HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH

There is no doubt that John Cameron Mitchell and Stephen Trask, the creators of the most imaginative musical that New York City had seen in years, had a challenge on their hands. The off-Broadway production of "Hedwig and The Angry Inch" was a huge success, having received raves from both critics and audiences. This innovative and groundbreaking piece of theatre left audiences wanting more. 'More' manifested itself into a full length CD and numerous studios wanting to bring "Hedwig" to the big screen.

John Cameron Mitchell and Stephen Trask first crossed paths on a plane, where, having both decided not to watch the in-flight movie, they started to talk. They spoke about their mutual careers; John's in theatre and Stephen's in music and how each admired each other's worlds. After that first meeting, the two began spending time together and soon recognized a common dream. "It was the way you hear people start bands, except we were starting a play. He'd come over to my house or I'd go over to his house. Just two people with shared interests, talking about the things that they love and then starting to work on a project and really pushing and prodding each other," says Trask.

Out of their collaboration, the "internationally ignored song stylist" Hedwig was born. John wrote the monologues and starred as Hedwig, while Stephen composed the songs and lyrics and played Hedwig's bandleader, Skszp. Stephen's band 'Cheater' joined in and "Hedwig and The Angry Inch" made its New York City debut at a punk rock drag night called Squeezebox, at Don Hill's, a Soho rock club. A fan base established itself almost instantly and with it, the need for a larger venue.

When Mitchell and Trask moved the production to a West Village Off-Broadway theatre, it immediately became the buzz of the town. Celebrities turned out in droves. They performed on "Late Night with David Letterman," "The Rosie O'Donnell Show," and MTV, and were featured on the cover of Time Out New York and written up in Time, Rolling Stone, and Spin. John and Stephen received requests from around the world to perform the show. To date, the musical has been mounted in Los Angeles, Seattle, Boston, Kansas City, Cologne, London, Manila, Iceland and is scheduled to open in San Francisco, Toronto, and Berlin. Local productions are starting to spring up in small cities and towns all over the States.

Upon seeing the stage show, the people from Killer Films were immediately impressed. Producer Katie Roumel recalls how "the whole company went to see the show and we were all really charged and excited about it. It was incredibly rich. So much of the dialogue and jokes has double meanings or referred back to something and John gave an amazing, compelling performance. The show was very funny but very poignant and smart at the same time." Producer Christine Vachon, who along with Pamela Koffler founded Killer Films, and has produced such critically acclaimed and pop culture inspired films as I Shot Andy Warhol, Safe and Velvet Goldmine, believed that "Hedwig And The Angry Inch" belonged on the big screen. "I saw the potential of how it could open up. I mean, what is great film? It's a great story well told. I thought there was a really incredible narrative line that could even be better served cinematically than theatrically," states Vachon.

There was no doubt in anyone's mind at Killer Films that Mitchell was the man to direct this film. "It was obvious that John is the type of first time director that we are really good at producing for. He created this character, he knew the story intimately and he was well prepared. It is a perfect first time director experience in a lot of ways," states Koffler.

Killer Films and "Hedwig and The Angry Inch" were a perfect match, according to Mitchell. "Killer has made some of the most interesting movies in the last ten years. Their group is very hands-on. They think the same way I do. There's no bullshit, and there's no time for it, 'cause you don't have enough money," states Mitchell. "Bullshit only happens when you have the time and the money to indulge it," he adds with a laugh.

