New York Times Review to Wong Foo Thanks for Everything Julie Newmar
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FILM; A Regular Guy Under That Slinky Clothes
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September 17, 1995
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REVENGE OF THE nerd might non be a bad title for the work in progress that is John Leguizamo'southward life. The concept? A goofy kid from Queens trades his highwaters for high fashion as a queen. As Chi Chi, the hip-hop hottie in "To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar," Mr. Leguizamo vamps his style across country every bit a "elevate princess" seeking fulfillment and pursuing a fantasy.
And a killer gown.
His convincing turn led at least one reviewer to dub him "bright," but despite his large-screen loftier-camp absurd, he clings offscreen to one nerdly trait: he'due south a practiced male child.
"My fearfulness is that if I always do anything incorrect like drugs, or get in a car hunt, I'm afraid I'grand going to go somebody'due south prison girlfriend," said the 31-twelvemonth-old actor. "That's why I'one thousand going to stay clean and non do annihilation wrong for the rest of my life."
Not to worry. Sure, he in one case locked a high school teacher in an elevator for an hour, and he also sneaked into a subway train usher'southward berth and did a one-act routine on a commandeered public accost organization. But he'south more like your mischievous cousin Tito, a charming cutup whose sweet smile makes y'all forgive most missteps. Among the few wrong moves he has made in contempo years was an sick-advised choice to appear in the 1993 "Super Mario Brothers" picture, an law-breaking punishable past banishment to the rear racks of a video store.
In by years he has won over critics and audiences as the star of "Mambo Mouth" and "Spic-O-Rama," Off Broadway solo shows that lampooned Latino stereotypes while presenting complicated, fifty-fifty heartfelt, explorations into characters who alive in the shadows in fringe neighborhoods. In the 1993 film "Carlito's Way" he was pure swagger as Benny Blanco from the Bronx, a niggling man with big dreams and a gun to match.
With "Wong Foo," which opened at No. ane last weekend, Mr. Leguizamo seems poised for the kind of success his co-stars, Patrick Swayze and Wesley Snipes, take already achieved, although he was minor about his ain success recently when he chatted amiably at a Hell'due south Kitchen sidewalk cafe, decked out in a Knicks jersey and shades. Audiences who never saw him in "Mambo Oral cavity" as Manny the Fanny, a transvestite hooker facing the futurity with an iron in one mitt and Krazy Glue in the other, can get a sense of taste of his madness as Chi Chi.
"It'south strange that the rest of the world who didn't run into 'Mambo Mouth' will run into me on screen as a drag queen," he said. "Information technology's a fun one-act for America with a lot of center. A experience-good movie for the whole family. And your transsexuals."
The motion-picture show has three transvestites, to be verbal, stranded in a small Nebraska town while driving cross-country to compete in a elevate-queen contest. During their weekend stay, they help the kind (though plain none too sharp) townsfolk let down their hair. Information technology'south kind of like a "Route to . . ." flick with three guys equally Dorothy Lamour.
Mr. Leguizamo'south skills as a quick-change artist date back to his babyhood in Queens, where he lived with his immigrant parents until they divorced. His begetter was an accountant who became a real estate banker, while his mother worked for various causes in the Hispanic community. He moved around a lot, even going for a while to Colombia, his mother's homeland, before returning to Jackson Heights. Information technology was a childhood spent among Irish, Italian, Dominican and Puerto Rican neighbors whose rough-and-tumble cadences would pitter-patter into his phase work. I character in "Mambo Mouth," for example, is an illegal Mexican immigrant who desperately tries to squirm out of being deported by passing as a Swede, an Irishman and an Israeli.
"Queens was an interesting place considering it was, similar, really international," he said. "Constantly moving makes you hostile. You're e'er proving yourself wherever you go. You lot got to charm them."
He was the short, geeky kid in no-name sneakers and talocrural joint-exposing pants who was picked on constantly. Picking a fight with one keen cooled out the tension for a while. A friendship with the "coolest guy from Brooklyn" additional his confidence.
"All the girls would come by the classroom and look at him," he said. "That's my pal, my buddy. And it's going to rub off on me! When you don't have anything, all you have is fighting, friends and sex."
And sometimes a instructor who sees a glimmer of talent. One of his teachers helped the immature cutup get into counseling, where he began to recall about acting. He devoured erstwhile comedies with Ed Wynn, Bert Lahr and the nerd-extraordinaire Jerry Lewis. He joined some improvisational groups, went to higher at New York Academy and enrolled in acting classes, including a stint in Lee Strasberg's Actors Studio. Mr. Strasberg died soon later he enrolled.
"I killed Lee Strasberg," he said. "I'chiliad in his class one hr, and he died the next day. I shoot them in movies, and I kill them in acting class."
He considers himself a Method thespian who loves researching roles and delving into his characters; he found working with Al Pacino in "Carlito'southward Fashion" a peak case of acting with like-minded people.
THEY Mind TO Everything you say and every gesture and respond to it," he said. "They're and so freaking nowadays, and they trust themselves."
Mr. Leguizamo's director, Michael Bregman, said he recognized a similar quality when he first saw Mr. Leguizamo in "Mambo Mouth" a few years back. "I had never seen anything similar it," Mr. Bregman said. "I thought he was funny and a stunning actor. You unremarkably don't find that. They're ofttimes very funny or a brilliant actor."
