Courage in the face of bullying
In ‘Freak Show,’ teenager overcomes insensitivity of relatives, schoolmates
Trudie Styler — whose darkly comic “Freak Show” will be Frameline’s special presentation for Pink Saturday — had no trouble relating to her film’s main character, a cross-dressing student who struggles with tormentors at his red-state school.
As a young girl in England, Styler was hit by a van, and her face was injured, prompting kids to call her “scarface” throughout her school years. These days, she’s a beauty whose physical scars appear invisible, but her empathy for outcasts is as noticeable as ever.
“‘Freak Show’ resonated with me deeply and personally, because I was bullied as a child and a teenager,” said the actressproducer-director, who is also the wife of pop star Sting. “It’s easy for young people to turn against each other. Bullying is an age-old problem, but today the effects are so much more pronounced with the immediacy of social media.”
Though she had a long list of film, TV and theater acting credits — plus extensive producing experience — Styler’s role as the director of “Freak Show” was an accident, or more precisely, an accident waiting to happen.
“I wasn’t intending to be the director — I was producing it,” she said, “but the director on board had a conflict come up. So I respectfully asked the other producers whether I could do it. They were all enthusiastic.
“First and foremost, I am an actor. But at some point, I wanted to direct, and this seemed like a moment that had come around. I went for it.”
Going for it meant finding the right person to play Billy Bloom, the courageously defiant, highly accessorized “gender obliviator” who will not allow minor obstacles like family rejection and school humiliation to get in the way of his quest to be fabulous.
Styler talked to about 100 Billy candidates, but the search ended immediately when she met Alex Lawther, who portrayed the young Alan Turing in “The Imitation Game” — and who is utterly convincing in “Freak Show.”
“Within a few minutes of his reading, I knew he was Billy,” Styler said. “Alex had so much dimension and depth to him. He is an actor who has great range and is so wonderful to work with.”
The film, based on a young adult novel written by James St. James, attracted a strong cast, including Abigail Breslin, Laverne Cox, Celia Weston, Larry Pine and the one and only Bette Midler, who plays Billy’s unpredictable mother.
“Bette just delivers,” Styler said. “She’s a pro. She was able to play all the shadings of her complex character, and she gave us so much material.”
One of the most memorable moments of the movie involves a physical attack against Billy at school. The scene is essential to the film, but it left Styler with a dilemma: She abhors violence of any kind, yet the film would suffer if she failed to express it visually.
Her creative solution was stunning: Styler got choreography whiz Steven Hoggett to create a quasi-dance movement — involving Billy and his detractors — that got across the point of violence without endless punching and a lot of blood. It’s a scene that can be watched by any 14-year-old. “I wanted it to be realistic and surrealistic at the same time,” she said.
In the lighter moments, the filmmakers had a field day with Billy’s outlandish costumes, which would make Cher and Lady Gaga blush. But as Billy, Lawther pulls it off.
For a self-confessed perfectionist like Styler, it was a challenge having only 22 days to produce a 90-minute feature: “You realize that you have to settle for the very best you can do in a given amount of time.”
Yet for Styler, it was all worth it — and she can’t wait to experience the film with the Frameline audience at the Castro Theatre.
“This is a film about loving unconditionally,” she said. “It examines themes like bullying, intolerance and lack of sensitivity. But we can come out on top if there is selfbelief. Billy has great courage that emanates from his self-belief.
“I hope the film sends a message not only to the LGBT folks of the world, but to anybody who doesn’t have a place in society: You just have to let people know who you are.”