Everybody's Talking About Jamie — inspired by the documentary Jamie: Drag Queen At 16 — has been a smash hit with audiences in London's West End as well as all across the UK, and now the musical has been adapted into a film, which will be launching exclusively on Amazon Prime Video soon.
The film tells the story of 16-year-old Jamie New, who has his heart set on becoming a superstar drag queen, but the schoolboy has to overcome bullies and prejudice in order to achieve his dreams.
Here's everything you need to know about the film...
Everybody's Talking About Jamie release date
Everybody's Talking About Jamie will launch worldwide exclusively on Amazon Prime Video on 17 September 2021.
Everybody's Talking About Jamie plot
When his Year 11 class are asked what they want they want to be when they are older, Jamie says that he wants to be a performer — but what he doesn't tell his class is that he really wants to be a drag queen.
The only people who know of his dreams are his supportive mother Margaret and his best friend Pritti, and Jamie receives some expert mentoring from retired drag queen Hugo — also known as Miss Loco Chanelle. But Jamie faces opposition from his estranged father Wayne, his lacklustre careers teacher Miss Hedge, and other kids at school including bully Dean Paxton.
Events come to a head when Jamie is banned from attending the prom in drag, setting the scene for Jamie making a powerful stand for the right to express himself...
"It's an uplifting coming-of-age story about a 16-year-old from Sheffield who's trying to find his place in the world," says Max Harwood, who plays Jamie. "Specifically, it's about his journey of wanting to be a superstar drag queen, and it's filled with loads of crazy songs and high-fashion moments, and some real British heart. It's got this real family energy to it, so it's got something for everyone!"
Everybody's Talking About Jamie cast
Newcomer Max Harwood stars as Jamie in the film, with Happy Valley and Last Tango In Halifax star Sarah Lancashire as his mother Margaret.
"I watched the show a whole year before I was in the process of auditioning," says Max. "It was probably one of the first times that I was in a huge West End theater watching a commercialised show that had huge success, where a queer person is the center — they're the lead part, they're not stereotyped or made the joke part, they're fully-fleshed and three-dimensional. I was like, 'oh wow, it would be absolutely brilliant if I could step into this role', not thinking that it might be the movie version — that wasn't even in my mind!"
Richard E Grant (Withnail And I, Downton Abbey) plays Hugo, as well as his drag alter ego Loco Chanelle. Sharon Horgan (Catastrophe, This Way Up) plays Miss Hedge, Shobna Gulati (Coronation Street, dinnerladies) plays Margaret's best friend Ray, and Ralph Ineson (The Office, The Capture) is Jamie's father Wayne.
Rounding out the younger cast are Lauren Patel as Jamie's best pal Pritti, and Samuel Bottomley (Ackley Bridge) as school bully Dean.
Is there a trailer for Everybody's Talking About Jamie?
There is, and — well, everybody's talking about it! You can check it out below:
