In fact, she grew up with the 12 steps posted on the wall above her bed. Fascinated by the theme of repression, Babbit decided to develop the idea into a feature-length film. A friend hooked her up with openly gay screenwriter Brian Wayne Peterson, who had recently graduated from the University of Southern California's film school, and the two began to develop the story. Eventually Andrea Sperling, an independent film producer and Babbit's partner of five years, raised the money and produced the movie. When Lyonne first read the script, she didn't even know about homosexual conversion camps, many of which use the 12-step model.
Drug addiction is a problem.
Give me a break. So few people know what's really going on. But Babbit decided to let people know what's going on by taking it to a surreal, Technicolor level. I wanted to make the world of the movie very artificial and polyester. I think it's a great comment on the artificiality of gender identity.