Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2001) on Netflix
Born a boy in East Berlin, Hedwig undergoes surgery to marry an American soldier and emigrate. She fronts a rock band across the U.S., shadowing the protégé who took her songs.
- Netflix3.5/5
- IMDb7.7/1038,242 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes92%
Trailer
Plot summary
Hansel Schmidt is a gay teenager in East Berlin who loves rock music. Sergeant Luther Robinson, an American soldier, proposes marriage, and the only legal way to leave for the West is to travel as his wife. Hansel's mother gives the teenager her own name and passport, and a doctor performs the operation, so Hansel becomes Hedwig. She settles in Junction City, Kansas; when Luther leaves her, she takes odd jobs and forms a rock band. While minding the children of a fort commander, she befriends Tommy Speck, a shy teenager, and spends six months teaching him music and performing, giving him the stage name Tommy Gnosis. Her band, the Angry Inch, now plays a chain of seafood restaurants while she follows Tommy's tour and pursues a lawsuit over her songs.
Cast
- Theodore Liscinskias Jacek - Band Member
- Ben Mayer-Goodmanas Hansel - 6 years old
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2001)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- John Cameron Mitchell says that during rehearsal for his Hedwig appearance on the Late Show with David Letterman, a voice from the control booth told him he could not rip off his wig during "Tear Me Down". He ripped it off after the song anyway, and the show edited it out.
- Most of the lead vocals in the film were recorded live as the scenes were shot rather than in a studio, to capture the intensity of a live performance. The live recording of "Hedwig's Lament" is the version on the soundtrack, even though most songs were studio recorded for the album.
- John Cameron Mitchell had to shave constantly during the film shoot, often using an electric razor between shots while in full makeup. He said on the DVD commentary that co-star Michael Pitt was uncomfortable with their long kissing scene because his stubble scratched him, and that Pitt ate onion and garlic right before the shot.
- The studio objected to John Cameron Mitchell and Stephen Trask performing in drag on the daytime show The Rosie O'Donnell Show, but relented at O'Donnell's insistence, and they performed "The Origin of Love". A clip from that appearance was used in the film with O'Donnell's blessing.
- In 2003 a CD of covers of the film's songs by artists including Yoko Ono and Cyndi Lauper came out; it benefited the Hetrick-Martin Institute and took its name, "Wig in a Box", from one of the musical's best-known songs. Type O Negative also covered "Angry Inch" on their 2003 album Life Is Killing Me.
