie Tour at the Beanfield Theatre on June 30. Tickets:https://evenko.ca/en/events/theatre-beanfield/john-cameron-mitchell?code=e007790
