‘I felt free’: Toni Collette and John Leguizamo reminisce on playing drag queens
The Power stars Toni Collette and John Leguizamo felt “empowered” when they respectively played drag queens in Connie & Carla and To Wong Foo.
The former, released in 2004, stars Nia Vardalos and Collette as the title characters, best friends and performers who pose as drag queens and host a drag revue at a gay club.
Although the Michael Lembeck-directed comedy was met with mixed reviews, it has since earned cult classic status. In an interview with GAY TIMES, Toni describes the current attacks against the drag community as “insane” and says she felt “free and completely joyous” when she channelled her inner queen as Carla. “It felt like you could do anything.
Freeing would be the main thing,” she explains, before joking that she “could not stop putting my lipliner way outside my lips” after she finished filming. “I was so used to having these massive lips and it was very difficult to bring it down to reality afterwards!” Leguizamo, who also condemned the current anti-drag legislation, agrees with Collette: “I agree, I felt very empowered and free and people do treat you differently, a little more respectfully, a little more graciously.
