''Stage Mother'' is a 2020 Canadian

comedy-drama Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...

film directed by

Thom Fitzgerald Thomas "Thom" Fitzgerald (born July 8, 1968) is an American-Canadian film and theatre director, screenwriter, playwright and producer. Life Fitzgerald was born and raised in New Rochelle, New York. His parents divorced when he was five years ol ...

, from a screenplay by Brad Hennig. The film stars

Jacki Weaver Jacqueline Ruth Weaver (born 25 May 1947) is an Australian theatre, film and television actress. Weaver emerged in the 1970s as a symbol of the Australian New Wave through her work in Ozploitation films such as '' Stork'' (1971), ''Alvin Purp ...

Lucy Liu Lucy Alexis Liu is an American actress. Her accolades include winning a Critics' Choice Television Award, two Screen Actors Guild Awards and a Seoul International Drama Award, in addition to nominations for a Primetime Emmy Award. Liu has star ...

Adrian Grenier Adrian Sean Grenier (born July 10, 1976) is an American actor, producer, director and musician. He is best known for his portrayal of Vincent Chase in the television series ''Entourage (American TV series), Entourage'' (2004–2011). He has appe ...

Mya Taylor Mya Taylor (born March 28, 1991) is an American actress and singer. She is best known for her role as Alexandra in the 2015 film ''Tangerine'' for which she won the Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Female. Early life Mya Taylor was b ...

, Allister MacDonald, Oscar Moreno and

Jackie Beat Jackie Beat (born July 24, 1963) is the drag persona of actor, singer, songwriter and screenwriter Kent Fuher. Beat has appeared in a number of independent feature films both in and out of drag, including '' Wigstock: The Movie'', '' Flawless'', ...

. ''Stage Mother'' had its world premiere at the

Palm Springs International Film Festival Palm Springs International Film Festival (sometimes stylized shortly as PSIFF) is a film festival held in Palm Springs, California. Originally promoted by Mayor Sonny Bono and then sponsored by Nortel,here for Table of Contents it started in 1989 ...

on January 4, 2020 and was released in the United States on August 21, 2020 by

Momentum Pictures Momentum Pictures is a film distributor and a subsidiary of Entertainment One, itself part of Hasbro. Prior to 2013, it was a brand of Canadian distributor Alliance Films used for its releases in the United Kingdom, and was one of the leading i ...

Premise

The story follows a conservative

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * C ...

choir director who inherits a drag club in San Francisco started by her deceased son, from whom she was estranged after he

came out Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBT people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity. Framed and debated as a privacy issue, coming out of ...

as gay.

Cast

as Maybelline Metcalf **

Sofia Banzhaf Sofia Banzhaf is a Canadian actress and filmmaker from Newfoundland and Labrador. Banzhaf was born in Germany and spent part of her early life in the United States. She is most noted for her 2019 short film ''I Am in the World as Free and Slender ...

as young Maybelline Metcalf *

as Sienna *

as Nathan *

as Cherry Poppins * Allister MacDonald as Joan of Arkansas * Oscar Moreno as Tequila Mockingbird *

as Dusty Muffin *

Lenore Zann Lenore Zann (born November 22, 1959) is a Canadian actress and former politician who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for the riding of Cumberland—Colchester in the House of Commons of Canada as a member of the Liberal Party. Before ...

as Bevette *

Anthony Skordi Anthony George Skordi is a British-American actor. He is best known for his roles as Admiral Garrick Versio in '' Star Wars Battlefront II'', and The Dealer in the '' Hand of Fate'' series of games. In addition to his voiceover work in video game ...

as August * Hugh Thompson as Jeb Metcalf * Eldon Thiele as Ricky Metcalf * Callum Dunphy as Chappy

Production

In May 2018, it was announced that

, and

Taye Diggs Scott Leo "Taye" Diggs (born January 2, 1971) is an American stage and film actor. He is known for his roles in the Broadway musicals ''Rent'' and '' Hedwig and the Angry Inch'', the TV series ''Private Practice'' (2007-2013), ''Murder in the ...

had signed on to appear in the film, with filming set to take place in

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...

, Canada. However, Diggs had to drop out of the production due to scheduling conflicts. Filming took place in late 2018.

Release

The film had its world premiere at the

on January 4, 2020. Shortly after,

acquired distribution rights to the film, and set it for an August 21, 2020, release.

References

External links

{{Thom Fitzgerald 2020 films 2020 LGBT-related films 2020 comedy-drama films Canadian comedy-drama films Canadian LGBT-related films Drag (clothing)-related films Films set in San Francisco Films set in Texas LGBT-related comedy-drama films English-language Canadian films Films directed by Thom Fitzgerald Films shot in Halifax, Nova Scotia 2020s English-language films 2020s Canadian films