The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert

For the stage musical of the same name, see Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (musical).

The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert
Theatrical release poster
Directed byStephan Elliott
Written byStephan Elliott
Produced by
  • Rebel Penfold-Russell (Executive Producer)
  • Al Clark
  • Michael Hamlyn
Starring
CinematographyBrian J. Breheny
Edited bySue Blainey
Music byGuy Gross
Production
companies
Distributed byRoadshow Film Distributors[1]
Release dates
  • 15 May 1994 (1994-05-15) (Cannes Film Festival)
  • 10 August 1994 (1994-08-10) (United States)
  • 8 September 1994 (1994-09-08) (Australia)
Running time
103 minutes[2]
CountryAustralia
LanguageEnglish
BudgetA$1,884,200
(US$2 million)
Box office$29.7 million

The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert is a 1994 Australian road comedy film written and directed by Stephan Elliott. The plot follows two drag queens, played by Hugo Weaving and Guy Pearce, and a transgender woman played by Terence Stamp, as they journey across the Australian Outback from Sydney to Alice Springs in a tour bus that they have named "Priscilla", along the way encountering various groups and individuals.

The film was a surprise worldwide hit and its positive portrayal of LGBT individuals helped to introduce LGBT themes to a mainstream audience.[3] It received predominantly positive reviews and won an Academy Award for Best Costume Design at the 67th Academy Awards. It was screened in the Un Certain Regard section of the 1994 Cannes Film Festival and became a cult classic both in Australia and abroad.[4]

The film was based upon the lives of three actual drag queens - Cindy Pastel, Strykermyer and Lady Bump - who were originally meant to play themselves but were later replaced with what the studio considered "bankable" actors. These original queens were profiled in the 1995 documentary Ladies Please.[5]

Priscilla subsequently provided the basis for a musical, Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, which opened in 2006 in Sydney before travelling to New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Broadway.

  1. ^ "The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert – Review". Oz Movies. Retrieved 6 June 2021.
  2. ^ "THE ADVENTURES OF PRISCILLA QUEEN OF THE DESERT (15)". British Board of Film Classification. 9 August 1994. Archived from the original on 8 September 2014. Retrieved 7 September 2014.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference oregan was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ "The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert". Festival de Cannes. Archived from the original on 5 October 2012. Retrieved 31 August 2009.
  5. ^ Tuohy, Wendy (25 May 1995). "The drag queens behind 'Priscilla'". The Age. Retrieved 9 September 2024.