Mink Stole__________
Over 35 years after Mink Stole became notorious right alongside Divine and her other Pink Flamingos cast members, the outspoken cult film actress that has been in every single John Waters movie is still going strong. She's currently costarring in the fluffy gay sex comedy Eating Out 2: Sloppy Seconds. The Mink recently chatted with Windy City Times from her home in California about the film as it comes to DVD, working with queer icons Divine and Waters, and the special affinity that exists between herself and the gay community. Highlights from our conversation:
Windy City Times: Weren't you in a little movie called Hairspray?
Mink Stole: [ Laughs loudly ] Yes, and you know what? I'm really looking forward to the new one. They spent a lot of money on it but what people have to remember—and this is really important—Hairspray the movie is not a remake of Hairspray the movie. The new Hairspray movie is a film version of the Broadway show. It's not a direct translation. There's a huge step in between.
WCT: Oprah did the advance show already and she usually doesn't do that unless she's really high on the movie. She had on Travolta, Michelle Pfeiffer and Queen Latifah.
MS: They would not be doing that if they did not expect a hit.
WCT: Right. But they never once mentioned Divine, John Waters or even Marc Shaiman…
MS: [ Laughs ] Who wrote the music!
WCT: Yes!
MS: Well, you know, it's not in the actor's nature generally to talk about anybody but the actor.
WCT: Right. So let's get back to you—the hell with Oprah! Let's talk about Eating Out 2: Sloppy Seconds. Did I catch that maybe your role is a backhanded tribute to Edie Massey's part in Female Trouble? You know—the mother who wants her son to be gay?
MS: No, I never made that connection because I took it straight as a mother coming to understand that the son she's got is the one she wants.
WCT: That's pretty enlightened.
MS: I didn't see it as anything but that. Anytime a child tells a parent something that the parent's not expecting to hear then time must be taken for the adjustment. Whether it's, 'I'm gay' or 'I don't want to be a doctor, I've decided to be a rodeo rider.' I think that was more what the character was. I think of all the characters in Eating Out 2 mine was the one that had a basis in reality. She was a little exaggerated but at the same time parents want what makes their children happy.
WCT: True. Did you go through that with your parents? Did you say, 'I'm going to star in this movie called Desperate Living…'
MS: My mother was completely convinced for the first few years of my career that I was only doing it to make her life hell.
WCT: [ Laughs ] C'mon—you were.
MS: Well, I must admit that the fact that it was making her life hell was a nice plus but it wasn't the end all and be all. It wasn't the sole reason.
WCT: Do you have any divine memories of working with the divine Divine that you'd like to share?
MS: I loved working with Divine. I honestly and truly loved working with him. I trusted him. He was always prepared. He was always focused. I loved him as a human and working with him we had some kind of connection that really showed. I always knew that if I delivered a line to Divine he was going to deliver it right back to me. There wasn't going to be some diversionary tactic—he was never going to try to steal the scene or take focus and that meant we got to play scenes that really had some dynamic to them. I mean some of our scenes in Female Trouble are wonderful because we're so focused on each other.
WCT: Did you think that you and John Waters would ever be pop icons?
MS: Well, no. John was a very self-motivated, self-directed and incredibly self-confident person when I met him, when I was 18. He had that energy, that aura, but I don't think it was until Female Trouble had an opening in New York that I really saw that this was something. I had a great time making all these movies but to me they were just, you know, movies. Way back [ in ] my mind, in the part you don't really acknowledge, there was 'movie star, movie star' but I wasn't seeing any of that. Part of me, yes; part of me, no.
WCT: You've collaborated with gay people from day one and still do—on Eating Out 2 and other films you've done. Is there an affinity because we're both coming from a repressed place?
MS: That's part of it. I think that part of the reason that I love gay people so much is because gay people have loved me. You go where the love is. The first people in my life that ever accepted me for being the person that I was were gay men. So I have been comfortable in the company of gay men since I was in my late teens and I still am. Gay men make the very best friends for straight women. The normal conflicts that come up between friends still come up—there's no guarantee of eternal friendship—but it's not like you're afraid that your best friend's going to be trying to cheat on you with your boyfriend.
WCT: Are you still the filthiest person alive?
MS: Just by default. Actually, right now as I look around my house ... if I don't get somebody in here soon, I'm going to be the filthiest person alive for real.
