Call it the origin of “The Origin of Love.” Twenty-five years ago, John Cameron Mitchell adapted his off-Broadway musical Hedwig and the Angry Inch into a Golden Globe-nominated film. Like the stage show, the movie — which debuted at the 2001 Sundance Film Festival and opened in theaters on July 20 that same year — is chock-a-block with fantastic songs, from “Tear Me Down” to “Midnight Radio.” And one of the most memorable numbers happens early on in Hedwig‘s slender 92-minute runtime when the title character gives the audience a crash course in… well, the origin of love.
Written by Stephen Trask and performed by Mitchell’s gender queer punk rock singer, “The Origin of Love” is a glam rock ballad that occupies the emotional and philosophical heart of the story. The song recounts Aristophanes’ creation myth from Plato’s Symposium, laying out how humans once existed as unified beings who were split apart by the gods. The moment sets up Hedwig’s quest for completeness, which he eventually finds — or, at least, might be on a path to finding — as the movie ends.
While there’s a lot of dense history hidden in those lyrics, Mitchell tells Gold Derby that it wasn’t a technically challenging number to pull off. “It’s a simple formulation,” he notes. “We’re not doing anything crazy with the camera or the editing; “Wig in a Box” and “Sugar Daddy” were the hardest sequences, because there are so many shots in those.”
What makes “Origin of Love” stand out is its use of animation, with artist and animator Emily Hubley‘s drawings depicting the story that Hedwig is singing. “John loved Emily’s work,” Hedwig cinematographer Frank DeMarco says in a separate interview. “He knew her. Her father did Mr. Magoo … and he was in love with her quirky handmade animation style.”
Hedwig‘s stage incarnation already incorporated drawings, so it made sense to Mitchell to illustrate a musical sequence in the movie as well. “I looked around for various animators,” Mitchell recalls. “I talked to three finalists and then went with Emily, who was very much in the family, so to speak. Her sister [Georgia Hubley] was in Yo La Tengo, who did films with Christine Vachon, my producer. Her hand-drawn, punky, mythological style felt really right for this myth of the origin of love.”
Mitchell may have known of Hubley’s work, but she crucially didn’t know him. Her introduction to Hedwig instaed came through a mutual friend, who was an early editor on the project. “I remember John said, ‘Let’s meet for lunch.’ It was just sort of instant rapport, instant fun,” Hubley tell us now. She immediately caught the stage show, ultimately seeing it four or five times to get the feel for what she could lend to the film version.
“Even though the song is such a personal thing, and internal, it was really Hedwig’s personal belief system and personal history that’s in that story,” she notes.
Up until that point, much of Hubley’s work had been autobiographical, so she was initially tentative about the idea of animated a fictional narrative. “One of the first questions that he asked was, ‘Do you ever make films about other people?” Hubley says. “I told him, ‘I would worry that it would just feel fake,’ and he said, ‘It’s actually really fun because you can imbue it with its own truth. It’s what actors do.'” After that conversation, she purchased a copy of Plato’s Symposium to look for ways to weave storytelling together with art.
Because Hubley came aboard early on, she had the opportunity to hang around the production and find inspiration in the moment. The graffiti that pops up during “The Origin of Love” — “Deny me or be doomed” — was one such aha moment. “I remember it was in the middle of the night when I got that idea,” she says.
She and Mitchell started breaking down the sequence, focusing on which parts would feature Hedwig singing and which would be presented in animation with band shots added when needed. “You have to be very specific because of how much time it takes, down to the beat,” says Mitchell. “So she created these continuity sheets that said, ‘This is the part that’s live. This is the part that’s animated.'”
Because animation requires deft timing — and the scene was filmed multiple times — “Origin of Love” is one of the only songs Mitchell lip-synced on set, with other songs being performed live. The duo crafted a simple shot list was crafted that accounted for wide and medium shots, as well as the split screen moment where Hedwig and Hubley’s artwork are both in the frame. “John had a very intentional idea of how to film it,” says DeMarco, adding that the sequence was filmed on one of the first days of shooting. “[He felt that] each shot, each camera setup should have an intention.”
Mitchell didn’t give Hubley many notes for her drawings, allowing her the space to blend different philosophies and ideas together. “She just ran with stuff,” he says now. “I encouraged her to make it ecumenical, meaning different kinds of religions and different kinds of gods mixed up.”
Hubley does recall getting one note from Mitchell during the animation process, though. “There was one point where I had drawn [a figure], and John was like, ‘Can you make that look more like a penis?’ I was like, ‘Ah, I might have to call in my guy for that!'” Yes, Hubley did have a go-to animator for penis drawing; one of several other illustrators she used for the sequence. “I didn’t animate it all myself,” she notes. “I inked everything pretty much, but other animators also helped me.”
“At one point, I was like, ‘I’m gonna do all the drawings with makeup,” Hubley continues. “Then I learned that makeup does not make for reliable art supplies! But I did think about makeup colors, certainly the colors of Hedwig’s makeup.”
Makeup was also a large focus for DeMarco while filming the sequence. “These were big close-ups of Hedwig singing ‘The Origin of Love,’ and John wanted to make sure that he looks beautiful,” he remembers. “He was 37 at the time … so I had to use my best TV commercial glamour lighting. It was theatrical, too, because the lighting does change, especially at the end. The lighting dims down to a chiaroscuro look just as the song is ending, so everything had to be timed perfectly.”
“John cares all the way down to the nano details, even the editing,” DeMarco adds. “He was there in the editing room supervising where [editor Andrew Marcus] would cut. He oversaw exactly where he wanted each cut to occur.”
Everyone Gold Derby spoke with with agrees that it’s amazing how “The Origin of Love” — and the cinematic Hedwig itself — still resonates with audiences 25 years after its release. “The kernel of the love story, and the kernel of the personal empowerment is in song,” says Hubley, who is still surprised when people present show her their Hedwig-inspired tattoos featuring her artwork.
“When John and I are gone, my guess is that somehow Hedwig will still be out there rolling along,” notes DeMarco, referring to the productions of the musical that are still being mounted all over the world. In fact, Mitchell himself is currently on the road headlining a 25th anniversary tour for the film. “John once told me that at any given time, somewhere in some country in the world, Hedwig is on the stage right now. It’s like a force of nature.”
And for many, it remains the origin of love.
