The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert

The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert had originally been conceived by filmmakers Stephan Elliott and Stuart Quin, who were at the time in production of a film called Frauds. They and producer Andrena Finlay initially tried to pitch Priscilla to various financiers at the 1991 Cannes Film Festival, but were unsuccessful,[5] and so instead took the film's concept to PolyGram and, with the backing of the Australian Film Finance Corporation, were able to begin production of the film on a relatively low budget of 2.7 million Australian dollars.

Elliott and the film's producers, Michael Hamlyn and Al Clark, agreed to work for $50,000 each, a relatively low fee for filmmakers at the time, while the lack of funding meant that the crew agreed to receive takings of the film's eventual profits in compensation for their low salaries.[6] Due to the involvement of the Australian FFC, only one non-Australian actor was allowed to appear in the film, and Clark initially considered David Bowie, whom he had known back in the 1980s, and later briefly thought of John Hurt, although neither was available.[7]

In May 1993, after travelling around the Australian Outback searching for appropriate sites to film in, Priscilla's creators attended the Cannes Film Festival and Marche to advertise their project, hoping to capitalise on the selection of Elliot's first film Frauds, which was "In Competition" at the festival and despite the fact that they had not yet confirmed any actors for the roles. Their primary choice for the role of Bernadette was Tony Curtis, who read and approved of the script, but eventually became unavailable. They then approached John Cleese, who was not interested.

For the part of Tick, they had initially wanted Rupert Everett and for Adam they wanted Jason Donovan.[8] However, at a pre-production casting meeting held at Cannes, Everett and Donovan did not get on well with one another and were found to be openly hostile toward the production staff. In light of this, it was readily agreed that they would not be suitable for the parts[9] and the search for their three leading men would resume. However, Donovan would go on to play Tick in the West End musical adaptation of the film.

After unsuccessfully lobbying Colin Firth to play the role, producers eventually awarded the part to Hugo Weaving. Initially considering Tim Curry for the part of Bernadette, they cast Terence Stamp, who was initially anxious about the role because it was unlike anything that he had performed previously, although he eventually came on board with the concept.[10] Stamp himself suggested Bill Hunter for the role of Bob, who accepted the role without even reading the script or being told anything about the greater concept of the film other than the basic character description, while Australian actor Guy Pearce (who had previously appeared with Donovan in the Australian soap opera Neighbours in the late 1980s) was hired at the eleventh hour to portray the sassy but spirited Adam.[11]

The Imperial Hotel in Erskineville, Sydney was the filming location for the opening and closing scenes. The Imperial Hotel has hosted drag shows since 1983, and continues to be an icon for Sydney's LGBT community, with its restaurant renamed 'Priscillas' in honour of the film.[13] Many scenes, including one where Bernadette encounters a butch, bigoted woman named Shirley, were filmed at the outback town of Broken Hill in New South Wales, largely in a hotel named Mario's Palace (now simply the Palace Hotel), which Al Clark believed was "drag queen heaven".[14][15] Some small scenes were filmed in the All Nations Hotel.

They also decided to film at Coober Pedy, a remote rough-and-tumble opal mining town in south-central Australia which featured prominently in the film. The executive producer, Rebel Penfold-Russell, appears as the marathon runner.[16]

Initially, they tried to get permission to film upon Uluru, but this was rejected by organizations responsible for the monument, such as the Uluru Board of Management, as it would have been in violation of Indigenous Australian religious beliefs.[17] Instead, the scene was filmed in King's Canyon.[18] Dialogue from the scene was rewritten slightly to accommodate the new location.

With filming over, the director and producers began editing the footage, repeatedly travelling to both London and to Los Angeles, which had then just been hit by the 1994 Northridge earthquake. Scenes were deleted on the advice of early viewers to shorten the film.[19]

The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert took $18,459,245 at the box office in Australia,[20] which is equivalent to $33,634,000 in 2018.[21]

Being an Australian film, not an American-produced Hollywood blockbuster, Priscilla was released as a minor commercial product in North America and other English-speaking nations.[22]

Director Elliott noted that the audiences viewing the film in Australia, the United States, and France all reacted to it differently, going on to state that "At a screening we had for an Australian audience, they laughed at all the Aussieisms. The Americans laughed too, but at different jokes. There is a line where Tick says, 'Bernadette has left her cake out in the rain...', the Americans laughed for ten minutes."[23] Tom O'Regan, a scholar of film studies, remarked that the film actually carried different meanings for members of different nationalities and subcultural groups, with LGBT Americans believing that the film was "the big one that will bring gay lifestyles into the mainstream", while Australians tended to "embrace it as just another successful Australian film".[24]

