RuPaul has been enjoying a banner year in 2017. Her show RuPaul's Drag Race made a big leap into the mainstream onto VH1 and the show itself just earned 8 Emmy nominations, including Outstanding Reality Show Competition for the first time in Emmy Awards HISTORY!!! (a play on her saying "first time in Drag Race history"). With the focus on RuPaul tighter than Trinity Taylor's tuck, it makes sense that with all of this pandemonium that a TV movie about her is in the works. And she has quite an interesting name to throw into the ring for who she may want to play her when it is produced.
In a recent interview with Cindy Adams for Page Six, Ru revealed that she would possibly consider actress Willow Smith, daughter of Will & Jada-Pinkett Smith. "Next is a TV movie about me. Not filmed yet. No title yet. Not cast yet. I won’t play me. It’s maybe Willow Smith.” “Please. I’m doing this a hundred years. At least she’s a biological female. And I don’t need someone bitchy. I’m not. I’m sassy. There’s a kindness in me. I’m really a sweetheart."
About the movie, Ru had this to say: "This is about my New York life in the ’80s. Interview magazine in those days was my Bible. I grew up in San Diego wanting to be Andy Warhol. No grim storyline about white guys sniffing white powder. It’s the Yellow Brick Road. Wanting to go to six different clubs every night."
There's a lot to be interpreted by that statement that Ru made, in that she would potentially choose a bioological female to play her and not another drag queen. Is that a blanket statement that all drag queens are bitchy and therefore can't fill her shoes to tell her story from beginning to now?
Especially considering just how successful the show has become over the past decade, one would assume that she would either pluck one of the girls from the bunch to play her or bring in a new drag talent that would get people talking, as the path from obscurity to household name is one that RuPaul is very familiar with, even to this day.
“Look, I just keep doing my thing. Nothing new or different. More people are discovering me. Maybe it’s social media. Maybe with Netflix I’m now around the world. Maybe young kids look to express how they feel. It’s all make-believe. Drag reminds us not to take identity too seriously."
RuPaul did something similar to this back in season 5 of her show, where the drag queens competing put on a show that showcased her life. Granted, they did a campy version of it, so I expect this one to be taken so seriously, so it's interesting to hear who Ru would potentially choose given her bevy of options.
For now, it's in process. "Networks are bidding on the project now. A one-hour show is 42 minutes. A streaming service is an hour. Until we know which, we haven’t started shooting. J.J. Abrams is behind it."
Let's just hope that the film doesn't get "Lost" in translation of what it is trying to accomplish.