Bruce Cohen, the executive producer of "Wong Foo," said Mr. Leguizamo'due south earlier drag piece of work on phase influenced the movie'south screenwriter.
"Nosotros had John in mind for Chi Chi right from the kickoff," he said. "Chi Chi is full of life, used to always having to fight for what she wants. She is tough, from the streets, but as well has smashing spirit and is e'er upwardly for any hazard."
And what an take a chance! Three drag queens are on their fashion to a national contest in Los Angeles when their car breaks down and strands them in a desolate Midwestern town. Information technology stranded the bandage and crew there, similarly, for three months last summertime.
Although Mr. Leguizamo, unlike Mr. Swayze, has washed characters in elevate earlier, Chi Chi was a more carefree grapheme than he was used to. Luckily, Chi Chi got to play off her co-stars.
"Patrick lent a really nice quality to the motion picture," Mr. Leguizamo said. "He made it more palatable. 3 guys as drag queens wears out after a while. He brought a lot of dignity and humanity to it. I just brought craziness."
To fix for the motion picture the three stars were assigned drag queens who put them through their steps. The manager, Beeban Kidron, besides gave them a list of drag shows and clubs.
"Nosotros went to Ms. Large Apple," Mr. Leguizamo said of one show. "It was more like Ms. Large Adam's Apple tree. But some of these men were like beautiful women. They were so cute I felt a little attracted. I said: 'I'k sick! There's something wrong!' "
As the co-star of a nationally released movie, he hopes to avoid the pitfalls of his endeavour last year to go mass-market with "House of Buggin' " on the Fox aqueduct. Billed as the first Hispanic one-act-diversity evidence, "House of Buggin' " suffered from uneven skits and scattershot scheduling and was canceled later on x half-hour episodes.
"You ever feel like yous're on the verge of something," he said last year during a break in taping. "The TV stuff is ane of the more challenging things. Trying to make TV exciting is hard."
Trying to become skits past the standards-and-practices people was fifty-fifty harder. Suggestive language and topics had to be removed from the show, he said, robbing it of its street-smart attitude. Still, the bear witness had moments like "Chicano Militant Minute" and a sketch in which an angel-faced ragamuffin gets slammed effectually the basketball court by his Big Brother.
"Beating the hell out of that little kid!" Mr. Leguizamo recalled, smiling devilishly.
While the "Business firm of Buggin' " didn't take hold of on and Mr. Leguizamo had to turn downward roles in two movies to do it, he took pride in balancing the responsibilities of writing, producing and interim in the show week after week, he said. More important to him, "Business firm of Buggin' " portrayed a full range of Hispanic characters, from strutting homeboys to frazzled yuppies. And aye, even a drag queen or two (including the neo-Neanderthal Luis Guzman, lusty and leering, in his tube top).
"Nosotros have been so absent in the media, specially television receiver," Mr. Leguizamo said. "A lot of my friends are talented, but they don't take that 90210 look. It'south tough."
During the recent interview at his sidewalk perch, teen-agers and aspiring actors walked upward to him, request for an autograph or offering words of encouragement. He responded warmly. "Actors said if I can make it, they can too," he said. "It'due south like a dis and a compliment at the same time."
When he sees Latino up-and-comers in comedy clubs and small films, information technology encourages him, besides. Perhaps in the hereafter there volition be more Latino part models than Desi Arnaz and Speedy Gonzalez.
"It's amazing, but Latin people are getting mad organized," he said. "Latin people desire to take their voice. There's tons of little independent films and college child playwrights. The African-American brothers did information technology like that. They set the method."
His own agenda includes three "wide comedies" (no, not drag) that he and his writing partner David Bar Katz are developing. He has decided to focus on comedy, he said, to have advantage of his youth. Funny, he said, doesn't age well.
Still, he'd love to play some other gangster and a boxer, roles that would showcase his wiry agility and street attitude. He just finished playing the "Latin rex of the underworld" in "Blood brother'due south Kiss," a moving-picture show about two white brothers growing upward in Spanish Harlem. "I want to focus on comedy, except for the two movies I just did," he joked. "So, I'm a liar! Sue me. Put a expletive on me. Go to a santero!"
AS FLAMBOYANT Equally HE IS ON camera, he is down-to-earth and relaxed off. He credits life in the city with keeping him focused and complimentary from yeah-men and hangers-on. He still plays basketball in the park and hangs out on the Lower East Side, where he recently bought a building.
It's a neighborhood where you lot'd find guys similar the 4 friends in "Hangin' With the Homeboys," the independent film that had him playing a lovably goofy, if naive, young homo from the Southward Bronx. It chronicled a night of boys just trying to accept fun while going from the barrio to bohemia and dorsum.
"They were guys who tried to continue their lives together and practise something in the neighborhood," he said. "Y'all ever got to prove something. Who doesn't?"
It'southward a place of ordinary rhythms.
"People but live their lives really open," he said. "Kids play outside and just hang out. It'south not about being stylish and trendy, like on the Upper West Side."
Maybe it'south also about remembering his roots. It's still a neighborhood of immigrants who come seeking opportunities as his parents in one case did.
"A lot of Americans experience something's owed to them," he said. "With the immigrant experience you got to work for it. Aught is going to exist given to you. My parents worked so hard for everything."
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/1995/09/17/movies/film-a-regular-guy-under-that-slinky-dress.html
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