Thirty years after its release, writer-director Stephen Elliott and producer Al Clark revisit the creation of the iconic road trip musical and share Priscilla’s other adventures.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are advised that this article contains images and names of those who have passed.
Image credit: Eliserock Wood. Image courtesy of potential image productions.
Drag the queen into the outback.
It was a year after Mardi Gras that writer and director Stephen Elliott was thinking of the epic vision that became the adventure of Queen Priscilla of the Desert.
The story has been pasted on Elliot for years – marinated, he says via Zoom from outside Paris.
He was conceived as a musical for a film, and could not get the concept on the line. The industry told Elliott there is no market for musicals because people “not just exploded into songs for no reason.” But one night, a filmmaker says he clicked after watching a drug show. “I found a gimmick, I got a way,” he says. “And that kind of caught people.”
A sequin fish from the water supply, Priscilla is a lovingly refined Priscilla as Terence Stamp, Hugo Weaving and Guy Pierce as drug performers bernadette, Tick and Adam, crossing Outback Australia in a “budget Barbie camper” van.
With six weeks of filming and a $3.6 million budget, it was a small film with big aspirations that became one of the best-selling Australian films at the domestic box office. It was a surprising hit at the 1994 Cannes Film Festival, won both BAFTA and Academy Awards for its best costume design, has been praised worldwide for its portrayal of queer characters and gay lifestyles, and ranks 13th in the list of best LGBTQ+ movies for Timeout.
Talk to Elliot and producer Al Clark about the 30th anniversary of Australia’s cult classics, the spirit of drugs informs Priscilla’s story and creation. Here they look back on their journey to the big screen and share memories and anecdotes from the set.
Locations for Stephan Elliott and Al Clark. Image courtesy of Al Clark.
Elliott worked with producer Andrena Finlay in a scam the previous year with debut feature scams, but it was Finlay who introduced her husband, producer Clark. Clark recalls an attempt to drag clubs in pairs during Priscilla’s early development. This close collaboration meant that when Finlay left the project, Clark was already familiar with the pink bass and the challenges ahead.
“At the time, it was a small film at the time in that it was difficult to cast because not all actors could become compelling drag queens,” he says. “You know, the jigsaw that puts the film together is sometimes Labyrinthian.”
A coincidence partnership between Polygram Film Entertainment and production funds from the Australian Film Finance Corporation at the time, Priscilla went down the road. It comes with Polygram and at the top of the list is Aussie-Favourite Abba, bringing out a scary music catalogue.
“When someone gives you an ABBA catalog, talk about the gift,” says Elliot.
The pivotal research trip from Broken Hill to Adelaide to Alice Springs helped the team source location with photography director Brian J. Breheny to create a cohesive vision. For Elliott, the journey has influenced the pieces and characters of a unique set. On the broken hill, he discovers that he considers Priscilla’s heart, the palace of the hand-drawn icon Mario. “We passed this great bloody monster in the middle of town,” he says. “As we walked and just looked up, Bernadette’s line had to be kidding. It was literally my line.”
The long drive led to lengthy conversations about comedy devices, scene transitions, set pieces and cast ideas. Somewhere outside Alice Springs, the three fell into drugs.
“We’ve made this amazing photo that we can take to Cannes and quickly tested the curiosity of potential investors,” says Clark. “For some reason, reading the script became easier for them because they had that image.” The photo is now surrounded by Clark’s office.
Clark’s priorities were to hire an experienced department head, as Clark says, with only a small crew to trek through the Outback.
Elliott has been a longtime friend and worked with Wardrobe assistant Lizzie Gardner to inviting drug costumer Tim Chapel to enhance the film’s aesthetic. The drug performer himself, Chapel fully embraced the ock-de-crock spirit that Elliott had aspired to. Mock-de-crock explains making something, a popular DIY style in the drug scene, and Elliot believes that Chapel embodies the heart of extremism for production, such as the famous Lattraviatha sequence.
“I’m looking at the Rolls-Royce emblem at the top of the roll. (…) So Tim went out the night before and borrowed as much silver glitter as possible. And they sewed it all night into something.”
Schedule pressures have led to tough decisions, including nearly cutting back on Latlaviata. “I just needed one megaspectacle moment to take us somewhere. (And) I dug my heels to the point where I say it’s wrong for the film.”
He managed to secure a last minute shot, but in the true spirit of production, the lack of wind almost undoes the filming, forcing Elliot to cut off the long silver glitter train, the costume’s highlight.
As Elliot remembers it, “Tim picks up the scissors and places them on the lame thing, and the goddess was with it. Out of nowhere, this huge, bloody wind hit the desert, blew it out of his hand. My only word at that point was the roll camera.”
The moment it becomes synonymous with the film, it leads to a symbolic image of peace, a glittering man singing on a bus trailed by a silver glitter yard.
Juggling your schedule in the pre-digital era in the middle of Australia was no feat. Clark restocked Walkie Talkies to maintain communication across units.
As Elliot says, “You’re waiting for something to break down, you’re in trouble. It’s reached the point where we reach a kmart where we’re nowhere and buy as much crap as possible.
Most of the film was filmed chronologically, but vehicle damage and extreme weather caused a change in schedule. “(It didn’t feel much like Lawrence in Arabia. But the spirit of the set remained positive, with the cast and crew bonding and singing with locals in the pub. “I think one of the reasons why we all cherished this experience is that we knew that even when we had it, we never could have it again,” he says.
One of Elliott’s favorite memories from the set is competing with Dawn and capturing the music numbers that I will survive. The trio performed completely dragging around the campfire alongside the local indigenous community led by Wailajuli Ildaki player Alan Dargin. A bleak darkness, about 30 extras, 57 set-ups – with elaborate costume changes – Elliot explains that he manned the evening shoot. (…) We caught that magic. ”
Priscilla made her world premiere at the coveted midnight screening at the Cannes Film Festival in May 1994, and after a disappointing experience last year, Elliott felt uneasy. “I thought we were dead underwater. (But) the film ended and the audience was absolutely ballistic.”
“It was a bit crazy,” adds Clark. “It’s always been a great response from an unpredictable audience. I said the film communicated to non-Australians.”
Beyond the sequins and feathers, the disco beats, sweeping out the landscape, and Elliot sees Priscilla as the story of a gay man who appears in his son. “It’s really the backbone of the entire film.”
When discussing the success of the film, Clark believes in “the fraternity of people who just tried to make the world work with each other.” He emphasized that inspiration often staves the procedure, and they chose collaborators who knew how to adapt. Most importantly, he believes that Elliott’s vision is key to the success of the film. “(Priscilla) is one of the occasional films where it’s obvious that it’s almost supernaturally correct.”
Priscilla inspired multiple revivals, including the drug festival (Broken Heel Festival In – You Supposed – Broken Hill), exhibitions, documentaries (or two), musical adaptations, and potential sequels. Reflecting on the global influence of films, Elliott states that the success of other filmmakers in their era, such as PJ Hogan, Jane Campion and George Miller, can be achieved by embracing their authentic selves.
“We didn’t retreat from Australian sex. We said, ‘This is us. Take us, or leave us.’ And the world chose to take it. ”
“Here we’re 30 years from now, she can’t stop.”
Image courtesy of potential image productions.
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