John Cameron Mitchell
I don't like being choreographed to a T. I like to take steps and make them my own.
I'd like to do some female roles again.
Drag wasn't really on Broadway. It was considered low-class.
Doing 'Hedwig' was so hard that I kind of burned out on acting.
I love a good party.
It's cool when frat boys say, 'Yeah, 'Hedwig!' I'd like to see that same thing happen with 'Shortbus.'
I think things are dishonest if they're not aware of sadness.
Humor without sadness underneath it feels cheap and aggressive.
It's the weird thing that actors do: You jumped across that building because the scene required it.
If I wanted to make a lot of money with 'Hedwig,' I could have spent all my time on it. But that's boring.
Some people end up becoming just a conservator of the one thing they did and making sure they get their merch out and all that.
What's interesting is that some of the things I'm interested in talking about is a story which has to do with the second half of your life, which can be told through Hedwig's voice because she's older. If the timeline is consistent, she's as old as me.
I like the fact that it's like The Ramones. You just have to change your name, and you're a Ramone. You just have to put the wig on, and you're Hedwig. Women have played it. Gay men, straight men, you know.
I've obviously always been aware of actor-oriented films, being an actor. Altman and Cassavetes were really strong. And then I realized their structures were quite fascinating, too.
'Hedwig' is not autobiographical, but what she goes through is clearly a big metaphor. She doesn't want to be what she is, but she comes to an understanding that what happened to her has actually made her whole.
I'm not interested in replicating 'Hedwig' like a virus.
I studied meditation, knowing it would be a huge new calming skill.
Getting the blood moving through your body does do wonders for your complexion.
Nothing is a calling card. Everything is what you do. If you do it in order to get somewhere else, you're not actually doing it. If you're thinking, 'What is the weird thing I want to make with my friends?' money and other things will come later.
Nowadays, the term 'selling out' doesn't exist anymore because everyone is trying to make a living.
There are a lot of silly projects out there.
You're on Facebook, and you're supposed to know your sexual orientation at 13... Nobody really knows what's going on at that time, and people seem to... know stuff, or they have to act like they do, and they make decisions before they really need to.
I like all kinds of input.
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.
Acceptance and assimilation, you know, breeds mediocrity and perhaps an even more sheep-like conformism in terms of what kind of music you're supposed to listen to if you're gay... What are you supposed to look like? What's your body supposed to look like?
I'm an honorary old Jewish lady of the West Village.
Queerness isn't just Lady Gaga and overpriced drinks and fauxhawks. It's James Baldwin and Bea Arthur and Gertrude Stein and Gore Vidal.
I have a weird propensity to know what's going to happen in the future.
I sometimes buy albums that I don't like now, but that I know I will like. Coming out was the same thing. In high school, I thought, 'I know I'm going to have to deal with this, but I'm not confident enough now.' But when I finally did, my whole life changed.
My mom was a little weepy. My dad was very logical about it. Once they realized you can't change, they wanted to know that you can be happy and be gay. Once they realized that, they were very cool about it.
I thought, 'O.K., if I'm a valuable person and an independent entity, then I don't have to worry about what people think of me. I can reach out now.'
The people that were most interesting were always questioning the status quo.
I think it helped me like myself more, playing Hedwig.
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.
I did take comfort in the vespers and compline. I might have become a monk if I hadn't come out.
You can make serious pop, you know? There was a time when the best movies were the most popular, and I keep thinking that can happen again.
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.
I don't regret anything, because I feel better every year, and if I'd done something different, maybe I wouldn't. I'm more of a whole person, the older I get.
Drag is a little scary, especially for a gay man who's not comfortable with his feminine side.
London is the English-speaking theatre capital.
Doing 'Hedwig' totally contributed to my acceptance of myself.
I've always liked a good joke that everybody can laugh at.
I really want as many people as possible to relate to something, without compromising or dumbing down.
I come from the theater, and there is a real collaborative history there.
'Hedwig' is unabashedly analog.
I would love for 'Hedwig' to be in every tiny shopping mall so every freakish kid like I was can have a broadening experience.
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.
Compared to other liberal cities like San Francisco and Amsterdam, New Yorkers are always trying to do something, make art or love or money or whatever, and they have this phobia about standing still.
We spend so much of our early lives trying to figure out who we really are. And we spend the rest of our lives preparing ourselves to let it go.Collection: Let It Go