John Cameron Mitchell

London is the English-speaking theatre capital.

Obviously, when you get into larger budgets, you have less of that freedom, and I just - I'm not a person that tends to make stories for those larger budgets. To me, it's not much fun to have that kind of pressure.

We're all weirdly single, middle-aged women with too much money who look to fill the void with too much shopping.

I remember being afraid of doing drag when I was younger because I didn't really like my feminine side - most gay guys at some point are told that that's the worst part of you, so that becomes a negative thing.

I've always liked a good joke that everybody can laugh at.

There's something cool about being a stealth classic.

I think it helped me like myself more, playing Hedwig.

Bob Fosse, even though he wasn't gay. He was certainly queer and had a huge effect on the 'Hedwig' film, as did Hal Ashby and Robert Altman, who had a weird butch queer feeling about him. His films almost flirted with camp but in an extremely realistic acting way.

The best things happen in the dark.

I'm not interested in replicating 'Hedwig' like a virus.

I've obviously always been aware of actor-oriented films, being an actor. Altman and Cassavetes were really strong. And then I realized their structures were quite fascinating, too.

Some people end up becoming just a conservator of the one thing they did and making sure they get their merch out and all that.