‘Maxxie LaWow’ to Make Herstory on the Silver Screen

Slated to release in spring 2024, Maxxie LaWow, Drag Super-Shero will introduce viewers to pop culture’s very first drag heroine. 

Created, produced, and directed by Anthony Hand, a product designer and former entrepreneur in Silicon Valley, he is putting his storytelling skills into this highly anticipated feature-length animated film. 

“This is a fun, campy celebration of queer culture by a queer creative team for a queer audience,” Hand says. 

Maxxie LaWow tells the story of Simon, a shy, young barista, who finds a magic wig that turns him into the titular drag superhero Maxxie LaWow. The film will also have a drag villain, Dyna Bolical, who has discovered that drag queen tears have magical anti-aging properties. Therefore, she is kidnapping queens, forcing them to watch the saddest movie ever made, and draining them of their tears to launch a new cosmetics line. Maxxie better watch out because Dana is after her next. 

According to Hand, he created Maxxie LaWow because he would like to see more content that is fun, inspiring, and celebrating LGBTQ culture. 

“Hollywood doesn’t really do a good job of telling queer stories or including significant queer cast folks in productions,” he says. “GLAAD consistently gives Hollywood studios insufficient at best ratings. It’s ridiculous, and that is probably one reason why so many productions that have queer storylines are from independent producers and studios. It seems like when we do find stories, for whatever reason, we seem to tell those stories that oftentimes have some level of trauma. 

“A coming out story or a story about the AIDS crisis, for example. Those are wonderful, but sometimes, you just want something kind of light and fun. You sometimes want a great date movie or a film you can watch with your family that is inspiring and celebratory. I would like to see more stories like that, and that is very much the perspective of Maxxie LaWow. It’s a fun celebration of drag, intersectionality, and the queer community.”

Throughout Hand’s time in quarantine last year after the COVID-19 pandemic started, he worked closely with a scriptwriter and graphic designer to develop the film’s characters. Not only does he hope audiences have a good time with Maxxie LaWow, but he says this project has been a labor of love.

Hand has always had a passion for great stories.

“As a product designer in Silicon Valley, a lot of times, we have to tell stories to help people understand the vision of our products,” he says. “Over the years, I have dabbled in entrepreneurship, and I had my own software company about 15 years ago, so this creative process of having an idea and seeing it come to fruition in some way is an exciting journey. More often than not, it fails, but even when it fails, you learn a ton, and that can be so rewarding. With this movie, we’ve had to create a company for it, and now I am figuring out how to create a community around this film and get people excited about it.”

Additionally, Hand believes the world needs a super-shero now more than ever.

“In recent years, the violence against trans people, especially trans people of color, has been increasing,” he says, “as well as violence in the Asian Pacific Islander community. Discrimination against any underrepresented or minority group is discrimination against all of us, and the people who do this kind of violence, act out, or create laws that suppress women and minority voters, all of this is related. It comes from a common well of hatred and lack of humanity. So, this is a time when we need to fight on all fronts to help convert these folks who are so full of hatred to, hopefully, being full of love and compassion. I think projects like this can help with that process.” 

As to why Hand decided to make Maxxie LaWow animated instead of live-action, he says animation provides more opportunities with the stylization and campiness of the characters and the situations they face. 

“Simon will go through a transformation that is maybe reminiscent of somebody we have seen before, like in Sailor Moon or Super Drags,” he says. “We can celebrate and have fun with that kind of transformation in ways we couldn’t with live-action. The hair is also a character as well, so by doing animation, we can bring that magical wig in as a character in an easier way, rather than wonky CGI. It is also sometimes easier to tell stories that might make people feel uncomfortable with animation.”

A crowdsourced funding initiative on IndieGoGo was launched mid-September with a $50,000 goal, and that amount was met.

Thanks to the successful contributions from fans and private investors, the production can move forward with casting, continuing its work on the animation, and picking the film’s music, which will include four original songs. Hand says the initiative is still open if anyone wants to donate. 

“Fifty-thousand dollars buys a lot of duct tape and glitter,” he jokes. 

In addition to IndieGoGo, stay up-to-date by following the film on Facebook and Instagram @maxxielawow, or visit its official website, maxxie.com.