- 1 year ago
Alan Cumming looks back on the moments that shaped his career and reflects on his journey as an actor. From playing a magical part of many people's childhood through 'Spy Kids,' to coming out as bisexual on the cover of Out Magazine, Alan breaks down some of the memorable highlights from his life.
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00:00I mean, I think I'm probably the first actor
00:02to have been up the ass by a lesbian with strap-on on TV.
00:05Come for me if I'm wrong.
00:06Hello, I'm Alan Cumming and today I'll be looking back
00:09at some of the moments that have shaped me as an artist.
00:11This is Becoming Alan Cumming.
00:17Victor and Barry were a double act that I did
00:20with my friend Forbes Masson and we started it
00:22in our first year of drama school and it was,
00:25that was in 1982, me.
00:28And we became, within a couple of years, like huge.
00:31In Scotland, this was the video for a single
00:33that came out in about 1987 or something.
00:35It's got such a special place in my heart.
00:37And it's also sort of surreal comedy that we wrote
00:42and it was just us getting together
00:44and being a bit drunk or a bit stoned
00:46and making up silly stuff that made us howl with laughter.
00:50And then all of a sudden the entire country
00:52thought it was hilarious too.
00:53And I think so often in showbiz life,
00:56people tried to box you in or kind of pigeonhole you.
00:58And actually what I learned very early on,
01:00which is a great lesson, is that something that was just
01:03so us and so weird and so Scottish and so different,
01:07really connected.
01:09And so as a weird Scottish different person,
01:11I've just stayed on, stayed in that lane.
01:16So this is Cabaret, this is when I did it in New York,
01:19the first time at what that's called the Henry Muller's Theatre.
01:22See, that's such an early play builder.
01:24That was an incredible time.
01:25Everybody thinks that's me.
01:27It's not, that's not me.
01:28It's just someone who looks like me,
01:29they use because it looks like me.
01:30I just didn't quite grasp what it was,
01:33the magnitude of it.
01:34I mean, it was a really great production,
01:36but it sort of entered the zeitgeist
01:38in a really incredible way that rarely happens
01:43and changed my life.
01:45I came to New York to do this and I never left.
01:48Still here.
01:50I'm still here.
01:52The MC is definitely bisexual.
01:54Yeah, I mean, in our production, anyway,
01:55he was absolutely, that was made very clear.
01:59Who was the most memorable Sally Bowles that you worked with?
02:02The most memorable Sally Bowles I worked with?
02:03Come on, that's like Sophie's choice.
02:06I couldn't possibly say, of course I have one,
02:08but I wouldn't, if I had a gun to my head,
02:10of course I would choose one,
02:11but I don't have a gun to my head today.
02:13Thank goodness.
02:17Competition winners.
02:19Spice World.
02:20And my favorite thing about this is that I have a chest wig.
02:23It was so itchy, the chest wig.
02:25I didn't like it.
02:26And I would take it off at lunchtime
02:29and then they would say, oh, Alan, you know,
02:31I'd have to go into makeup like 10 minutes or 15 minutes
02:33before the end of lunch to get it stuck on again.
02:36So I used to just pretend to the hair people
02:38that I hadn't taken it off.
02:40So I would take it off myself and just stick it back on.
02:43And as a consequence, in the course of the film,
02:45it goes up and down, the wig, the chest wig.
02:48And I just had such fun working with the girls.
02:51You know, it was like a magical summer.
02:53And also I got an eyebrow piercing
02:55because the Spice Girls told me I should.
02:58I'm very easily led by cute girls, it seems.
03:03So this is the cover of Out magazine from November 1999,
03:10in which I pose naked, as you can see,
03:13naked is the day I was born.
03:15It's a funny thing when you become famous
03:18and you're also, you know, your sexuality is quite fluid
03:22and people know you for having a relationship with someone.
03:25You know, it was like every time I'd have sex with a boy,
03:27I'd think, oh, do I have to put a press release out?
