{"id":2863,"date":"2026-06-03T21:28:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-03T21:28:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/2026\/06\/03\/michelle-visage-on-hopes-of-rupauls-drag-race-reclaiming-emmys-dominance-and-why-the-rupaul-biopic-needs-to-happen\/"},"modified":"2026-06-03T21:28:00","modified_gmt":"2026-06-03T21:28:00","slug":"michelle-visage-on-hopes-of-rupauls-drag-race-reclaiming-emmys-dominance-and-why-the-rupaul-biopic-needs-to-happen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/2026\/06\/03\/michelle-visage-on-hopes-of-rupauls-drag-race-reclaiming-emmys-dominance-and-why-the-rupaul-biopic-needs-to-happen\/","title":{"rendered":"Michelle Visage on Hopes of \u2018RuPaul\u2019s Drag Race\u2019 Reclaiming Emmys Dominance and Why the RuPaul Biopic \u201cNeeds to Happen\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\t \t \t\t<\/svg>\t\tLogo text<\/span> \t<\/a> <\/p>\n

\tWith 18 mainstay seasons<\/a>, the release of the 11th All Stars<\/em> installment and the franchise\u2019s first feature film on the way, there\u2019s never been a busier time in the RuPaul<\/a>\u2019s Drag Race<\/em> universe.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\tRuPaul\u2019s Drag Race<\/a> <\/em>wrapped its 18th season in April, where Myki Meeks was crowned<\/a> America\u2019s Next Drag Superstar. It didn\u2019t take much longer (three weeks, to be exact) before Paramount+ premiered the first two episodes of RuPaul\u2019s Drag Race: All Stars<\/em>, where 18 queens<\/a> from the show\u2019s past returned for a second shot at the crown.\u00a0 \t<\/p>\n

\tTo add to the franchise\u2019s plate, World of Wonder, the Emmy-winning production company behind all things Drag Race<\/em>, and Bleecker Street are gearing up for the June 12 release of Stop! That! Train!<\/em><\/a>, the first film to hail from the show\u2019s universe. The movie is led by RuPaul (of course) along with a pool of Drag Race <\/em>alums.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\tBut to celebrate the mainstay series\u2019 18th season, as Emmy voting<\/a> is about to kick off, The Hollywood Reporter<\/em> attended an FYC<\/a> event hosted Sunday on the set of the series. As buzz around Stop! That! Train!<\/em> continues to grow, THR<\/em> asked Michelle Visage<\/a> and RuPaul\u2019s makeup artist David Petruschin (aka Drag Race <\/em>season two runner-up Raven) about one film that\u2019s bound to be made eventually: the RuPaul Charles biopic.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\u201cOh, I think that\u2019s destiny. It needs to happen,\u201d Visage, who serves as a judge and executive producer of RuPaul\u2019s Drag Race<\/em>, told THR<\/em>. \u201cWe\u2019ve talked about it for the past 30 years. It needs to happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\t \t\t\t\t\tMichelle Visage attends RuPaul\u2019s Drag Race <\/em>season 18 FYC Event.<\/span> \t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tJesse Grant\/Getty Images for MTV<\/cite> \t\t\t\t\t \t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

\tWhen asked when the potential project could come out, Petruschin says, \u201cI think it\u2019s already been in the works. But as far as curating it and getting together, I don\u2019t know. But yeah, that should happen.\u201d \t<\/p>\n

\tVisage and Petruschin are shoe-ins to be featured in the film, as the Drag Race Down Under<\/em> host has been a dear friend and collaborator of RuPaul\u2019s since the \u201880s and the former Drag Race<\/em> contestant became his makeup artist in 2017.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\tSo who should play them in the biopic? Petruschin isn\u2019t so sure yet, but knows \u201cthey\u2019d have to have a fierce tan.\u201d As for Visage, she\u2019d like to portray herself, but if that\u2019s not an option, she offers a few leading women as potential options.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cI think about that a lot, and I feel like Rene\u00e9 Rapp would be a good person to play me. Julia Garner could be a good me, even Miley Cyrus,\u201d Visage says. \u201cDepends on what age we\u2019re going for here, kids.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\tThe \u201ctougher cast,\u201d Visage notes, will be pinpointing a performer to portray the Queen of Drag. Both Visage and Petruschin agree that either an actor or drag queen could take on the part of RuPaul, but the role should end up going to \u201cwhoever is good at the job.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\u201cI can\u2019t remember who he said wanted to play her,\u201d Petruschin teases.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\t \t\t\t\t\tMia Starr, Kenya Pleaser, Myki Meeks, Discord Addams and Mandy Mango attend RuPaul\u2019s Drag Race <\/em>season 18 FYC Event.<\/span> \t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tJesse Grant\/Getty Images for MTV<\/cite> \t\t\t\t\t \t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

