GLAAD Attends the “Drive-Away Dolls” Premiere: “How often do you see a movie with three queer women at the center of it?”

Drive-Away Dolls is the sapphic and star-studded film of the season! Written by Ethan Coen and Tricia Cooke, the film follows Jamie (Margaret Qualley), an uninhibited free spirit bemoaning yet another breakup with a girlfriend (Beanie Feldstein), and her uptight demure friend Marian (Geraldine Viswanathan). In search of a fresh start, the two embark on an impromptu road trip to Tallahassee, but things quickly go awry when they cross paths with a group of inept criminals along the way.

This unapologetically queer comedy/thriller features an all-star cast including Matt Damon, Pedro Pascal, Colman Domingo, and Miley Cyrus!

On Tuesday, February 20th, GLAAD joined the cast and crew at their red carpet premiere in New York City.

 

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Out actress Beanie Feldstein (Sukie) spoke about how excited she is to be a part of this rise in sapphic representation in film. “It feels so unbelievable to me, I just feel so lucky. This is the first time I ever gotten to play a queer character and so that was very, very meaningful to me.”

Feldstein talked about how much she enjoyed playing Sukie, a character so different than what she’s used to playing. “We are nothing alike and that’s even better because I think often with queer movies, people like to boil them down to just that word. But the more that we make, the more nuance and diversity we can have within the genre itself.”

“I think that we need more queer comedies and we need more sexy, funny love scenes and sex scenes and all of it. You get a lot of that with Drive-Away Dolls.” She adds that, “I think it’s something really anyone can enjoy because it’s such a wild ride but it also happens to be all about lesbian bars!”

Emmy nominated actress Margaret Qualley, who stars in the film, says she “had a blast” playing such a complex and interesting queer character. “I loved playing Jamie. She’s one of the sweetest characters I’ve ever played. I had the best time.”

She gushes over her character’s love interest and describes Viswanathan as “a very lovable person.”

Drive Away Dolls takes place all across the U.S. South, currently a tense place for LGBTQ people legislatively. Qualley shares that, “It feels good how celebratory the movie is. It’s so shameless and I think it’s important to have this ‘unimportant’ take,” as director Ethan Coen lovingly puts it.

Qualley’s co-star Geraldine Viswanathan speaks about how unlike Feldstein, she related a lot to her character. “I related to Marian a lot. I feel like she’s sort of stifled in her expression.” She shares that Marian’s sexual awakening in the film reminded her a lot of her own, “Mine was Blake Lively in Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, with the water… we know the scene… it was like ‘Ok! Something is happening.'”

She goes on to say, “I think that it’s really important to show that on screen,” adding, “I mean, how often do you see a movie with three queer women at the center of it?”

Ru Paul’s Drag Race alum Jackie Cox and Jan Sport also stopped by to talk about their excitement for this increase in queer representation in film. “Love queer movies!” they both agreed. Cox went on to remind fans, “Drag wouldn’t exist without women!”

Married couple and co-writers Ethan Coen and Tricia Cooke spoke about their inspiration in creating the film. “I wanted to make a lesbian movie that was kind of lighthearted and playful and fun and sexy,” Cooke explains. 

Cooke went on to talk about her activism work with Gays Against Guns and Queer Liberation March. She talks about how important it is to depict queer joy in the south. “I think it’s important to speak to the conservatism in particular in Florida as this movie ends in Florida. With everything that’s going on down there, they’re trying to strip us of all of our rights, especially in the trans community.”

Both Cooke and Coen are excited for this film to help normalize featuring queer women in all genres of film in a “fun and fizzy” way.

Drive-Away Dolls premieres in theaters Friday, February 23rd.