03:29Anyway, so it got to the point where every interview
03:31became about my sexuality.
03:33And so eventually I just thought,
03:35oh, I've got to do something about it because I felt ready.
03:38And I actually was having a same-sex relationship.
03:42I wasn't just banging boys.
03:45I decided to talk to Out magazine and have a proper nuanced conversation about it
03:52in a way where I felt I could control the narrative.
03:54It did work. It was really good, actually.
03:55I felt like people, I was able to say how I felt
03:59and truly felt about my sexuality.
04:01And so that was good.
04:02The most hilarious thing is that Conan O'Brien had his show
04:06in New York at the time, and I used to go on it quite a lot.
04:09And he was obsessed with this magazine cover.
04:12He thought that my heel was one of my testicles.
04:16And I was like, no, Conan, it's just I have a high arch
04:19and that's my heel, but anyway.
04:20And I talk about this in my show that I do with Ari Shapiro from NPR.
04:25I tell this story.
04:26He says, excuse me, this may be a lot to ask on,
04:28but do you have very veiny, hairy heels?
04:32And I say, no, Ari, I do not.
04:34But I do have very smooth, lean balls, if you must know.
04:37I don't.
04:39None of those things are true about my balls.
04:41Ready to move on?
04:43The way I sainted mother.
04:45Annie. Oh, there's Kristin Chenoweth.
04:48Oh, that was the first time we worked together.
04:50Rob Marshall directed this version, TV version of Annie.
04:56And Kathy Bates played Miss Hannigan.
04:58I played Rooster.
05:00Victor Garber played Daddy Warbucks.
05:02Audra McDonald was in it. It was a really great cast.
05:05I'm going to tell you a dirty story about it.
05:06There was one night we were doing a sequence where it was sort of a big Steadicam shot.
05:09When you do a Steadicam shot, it's one big long shot.
05:11So if you screw it up, you have to start from the beginning again.
05:14And I kept screwing things up.
05:15And to sort of cheer everyone up, because it was late at night,
05:19and I said to Kathy Bates, I went,
05:21Oh, but Kathy, you know, everyone's so pleased with what, you know,
05:24like the studio is very happy with the way things are going.
05:27Mickey Mouse himself has sent a memo to say how pleased he is with all of us.
05:32And Kathy Bates said, Mickey Mouse can rim my butthole.
05:36And I went, Kathy Bates, she went, I will deny it forever.
05:39She will deny it. But she said it. Allegedly.
05:49We take a rub our children and swallowed up my sister.
05:53But I didn't want any of that.
05:55Spy Kids. I must watch this again. So cute.
05:59So many people not just know me from this, but so many young adults.
06:05This is the thing that they talk to me about of all the things I've done,
06:07because in a way I'm a magical part of your childhood.
06:11There's a certain age group that when they come up to me,
06:14I know what they're going to say.
06:15I came on the set one day and there was a new camera assistant.
06:18And he came on, he saw me and was like, like, he was really freaked out.
06:22And he said, he went, Alan, I just want to say,
06:24you touched me a lot when I was a little boy.
06:27And I said, never say that again.
06:29I know what you mean.
06:30And I'm very touched, but not in that way.
06:33But you must rephrase that.
06:37Are Floop and Minion just roommates?
06:41Oh, you think there's some homoerotic undertone between Floop and Minion?
06:45I didn't get that myself.
06:47But, you know, who knows?
06:49Any port in a storm.
06:51You know.
06:55No can do. Taping E.
06:57Oh, 130. MTV.
06:59Oh, I had a busy year.
07:00Josie and the Pussycats.
07:01It was way ahead of its time.
07:03And I remember at the time thinking, this is fucking hilarious.
07:06Got such queer coding in it.
07:09And I really like that.
07:11I really like that it's become, you know, it's found its audience.