\tThe original RuPaul\u2019s Drag Race <\/em>series has long been a powerhouse at the Emmys<\/a>, with a whopping 29 awards (and 79 noms) under its belt. The show was the resident reality competition program winner in recent years, before The Traitors<\/a><\/em> began its dominance in 2024.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\tVisage says Drag Race<\/em> snatching back that title with the upcoming Emmys cycle would be \u201ca statement without saying it\u2019s a statement.\u201d\u00a0 \t<\/p>\n

\t\u201cI think it would be a championship in a way that voices are being heard without saying things. It\u2019s a statement without saying it\u2019s a statement, do you know what I mean?\u201d Visage said of the show reclaiming its reality competition Emmys win. \u201cEspecially with what\u2019s going on in the political climate. But, we are grateful just being in that class of people that we\u2019re in; being nominated, being included, being thought of is truly an honor. We spread the love. We\u2019re still celebratory, but if we did [win], it\u2019s definitely a \u2018We\u2019re not going anywhere\u2019 type of statement.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\tThe Traitors <\/em>is RuPaul\u2019s Drag Race<\/em>\u2018s key competitor at the Emmys \u2014 RuPaul won the reality host award for eight consecutive years before Alan Cumming won the title<\/a> in 2024, as did the main show in the reality competition category from 2018-2023 (with a one year break in 2022 when Lizzo\u2019s Watch Out for the Big Grrrls<\/em> won).<\/p>\n

\tVisage is very busy judging the main and All Stars<\/em> iterations of Drag Race<\/em>, also serving as a judge on the UK vs. the World<\/em> spinoff and serving as host of Drag Race Down Under<\/em> (and its upcoming spinoff Down Under vs The World<\/em><\/a>).\u00a0<\/p>\n

\tBut that doesn\u2019t mean she\u2019s entirely written off appearing on RuPaul\u2019s Drag Race<\/em>\u2019s biggest awards competition.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\u201cWould I ever do The Traitors<\/em>? I would love to be a Traitor,\u201d Visage says when asked if she\u2019d partake in the Peacock show. \u201cBut I fear that, if I did, people would automatically assume that I was a Traitor. But then, I said, Lisa Rinna was a Traitor. Bob the Drag Queen was a Traitor. Boston Rob<\/em> was a Traitor \u2014 and if they didn\u2019t think he was a Traitor, then, um, you never know!\u201d<\/p>\n

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\t \t\t\t\t\tMichelle Visage, Myki Meeks, Nick Murray, Tom Campbell, Michael Jacob Kerber, Raven, Gus Dominguez, Jamie Martin, Natasha Marcelina, Jamal Sims and Jen Chu speak onstage during RuPaul\u2019s Drag Race<\/em> season 18 FYC Event.<\/span> \t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tJesse Grant\/Getty Images for MTV<\/cite> \t\t\t\t\t \t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Logo text With 18 mainstay seasons, the release of the 11th All Stars installment and the franchise\u2019s first feature film on the way, there\u2019s never been a busier time in the RuPaul\u2019s Drag Race universe.\u00a0 RuPaul\u2019s Drag Race wrapped its 18th season in April, where Myki Meeks was crowned America\u2019s Next Drag Superstar. It didn\u2019t take much longer (three weeks, to be exact) before Paramount+ premiered the first two episodes of RuPaul\u2019s Drag Race: All Stars, where 18 queens from the show\u2019s past returned for a second shot at the crown.\u00a0 To add to the franchise\u2019s plate, World of Wonder, the Emmy-winning production company behind all things Drag Race, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2864,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[340,341,2,1692,34,1647,1669,563,85,335],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2863","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-emmys","category-fyc","category-hollywood","category-michelle-visage","category-reality-tv","category-rupaul","category-rupauls-drag-race","category-the-traitors","category-tv","category-tv-features"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2863","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2863"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2863\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2864"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2863"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2863"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2863"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}