Killing Priscilla

Not so very long ago, Stephan Elliott wrote and directed a movie called ‘The Adventures of Priscilla Queen of the Desert’ - a low-budget film that proved to be a worldwide smash grossing over a hundred million dollars at the box office. Four years and one flop (‘Welcome to Woop Woop’) later, Elliott is making ‘Eye of the beholder’ a film with a twelve million dollar budget, and an impressive cast which includes Ewan McGregor, k.d. lang, Ashley Judd and Jason Priestley. The storyline promises action-adventure in nine American cities across four different seasons. The financing has been done outside the studio system - through a team of sales agents who want a profit - or else, adding undue pressure to the project. Enter Lizzy Gardiner. Academy Award-winning costume designer and friend of Elliott’s for more than twenty years. In addition to bringing her expertise as a costume designer, Gardina also brings a Sony 1000 DVC camera, and in a moment of insanity Elliott gives her permission to document the whole process. What transpires is a no-holds-barred account of the reality of commercial filmmaking in the late 1990s: a study in passion, power, madness and lies.