07:14I have very blatant queer coding in most of the things I do,
07:18even when I'm playing a straight person.
07:20Because I am queer and I find the way I connect to an audience is through,
07:23you know, myself and my, who I am.
07:26And also camp in its true sense is about having an understanding
07:31and a relationship with the audience and being, you know,
07:33raising an eyebrow with them and asking them to understand something that is not in,
07:37it is inherent but not actually in necessarily what you're talking about.
07:41It's like, you know, in fairy tales where, you know, the baddies are queer
07:46or like in James Bond films where there's some sort of disability to the baddies.
07:49So there's all these terrible connotations that their disability or their queerness made them evil.
07:56That, of course, I don't buy into.
07:58But I think there's a way to do archness and camp that makes baddies much more juicy.
08:07I had to lose the dress, love.
08:08Sex and the City.
08:09I did that when I was doing a show on Broadway.
08:13I think I was doing Design for Living on Broadway.
08:15And I remember Patricia Fields came to my dressing room to do a fitting with me
08:19and tried on all these things.
08:20And I remember that she left and she'd left behind a shirt and I stole it.
08:23Well, I didn't steal it. I just didn't give it back.
08:27I like having catchphrases.
08:28I've had quite a few catchphrases over the years.
08:30This one is like, trot on, trot on, trot on.
08:33People say that to me quite a lot.
08:35Me likey, that's the other catchphrase.
08:36Yes, me likey.
08:38That's the one.
08:38Actually, that's a bigger one, isn't it, than trot on.
08:40I think I made that up, actually.
08:42But yeah, I like me likey.
08:46A lot of those iconic shows from that era, from like the early 2000s, late 90s,
08:51like Friends, like Sex and the City, actually have very dodgy tropes in them
08:56when you look back at them now.
08:58Racist things, very, you know, mildly homophobic.
09:02But, you know, that was another time.
09:05It was a quarter of a century ago.
09:06I think the whole bisexuality is the last stop to gay town is a sort of a trope.
09:14It's often perpetuated by gay men who are very ashamed of their sexuality.
09:19And it's often, it could be anyone, it could be women as well.
09:22But I'm always shocked by that.
09:23And I think one of the things I most have an issue with about gay culture is the idea that when you
09:31enter it, you assume a uniform.
09:35I get it, you want to be part of the pack.
09:39You know, it's comforting.
09:40But at the same time, I think what that does is it sort of closes you off to the possibility
09:45of experience.
09:47And I think a lot of gay men who were bisexual, perhaps, suddenly decide they're not going to do
09:52that anymore, and they don't, and they kind of turn on it.
09:57Courage and the Cowardly Dog.
09:59I guess that must be me in the kilt, but I have no recollection of what, what is this again?
10:02You played a character called Ruffled Kilt Skin.
10:07I have no recollection of this one.
10:09I do, I honestly, I've been around the block a while, and, you know, a few times, and I have
10:15done lots of these animated things.
10:17But I often, you do this, you know, one afternoon, and I never think about it again.
10:21Never see it.
10:22I guess that's me with the funny teeth and the kilt.
10:24I don't think anyone's ever asked me about Courage and the Cowardly Dog.
10:28I don't think anyone, ever.
10:30I mean, I don't think even, is it meant for children?
10:35X2 colon X-Men United, that was the official title.
10:39I had a horrible time making that film.
10:41Horrible.
10:42And it wasn't the makeup.
10:43I mean, the makeup was not pleasant.
10:45It's well documented what a fucking shit show it was, and how much, how miserable
10:50I was, and many other people were.
10:53This is an iconic opening sequence of a superhero movie.
10:57I like the film very much.
10:59I really do.
10:59I'm very proud of it.
11:00And so now, 23 years later, it's all come round to me again.
11:06I'm playing this character again.
11:07And I have to say, it's a very sort of healing thing to do, to go back to a character after
11:15all these years, and to do it in an environment that is much more conducive to having a good time.