The inspiration for "Hedwig and The Angry Inch" arose spontaneously out of Mitchell and Trask's early collaboration. Mitchell explains: "I had become bored with doing the usual guest-star sitcom work and was interested in writing a solo performance piece incorporating rock music. I had some autobiographical images, a few characters, and a myth from Plato's "Symposium." Then I met Stephen, who is an amazing composer. He took the myth and wrote the song 'The Origin of Love.'" The piece took a strange turn when Trask urged Mitchell to develop one of the peripheral characters who was inspired by a woman from Mitchell's past. "I remember her as my baby brother's baby sitter. She was German and divorced from an American soldier. She made friends with me and my friend Brenda when we were 14 and living in Kansas. We went to her trailer and regaled her with staged performances of pop songs like 'Copacabana' and 'Lyin' Eyes' and she'd laugh and give us beers," he says with a laugh. "She had a lot of dates and I couldn't figure out why she was so popular, because she was not overly attractive, although she did have a certain poise. Years later, Brenda explained, "She was a prostitute." When Mitchell told Trask this story, Trask suggested that she be adapted into a nightclub singer, a frustrated would-be rock star who once performed with a male rocker when he was a teenager. They began work-shopping her at a drag club where Trask was music director and she very quickly became a hit as well as the main character.

Mitchell had always envisioned Hedwig on celluloid. "When I started writing it for stage, I actually saw it more cinematically. There were jokes, or visual cuts I had in mind. And I thought 'Oh it would be so much easier if we could just show an image, you know a picture is worth a thousand words,'" states Mitchell. He realizes now that the challenge of translating the images to prose for stage would later prove important for the script. "Conjuring up images through words really made me hone the words. I worked on them for years, polishing them, but now I can also go back to my original images in my head and slowly pare away some of the voice over," he says. "The play was in the form of a rock gig and the film is in the form of a rock tour. So the structure of the film is the band on tour mixed with flashbacks. The play was talking to the audience and then telling stories from memory," he explains. The film depicts what could only be referred to in the play, including such characters as the band's enthusiastic manager Phyllis Stein and the young rock star Tommy Gnosis. "The joys of live theater performance will never be duplicated in this film, but the film goes places the stage play never could," summarizes Mitchell.

Mitchell and Trask believed it was essential to retain the live rock music element of the play. "Stephen and I are in agreement that if rock and roll punk songs in a movie are lip-synched, the audience can become detached. You know right away that it's not real. In movies like Nashville and other Altman movies where he does a lot of live singing you tend to go with them more, you don't have that wall between you and the performer," declares Mitchell. Just as in the play, the songs in the film are the vehicles through which Hedwig reveals how she became who she is. "The monologues amplify the meanings of the songs," states Trask.

To bring Hedwig's songs to the screen, Trask re-recorded his score plus some new songs. He put together a band that included famed alternative rocker Bob Mould (Husker Du, Sugar) as well as Theodore Liscinski on bass and Perry James on drums, both of whom performed in different versions of the live show. "It's an amazing thing to get the opportunity to re-record an album. You get to fix everything you didn't like the first time around. I really wanted to produce Hedwig's songs in a way that would totally capture the feel of the live show, which is raucous and moving and a real spectacle," says Trask. Vocals were performed live on the set to ensure that edge. Other new songs and an instrumental score were also recorded by Trask working with indie band Girls Against Boys and also including a performance by folk music's Dar Williams.

With Killer Films behind him, Mitchell was now able to concentrate on casting. "This film was not cast contingent. The producers and studio execs were completely supportive of casting. It's not about stars, it's about the characters, the story, and Stephen's songs," states Mitchell.

With Killer's support Mitchell and Trask were able to bring onboard actors who had performed in the theatre production as well as some new faces. When it came to the complicated role of Yitzhak, Hedwig's husband who wants to be a drag queen, it was clear to them that Miriam Shor was the only choice. "She auditioned for our workshop production and it was very clear, way back then, that she had to do it," recalls Mitchell. Trask agrees. "She is so talented. The intensity she brought to the character during the stage production meant that in the film we had to develop her character even more. She's just a treasure." Mitchell goes on to explain. "You see Miriam carries a small but important subplot. I'm an actor who plays someone who is forced to become a woman and she's an actress who plays a man who wants to be a drag queen. Everyone treated Hedwig badly, and Hedwig treats Yitzhak badly, and Yitzhak pulls away and tries to escape. Yitzhak's journey is integral to Hedwig's own journey to find wholeness." "I'm kind of the shadow that follows Hedwig and her journey the whole time," continues Shor. "It's a journey to find herself, to love herself, to basically let herself off the hook. It could sound clichéd but there's nothing whatsoever about Hedwig that is clichéd."

