Bianca Del Rio: ‘Hurricane Bianca’

You haven’t experienced the essence of life until you’ve been insulted by Bianca Del Rio, the most triumphant victor of “RuPaul’s Drag Race” ever to emerge from the depths of larger-than-life entertainment. 

On September 19, “Hurricane Bianca,” the long-awaited movie, will premiere in New York City. Besides Del Rio, the season six winner of “Drag Race,” the serious comedy/revenge-driven film also features Alan Cumming, Margaret Cho, Willam Belli, Shangela and Alyssa Edwards. In addition to her movie screening, Del Rio will be appearing at PlayStation Theatre on October 20 at 8 p.m. to present her very own show, part of a national and international tour. Her shows sell out in a moment, so buy your tickets now, and save yourself the heartache of missing out.

An honor to speak with her as always, Del Rio touched on some very relevant and important topics, as well as sharing some very funny experiences. Her advice is authentic, her conversation is a blast and her performances are epic!

The last time we spoke, they were just doing the finishing touches on your movie.
Yes. What a treat!

You were really, really excited about it. For those who don’t yet know, what’s the premise of the story?
Well, basically, in a nutshell, most people aren’t aware that in the United States there are 29 states where it’s legal for you to be fired for being gay. So basically here is a teacher who lives in New York City, who teaches kindergarten, who gets transferred through a student teaching program to a very small redneck town in Texas. There in the town he encounters some people that don’t particularly care for him or his lifestyle and make that their agenda. So he gets fired for being gay out of social ignorance from this particular group. He wants to seek revenge on this particular town. He returns disguised as Bianca Del Rio to seek his revenge. It’s a serious topic that is dealt with in a very comedic way. I wouldn’t want to do anything too preachy, but the message is there. I personally, myself, was not aware of the fact that there are 29 states that this is legal and that this could possibly happen. It’s kind of insane.

Which are those 29 states I wonder? I wasn’t aware either until you just told me.
Yeah, and it’s pretty insane, and they just find their own reasons for doing it. It doesn’t really get discussed much, and like I said, I wasn’t really totally aware of it. When I did find out about it through Matt Kugelman, who wrote the movie, I was dumbfounded. I was like, “Really!” He said that that was the case, that’s how it works [in] 29 states, Texas being one of them.

It’s hard to imagine in this day and age.
Is it? Is it, with Trump around?

If he gets elected, there will be 50 states that have that law.
Believe me, Costa Rica is looking good right now.

Maybe your next movie could be about him.
I’ll go into politics next.

You know what, that’s not a bad idea. Because of RuPaul, and because of the movie, you are like the Messiah of drag.
Hahaha! That’s quite the compliment. Don’t tell Ru!

How does it feel to hold that title?
It’s been amazing. “Drag Race” has opened so many doors. It was great timing for me at my age, and it gave me the opportunity to do the projects that I wanted to do, like this one. I’m about to tour with my new show, starting September 28 in Seattle, then 28 cities in the United States, and then I go to Europe and do 11 cities there. It’s kind of surreal, but yet the last two and a half, three years, we’ve been rocking and rolling. It’s been quite challenging, but the payoff’s been unreal.

I mean, everyone in the world knows the name Bianca Del Rio and looks up to you.
That’s too kind…and a lie. Haha.

After your huge tour, are there any projects in mind for you?
There are always some things going on. Some secret things that I’m not allowed to talk about yet. But I’m always thinking of what’s to come ahead. This tour will take me through November, and then I’ll be doing a production in San Francisco of a show that I really can’t talk about yet. I will also be touring Europe all through the spring. It’s just finding that balance of a way to go. There’s opportunities and things that I wanted to do; it’s just the thing of finding the time to squeeze it in and get it done. Currently it is the tour, and I’ll be heading to New York for the premiere of the movie—New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Chicago. It’s kind of a whirlwind. I just had vocal cord surgery, so I’ve been out of the loop in Los Angeles for a minute. It’s been nice but yet a mentally daunting break.

That vocal chord surgery seems to be popular these days.
I think it’s just me yelling at people at the bars for too many years.

What cities are you going to hit in Europe?
I’m going to be in London in December for a gig, and then I tour the United Kingdom and Ireland. There’s a lot of cities I’ll be doing there. My London show sold out within a day. They are very kind over there, and they love hate. Haha. I’m truly so grateful for the support there.

Tell me a little about your show.
I started the show earlier this year. I was able to do it in Australia—I was able to do it in Melbourne, Sydney. It was great there. I started the show there, and then I was scheduled to do two shows in P-Town, but I had the surgery, but I’ll be making those up next year. I’m just starting in the U.S. It’s been a long time running. It’s standup. It’s just me discussing everything that I hate and things that bother me, which is quite a bit! It’s a pretty lengthy list.

I know that in real life, you are really nice to people. I don’t want to let too much of that get out, but…
Sure, but I think that people’s schtick is what it is. You do what you do. You know, hate and comedy go well for me. That’s just kind of where I blossom at.

If you were to give all those young, aspiring, wannabe drag queens advice, what would you tell them?
DON’T DO IT, IT’S A TRAP! You can totally print that. I think it’s such a different world now than when I started. Everything obviously changes. What was normal 20 years ago is different now. Twenty years ago, when I started, you know, there really was no “Drag Race.” Now anybody who puts wig on thinks they’ve got it made, because they’ve watched the show, and they think it’s the end all, be all. I think it’s just important to study history and do the research. There are tons of really epic queens who never did the show, who are older and younger and have been around for a while, and they have something to offer. That’s what’s important. You’ve got to find what suits you and what works best for you, whether it is dancing, whether it is singing. I just think it’s important to find what works for you, and you’re not going to know until you try all of the above. It took me many years to find what works for me, and some people still question if it’s working. You have to find your path. You can’t be intimidated or bothered by anyone else, or threatened, or feeling insecure. You need to find what’s going to work for you and roll with it. And it doesn’t happen overnight. You know, it was 18 years before anything major happened in my career. But I don’t regret those 18 years at all.

Twitter: @TheBiancaDelRio

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