11:22The L Word.
11:23I actually did this because they didn't put me into X3.
11:27Like, everyone thinks I turned it down because of the makeup.
11:30That's not true.
11:31I was supposed to be in it, and I had an option to be in it, and they ultimately didn't put
11:34me in it. And so instead, I did the L Word, and it was such fun.
11:38And when people say to me, oh, Alan, I saw you in the L Word, I always say,
11:44oh, you saw me getting fucked up the ass by a lesbian with a strap on.
11:47And they always go, yeah, but it was very intense, fake sex.
11:51And I was naked, and she was wearing a strap on.
11:55I like the fact I got, I mean, I think I'm probably the first actor to have been
11:58fucked up the ass by a lesbian with a strap on on TV.
12:01You know, come up, come for me if I'm wrong.
12:06We do have the best view on Sunset Strap.
12:09Burlesque.
12:10Oh yes, what was I called again?
12:11Alexis, yeah.
12:13It's funny, people are obsessed by that film.
12:15I don't think I've seen it all the way through.
12:16It's not terrible.
12:18I have a little bit of ill will about that film, actually,
12:20just because of the way there was a scene that was cut.
12:24So they bought the rights of the Frank Sinatra, 1965 or 66 version of That's Life,
12:29you know, with the Hammond organ.
12:30It's a really cute scene where we're getting ready for the night,
12:33and the band boys start playing, and I start dancing and singing.
12:37But then when the film came out, I was about to do press for it.
12:41And obviously everything they were asking me was about,
12:44oh, how exciting, Frank Sinatra.
12:45And they cut that from the film and didn't tell me.
12:48I just thought it was shabby behaviour.
12:50And they could have given me a heads up.
12:52Next.
12:55Oh, Any Day Now.
12:56It's such a lovely film.
12:57It's about two people in the 70s who sort of become a couple.
13:00And as they're becoming a couple, this beautiful wee boy called,
13:05his name's Isaac, and he's got Down syndrome.
13:08And they try to adopt him because his mum's kind of a drug addict and goes to prison.
13:12And it's just a beautiful film.
13:14You know, I love doing films about queer life and queer stories that
13:19would otherwise not be told.
13:20And this is very much an example of that.
13:22And it's also a heart-jerking, tear-wrenching thing.
13:28And I sing it.
13:28I'm also a drag queen at the beginning.
13:30And that's the least successful part of the film.
13:33I'm not a very good drag queen.
13:35The thing about this film is that I didn't have,
13:38oh, gosh, look how far we've come feelings about it.
13:41I thought, actually, I don't know that we have come that far.
13:43Still, because you try, even today, especially today in Trump's America,
13:48but adopting, being a gay couple and adopting through the state system,
13:53I don't think you, I don't think that would be easy.
13:56I also don't buy into how lucky we are, how far we've come.
14:00As we can see, our rights could be taken away from us in an instant.
14:04And we've got to be vigilant.
14:05And we've got to, you know, rally round.
14:07It's happening again.
14:09And every little bit we step forward, there's a backlash.
14:13Obviously, the backlash right now is so much about trans people,
14:16but it's clearly they're working their way along that acronym.
14:20I don't take any, anything for granted when it comes to queer people's rights.
14:30Instinct.
14:31Oh, it was this sort of, you know, cop show, I guess.
14:34But what was incredible was he, that character is the first ever leading
14:39character in a network drama in America to be gay.
14:43And this was 2017.
14:46And everyone's like, isn't it?
14:47Hooray.
14:47Again, everyone's like, isn't that great?
14:49I was like, not really.
14:50I mean, it's like, fuck, you know, about bloody time.
14:53And, and then, you know, it's guess what?
14:56It lasted a couple of seasons.
14:58It got canceled.
14:59How many other network
15:01dramas have a leading gay character?
15:03I had a lovely husband who was 20 years younger than me.
