It\u2019s taken charisma, uniqueness, nerve, talent, and a literal village for the first feature film from the RuPaul\u2019s Drag Race universe to hit the big screen.<\/p>\n
Between comedy legends, Hollywood icons, and drag queens, Stop! That! Train! has a cast list pushing 40 actors, including RuPaul (President Gagwell), Matt Rogers (White House press secretary), Rachel Bloom (Donna Dusk), Guy Branum (train traffic controller), plus Sarah Michelle Gellar, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Nicole Richie, Joel McHale, June Diane Raphael, Drew Droege, and Mayan Lopez \u2014 as well as a formidable slate of Ru girls, including Jujubee, Ginger Minj, Symone, Brooke Lynn Hytes, Marcia Marcia Marcia, and Latrice Royale.<\/p>\n
Special OUT Digital Cover for ‘Stop! That! Train!’<\/small>Albert Sanchez<\/small><\/p>\n
In the great tradition of the satirical disaster film Airplane!, Stop! That! Train! bundles (most of) this cast aboard a luxury bullet train, speeding toward the impending doom of a \u201cStormaganza.\u201d The film, co-produced by World of Wonder and Unapologetic Projects and distributed by Bleecker Street, is great, silly fun \u2014 and it\u2019s also quietly positioned to make queer cinematic history when it makes its theatrical debut June 12.<\/p>\n
Beyond its superstar cast and mainstream appeal, Stop! That! Train! has striking dichotomies, much like drag itself. For one, it\u2019s a film centering drag queens that doesn\u2019t bring up drag at all. As with John Waters\u2019s filmography, the movie steers clear of topical political statements despite being inherently political. And, quite notably, the first Drag Race feature film in herstory has some distance from the Emmy-winning reality competition series despite featuring queens and references from Mama Ru\u2019s queendom. If you can\u2019t wait to see how this turns out, put your opera glasses on, sis.<\/p>\n
Regarding the origin story of this off-the-rails comedy, director Adam Shankman (Hairspray, Disenchanted) was choreographing a couple of Rusicals on Drag Race when Randy Barbato and Fenton Bailey \u2014 the co-heads of World of Wonder, the production company that created RuPaul\u2019s Drag Race, among other LGBTQ+ films and TV shows \u2014 approached him to discuss a new project.<\/p>\n
Adam Shankman, RuPaul, Christina Friel, and Connor Wright at the Stop That Train premiere<\/p>\n
Director Adam Shankman, RuPaul, and writers Christina Friel and Connor Wright at the ‘Stop! That! Train!’ premiere in Los Angeles.<\/small>Todd Williamson\/JanuaryImages<\/small><\/p>\n
\u201cWe have a script that\u2019s really funny,\u201d they told him, Shankman reminisces. \u201cRuPaul would love if you\u2019d take a look at it.\u201d While considering it, Shankman cautioned the Drag Race moguls that he\u2019d never done an independent film before. (Despite its starry cast and global theatrical release, Stop! That! Train! had a limited budget.)<\/p>\n
\u201cRu wanted me to direct the movie,\u201d Shankman reflects. \u201cI\u2019ve known Ru since 1994. We have history. We\u2019re fans of the same stuff.\u201d Upon reading the script and meeting again with Bailey and Barbato, Shankman was compelled to make it werk. While emphasizing that \u201cthe movie is not the show\u201d (more on that later), he agreed to direct Stop! That! Train!, which could become chapter one of a cinematic Ru-niverse.<\/p>\n
Despite the historic box-office success of drag-led productions like To Wong Foo and The Birdcage, there is a notable lack of wigged representation in modern-day theatrical releases. This is \u201cperplexing\u201d to World of Wonder execs Bailey and Barbato. \u201cThese artists can serve movie-star looks, know how to act, and can be some of the funniest people on the planet,\u201d Bailey remarks. \u201cSome of our favorite movies feature drag: Rocky Horror Picture Show; Tootsie; The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert; even Some Like It Hot and Mrs. Doubtfire. And not just our favorite movies, but movies beloved by audiences across generations,\u201d Barbato adds. \u201cThese movies are for everyone, and we wanted to add to that canon. There just aren\u2019t enough of them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Drag Race alums and ‘Stop! That! Train!’ stars (L-R) Marcia Marcia Marcia, Ginger Minj, Brooke Lynn Hytes, Jujubee, and Symone.<\/small>World of Wonder\/Bleecker Street<\/small><\/p>\n
President Judy Gagwell came to life as a collaborative effort between RuPaul and Shankman. \u201cIt\u2019s funny, Ru and I haven\u2019t really talked about any of this. After the first two takes, it just got super easy and flowy,\u201d Shankman says. \u201cBesides what the movie required, I intuitively also felt Ru\u2019s pressure points, and how I could support that.\u201d<\/p>\n
RuPaul\u2019s hilarious walk-and-talk scene with Rogers in the Oval Office, for instance, was barely discussed. \u201cI said, \u2018OK, you\u2019re literally walking around in circles as background actors put things in your arms,\u2019\u201d Shankman laughs. \u201c\u2019Keep holding them, and listen to Matt [Rogers] \u2014 what he\u2019s telling you is urgent and very serious.\u2019 Ru\u2019s like, \u2018Let\u2019s do it.\u2019 He just knew the assignment. I feel like Ru had such a good time shooting this.\u201d<\/p>\n
This reporter only clocked that RuPaul and Rogers were walking around in circles on the second watch. \u201cWe didn\u2019t have any set!\u201d Shankman reacts, laughing. \u201cLike, we couldn\u2019t afford more set.\u201d<\/p>\n
RuPaul\u2019s Drag Race All-Stars season 10 winner Ginger Minj, who portrays the train stewardess Tess, is the arguable heart of Stop! That! Train!, alongside her best friend and colleague DeeDee (Jujubee), as both battle the elements and mean-girl coworkers in order to save their passengers. Transported to an acting set, Minj recalls a very different experience than that of the high-stakes drag competition.<\/p>\n