On Rotten Tomatoes, Priscilla has a 94% "Certified Fresh" rating based on 47 reviews, with an average rating of 7.3/10; the consensus states: "While its premise is ripe for comedy -- and it certainly delivers its fair share of laughs -- Priscilla is also a surprisingly tender and thoughtful road movie with some outstanding performances."[25] Metacritic reports a 70 out of 100 rating, based on 20 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[26]

American film critic Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times felt that Bernadette was the key part of the film, stating that "the real subject of the movie is not homosexuality, not drag queens, not showbiz, but simply the life of a middle-aged person trapped in a job that has become tiresome."[27] Janet Maslin of The New York Times wrote "The Adventures of Priscilla Queen of the Desert presents a defiant culture clash in generous, warmly entertaining ways."[28] Peter Travers of Rolling Stone commented "In this roaringly comic and powerfully affecting road movie, Terence Stamp gives one of the year's best performances."[28] Kenneth Turan from the Los Angeles Times wrote "The comic pizazz and bawdy dazzle of this film's vision of gaudy drag performers trekking across the Australian outback certainly has a boisterous, addictive way about it."[28]

• 7th – Sean P. Means, The Salt Lake Tribune[29]
• 7th – Michael Mills, The Palm Beach Post[30]
• Top 10 (listed alphabetically, not ranked) – Matt Zoller Seitz, Dallas Observer[31]
• Top 10 Runner-ups – Bob Ross, The Tampa Tribune[32]
• Best "sleepers" (not ranked) – Dennis King, Tulsa World[33]
• Honorable mention – Dan Craft, The Pantagraph[34]

The film was ranked 7th on Logo's 50 Greatest Films with an LGBT theme,[45] and #10 on AfterElton's Fifty Greatest Gay Movies list.[46]

A drag queen homage to the film's costumes on Fire Island Pines

Priscilla, along with other contemporary Australian films Young Einstein (1988), Sweetie (1989), Strictly Ballroom (1992), and Muriel's Wedding (1994), provided Australian cinema with a reputation for "quirkiness", "eccentricity" and "individuality" across the world.[3] Both Priscilla and Muriel's Wedding (which had also featured a soundtrack containing ABBA songs) in particular became cult classics, not only in their native Australia, but also in the United Kingdom, where a wave of Australian influences, such as the soap operas Neighbours and Home & Away, had made their mark in the late 1980s and early 1990s.[47]

In 1995, an American film, To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar, was released, featuring three drag queens who travel across the United States. According to Al Clark, the creators of Priscilla heard about the film while shooting theirs, and "for a moment [were] troubled" until they read the script of To Wong Foo, when they decided that it was sufficiently different from Priscilla to not be a commercial and critical threat.[48] To Wong Foo had a mixed critical response in comparison to Priscilla,[49] but was a box office success in North America[50] as it was a film from a major Hollywood studio and starred big-name actors.[51] Like Priscilla, To Wong Foo has also enjoyed a cult following.[51]

During the 2000 Summer Olympics closing ceremony, Priscilla was part of a parade of images of Australian popular culture. A 1980 Denning (resembling the bus used in the film) featuring a giant steel stiletto heel which extended from and retracted into the roof – inspired by scenes from the film – paraded around the Olympic Stadium. The bus was accompanied by several stiletto heel tricycle floats and drag queens in big wigs in tribute to the film's international success and the local Sydney gay community.[52][53] The music video for Iggy Azalea's 2013 single "Work" paid homage to scenes from the film.[54]

The film has come under criticism for alleged racist and sexist elements, particularly in the portrayal of the Filipina character, Cynthia.[55] Melba Marginson of the Centre for Filipino Concerns stated that Cynthia was portrayed as "a gold-digger, a prostitute, an entertainer whose expertise is popping out ping-pong balls from her sex-organ, a manic depressive, loud and vulgar. The worst stereotype of the Filipina." She argued that, by portraying Cynthia in this manner, the filmmakers were "violently kill[ing]" the dignity of Filipina women, something that she feared would lead to "more violence against us."[56] An editor writing in The Age echoed these concerns, highlighting that "It is perhaps a pity that a film with a message of tolerance and acceptance for homosexuals should feel the need of what looks very much to us like a racist and sexist stereotype."[56] Similarly, in his study of bisexuality in cinema, Wayne M. Bryant argued that while it was "an excellent film", The Adventures of Priscilla was marred by "instances of gratuitous sexism."[57]

Producer Clark defended the film against these accusations, arguing that while Cynthia was a stereotype, it was not the purpose of filmmakers to avoid the portrayal of "vulnerable characters" from specific minority backgrounds. He stated that she was "a misfit like the three protagonists are, and just about everybody else in the film is, and her presence is no more a statement about Filipino women than having three drag queens is a statement about Australian men."[56] Tom O'Regan noted that as a result of this controversy, the film gained "an ambiguous reputation."[58]