The Adventures of Priscilla: Queen of the Desert

The Adventures of Priscilla: Queen of the Desert is a 1994 Australian road comedy film written and directed by Stephan Elliott. The plot follows two drag queens played by Hugo Weaving and Guy Pearce and a transgender woman, played by Terence Stamp, as they journey across the Australian Outback from Sydney to Alice Springs in a tour bus that they have named "Priscilla", along the way encountering various groups and individuals. The film's title references the slang term "queen" for a drag queen or female impersonator.
The film was a surprise worldwide hit and its positive portrayal of LGBT individuals helped to introduce LGBT themes to a mainstream audience. It received predominantly positive reviews and won an Academy Award for Best Costume Design at the 67th Academy Awards. Among other designers the film's costume department included many pieces of Costume jewelry by Ziggy Attias of Ziggy Originals, NYC. It was screened in the Un Certain Regard section of the 1994 Cannes Film Festival and became a cult classic both in Australia and abroad. Priscilla subsequently provided the basis for a musical, Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, which opened in 2006 in Sydney before travelling to New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Broadway.
== Summary ==
Three Drag Queens go to perform at a hotel outside of Sydney, all while dealing with hatred and acceptance.
== Plot ==
Anthony "Tick" Belrose (Hugo Weaving), using the drag pseudonym of Mitzi Del Bra, is a Sydney-based drag queen who accepts an offer to perform his drag act at Lasseters Hotel Casino Resort managed by his estranged wife Marion in Alice Springs, a remote town in central Australia. After persuading his friends and fellow performers, Bernadette Bassenger (Terence Stamp), a recently bereaved transgender woman, and Adam Whitely (Guy Pearce), a flamboyant and obnoxious younger drag queen who goes under the drag name Felicia Jollygoodfellow, to join him, the three set out for a four-week run at the casino in a large tour bus, which Adam christens "Priscilla, Queen of the Desert".
While on the long journey through remote lands bordering the Simpson Desert, they meet a variety of characters, including a group of friendly Aboriginal Australians for whom they perform, the less accepting attitudes of rural Australia in such towns as Coober Pedy, and are subjected to homophobic abuse and violence, including having their bus vandalized with homophobic graffiti saying, "Aids Fuckers Go Home!".
When the bus breaks down in the middle of the desert, Adam spends the whole day repainting it lavender to cover up the vandalism. The trio later meets Bob, a middle-aged mechanic from a small outback town who joins them on their journey after his wife leaves him. Before they arrive at Alice Springs, Tick reveals that Marion is actually his wife, as they never divorced, and that they are actually going there as a favour to her. Continuing their journey, Adam is almost mutilated by a homophobic gang before he is saved by Bob and Bernadette. Adam is shaken and Bernadette comforts him, allowing them to reach an understanding. Likewise, the others come to terms with the secret of Tick's marriage and resolve their differences. Together, they fulfill a long-held dream of Adam's, which, in the original plan, is to climb Kings Canyon in full drag regalia.
Upon arrival at the hotel, it is revealed that Tick and Marion also have an eight-year-old son, Benjamin, whom Tick has not seen for many years. Tick is nervous about exposing his son to his drag profession and is also anxious about revealing his homosexuality, though he is surprised to discover that Benjamin already knows and is fully supportive of his father's sexuality and career. While taking a break from shows they all go on a mini road trip which gives Tick a chance to bond with his son. When their contract at the resort is over, Tick and Adam head back to Sydney, taking Benjamin back with them, so that Tick can get to know his son and to give Marion some vacation time. However, Bernadette decides to remain at the resort for a while with Bob, who has decided to work at the hotel after the two of them had become close. They drive back to Sydney and get back to work at the club which Ben enjoys.
== Cast ==
*Terence Stamp as Bernadette Bassenger
*Hugo Weaving as Anthony "Tick" Belrose/Mitzi Del Bra
*Guy Pearce as Adam Whitely/Felicia Jollygoodfellow
*Bill Hunter as Robert "Bob" Spart
*Sarah Chadwick as Marion Barber
* Mark Holmes as Benjamin Barber
* Julia Cortez as Cynthia Campos
* Ken Radley as Frank
* Daniel Kellie as Young Bernadette
* Leighton Picken as Young Adam
*Margaret Pomeranz (uncredited) as Adam's mother
*Stephan Elliott (uncredited) as Doorman
== Production ==
=== Development ===
The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert had originally been conceived by filmmakers Stephan Elliott and Stuart Quin, who were at the time in production of a film called Frauds. They and producer Andrena Finlay initially tried to pitch Priscilla to various financiers at the 1991 Cannes Film Festival, but were unsuccessful, and so instead took the film's concept to PolyGram and, with the backing of the Australian Film Finance Corporation, were able to begin production of the film on a relatively low budget of 2.7 million Australian dollars.
