By John Hayden
Danger! Drama! Deceit! Two of Wilton Manors’ biggest personalities are taking their talents to the big screen. Jennifer McClain and Eric Swanson, aka Miss Bouvèé, are teaming up for their first movie together: Big Easy Queens. Like Lewis and Martin or Hepburn and Tracy before them, they have easy, natural chemistry that lures audiences in.
In real life, Swanson and McClain are besties who often perform together as The Boozy Belters. But in this movie, they’re mortal enemies. “This project is so much fun, and so much work at the same time. Completely different from anything we’ve ever done before. This isn’t your typical Boozy Belters show,” McClain told OutClique.
Big Easy Queens is set in New Orleans. Miss Bouvèé is Queen of the Quarter and is in a rivalry with her arch-nemesis, Poodles Makenzie, played by McClain. “At the start of the movie, [Bouvèé is] taking out some of her top tier men to reclaim some territory,” Swanson told OutClique during a visit to the set. McClain says her Poodles has long been in Miss B’s sights. “Poodles Makenzie is a tough, no BS boss in New Orleans. She’s spent the last twenty years building an empire, which she runs out of a salon. She’s been archrivals with Minnie Bouvèé since she arrived on the scene.”
The movie is a fun, campy romp with two powerful women fighting for supremacy. Director Erynn Dalton says she’s going for “Glam Horror,” and thinks this film has the potential to reach cult classic status to rival The Rocky Horror Picture Show. “This does have Rocky Horror vibes. I don’t think there’s been another movie like that. I feel like, without the flopping part that Rocky Horror did in the beginning, I feel like we’ve got that.” There’s also a nod to Austin Powers. “We shot a scene where one of Miss Bouvèé’s assassins has huge machine gun boobs. That’s how she kills her enemies.”
Familiar Surroundings
Despite being set in New Orleans, most of the movie was shot over ten days in October in and around Wilton Manors. Much of our architecture, such as the community building in Richardson Park, has a similar look to the Big Easy. Many of our bars and businesses have great decorations and bright colors, which help create the New Orleans vibe as well. “Wilton people will recognize some places but it could be any bar anywhere,” Swanson said. “The Pub has a lot of decorative things you would see in New Orleans. The light in the ceiling, the vibrant colors. Those would be found in any gay bar in New Orleans.”
The Pub on the Drive is often home to Miss Bouvèé performances. On the big screen it will be home to her den of sin. “The Pub loaned us their space on a business night and became Dorothy’s, my nightclub. We converted all kinds of things. You will not know it’s The Pub.”
Community Support
Independent films are tough to get made. Budgets are tight, so generous fans and visionary producers are key to getting projects done. The night we visited the set they were in the home of a producer. Don D’Arminio and Marc Martorana held a fundraiser for the film and also opened up their home for a shoot.
OutClique publisher Steven O. Evans, PhD, was one of the first to dive in head first to support Big Easy Queens. “When [Swanson] mentioned making a film, I could only imagine something so creative and fantastic, how could I let this opportunity pass by? A fun investment was just something I needed.”
Dr. Evans’ commitment to the arts, especially the local arts scene, is evident in each issue of OutClique. “I believe all the arts make us as a culture better people. Most of all, at the end of the day, like the rest of the world, I just want to dance with somebody who loves me.” Both Swanson (as Miss Bouvèé) and McClain have been featured on the cover and say the mutual respect goes both ways. “Steven has always been a great cheerleader of me and Miss Bouvèé. As a friend, he will just randomly text me to see how I’m doing, and I really appreciate that. After his visit to our set, on my very first day of filming, he wrote the nicest compliments both publicly and privately to me. Don’t be surprised if they’re on my tombstone (eventually).”
Swanson and Dr. Evans met in Key West and bonded over mutual artistic interests. “He’s an organist, I’m a pianist, and he came to a dueling piano show we were doing. He’s a friend of mine,” Swanson said.
Dalton says they hope to have the movie edited this month or early next year. Once they have a final cut, Big Easy Queens will be submitted to film festivals. That will determine a release date. But we’re sure there will be a big premiere, or at least a campy screening, in Wilton Manors.
