Director Damion Dietz discusses his ballsy new comedy Beverly Kills and what's so funny about bad drag queens, musical theater, and naked boys.

By Gary M. Kramer

Damion Dietz' Beverly Kills, just released on DVD, is an over-the-top comedy about Beverly (Gary Kelly), a vengeful drag queen who hatches a plan against a queer playhouse for not hiring him for their all-nude production of Balls Out. Dietz's highly enjoyable film features all kinds of humor, from wordplay and sight gags, to satire and slapstick. He chatted with IN Los Angeles about his queer approach to comedy, and what exactly makes gay guys laugh.

How would you describe the humor of Beverly Kills?

Beverly Kills is satirical. I love how raw and arch it is. On it's surface, it's base, but I think it is smart and clever. I'm not trying to be more sophisticated [than my audience]. I want to entertain.

What makes you laugh?

I love it when people say something and two seconds later contradict themselves. I think these contradictions are funny. I love wordplay and the musical numbers.

Beverly Kills features a very bad drag queen, a parody of musical theater and as much campiness as Showgirls. Why do you think gays like drag queens, musicals, and campiness so much?

Most gay people like those things because they are ridiculous exaggerations of a society that has kept them on the fringe, and it's a criticism of that. Gay people are holding up the failed icons of society. You won't let us get married, so we make icons of Liz and Liza, who have many failed marriages as examples of how society is not working really well. And Showgirls is a fucking comic masterpiece.

Why do you think a bad drag queen is amusing and not sad or pathetic?

There's nothing funnier than someone who's tries so earnestly to entertain, or be beautiful, and fails. You have to laugh. However, some people find her scary ... she's the weirdest character they've ever seen.

Why is it funny for gays to play up a queer stereotype, but it's insulting if a straight person does it?

Just as many gays are offended by those stereotypes. People who are stereotypes are usually offended, but people who are comfortable with themselves laugh at it. I've been criticized by gay people for having gay actors playing gay stereotypes. I think having a gay person doing it, it may not feel so malicious. We can use stereotypes to expose the hypocrisy and bigotry.

What can you say about creating the musical theater parodies, "Balls Out," and "I Want to Fuck My Way to the Top"?

Musical theatre is inherently campy-someone stops and sings about finding love and "the utopia." Now it is all about Naked Boys Singing. That song "Balls Out" is satirizing this idea of looking for love in all the wrong places, like bathhouses.

Speaking of naked boys, why have audiences reacted with laughter to the nudity in the film? I thought laughing at a nude man was the worst thing you could do!

People laugh at the penises because they are uncomfortable. Those people are the same ones who will pause it on DVD with their lubricant of choice. I use nudity because the guys are hot—and that's awesome! Shane [Rick Sparks] is faced with nudity and revealing himself, and he's uncomfortable with it until he's naked and tied up. Incidentally, we shot [that nude sequence] in front of a senior center and I kept trying to get the guys to keep their clothes on.

You also get a great sight gag with Tyler the stripper's g-string...

Yes, that's a subversion of expectations ... you expect to see the bulge in the g-string, and you get [something else as well].

So you are into subversive humor?

I love to subvert the pop cult iconography in all of my films. Hollywood is a dream graveyard. I wanted to show Hollywood as dirty and fucked up. We're going to put on our costumes and blend into the craziness. One character dresses as Tarzan and quotes Taxi Driver.

Let's discuss the outrageous costumes. Where do you come up with them?

I like finding the appropriate costumes that subvert expectation and are silly, like the g-string, or the superhero outfits. I thought of Beverly as a cross dresser channeling Liza in Cabaret, Sandy in spandex in Grease, and Little Orphan Annie to find an identity out of the musical theater. My mom is the production designer, because she can make things look as tacky and cheap and kitschy as imaginable with no irony whatsoever. [Laughs]

How do you temper your humor to fit the film, or the time?

I do what I know, and what I think is relevant, e.g. the gay marriage ballet in Beverly Kills. Audiences change, and perceptions change. Stuff that was shocking in my film Fag Hag is now mild. I've been at film festivals with Beverly Kills where I was criticized for being insensitive to terrorism culture because a drag queen straps bombs to celebrity impersonators. Six years from now, people may not blink an eye at that.

On that note, you name Strip after John Travolta's character in Moment By Moment. You also make references to Clay Aiken. Do you think people will laugh at or even get these references? Do you care?

Clay Aiken will be funnier five years from now. Just like Strip. Some people won't remember that, but those who do [will get the joke]. I love that they date the film and make it a cultural artifact. Similarly, cliches are hilarious after they have been beaten to death, because they are "post-ironic."

Your film is obviously geared more to a gay audience. How do straight people respond?

Straight people laugh at different things. Beverly Kills is two stories, the campy kitschy [Beverly] thing and the sweet love story [between Shane and Ray] that is so over the top. Straights are nervous and laugh at that. Gay people embrace it. There are also things that are very regional, very L.A. specific, that both audiences laugh at. Comedy...you can't take it seriously.