Every gay man has an actress that they love, and, sometimes, that devotion goes back so long with an on-screen personality that they are an unsuspecting presence at every milestone in their life. I can comfortably say that Julianne Moore has been my favorite actress since I was in my late teens, but there is another person who I was obsessed with growing up. That person just so happens to be involved with Ben Lewis’ hilarious, cheeky short film, She Raised Me, an ode to that unshakeable love. Lewis’ film, though, has an unexpected twist.
We meet Lewis as Louie, an unlucky in love writer who thinks it’s time to call it quits with his hunk of a boyfriend, Xander, played by Zane Phillips. When Xander announces that his birthday is coming up, Louie is hesitant to join for the celebration…until he learns that Xander’s mother is none other than Marilyn Muff. Oh, you haven’t heard of Marilyn Muff? Where have you been? Ms. Muff is brassy like Bette Midler–think Prairie Dawn’s uninhibited sister. Yes. Marilyn Muff is a puppet, and she’s voiced by Emmy winner Rosie O’Donnell. Is Rosie Lewis’ Marilyn?
“Rosie is definitely a big one,” Lewis admits. “When I was thinking what the movie was truly about, it’s really about loving the social relationship between young, queer kids and their divas. I don’t think anyone can claim to have raised more queen millennials than Rosie, especially given the platform she had with her show and how she brought us Broadway shows. She exposed a lot of queer culture to kids all over the world, and even though she wasn’t out, it was very queer-coded. Her show was such a safe space for so many kids, including myself. Rosie was the dream person to voice Marilyn–I never thought in a million years that she’d say yes.”
Getting O’Donnell’s attention felt harder than launching Koosh balls into a rabid audience, but Lewis didn’t think he had anything to lose and passed along the script. The director was floored when he heard something pretty quickly. Why not shoot for the stars from the get-go?
“I have a mutual friend with her, which is how I was able to pass along the materials,” he says. “That’s hard when you send actors things, especially when they are so busy and of that calibur. We were about a month before shooting so I wasn’t holding my breath, but I wrote her a letter. Literally right after I finished it, I opened up Instagram and saw the announcement that she was going to be on the new season of And Just Like That…, and I thought, ‘Well, we’re fucked.’ At that point, I didn’t know what the size of her part was on that show. Within three hours of sending her the materials, though, she responded, and that was so unbelievable and so unexpected. It demonstrates how egoless and cool she is, you know?”
Zane Phillips continues to surprise us with every new role, and you can tell that he’s having a blast playing a toxic gay who knows how hot he is. Xander is someone who has always felt pushed aside by his mother’s career, so watching such a successful guy have meltdown after meltdown is very amusing. In a lot of ways, Lewis is introducing us to an aspiring mama’s boy.
“I have known him for a while, and the first thing I saw him in was Fire Island,” Lewis says. “I remember seeing him out at Akbar and seeing him in person is shocking, because I’ve often described him as a blonde refrigerator–I’ve never seen a bigger person. I ran into Andrew Ahn the next day, and we talked about how sweet Zane is, and he ended up dating a good friend in our friend circle. He’s truly the loveliest, smartest, funniest guy, so I wrote the part with him in mind. In order to get away with some of the things that the character says and deeply unpleasant things they do, they have to be as shockingly handsome as he is. I sent him the script, and he responded immediately–I think the word he used was demented.”
The reveal of who plays Marilyn is only the first big reveal, because She Raised Me takes some big swings. In lesser hands, the direction would lean into the wrong tone, and the film would be trying to do too many things at once. Because Lewis is coming from such a relatable, familiar place, we understand the motivations of the characters no matter how silly or stupid or dark they become.
“I was just really interested in getting the most grounded performances that I could,” he says plainly. “If anybody is ever winking at the camera or is too knowing about the absurdity of any of it, that’s when the humor dies. It does require a kind of earnestness of performance throughout to keep the whole thing together. I was adament about that, and it could easily play into campy acting.”
That intelligence is also imbued into the creation of the lore of Marilyn Muff. When Louie enters her home, there are posters and snapshots of her and her storied career all over the walls. It’s hell for Xander but heaven for Louie. Audiences will, no doubt, put their own love of women into the mirror of Marilyn. I see a lot of Shirley MacLaine (I really should re-watch Postcards from the Edge…) and Judith Light in Lewis’ beloved creation, but it’s taken even further by her being a puppet. And when you think of The Muppets, one particular character comes to mind…
“Before Rosie, I was a diehard Muppet kid,” Lewis says. “The Muppets Take Manhattan was literally the movie that made me want to be a performer, so it’s deeply rooted in me. I’ve always wanted to act opposite a Muppet, quite frankly, but the opportunities for that are very few and far between. My husband, who is also an actor, got to act with Pepe [the King Prawn] when they had their last show on ABC. I was gagged with jealousy. He also got to do a scripted podcast with Rosie called Gay Pride & Prejudice during the height of COVID over Zoom. Needless to say, it was a lot of wish fulfillment.
When you make a short, it’s all about passion. There’s not a lot of financial gain when you make a short film, so you should make something to make your dream project. Not only do I get to act with a Muppet but I get to design one fro scratch. Marilyn is, obviously, influenced by Miss Piggy, but my personal childhood figures are in there too. There’s some Bette Midler and some Shelley Long in there, and my ultimate comfort movie is Outrageous Fortune. Any time I am sick or feeling down I watch it, and I make sure to watch it once a year. The original inspiration for the show came from a dream I had wherein I was dating a guy who was preparing to break up with me, and I found out his mother was Shelley Long.”
She Raised Me will play on October 16 at the Santa Fe International Film Fest and an encore presentation of award winning shorts at the Heartland International Film Festival. On October 17, it will play at Newfest.
