John Cameron Mitchell Quotes
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The think that we hung the film version all on was 'Hedwig' on tour. On stage, it's one theatre, one show. It just seemed natural to change it. In the film, we were able to go to flashback rather than have her talk to the audience. And we had the play to practice and to see where we had made mistakes.
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Having been an actor in Hollywood for a certain amount of time, I always felt a pressure to be sort of a neutral person. 'Don't do anything to your hair. Don't tell them your age. Don't tell them you're gay. Don't tell them anything that could limit you, specify you as a person.' I always hated that, actually moved out of L.A. because of that.
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I'm all for information diets, which are helpful for the mood and for the art.
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'Hedwig' isn't particularly based on me, but I think that it is autobiographical in terms of emotion.
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I remember my girlfriend dropped me for the guy I thought was really cute.
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Doing 'Hedwig' totally contributed to my acceptance of myself.
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Oftentimes, experiencing tragedy very young can strangely give you a kind of equilibrium.
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I don't like being choreographed to a T. I like to take steps and make them my own.
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Obviously, when you get into larger budgets, you have less of that freedom, and I just - I'm not a person that tends to make stories for those larger budgets. To me, it's not much fun to have that kind of pressure.
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After the first 'Hedwig,' interestingly, I was offered to play Hamlet a couple of times.
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I think as far as themes, 'Hedwig' is about what music meant to you as a kid and how rock n' roll can save you; that is definitely part of it.
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I would love for 'Hedwig' to be in every tiny shopping mall so every freakish kid like I was can have a broadening experience.
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I quickly found that I didn't really fit into 'gay culture,' as identified by many gay people, and that it can be just as confining as straight culture, not least in the way that bisexual people are told that 'they can't make up their mind.'
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There's nothing more Broadway than 'Hedwig.' It's very family-friendly. There's innuendo and stuff, but not more than you'd see on TV.
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I have a weird propensity to know what's going to happen in the future.
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'Hedwig' is unabashedly analog.
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There's something cool about being a stealth classic.
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New York is so unique, and you are not always encouraged to consider the people in the city your neighbors because of the fast pace and surface anonymity.
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Drag wasn't really on Broadway. It was considered low-class.
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Bob Fosse, even though he wasn't gay. He was certainly queer and had a huge effect on the 'Hedwig' film, as did Hal Ashby and Robert Altman, who had a weird butch queer feeling about him. His films almost flirted with camp but in an extremely realistic acting way.
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I am just touched at how strongly the real Hed-heads feel. It feels different from other kinds of devotees; maybe it's the way I felt with certain bands when I was a kid. It feels like a band more than a play.
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I remember being afraid of doing drag when I was younger because I didn't really like my feminine side - most gay guys at some point are told that that's the worst part of you, so that becomes a negative thing.
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Queerness isn't just Lady Gaga and overpriced drinks and fauxhawks. It's James Baldwin and Bea Arthur and Gertrude Stein and Gore Vidal.
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We need punk now; we need it more than ever. We need rebellion by youth.