Actor and model Jeffrey Bowyer-Chapman‘s new project, a spine-tingling movie called Spiral, will make its official debut later this week.
The 35-year-old, who received quite a lot of criticism during his time as a judge on the first season of Canada’s Drag Race, flexes his acting chops in a film that dives head first into the extremities of homophobia in a small town.
Jeffrey plays Malik, a man who moves to a suburban area with his husband Aaron (Ari Cohen) and their 16-year-old daughter (Jennifer Laporte) in search of a better environment. The neighbors seem welcoming at first to them but it doesn’t take long for him to suspect that something is seriously off with area’s inhabitants.
He eventually discovers that a lesbian couple were killed in the area 10 years before – and he comes to believe that he and his partner have been “chosen” for a ritual that takes place once every decade.
“The fact that it’s coming out right now really is a perfect time,” he told The Hollywood Reporter earlier this month. Jeffrey touched on the film’s relevance in the world we are in today even though it was made two years ago.
“The fact that this world is built on a foundation of white supremacy is not something that people would be able to identify or acknowledge six months ago,” he continued. Spiral premieres on Shudder this coming Thursday, September 17.
Jeffrey has had to unfortunately deal with a ton of haters ever since Canada’s Drag Race premiered earlier this summer. Many fans of the show did not like how he interacted with the queens on the main stage (with one comment directed at Jimbo that really riled them up) and he was destroyed on social media to the point where his Twitter is now deactivated as a result.
Jeffrey’s Instagram account remains active although he appears to have limited the kinds of comments people can make on his photos. It’s a troublesome situation that many have spoken out about in defense of him. “The bullying has to stop,” Drag Race season 6 star Vivacious wrote recently. “Imagine if straight Christians woke up everyday to target you with hateful words and threats.”