15:08And nobody sort of said it.
15:09It's a bit slightly witty.
15:10He's so nice.
15:12He's called Dan.
15:13I see him sometimes.
15:14And to Grant, my husband, I'll say, you remember Dan?
15:16I saw, I ran into Dan and he goes, Dan, and he goes, my husband.
15:19And he goes, oh, yes.
15:20How is he?
15:21Michael, who was the showrunner.
15:22Great.
15:23I loved it.
15:24I loved everything about it, apart from having to look cute every day.
15:27I think that's the thing when you're the lead in a sort of TV show,
15:30you're exhausted because the hours are nuts.
15:33Moving on.
15:35So Schmigadoon was a thing on Apple.
15:37It's sort of like both a parody and a homage to musicals of different era.
15:41So the first one was like about the 50s and 60s musicals.
15:44And then the second series is called Schmicago.
15:46And so they come back to the, to the place.
15:49But now we're all in different, we're in the 70s, sort of, you know, cabaret Chicago.
15:53Kristen Chenoweth, who again, I worked with Kristen.
15:56And in the first one, she was a sort of a mean, a mean lady in the town.
15:59And I was the mayor, who was gay.
16:02It was called Mayor Menlove.
16:03So there was a little bit of an Easter egg there.
16:07And then in the second one, I was sort of this Sweeney Todd character.
16:11And we sang such a hilarious song where we were talking about the fact we're going to,
16:15because it's the combination of Sweeney Todd and Annie.
16:18And we sang a song about making pies out of the orphans.
16:22So terrible.
16:24Often when we're together, we're playing these crazy people.
16:28But this got cancelled too, after two seasons.
16:30That seems to be, that seems to be my lucky number.
16:36Traitors, look what I'm wearing.
16:39So ridiculous.
16:40That I think it's so hilarious that this,
16:42in this time in our history in America, a show that's really connected people and really been
16:47the big sort of, you know, number one, the water cooler show, is a show that has such a huge
16:54representation of queer people.
16:56It is a very queer show.
16:57I mean, look at me, definitely doing Femi, you know, androgyny sort of stuff.
17:04The whole style of it is theatrical and camp.
17:07And so I think it's a really fascinating thing that everyone is loving this show at a time
17:12when our government is actively trying to harm those people and that ethos and that sort of sensibility.
17:22But also that it shows me that people love queerness and they love queer people.
17:28How does it feel winning two Emmys for serving cunts and being bisexual?
17:33Pretty sweet.
17:35I mean, it was a bit like the Emmy thing.
17:38It was a bit bittersweet, obviously, because I toppled RuPaul.
17:41Because I won the post one, one week.
17:44Because then I won for the show the next week.
17:46And I saw him at the second one.
17:47I said, I am so sorry.
17:49Like that genuinely, like I, you know, hurt him or something.
17:52And he just went, condragulations.
17:55I was like, oh my God.
17:57I mean, it's so funny.
17:58I don't really like the phrase serving.
18:03But if you know, you know, sort of thing.
18:04And I just love playing this character.
18:06I think of him as a character.
18:08And I love the way that it has gone on this sort of crazy journey of, you know,
18:13the looks I give and the clothing and the sort of attitude I have.
18:17And I have this sort of real S&M-y sort of, you know, Dominatrix-style, you know, players.
18:22And this past year, I was like a cult leader.
18:25You know, I was like, followers away, as all these people.
18:27I think, when does I have followers?
18:28My loftiest goals for the traitors are that the public of America will be so enthralled and propagandized by its sensibility and the queerness at its core that they will drop all their anti-trans and anti-queer hatred and will embrace us and give us back our rights.
18:52And kindness will, for the first time ever, dominate in American culture.
18:58Is that too much to ask for?
19:00World peace.
19:01Well, even American peace will be fine.
19:06Thank you for joining me on this little nostalgia ride.
19:09This has been Becoming Without Incoming.
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