‘Hurricane Bianca’ Gets Picked Up
The sure-to-be-camp classic gets acquired for worldwide release by Wolfe.
June 02, 2016
Bianca Del Rio wins again!
Wolfe Releasing announced today that it has acquired the revenge comedy Hurricane Bianca, starring our own Roy Haylock/Bianca Del Rio, winner of RuPaul’s Drag Race. The sure-to-be-camp-classic is set to make its world premiere at the Inside Out LGBT Film Festival in Toronto on Friday, June 3. Wolfe Releasing has secured exclusive worldwide rights with theatrical, DVD, VOD and digital platform releases planned for fall or winter 2016.
The official release reads, “Hurricane Bianca is a revenge comedy about a New York teacher who moves to a small town in Texas, gets fired for being gay, and returns disguised in drag to get revenge on the people who were nasty to him.”
Matt Kugelman, the film’s director (and Del Rio’s cute as hell best friend) told G Philly in 2014, “In terms of the audience, this is a gay movie about a gay man, but there is a lot of crossover when it comes to interest. It’s a little Mrs. Doubtfire meets Revenge of the Nerds in terms of plot. But in terms of style it’s going to be a little darker. It will still be funny but I think it will have a little bit of a Tim Burton-esque feel. A little Edward Scissiorhands in terms of its tone.”
When asked about her thoughts on it being legal in many states to be fired because you’re gay, Del Rio said, “It was a shocking fact that I was unaware of. When Matt told me I was like, “Are you fucking kidding me?” And the weird thing is that we have gay marriage and adoption rights, which are both choices. You have to have a job! … I was immediately interested in making a movie about it—not to make it a big political thing, but to bring awareness in a comedic way.”
Kugelman continued, “People are reaching out to us saying, ‘You really need to make this movie because this happened to me or it happened to a friend.’ So it’s cool to hear people coming out in support of this and saying that this actually happens and this movie could help.”
The film stars Haylock, known for his drag alter-ego Bianca Del Rio and an ensemble of actors and comedians, including Rachel Dratch, Alan Cumming, Margaret Cho, RuPaul, and Drag Race favorites Willam Belli, Shangela, Joslyn Fox, and Alyssa Edwards.
Hurricane Bianca was produced by Emmy Award winning filmmaker Ash Christian (Fat Girls, Petunia). The deal was negotiated by Christian, and Jim Stephens, President of Wolfe Releasing. Christian said, “Wolfe has been a great home for my films over the years. This latest collaboration is exciting and we feel that we have the best partner in the industry to connect our film with audiences on a global basis.”
“We are thrilled to work with Ash again, especially after successful releases of Mangus! and Petunia. And we welcome Roy Haylock and Bianca Del Rio to the Wolfe family of talent. Bianca Del Rio is a talented performer and social phenomenon. We can’t wait to bring this latest project to her fans around the world,” said Stephens.
