Local actor and drag queen Rick Meyers has made the jump from stage to the big screen.
Meyers, who best known by his drag queen name Vikki Smudge, will be starring in the mystery short film titled Greyscale. The 12-minute film is scheduled to make its worldwide premiere at the Vancouver Island Short Film Festival on Feb. 7-8.
“Everyone who knows me and my career knows Vikki Smudge. While I love Vikki with all my heart, there’s a great amount of excitement and nervousness to play someone else and to be a part of a project where I’m unmasked and I have to show what I can do without the makeup and costume,” Meyers said in a press release. “Hopefully, people won’t see Vikki Smudge or Rick Meyers but another side to me altogether.”
In an interview with the Bulletin, Meyers explained that the adjustment from stage to film had its challenges.
“Film is really different,” he said. “In theatre you’re always playing to the 18th row ... whereas in film the camera reads you.”
Meyers explained that in addition to making the transition to film, it was different for him to play a character other than Smudge.
“I am big flamboyant queen and for me to sit still for the same sort of story without all that extra stuff was really hard for me. I know that it doesn’t sound like it might be hard, but it was.”