SNAPSHOT
Inspired by true events, New Regency & Film4’s Everybody’s Talking About Jamie is the movie adaptation of the hit musical. Jamie New is 16 and doesn’t quite fit in—instead of pursuing a “real” career he dreams of becoming a drag queen. Uncertain about his future, Jamie knows one thing for sure: he is going to be a sensation. Supported by his loving mom and all of his amazing friends, Jamie overcomes prejudice, beats the bullies and steps out of the darkness, into the spotlight. Everybody’s Talking About Jamie is directed by British director / filmmaker Jonathan Butterell, making his first feature film after also directing the stage show and the taped version of the stage show previously. The screenplay is written by Dan Gillespie Sells & Tom MacRae, who also co-wrote the original musical for the stage. The musical is inspired by the 2011 TV doc Jamie: Drag Queen at 16. (synopsis via First Showing)
I spent years being someone I wasn’t just to keep other, more judgmental people happy.
It was a mistake and so I get great joy from seeing people like the eponymous 16-year-old protagonist of Everybody’s Talking About Jamie nailing their queer colours to the mast and going for it.
It’s not easy of course to stand up for who you actually are, especially when it’s so far out of the mainstream – though it is getting more queer by the day so here’s hoping that is soon not as big an issue at it is now – but brave souls dive in anyway and make such a splash doing it that they need a musical and a subsequent movie to celebrate them.
Which Jamie now has thankfully and which we will all be able to watch when Everybody’s Talking About Jamie comes to Amazon on 17 September.