Miriam Shor and Theodore Liscinski, who plays the guitar-playing Jacek, both starred in the theatre production. However, other band members had to be found who could fill the shoes of both actor and musician. "I had some wonderful casting directors who found incredible band members. Rob Campbell and Michael Aronov made the best mix and were the best actors," recalls Mitchell. Other roles needed to be cast as well. Roles, that previously had no face, were now, not only given life, but many lines. Phyllis Stein and Tommy Gnosis were two such roles. When it came to casting Phyllis, the overly enthusiastic, middle-age band manager/den mother, Mitchell was immediately attracted to Andrea Martin. "She is one of my comic heroines, who I've let loose in this movie," cries Mitchell. "She's just incredible!"

When Martin heard the film was in pre-production and that they were casting the character Phyllis Stein, the band's manager who is as comfortable in a Chanel suit as she is in a mosh pit, she knew she wanted an audition. "I got my hair straightened in Los Angeles - it was so much fun and I bought these leather pants. And I couldn't breathe for the six hours on the flight back to New York, but I didn't care. It was for my art. And then in the plane I got into the part, I got the leather pants, the sexy top, the hair, and I'm thinking yeah! I can't fucking wait to get there with those boys! Give me that rock band!" she exclaims. "I got there, this little warehouse with rock musicians walking around and I was transformed and I improvised with them for two and half hours. After the boys left John offered me the part."

Then there is the young man who Hedwig gives everything to, who turns around and discards her, but keeps her songs, becomes a huge rock star and her nemesis - Tommy Gnosis. "I probably saw more people for that role than for any other," recalls Mitchell. "But Michael Pitt is Tommy Gnosis in a lot of ways. His background has a lot of similar rebellious streaks and he's incredibly talented and gorgeous and a sweetheart. I've threatened to make him a star with this film - whether he likes it or not," he laughs.

Living in New York City, Pitt had seen the theatre production and loved it. "I flipped out over it. I had never seen anything like it before," says Pitt. "I met John afterwards and said 'can I usher?' Because I wanted to come back and see it again," he adds. When it came to working with Mitchell, Pitt could only rave about him. "John is good people. I mean, true and good and talented and amazing and he's just awesome. That's the extent of my vocabulary," he smiles. "He's awesome."

Adding to this handpicked cast is a superb team behind the camera. Stylist to the stars and one of the hippest costume designers around, Arianne Phillips came on board after her friend production designer Thérèse DePrez got her to read the script. Phillips then saw the theatre production ten times and is an admitted Hedhead. "I love Hedwig. I love the story and I love the music and the sentiment - about facing adversity and being true to yourself. I love everything about it," says Phillips. Phillips who has worked on such controversial and critically acclaimed films as The People Vs Larry Flynt and Girl Interrupted had made a promise to herself that the next first-time director she worked with would also be the writer. "There's a seamlessness in the vision and it's always exciting to talk to someone who's directing their own material because it's pure," explains Phillips. She also wanted to work on a film that had a visceral quality to it. "I was really interested in doing something on a more intimate level and I don't think you can get more intimate than the director being the writer being the star who also has been performing the play for two years. I was really attracted to that," says Phillips.

Phillips would have a challenge on her hands. Hedwig has two costumes for the stage production; for the film Hedwig has 41. Four of the band members and manager Phyllis Stein each have 16 outfits. Where does a designer find the inspiration to create so many outfits? Phillips has always believed that "costumes in their best form, help illustrate character and create mood and help give an actor tools to do good work." For Hedwig And The Angry Inch she found the inspiration for her work right there on the page. "I have to be able to connect with the characters beyond anything, and John Cameron Mitchell's writing is so fantastic, these characters literally jumped off the page at me," insists Phillips.

