For decades, fans have been begging writer/director Stephan Elliott for a sequel to “The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert.” One was announced in 2020, then COVID-19 hit and shut everything down. Just when things were getting back on track, Terence Stamp, who played Bernadette, passed away.
But Elliott revealed Stamp pre-shot his scenes for the sequel, and will be in “Priscilla Queen Of The Desert 2!”
The first film follows two drag queens, Adam Whitely (Guy Pearce) and Anthony “Tick” Belrose (Hugo Weaving), and trans woman Bernadette Bassenger (Stamp), as they travel from Sydney to Alice Springs. The trek is spurred by Tick being offered a job performing drag at a resort. The group travels across the barren Australian Outback in a tour bus deemed “Priscilla, Queen of the Desert.” They encounter a host of locals who react to their appearance with either acceptance or hostility.
“Priscilla Queen Of The Desert 2”
While Pearce and Weaving were vocally on board for a sequel, Stamp initially wasn’t so into the idea.
“I had to come to him with a plot that is a really good one. And when I came to [Stamp], he looked at me and said, ‘Okay, I didn’t see that one coming.’ So I brought him something. I brought him a complete original. And at that point, he said, ‘Right, that’s the promise. I’ll do this because you’re going in a different direction. But at the same time, I will never let you just repeat yourself.’ None of us want that. And Guy doesn’t want that either, and Hugo either. So I came forward with something that is pretty special and unique. And that’s when I got him,” Elliott said. “[W]e had all agreed on a Priscilla… sequel just before COVID because it took me decades to find a plot and I found it. But then COVID came along, and of course, we all lost ground, but it did give us the time to get the script underway. And as well you know, we have very big heels to fill, and we’ve been pretty much at it ever since.”
Given Stamp’s age and health at the time, many early make-up and hair design sessions were devoted to “what Terence’s character Bernadette was going to look like at 88, it took a lot of trial and error. So the clock clicked on, and then when the AI wars broke out, Terence was indignant that he didn’t want a digital clone of himself playing Bernadette. He wanted the chance to put the character down himself. And I will quote him in this case. He said: ‘Just in case I don’t make the start line,’” the filmmaker explains.
The Decision to Pre-Shoot
Soon after that Guy, Weaving, the financiers, and Stamp’s family gave their blessing for him to pre-shoot all the scenes in character.
“He was 87, turning 88… And I put him through a multi-cam shoot, spread over several grueling sessions. All I can say is, that the old trouper gave it everything he had,” he lovingly recalls. “He hated putting the wig on again. But at the same time, my God, you could have bottled that smile. I mean, it was brilliant fun, and he really did have the time of his life. But calling ‘that’s a wrap’ on Terence Stamp… are going to be words that will haunt me to the day I die.”
The Loss Of Stamp
But this is more than a film; Elliott and Stamp were very much friends. As touching as it was to watch him spend the last bit of his life helping everyone achieve this long-sought film, it made his premonition hurt that much more.
“I’m still teary most days, but at the moment, I just need to down tools for a bit and mourn,” Elliott says about Stamp’s passing. “I mean, he was such a unique human. He didn’t have a lot of close friends, and I’m still pretty chuffed that he counted me as one of them. We had 32 brilliant years together, and I never missed a chance to hang out and chew the fat. And my God, the stories he told me that I can never put down. I mean, what a life!”
The Technology
This and the current climate are why Elliott is defending the use of this technology, pointing to other examples like Oliver Reed in “Gladiator” or Carrie Fisher in “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.” Both performers were able to finish these films posthumously through the use of CGI. “… but they were kind of all after the fact. This is a really weird one in that it’s before the fact,” he points out.
“They call it CGI face replacement. It’s a tech that’s been around for years, but basically we’re going to have to, I don’t know. I’m still trying to work it out, but the tech is there. We basically, we’d have to get a stand-in actor and Terence would be put onto that actor. Sci-fi films have been doing it for years, but in this instance, I’m going to have to have an actor playing Terence Stamp. I mean, it is scary. We’re all scared, of course.”
“So. it’ll be technical, but on top of that one. it will be him. He’s in the film. It is him. He’s in costume. He’s doing his own dialogue,” Elliott confirms. “Come on. You look at all the sci-fi epics you ever see, all those people have basically ended up acting on green screens, talking to tennis balls, we’re not doing that.”
And he is right, the actor pre-shooting their scenes knowing they will be altered digitally later is a horse of a different color in terms of the tech debate. Given that this was also done with the consent of cast, crew, and family makes this another possible example of this kind of tool being used ethically.
Possible Plot?
While the director wasn’t able to give up much about the storyline for “Priscilla Queen Of The Desert 2.” He did drop some vague but tastey breadcrumbs.
“Not what people expect… I’ve made a very, very unusual film, and it is about old age,” he explains. “It’s very touching. I wrote a lot of what I went through with Terence over the last couple of years. I wrote into the script of what it’s like to get old and to be either gay, trans—I mean, it’s a subject that’s never been explored.”
But it will all be done in honor of Stamp’s legacy. “Now, he didn’t want a funeral, there’s been a lot of talk recently about funerals, and he didn’t want a funeral. He wanted a final curtain,” Elliott says.
“So we did everything in our power to make it happen… And by God, we’re giving it to him.”
