The crown is presented by Julie Newmar herself. Cast Cameo appearances Production Development Writer Douglas Carter Beane originally envisioned the script as a stage play, but changed his mind when he realized putting a car on stage might not work. Beane was inspired by an anti-gay propaganda film called The Gay Agenda. Of that film, Beane said, "There's a scene where they show drag queens going through a town, and the narrator is warning the viewers that these people will take over your town, and I thought, Well, that would be fun." The script found its way to Mitch Kohn, then a development executive at Amblin Entertainment. Kohn passed the script along to his boss Steven Spielberg, who “loved it." Spielberg had his friend Robin Williams do a humorous cold reading of the script while on a plane, which “mesmerized” the director. Williams expressed interest in a possible role but did not want to distract from the three leads, so he opted for a small cameo appearance. When the script officially went into development at Amblin, multiple unnamed male directors passed on directing. British director Beeban Kidron happily accepted the job. Though advertising companies wanted to change the film’s title to the shorter “Ladies’ Night” or “She’s a Lady", Beane's script managed to keep the original title, which came from an autographed picture of Julie Newmar that Beane saw on the wall of a Times Square Chinese restaurant in the mid-1980s. Beane said Wong Foo is meant to be a metaphor for God, “because you have to thank God for everything. You have to be grateful for life. You just have to stop where you are and say thank you for everything.” A scene was filmed where the characters provide more context, but it was deleted. Casting When it came to casting the leading men, Wesley Snipes and John Leguizamo (whom the role of Chi-Chi Rodriguez was specifically written for) both immediately said yes. Many actors were considered for the role of Vida Boheme, including Robert Downey Jr., William Baldwin, Gary Oldman, Matthew Broderick, James Spader, John Cusack, Mel Gibson, Robert Sean Leonard, Willem Dafoe, John Turturro, Matt Dillon, Rob Lowe, Johnny Depp, Tom Cruise, and Robin Williams (who has a brief cameo in the finished film). Patrick Swayze was one of the last actors to audition for Vida. Director Beeban Kidron said that it was ultimately Swayze's walk that