Todd Stephens’ new Sandusky-based film ‘Swan Song’ is homage to small-town gay pioneers ‘who had the courage – cleveland.com
CLEVELAND, Ohio — A dozen years after his last film, Sandusky native and acclaimed filmmaker Todd Stephens returns with his latest project, “Swan Song.”
Opening in limited release Friday (Aug. 6), including at the Cedar Lee Theatre, “Swan Song” marks the final installment of Stephens’ Ohio trilogy, which began with 1998′s “Edge of Seventeen” and 2001′s “Gypsy 83.”
The latest film stars legendary actor Udo Kier as retired hairdresser Pat “Mister Pat” Pitsenbarger, who escapes a nursing home for one last job doing hair and dolling up a deceased former client.
Stephens, currently a School of Visual Arts film professor in New York City, met the actual Mister Pat in 1984 when he walked into Sandusky gay bar The Universal Fruit and Nut Company and saw the hairdresser holding court and dancing up a storm wearing a teal feather boa, fedora and matching pantsuit.
We recently caught up with Stephens to discuss the chameleonic Udo Kier, his beloved Sandusky and the Mister Pat giants of the world.
Todd, congratulations on the film. How long has “Swan Song” been on your radar?
I’ve wanted to make this film for 20 years. My first film was called “Edge of Seventeen.” I actually wrote a Mister Pat character in that film but we literally couldn’t find the right actor to play him so we wound up combining his role into a role Lea DeLaria plays. Ever since then I always knew I wanted to pay homage to this guy that I barely knew but who had a huge impression on me. My second movie, which is called “Gypsy ‘83” and is also set in Sandusky, was also kind of from the same special place in my heart but it didn’t really fly commercially. It got some really horrible reviews, which really hurt my feelings. It took me a lot of years — and a lot of therapy — to get back to the place where I was willing to tell that side of myself again.
Let’s talk about the casting of Udo Kier as Mister Pat. Did you know early on he was a good fit?
Mister Pat had really beautiful big blue eyes. Just physically, there was a resemblance. My casting director was the one who came up with the idea for Udo. I had to open my brain a little bit and almost like take a chance. So much of what I had seen him do was these villain and bad guy parts but I really did a deep dive into his filmography. I knew after meeting him that he was perfect. I wanted somebody who had lived the life, had experience losing friends to AIDS and just could have that personal representation as opposed to somebody who was going to overact or be over the top. We talked a lot about how Pat was a really flamboyant guy in real life but he was quietly flamboyant. I wanted to capture that. Udo and I were on the same page.
“Swan Song” is naturally set in Sandusky, which is portrayed in the film as this friendly and accepting town. Considering odds are that’s totally different from what you experienced growing up there in the ‘80s, how did you square that in your head?
It was very cathartic. When we first shot “Edge of Seventeen” there in 1997, we literally kept it a secret that it was a gay plot with gay characters because we felt that people wouldn’t help us. When you make a low-budget film, you need a lot of community support. That was soul-crushing in a way because I went back to my hometown after living in New York City for 10 years to make a film that celebrated myself as a gay man and yet the production went back into the closet. Some people ultimately did find out about it and it caused a controversy. They were upset about it. Fast-forward 20 years later when I went home to start pre-production of this movie, they were in the middle of the third annual Gay Pride Festival. Unlike “Edge of Seventeen,” for “Swan Song” we were very open about what it was about. It couldn’t have been a more different experience. Just using the barometer of my own small town, it just showed me how much the world has changed and it really has given me so much hope.
It seems as though the message behind “Swan Song” is simply the importance of being seen. This is brought home through Pat’s complicated relationship with a high society woman of Sandusky (portrayed by Linda Evans), who is a Reagan Republican. Why was that important?
I almost think above everything the primal human need is to be seen. Pat did that for so many. I talked to a lot of his former clients and they just adored him because he was really interested in them and he was that person you could tell all of your secrets to. So he had these intimate relationships with these women that went on for decades. The irony of it is they didn’t really accept him in their social circles. He says in the film, “I always knew my place,” but that’s another way I think the world has changed. I think Pat nowadays would be partying with all of the ladies on the Cedar Point Champs-Élysées.
There’s a moment in the film where someone says today’s LGBTQ community rides on the shoulders of Pat. Can you explain?
I really made the film as an homage to all of the hairdressers, florists and interior decorators in small towns who had the courage to be themselves. Seeing Mister Pat from the time I was a little kid around town gave me courage to be myself. I really do believe they were like pioneers. They blazed the trail at a time when it was much riskier to be openly queer. They’re the ones who changed the world because people who came out to their mother, aunt or clients changed perceptions and created acceptance for people being gay. I absolutely stand on Pat’s shoulders and all of the Mister Pats of the world. They’re heroes to me.