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John Cameron Mitchell on Ants in Bed, ‘Hedwig 2’ and ‘Shrill’ Season 3

John Cameron Michell in ‘Shrill’

This week we met the great John Cameron Mitchell… on a desert island.

The chic and artistic maverick filmmaker of course earned his fame by directing and playing in the title role of the film version of Hedwig and the Angry Thumb, a role he created in the original stage production. Following the success of this film, he chose to focus on his career as a director, directing independent feature films Shortbus, Rabbit Hole and How to Talk to Girls at Parties. The acting bug bit him again in 2015 when he returned to the role of Hedwig in a Broadway revival of the series, for which he won a Special Tony Award. He then launched his acting career into high gear in front of the camera, landing roles in Girls, The Good Fight and Mozart in the Jungle.

Now Mitchell returns to the screen in Season 3 of Shrill. The Hulu comedy arrives May 7. The new season sees Mitchell return to the role of Gabe, a selfish magazine editor and boss of Hell to Annie (Aidy Bryant). This season, Gabe publishes his own book proclaiming himself an activist hero and continues to crush the souls of his various magazine employees.

Although John Cameron Mitchell was lounging on the aforementioned island – and with terrible Wi-Fi – we managed to strike up a conversation to talk about Season 3, working as a queer actor in Hollywood, and his plans. current parallels. Shrill returns to Hulu on May 7.

They tell me you are in Mexico. You are on vacation?

I am. I kill ants in my bed. I came for my birthday. That’s wonderful. I am on the island of Holbox. That’s wonderful.

John Cameron Mitchell with Patti Harrison in ‘Shrill’

Sorry for the ants. Fortunately, you are traveling. Hope you are vaccinated.

I am. Fully.

Gabe, your character, takes the boss from hell to a new level. Do you see him as a sadist? Or is he just so oblivious?

I think he’s more oblivious and reckless. This is my worst gay boss nightmare. I mean, I guess it could be worse. He could be Joe Exotic. But there is a sense of all that I would not act like a boss going there. As a director, I pay a lot of attention to the way I work, to everyone’s feelings and to the way I delegate the work, knowing everyone’s names. Gabe does the absolute opposite.

He does.

He claims to be a man of the people, but he is inconsistent. I’d rather a boss who is “The Boss” not pretend to be my friend.

I can’t help but notice that black and silver seem to be his colors. Was that your idea or that of the costume designer? How does that inform the character, or what he’s supposed to be intimate with?

He doesn’t believe in gray. Everything is black and white. There is no nuance in his house. Either you’re with Gabe or you’re against Gabe. And you know, I like dualism – the two halves. I did this hair actually Mozart in the jungle. I kept it because it was a nice kind of signature. It’s good that it worked for Gabe and a few other roles that I played. It won’t work for Joe Exotic.

Related: Why David Letterman Refused To Shake Hands With John Cameron Mitchell?

And we can’t wait to see you as Joe Exotic. Let’s talk about acting styles. You work with Aidy Bryant and Fred armisen this season, who are both SNL veterinarians. Do you improvise together? Because the three of you have a theatrical background in a way, does that make it more fun?

It does. I come from a theatrical background where you weren’t allowed to improvise. Friends forced me in Mee-Ow Show at Northwestern University in Chicago. It’s like the show before Second City. Chicago is a city of comedy. So I admire musicians but also comedians. Basically, they write, edit and perform their own little movie, their number. They master it perfectly and are able to improvise. I am so envious of this. In a way, write Hedwig allowed me to be a fake comedian, a fake drag queen, a fake rock star, and to do all these things that these people do. But I don’t need to turn, and I can work on these chops without inconvenience.

John Cameron Mitchell and Aidy Bryant

Sure.

When you play a play and have eight shows a week, you know where you’re supposed to be. So Fred and Aidy, Amy Pohler, Kate McKinnon – these people are my heroes. In comedy, comedy is a great gift because it lets you let your guard down and let in so much. My favorite brand of comedy corrects a troubled world. It shows absurdity and justice. This is the danger of PC police – you have to have a sense of humor. I was delighted to be surrounded by stand-up comedians Acute and learn from them. And we’ve always been allowed to advertise a bit.

I want to ask you a few questions about your career. I know that after the Hedwig the movie is out, you avoided playing for a while. What kind of roles have you been offered after playing a trans rockstar – or a character seen as a transsexual?

Well, really early on I decided I didn’t care what Hollywood thought of me. I care about how people relate to my work and how they take it. It is important. As for how I’m viewed: I don’t want to be seen as an asshole. I mean, I’m not. But from the very beginning, I have always been outside the system. I was openly gay in Hollywood in the 80s. My first action movie, Hand band, I made sure everyone knew I was gay so there weren’t the usual homophobic remarks among the crew.

Yes.

I let it be known, and he left. So, for me, AIDS was a defining part of my life. I got out of it, and it was a matter of life and death. Hollywood, the closet – all of those things seemed silly, negative, and stupid. So I think you can go out without being didactic. You can tell stories about people you don’t know – you learn about them and you develop your own empathy. This is the purpose of stories. Otherwise, we would only have autobiographies. The point of fiction is to identify with someone that you are not. I had nothing in common with Hedwig except how I felt.

Well said.

You mention the character as being transsexual; I don’t see the character as trans. He was quite comfortable with his genitals [before being forced to have a botched surgery to emigrate]. So in a way he’s a victim of patriarchy and biarchy – you’re told you need this to be a man you need this be a woman. In a way, it’s about love and finding the other half, in the end you realize it’s about finding your gender. It is about finding oneself.

I must therefore ask you about two specific projects. One is Hymn: Homunculus. Would you ever do it as a musical?

Yes, we had some thoughts before COVID to get him on stage, on Broadway. It’s still not out of the equation. There’s just a huge backlog of shows now, and it’s gonna take a while [to get through].

That’s wonderful. What about Hedwig 2?

Good, Hymn: Homunculus Was at the origin Hedwig 2. Originally, it was Hedwig with a brain tumor who funded her health care. But my composer didn’t really want to bring her back. And the story was really more about me and my family – autobiographical to the point where I didn’t go to college. It’s a “what if” I never left my small town and went out. It is my relationship with God, death and love that has tormented me all my life.

Shrill is coming May 7 to Hulu.

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