When LBGT+ romance Unicorns premiered at TIFF last September, the world was introduced to Jason Patel. Playing the sensual drag queen Aysha, Patel has received critical acclaim for his big-screen debut and has been named a Screen Star of Tomorrow by Screen International.
Unicorns follows Luke (Ben Hardy), a single father and mechanic who meets drag queen Aysha (Jason Patel) in a chance encounter. When sparks fly and Luke begins to fall in love with Aysha, he begins to question his sexual identity.
FILMHOUNDS sat down with Jason Patel to discuss his incredible journey over the past 12 months and what Unicorns means to him.
What's the past 12 months been like promoting this film?
Premiering the film at TIFF was a big moment. It was my introduction to the world and my first time seeing the film with an audience. I love to talk, but that experience left me speechless. I have a lot of family that lives in Canada and they got to get tickets and see the film so that was really great. It was Ben's first time at a festival as well so it was nice to be with someone who was going through the same emotions as me. I'm very good at adapting to things so I've really taken it in my stride now. It's such a wonderful thing to reflect back on life and how things are changing. After TIFF things gradually grew and I remember the hype growing from Hollywood and New York was kind of wild for me. It's noble and I'm really thankful to my team.
While I was watching this film, I was thinking that it's so nice to see an LGBT film with positive representation that is a true love story that isn't overly sad.
Absolutely. It always ends up that someone dies or something negative happens. Positive representation is so important across all the boards. There's so much stuff going on in life that we all know that's going on and we use cinema as an escape, as a relief from life. It's good to get to know someone else and know their truth and I really think that this film does that. I'm trying to help make the world a happier and a more positive place.
What was your journey into acting like? What inspired you to take this path?
I was a very energetic child. And music is quite a big thing for me. I watched a lot of Bollywood cinema when I was younger, my dad owned a pub and played all of these records. I used to see all of these pop stars on TV and it was all just organic that I got into being an artist. I like to say that at birth I came out with jazz hands (laughs).
I remember that I was in the nativity and I couldn't believe that I wasn't Joseph and was one of the three wise men instead. I ate that role up. I have a polaroid of tinsel in my hair.
I was always my own parental agent. My parents were not creative at all, they had no idea what was going on. My mum was in the yellow pages trying to find acting that I could take part in and it's really grown from there.
How did you get involved with Unicorns? What was your initial reaction to the script?
It was the usual audition process, I got to read for the role and then that led to a chemistry reading with Ben (Hardy) which went amazing. I loved the script and thought that it was so important to tell this story. I really wanted to do this for representation.
How much input did you get to put into Aysha as a character?
Aysha's humour is based a lot on my own, but a lot of her characteristics were already in the script, which we used as the main blueprint. Me and Ben did a lot of improv that managed to make it into the final film as well. A lot of my life experiences also influenced certain aspects of the film.
She's an amalgamation of a lot of people I've met on this journey. I got to speak to a lot of the queens and get a better grasp on what they do and take bits of their humour and use that for the character. I also watch a lot of RuPaul's Drag Race so I added some bits of that in.
Would you ever want to be a guest judge on Drag Race?
Absolutely! That's another goal of mine, I would love to be a guest judge on that show.
What films/TV shows have inspired you and have stuck with you throughout this journey?
East is East was a big one for me. I read the book as well and I actually did a few monologues from it while I was doing acting classes. I actually got to meet the author of the book and it was such a lovely experience to chat with him and I really appreciated that he took his time to discuss his work from 30 years ago with me.
Call Me By Your Name is another one that really stuck with me, so did Angels in America. These really taught me to just be who you are and not to hide yourself.
What was your reaction to being told that you were a ‘star of tomorrow'?
I ran to the toilet and cried my eyes out. I was so happy. Someone else that was in the toilets asked if I was OK and I told them “These are tears of joy!” (laughs). It's such an honour. It's been such an incredible journey and I'm just so happy and grateful for all of this.
Unicorns is in cinemas from July 5th.