Jamie New (Max Harwood) struts from table to table through his school’s cafeteria, down a runway, and through a nightclub with about 500 people cheering him on as his imagination explodes across the screen. In one second he is a force of nature turning everyone’s heads, and in the next he is back home, running down the stairs to show off his new glittery red heels with that same spark of imagination he holds in a single glint of his eye. 

Everybody’s Talking About Jamie is the story of a 16-year-old from Sheffield, England who wants to be a drag queen. The film is based on the biographical musical, bringing Jamie’s story to the screen and offering the audience an opportunity to dive deeper into his world. For director Jonathan Butterell, who also directed the stage production, it was “exhilarating” to explore every facet of Jamie by creating a world for him beyond the stage. 

“In cinema, you show the audience everything—the whole vista, the whole world, so it just gave me an opportunity for my imagination to fly,” Butterell says. “When Jamie’s imagination explodes in the opening number, I was able to take him everywhere with great color.”

He particularly found that taking the story from the stage to the screen gave him the ability to get up close and personal with characters, finding the strongest detail in small things. One of the biggest differences in adapting the story was changing the songs performed for the film. To keep up the pace of the film, they took out songs that repeated moments while adding others that expressed importance to Jamie’s story. 

While some songs like "The Legend of Loco Chanelle (and the Blood Red Dress)" and "If I Met Myself Again” missed the final cut, Butterell included a new song, “This Was Me” to provide context on one generation passing on the fight for LGBTQ rights to the next. It is the first time Jamie meets Hugo Battersby (Richard E. Grant) and learns more about LGBTQ history. 

“It was vitally important to me because I'm of that generation,” Butterell says. “I'm of a generation that had to go out onto the streets, had to demonstrate, had to fight. Also during that time, we were going through HIV and losing friends and it is a time I remember to be very painful, but also a time that people came together to fight for their rights and to fight for their place in the world.”

Jamie’s story is unique in that it portrays queerness in this generation. For Jamie, he is unapologetically himself and none of the humor in the film is at his expense. Despite some harsh realities and difficult situations, there is still space to laugh, however. 

“We use humor as a tool to overcome some stuff as well, it becomes our mask, like drag is a mask,” Butterell says. “What's inner, what's frightening, or what's deeper in our psyche that is vulnerable, we cover up sometimes with humor, so they live together.”

And then there’s Pritti Pasha (Lauren Patel). Pritti is the exact opposite of Jamie. She sits at the front of the class and is more introverted than Jamie who sits in the back and is not afraid to speak up. They’re best friends and although they come from different worlds, they have a strong bond. In the film, Pritti offers an opportunity for people to see what acceptance looks like.

“She doesn’t understand Jamie fully,” Butterell says. “She doesn’t pretend to understand drag. She doesn’t pretend to understand queerness. She just goes, ‘I'm playing catch up. I don't really understand. It feels a little strange to me, but I love you so help me understand where you're coming from. I'm here to support you, wherever you're coming from.’” 

For Butterell, as a character, Pritti speaks to the experience of those who are unfamiliar with drag and queerness. She allows people to connect with her character and feel comfortable in being uncertain. Butterell didn’t want to tell a coming-out story or a story about struggle, but rather a story about a kid expressing himself to the fullest. He isn’t there to change for others, he is there for others to change, learn and be more inclusive of others.  

“I wanted to tell a story in which a young person had arrived at that part of their life and was comfortable in that part of their life, no matter how young they were,” he says. 

Jamie is not the victim, he’s the hero. Although he has his own troubles, as depicted in “The Wall in My Head” where he takes responsibility for his thoughts of self-doubt, Jamie is mature and strong in handling it and not letting it get in the way of his dream of being a drag queen. Butterell notes that he hadn’t seen a character like Jamie before who is a strong, queer, feminine lead— and not sidelined as the comedic relief.

“Jamie’s effeminacy is a strength and it's a beautiful characteristic, not an odd characteristic,” he says. 

Everybody’s Talking About Jamie is based on a true story that Butterell came across by accident. He saw the television documentary Jamie: Drag Queen at 16 while channel surfing.

“I saw this young man, a 16-year-old working-class boy from the north of England, get off a bus and say to the camera, ‘I want to be a drag queen.’” 

From there, Butterell was hooked and amazed by Jamie. He connected to Jamie because he'd grown up working class as well and understood what a profound statement it was for Jamie to say he wanted to be a drag queen. 

“It was his courage to make that statement and the love and support of his mother, throughout the whole of that, that just drew me to it,” he says. “And yes, there's a complex story between him and his dad, but also there was a story in which the world around him shifted because of his bravery.” 

Butterell hopes that Jamie’s story will have the same impact on others as it did on him, especially in a new format with characters that shine. As Jamie dawns a new identity and embraces drag, Butterell believes the film will open the eyes of many and allow that sparkle in Jamie’s eye to empower others to do the same. 

“I hope as it goes out into the world that people identify with it, wherever they are, in whatever community, whatever language they speak, and wherever they see themselves, however they want to identify themselves,” he says.

Amazon Studios will release Everybody's Talking About Jamie globally on Prime Video September 17, 2021