Drag in Cinema 2007 to 2012

Travolta as Edna Turnblad.

Hairspray 2007

John Travolta takes on the role of Tracy Turnblad’s mother in this remake which is based on the Broadway musical  that was based on the original film from 1988. In the original Hairspray Glenn Milstead, a.k.a. Divine, played Edna Turnblad. That seems to have established that the role is always performed by a male actor. Milstead always maintained that he was not a drag queen but an actor and he played the part in the original film completely straight. Travolta also plays the role straight and fitted out in a fat suit and 1960s fashions he becomes Edna. Film critic Roger Ebert said of the film, “Hairspray” is just plain fun.” 

Peacock 2010

Cillian Murphy as Emma.

Cillian Murphy portrays a quiet bank clerk living alone in tiny Peacock, Nebraska. He prefers to live an invisible life in order to hide his secret: He has dissociative identity disorder, the implied result of childhood trauma at the hands of his abusive mother. His other identity is a woman, Emma, who each morning does his chores and cooks him breakfast before he starts the day. While that means Cillian Murphy dons drag to play Emma, it’s another case of a male actor playing a woman not a man in drag. As John Travolta becomes Edna Turnblad in Hairspray, Murphy is Emma. Both of the do excellent female impersonation that never breaks character. The bank clerk’s regular routine is tossed out the window when Emma is outside hanging laundry to dry and a freight train derails right behind the house and she is seen by the townspeople who show up to offer help. Complications are introduced. To put it mildly. Murphy, as always, does a brilliant job of female impersonation.

Big Momma’s: Like Father, Like Son 2011

Charmaine and Big Momma.

Martin Lawrence is back as his character from the first two Big Momma films, Malcolm Turner. In this film Malcolm has a 17-year-old stepson named Trent Pierce played by Brandon T. Jackson. Trent is determined to be a singer and during an attempt to get Malcolm to sign the recording contract he’s been offered, but can’t accept on his own because of being underage, Trent witnesses a crime. The two go undercover to hide out and also recover a flash drive with important evidence on it. Their hideout is a women’s school for the arts. Malcolm becomes Big Momma and Trent dons a wig and dress to become Charmaine.
One critic said, “Unnecessary, unfunny, and generally unwelcome, Big Mommas: Like Father, Like Son offers more of the same for fans of Martin Lawrence’s perplexingly popular series.” It was also reported that Brandon T. Jackson was sorry he took the role because he had to do drag. He was nominated as Charmaine for a Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Supporting Actress. Doing drag hasn’t seemed to have hurt his career though if you look at his film resume.

3,2,1,…Frankie Go Boom 2012

Perlman as Phiyllis.

When you hear the name Ron Perlman you might think of his performance as the main character in the first two Hellboy films or his work in Blade II, Star Trek: Nemesis, or any number of chest thumping macho roles in which he can smoke a cigar. What you wouldn’t associate with him is drag. Again, in this film Perlman plays a trans woman, so it’s not drag like that in the Big Momma movies. Perlman’s character is Phiyllis, a hacker who is helping two brothers erase a sex tape (in which one of the brothers fails to “perform”) from the web. The daughter of an unhinged father who will seek violent vengeance when he learns of the existence of the tape is the other person in the video. Hijinks ensue and while the film works hard for laughs as one reviewer put it when talking about Perlman’s small role, “The image of the burly, lantern-jawed actor in makeup and a wig, painting his toenails, is a terribly easy joke, but it’s the best one this otherwise abrasive comedy can manage.”

Drag in Cinema returns next month!

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Tags: drag, featured, film

Category: Transgender Fun & Entertainment