By: Daniel P’Lopez
Anthony Hand grew up on a small family farm in Michigan, about an hour south of Ann Arbor, with his parents, who worked in factories and raised many animals such as cows, chickens, and pigs. But growing up in the 70’s and 80’s in a small rural community, there were no gay people or representation. The only gay people he saw represented in TV and film were not likable characters; they were either victims of something horrible or not represented in a good way.
Anthony eventually left Michigan and lived in Japan for a couple of years, teaching English. He also lived in Boston, DC, and Chicago. Now he lives in San Jose near San Francisco and works as a software designer in the Silicon Valley. It was in 2018 when he saw a comic book superhero movie. However, it was hard to find movies that featured a gay protagonist and other great queer stories with LGBTQ+ protagonists as superheroes.
One day, Anthony started daydreaming about a queer superhero, and he eventually came up with the idea of having a young queer named Simon, who turns into a drag queen superhero through the use of a magical wig. So, Maxxie LaWow, the Drag Super Shero, was born. This was inspired by being a huge fan of RuPaul’s Drag Race since the first season. “The drag queen performers often shared deeply personal stories and experiences with adversity. And how the very process of getting into drag is really personally transformative and powerful. For some, they can be introverted or a little shy, as a regular day-to-day persona,” explained Anthony.
Anthony admits that the process of getting into drag is transforming, putting on the pads, the costumes, the makeup, and the wigs, and how strong and powerful they feel. How they are ready to tackle the challenge of entertaining so many people on stage, no matter what is it, even dealing with hecklers. “Drag is like their armor,” Anthony said in his interview. And revealed that it was the reason why he came up with this particular character.
Anthony is the creator, director, and producer, and worked with a writer and part-time drag queen in San Francisco named Michael Phyllis, who got the script written and turned his crazy story treatment into a script—working with a wonderful little company called Chubby Beagle Productions based in Los Angeles with a husband and wife who were the animation directors.
An extremely talented voice-over artist, JP Karliak, was the voice director. It was all pulled together by an incredibly talented team that made this movie happen.
Maxxie LaWow is a personal fantasy, admits Anthony, who started the project in the spring of 2020. The production began about a year later, in the fall of 2021, when they started the animation and recorded all the voices.
There are five RuPaul’s Drag Race queens who did the voice recordings. Like Jinkx Monsoon, BenDelacreme, Monet X Change, Heidi N Closet, and Rose. Another actress featured in the animation film is Laraine Newman, who was part of the original cast of Saturday Night Live. And Erica Beshee is also in the cast as Jae. Her character is inspired by one of Anthony’s childhood friends, named Buffy.
Being a huge fan of animation and anime, Anthony thought he would have fun with the styling of the world, the colors, the costumes, and the special effects, which were easier to achieve in animation rather than with live-action actors.
There are four original pop songs and an original score composed in Budapest with a live symphony orchestra. The pop songs were written by incredible songwriters, like Electro Point, and by a Grammy-nominated vocalist, Angie Fisher. In the DVD release, they will have a mini-documentary about scoring the film that started with a love letter to drag and is now a fun, uplifting film.
“Drag has really entered the mainstream thanks to RuPaul’s Drag Race and the talented queens that show up on that series every season. It’s really amazing to see how drag has gone global as well…And for that reason, I was really confident that we could find an audience for this film. Anyone who is a fan of drag is going to really love this film, I believe.” Said Anthony.
“There is so much power in joy in recognizing that we can live authentically, we can have joyful lives, and be LGBTQ at the same time. We find power in that authenticity. That is why there is an emphasis on looking to recognize that inside of yourself. You already have the power there; you just have to unleash it.”
Maxxie LaWow had a world premiere in Palm Springs at the Cinema Diverse Festival, a top LGBTQ festival in the country. Anthony is working on a series for the show if all goes well. He also envisions that the wig itself being a character in Maxxie’s world.
The film has won five awards from various film festivals and is scheduled to compete in a few more festivals in the near future. The movie is available on iTunes, Amazon Prime Video, Fandango, Google, Dish-on, and many other streaming networks. The EP for Bye Girl Bye, a song Maxxie lip-synced to, will be included, as well as a bunch of fun dance remixes.
To learn more about the movie, you can sign up for the VIP list newsletter, where links can be sent to fans and followers at www.maxxie.com
You can also follow on Instagram @Maxxielawow