Trixie Mattel Tells Us She “Bleeds For Her Shit And Is Really Proud Of It”

Trixie Mattel: Moving Parts is an intimate behind-the-scenes look into the life of drag superstar Trixie Mattel. First entering the limelight as a contestant on season seven of RuPaul’s Drag Race, Mattel has built a career as a folk musician and comedian.

The film follows the ‘Skinny Legend’ through recording a second album, fighting to keep her comedy spin-off series The Trixie & Katya Show in production, starring in (and – spoiler alert – winning) the third season of RuPaul’s Drag Race: All Stars, and a whirlwind tour with 40+ dates taking her all over America and across to the UK and Ireland.

A hard-working introvert by nature, the man behind the Barbie-inspired facade, Brian Firkus, makes the perfect subject for a documentary. After watching the film back, Firkus admits “it’s a lot”. 

“I definitely thought it was going to be more of a fun thing about how cool I was,” he remarks. “Drag Race is about being ‘on’ when the cameras are on, it’s about competition. This was about the other 23 hours of the day when you’re not ‘on’. This is about the flip side of the coin when you’re not being your best on stage doing your work. It’s about all the other moving parts of the situation... your personal life and the workload.”

Documentary maker Nick Zeig-Owens lived with Firkus for nine months while making the film, sleeping on his couch and in the tour van. “There are scenes where I’m recording the album [One Stone] and he’s in the sound booth with me. He’s really there the whole time,” says Firkus. 

Firkus has built an empire as a plastic fantastic drag persona, but it’s the personality and experiences he puts into his work that transfixes fans. Trixie Mattel’s folk music is filled with heart and hurt, her humour is downright filthy, and her work with fellow Drag Race star Katya Zamolodchikova (Brian McCook) attracts a huge cult following because of the genuine connection between the two, not just their outlandishness.

Even the most dedicated superfans will be surprised by the deeply candid revelations in Trixie Mattel: Moving Parts, especially about the relationship between McCook and Firkus. The documentary tracks McCook’s sudden departure from filming the pair’s TV show to focus on his mental health and sobriety, and the subsequent breakdown of their friendship.

“We never showed up to filming expecting that to happen. They thought they were just getting fun footage of me with my friend,” says Firkus. “You can tell when my friendship and my professional relationship with Brian [McCook] is on fire, it seems like a cloud over everything because it really did affect everything. It really was something I woke up every day and thought about.

“I don’t speak for her, I only speak from my side of that situation,” says Firkus. “You know, it is two unique things: one is being the addict in trouble, and the other is being the people in that person’s life affected by it. Our show is never gratuitous or exploitative, it’s just honest about what it’s like to be attached to that.

“Katya and I... we’re not directly political or directly preachy, we pride ourselves on giving people a break from reality. We pride ourselves on dragging the worst things in our life out into the open and making fun of it, because then it’s empowering.”

From scenes of live theatre shows to dressing rooms to meet and greets, the cinematic experience of Trixie Mattel: Moving Parts is impressive. The visual quality comes into its own when we’re taken into a murky gay bar in Dublin for an All Stars viewing party. Firkus is visually both moved and uncomfortable watching his performance back in a room of fans and strangers. It’s not much of a surprise when he confesses that he will not watch the film with audiences. 

“The whole thing is uncomfortable for me,” he says. “Comedy is the only language that I feel 100% fluid in... which is why I don't like watching the film... I hate watching myself on camera [when I’m] not performing.”

As Firkus skypes with The Music to talk about the Australian premiere of the doco at the Sydney Film Festival, he has just released a new single (Yellow Cloud), a new season of UNHhhh is dropping weekly (the YouTube series co-starring Zamolodchikova that sparked their TV show), and he is preparing to launch a Trixie Cosmetics line at RuPaul’s DragCon in LA. Trixie Mattel: Moving Parts was meant to capture the busiest year in Mattel’s life, but it appears life has not slowed down.

“When you watch this film, don’t think of it as a gay person or a drag queen, or anything. Think of it as a biopsy of a person that bleeds for their shit and is really proud of it,” says Firkus. “I’m really proud of Trixie. It’s the best thing I’ve ever done and the most important thing I’ll ever do, and in this documentary I can feel that.”