The higher the hair (and heels), the closer to Dolly Parton.
Read on for the full conversation.
What keeps you coming back?
HAROLD PERRINEAU:People seem to think I do it okay sometimes!
I remember playing [a transgender woman] inWoman on Topwith Penelope Cruz.
It was the first time I’d ever been pretty in my whole life.
Maybe that’s what brings me back.
It’s like, I’m kind of pretty!
I like the makeup.
It’s a lot of fun and I get to have a good time with it.
GINGER MINJ: I offered him a wig, and that was about the extent of it.
We got along very well from our first day on set….
This isn’t about doing adragshow; this is about portraying a human.
That’s what it takes to make a convincing, wonderful drag queen.
PERRINEAU:I’m making jokes and you’re being profound over there.
MINJ:But it’s true!
And that’s where you’re going to find success.
She’s so comfortable in her skin and in her character, so I was intimidated.
The elephant in the room: Ginger, did we have to have a tucking lesson with Harold?
I’m fat, so it always tucks itself.
I’m not one to give anybody lessons on anything!
PERRINEAU:[Laughs] I don’t think I needed a hot lesson on that one.
I was pretty okay.
Did they smile upon you guys with the wigs in this film?
They were beautiful wigs, but we needed to amp them up a little bit.
PERRINEAU: It’s so true.
It wasthatthat changed it, that made it look like how you’re supposed to look.
And they said, “We have buckets of them!”
MINJ: I know that I don’t look like Dolly Parton.
You pull the things you like most about them and you celebrate it, you don’t try toimitateit.
I found a few things that seemed to work and relied a bit on my dance background.
What were the things about Dolly that stuck out to you?
PERRINEAU: She does this step-and-touch thing, like a swaying back-and-forth when she’s singing.
It’s simple, but it’sher.
You incorporated that into the legendary drag art of lip-syncing.
MINJ: It was really wonderful, because Harold took it seriously.
He always had his little earbud in, listening to that song over and over.
You could see him trying to catch every breath of it.
He definitely wouldn’t have sashayed away onDrag Race?
MINJ: No, not at all!
PERRINEAU: [Laughs] Not the first one.
Eventually they’d get me.
MINJ: Well eventually they get us all, gal.
Harold, do you have a new appreciation for the art of drag?
Now you have Ginger’s wig, so you’re able to!
PERRINEAU: Well, I had to give Ginger’s wig back…
You didn’t take it?
That’ssonot what a queen would do!
Drag queens take everything!
MINJ: It’s true!
PERRINEAU:Isthat true?
I’m still learning.
What significance do you think these characters have for the story?
Did you change anything?
And she said, “What is it, Ginger?”
She said, “You just want to be front and center!”
She huffed and puffed for a second, and then she said, “You’re absolutely right.
Go back to one and let’s do it again.”
Finally: Ginger, would you take Miss Harold as your drag daughter after working with him here?
MINJ: Maybe I would take him as my sister.
I’m too young for children myself.
I never had the hips for it.
Here’s the thing: He doesn’t need my help because he’s already conquered the world.
What would Harold’s real drag name be outside the context of playing this character?
MINJ: You could take my last name and be Cinna Minj.
My name was like Houndstooth Pavarotti.
So, that’s my drag name
MINJ: I like that!
That’s a good hashtag!