RuPaul and Matt Rogers in Stop That Train<\/p>\n
RuPaul and Matt Rogers<\/small> World of Wonder\/Bleecker Street <\/small><\/p>\n
\u201cWe were on a little bit of a break, and Jujubee started making whale sounds,\u201d Minj says. \u201cAnd then, from behind us, RuPaul started making whale sounds.\u201d The bit \u201cwent on and on for a very long time,\u201d Minj adds, which put them at ease. \u201cRuPaul was there just to play with us\u2026. We really clicked with her as a coworker, instead of her being the almighty RuPaul that she always is.\u201d<\/p>\n
Did those Rusical experiences with Drag Race queens inform how Shankman directed Stop! That! Train!? \u201cNo,\u201d he replies. \u201cI did nine seasons on So You Think You Can Dance as a judge. A competition show is about getting contestants through challenges and showing them in their best light. It\u2019s all about them. Making a movie is about the big picture: how pieces of the puzzle work together, and integrating actors as seamlessly as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n
Shankman, who was fully involved in casting the queens of Stop! That! Train!, reveals that \u201ceverybody had to audition. They all sent in tapes. I saw lots of auditions.\u201d A million (Ru-)girls would kill for that job. How did that go? \u201cI think almost 700 girls have competed throughout all Drag Race franchises,\u201d he muses. \u201cBecause I wanted to respect what World of Wonder has done, we focused on the girls who had been part of the show.\u201d<\/p>\n
Drag Race queens in a scene from Stop That Train<\/p>\n
The queens share a tense moment in ‘Stop! That! Train!’<\/small>World of Wonder\/Bleecker Street<\/small><\/p>\n
Searching for actors among queens, the director prioritized performers who could listen and anchor a heightened premise onto real feelings. And this cast followed certain parameters. \u201cI didn\u2019t let any of the queens do their own makeup. They all had to become part of this world,\u201d Shankman explains. \u201cThere was no Ginger Minj. There was no Jujubee. The queens had to assimilate into a separate world that\u2019s devoid of Drag Race. As crazy as it sounds, they\u2019re not drag queens in the movie. It\u2019s a completely different thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
These characters \u201cdon\u2019t know they\u2019re in a comedy,\u201d observes Shankman, who asked the queens to \u201cfeel that what happened to their characters was really important to them, in a very real way.\u201d The director was ultimately impressed by these newly minted movie stars and hopes they continue to shantay in the film industry.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat\u2019s so heroic and extraordinary about the queens that I worked with \u2014 who will hopefully be doing movies in the future, after all of this \u2014 is that they walk in as their own self, get into their drag self, and have to then become a character beyond that drag self,\u201d Shankman says.<\/p>\n
Shankman estimates that Stop! That! Train! was filmed in 19 days. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t even three weeks.\u201d He reasons that most star cameos were shot in \u201chalf a day each,\u201d and even the film\u2019s most active actors \u201cworked for like five days, at most.\u201d That was \u201cthe longest anybody worked who wasn\u2019t a drag queen,\u201d the director says, praising the queens for constantly showing up excited, focused, and eager to werk it out, often through shoots of \u201cover nine pages a day.\u201d<\/p>\n
Adam Shankman and RuPaul<\/p>\n
Adam Shankman and RuPaul<\/small>World of Wonder\/Bleecker Street<\/small><\/p>\n
After all her runs around the Oval Office, would RuPaul now run for office? No, but Bailey and Barbato \u201cwould vote for President Gagwell\u2026she fun!\u201d echoing her campaign slogan in the film. Barbato says, \u201cIt\u2019s a more appealing, entertaining, and humane campaign than anything the current regime has given us.\u201d And Bailey adds that the film could offer some levity during an anti-LGBTQ+ (and anti-drag) political era. \u201cIn these dark times, sharing a laugh with an audience in a theater is not only something to take your mind off things; it can be healing. It can also cut through the crap: Camp can blast through the layers of bullshit and hypocrisy we are being subjected to right now.\u201d<\/p>\n
Is Shankman cognizant of the political undertones in a film fronted by a drag president-turned-action-hero who might save humanity from an unstoppable train gone off the rails? The director validates all interpretations, but maintains that he \u201cjust wanted to make people laugh, and the movie is hilarious.\u201d Generally, this is all about \u201cunderdogs in peril fixing a problem and saving lives in the silliest possible way,\u201d he rightly argues.<\/p>\n
Last but not least, is Stop! That! Train! the first movie of a cinematic Ru-niverse? Shankman would \u201cof course\u201d return for a sequel, but notes that it \u201cdepends on if the community comes out and supports, buys tickets, and makes it a success\u2026. If this does well, there are infinitely more opportunities. But those will only come if people are willing to come to the theater, sit their tushies down, and laugh together, celebrating these incredible artists.\u201d<\/p>\n
Stop! That! Train!<\/a> hits theaters June 12.<\/strong><\/p>\n This special digital cover story is also part of OUT’s July-Aug 2026 print issue, on newsstands July 7. <\/strong>Support queer media and subscribe<\/strong><\/u><\/a> \u2014 or download the issue through Apple News+, Zinio, Nook, or PressReader starting June 18.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/span><\/div>\n
Go behind the scenes with the cast of Stop! That! Train!<\/h4>\n