Elliott and the film's producers, Michael Hamlyn and Al Clark, agreed to work for $50,000 each, a relatively low fee for filmmakers at the time, while the lack of funding meant that the crew agreed to receive takings of the film's eventual profits in compensation for their low salaries. Due to the involvement of the Australian FFC, only one non-Australian actor was allowed to appear in the film, and Clark initially considered David Bowie, whom he had known back in the 1980s, and later briefly thought of John Hurt, although neither was available
=== Casting ===
In May 1993, after travelling around the Australian Outback searching for appropriate sites to film in, Priscilla's creators attended the Cannes Film Festival and Marche to advertise their project, hoping to capitalise on the selection of Elliot's first film Frauds, which was "In Competition" at the festival and despite the fact that they had not yet confirmed any actors for the roles. Their primary choice for the role of Bernadette was Tony Curtis, who read and approved of the script, but eventually became unavailable. They then approached John Cleese, who was not interested.
For the part of Tick, they had initially wanted Rupert Everett and for Adam they wanted Jason Donovan. However, at a pre-production casting meeting held at Cannes, Everett and Donovan did not get on well with one another and were found to be openly hostile toward the production staff. In light of this, it was readily agreed that they would not be suitable for the parts and the search for their three leading men would resume. However, Donovan would go on to play Tick in the West End musical adaptation of the film.
After unsuccessfully lobbying Colin Firth to play the role, producers eventually awarded the part to Hugo Weaving. Initially considering Tim Curry for the part of Bernadette, they cast Terence Stamp, who was initially anxious about the role because it was unlike anything that he had performed previously, although he eventually came on board with the concept. Stamp himself suggested Bill Hunter for the role of Bob, who accepted the role without even reading the script or being told anything about the greater concept of the film other than the basic character description, while Australian actor Guy Pearce (who had previously appeared with Donovan in the Australian soap opera Neighbours in the late 1980s) was hired at the eleventh hour to portray the sassy but spirited Adam.
=== Filming ===
The Imperial Hotel in Erskineville was the filming location for the opening and closing scenes. The Imperial Hotel has hosted drag shows since 1983, and continues to be an icon for Sydney's LGBT community, with its restaurant renamed 'Priscillas' in honour of the film. Many scenes, including one where Bernadette encounters a butch, bigoted woman named Shirley, were filmed at the Outback town of Broken Hill in New South Wales, largely in a hotel named Mario's Palace (now simply the Palace Hotel), which Al Clark believed was "drag queen heaven". Some small scenes were filmed in the All Nations Hotel. They also decided to film at Coober Pedy, a rough-and-tumble mining town in Central Australia featured prominently in the film. The executive producer, Rebel Penfold-Russell appears as the marathon runner.
Initially, they tried to get permission to film upon the geological formation formerly known as Ayers Rock or "the Rock" (Uluru), but this was rejected by organizations responsible for the monument, such as the Uluru Board of Management, as it would have been in violation of Indigenous Australian religious beliefs. Instead, the scene was filmed in King's Canyon. Dialogue from the scene was rewritten slightly to accommodate the new location.
=== Post-production ===
With filming over, the director and producers began editing the footage, repeatedly travelling to both London and to Los Angeles, which had then just been hit by the 1994 Northridge earthquake. Scenes were deleted on the advice of early viewers to shorten the film.
== Trivia ==
* To help get into his drag character, the actors wore drag one night and went to a party and one of them ended up having a hangover afterwards.
*Despite being gay in the film, all three of the main actors were straight in real life.
==Categories==
Category:1994 films
Category:English-language films
Category:1990s adventure films
Category:1990s buddy comedy films
Category:1994 comedy films
Category:1994 independent films
Category:1994 LGBT-related films
Category:1990s road movies
Category:Australian buddy films
Category:Australian comedy films
Category:Australian independent fims
Category:Australian LGBT-related films
Category:Films directed by Stephan Elliott
Category:Films set in Sydney
Category:Films set in deserts
Category:Films set in South Australia
Category:Films about anti-LGBT sentiment
Category:Films about buses
Category:Films set in Nothern Territory
Category:Films shot in Sydney
Category:Films shot in New South Wales
Category:Films shot in South Australia
Category:Films that won the Best Costume Design Academy Award
Category:Gramercy Pictures films
Category:LGBT-related comedy films
Category:PolyGram Filmed Entertainment films
Category:Roadshow Entertainment films
Category:Austrlian road movies
Category:Films about trans women
Category:Films scored by Guy Gross
Category:Films adapted into plays
Category:Films shot in the Northern Territory
Category:Drag (entertainment)-related films
Category:BAFTA winners (films)
Category:Films set in the Outback
Category:LBGT-related buddy comedy films