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Thirty years after the release of the 1994 Australian cult classic The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, its director Stephan Elliott announced that a sequel “is happening,” Deadline exclusively reported.
Elliott also said that the film's original stars Terence Stamp, Guy Pearce and Hugo Weaving will reprise their roles.
Priscilla makes a comeback in the 21st century
“I'm not repeating myself, we'll start the new film in Australia, but by God, we're going on one helluva journey,” the director stated.
“The original cast is on board, I've got a script that everybody likes, we're still working out deals. … It's happening,” he added.
The movie debuted at the midnight screening at Cannes under Un Certain Regard. Since then Priscilla has been one of the most famous and most successful movies that portrayed LGBT individuals in a positive light. The film also won an Academy Award for best costume design in 1995.
The movie follows the story of a transsexual Bernadette Bassenger (Stamp) and two drag queens Anthony “Tick” Belrose/Mitzi Del Bra (Weaving) and Adam Whitely/Felicia Jollygoodfellow (Pearce). The three leave from Sydney in an old-school bus they named Priscilla in order to perform to disco and ABBA songs in a small town in Australia.
Due to mainstream success that shows like RuPaul's Drag Race for several years now, it may be difficult for the younger generation to understand how revolutionary the movie was. The film wasn't just marketed to what was at the time a niche LGBTQ audience, but to to the general population.
Elliott said that he has been resistant for years to make a sequel.
“I just was not sure, I just didn't want to repeat myself,” the director insisted.
“I thought, what am I going to do? Stick them on a cruise ship, stick them on a train? You name it, over the years I've been pitched Priscilla 2 in spades,” he continued.
However, Elliott started entertaining the idea of a sequel five years ago. It took the death of his parents who dies within two years of each other and the events of 2020 — the COVID-19 pandemic — for him to focus on the story.
The director grieved their deaths, but his memories of them prompted him to be start writing again.
“I was writing and configuring after dad died in early 2020,” Elliot said.
“Then mum died in early 2023. It was a tough one, and so I finally realized that I do have something to write about,” he added.
The sequel will bring back Bernadette, Adam/Felicia and Tick/Mitzi. In the movie, Tick had a 7-year-old son. If the movie is made this year, he would be 37 years old now.
“Well, he's grown up now,” Elliott said.
“Therefore I've written in a bunch of new characters to support a new generation,” he added.
The filmmaker said the the new film will have “old disco classics, but we'll be moving into contemporary as well.”
The director used the new Priscilla the Party! show as an example. It just opened at the Outernet in HERE in West End. The show has a 4 a.m. liquor license, “so what we've done now is just add alcohol,” Elliott said.
He also noted that “the crowd goes ballistic over Lady Gaga's ‘Born This Way,'” so Gaga songs could possibly in the movie's soundtrack and performances.
The director explained, “We've got to move with the times.”
“The bottom line is that I've just had everybody to the table and we're hammering out the deal now just so everybody's happy,” he added.
Elliott said now that Stamp's 85, the actor wants to “get it happening, get it shooting this year. Actually, as soon as possible.”
The actual bus they used in the film, a 1976 Japanese-made bus, that the production rented for filming disappeared for a few years. It reappeared in New South Wales, however the wildfire and floods had a done a number on it.
In 2023, the History Trust of South Australia was able to take possession if it and launch a fundraiser in order to restore it.
The filmmaker also said that he and the rest of the production team remastered and remixed the print just in time for the 30th anniversary screenings for this year's Pride week.
“It's the 30th anniversary, the bus has been found, Priscilla the Party! is about to roll out globally and it's time for Priscilla's final adventure to get made,” he said.
Elliott will direct, write and produce the sequel. However, he said that he wants to partner with another producer.
The movie grossed $18,459,245 in 1994, which is equivalent to $38,902,921.12 today.
Film scholars noted that the movie meant different to American audiences versus Australian. To LGBT Americans, they believed the film would be “the big one that will bring gay lifestyles into the mainstream.” To Australians, Priscilla was just another successful domestic film.”
A year later, Patrick Swayze, Wesley Snipes and John Leguizamo starred in To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar. The movie's plot had many similarities to that of Priscilla's.
The Oscar-nominee Stamp was last scene in 2021's Last Night in Soho. Weaving, best known as Agent Smith from The Matrix movies and Elrond in The Lord of the Rings films, was in the 2023 Australian movie The Royal Hotel.
Primetime Emmy Award-winning Pearce will be in the upcoming film Sunrise. The actor also has six projects in the pipeline, including the upcoming film The Shrouds.