It was important to Mitchell that Hedwig's wardrobe was realistic to her situation. "The rule was everything has to be possible; acting wise, design wise, camera wise - it's not Priscilla, it's not Rocky Horror. Hedwig could exist, this story could happen. So the clothes had to be possible. She would have to be able to afford the clothes. Coming from East Germany she is sort of stuck in the 80's - acid wash jeans would be a treat - things like that," maintains Mitchell. Phillips agrees: "The challenge for me in these costumes was to create a reality, because there's a real human story underneath this seeming outrageousness." With her costumes Phillips traveled the gambit from rabbit fur, rhinestones and acid wash jeans (one of Hedwig's performance costumes) to mid-America Value Village purchases (for one of Hedwig's quieter moments), from multi-colored spandex jumpsuits (Schlatko, the drummer, is a big David Lee Roth fan), to past pieces from designer collections including Rifat Ozbek and John Paul Gaulthier. But one of the obvious influences on Phillips designs are wigs. "There are a lot of wigs going on. We even made a dress out of hair, completely out of hair. It's actually a wig dress," she laughs. "As you can see John has been completely supportive in letting our imaginations go and so it's been really fun and a nonstop creative process."

Joining Phillips in creating the look of Hedwig was Hedwig's original wigmaker and make-up designer Mike Potter. "Mike and I spent a lot of time together before the movie. He actually flew out to Los Angeles and we spent a week together shopping. It's the first time I've ever done a movie where I have been inspired by the hair and make-up," says Phillips. "Really my work is an extension of what Mike is doing," she adds. For Mike who has designed over 30 wigs for the film, bringing Hedwig to the big screen is a dream come true. "In 1995, we were using toilet paper rolls wrapped in hair," laughs Potter. "We had no money. John would give me 20 bucks and say can you make a wig? And I would do it and you know it would usually fall apart on the stage or fall off his head. But that was Hedwig then. So you can definitely say I've learned a lot through the years." Potter also recalls how he, Phillips and Mitchell talked about the different looks each band member should have. "They all represent different genres of rock`n'roll. Ted Liscinski's character Jacek, the guitar player, has got the punk rock thing happening. Michael Aronov's character Schlatko, the drummer, looks like he's into the band Poison, etc. Stephen Trask's character Skszp is Goth and Rob Campbell's character, Krzysztof is kind of Gary Newman-new wave. And of course Miriam Shor's character Yitzhak has got that rock band Guns'N'Roses look," explains Potter.

Production designer Thérèse DePrez has designed the looks for such critically acclaimed films as Happiness and I Shot Andy Warhol. A long time friend of Mitchell, she was one of the first people brought onboard. Like Phillips, DePrez is an admitted Hedhead, having seen the stage production seven times. She is also a big fan of musicals. "I've always been obsessed with musicals, especially rock and roll musicals like 'Jesus Christ Superstar,' 'Tommy' and even things like Spinal Tap. And Hedwig And The Angry Inch is just so well written, so unique, it's just the best," she says. For this job DePrez was able to juice all her creativity: turning and designing one restaurant to play as five; taking a depressed trailer home and turning it in to a rock 'n' roll stage; creating part of the Berlin wall as well as a cramped East German apartment and then, of course, dressing a man in candies. But it was working with John that was most compelling to her. "John is so amazing to work with. He is so calm on set and dealing with the crew. He runs us very well," she jokes.

Mitchell is the first to say that in the film world he and Trask are one of the lucky few. Not only have they brought together artistic collaborators that care as much about Hedwig as they do, but also they have stayed true to their vision at every turn. "It's been a hell of a good time and a hell of a hard time, but it's the fact that we're getting to make it our way, the way that we want to. How rare it that? Not to have to cast certain people and not have to check every creative decision with the money people. There's been a great deal of trust given to us by the powers that be and I really feel privileged."

If you talk to those 'powers that be' they will tell you that for Hedwig and The Angry Inch there was simply no other way to do it. No one knows Hedwig better than John Cameron Mitchell and no one knows the music better than Stephen Trask. In this creative endeavor, there could be no better two halves, than Mitchell and Trask, to come together and bring this indescribable punk rock, neo-glam rock musical odyssey to the big screen.