COVER STORY | CLEA DUVALL

CLEA DUVALL TALKS TO CARRIE LYELL ABOUT COMING OUT, CHRISTMAS, AND HER NEW FILM, HAPPIEST SEASON

PHOTOS LACEY TERRELL, © 2020 CTMG, INC

24 Lockdown love stories 

The changing face of lez/bi  love in the time of Covid-19

We’ve all become very well acquainted with Zoom these last few months. From work meetings and virtual gym classes to family quizzes and lockdown birthday parties, the video communications platform has been a constant in 2020’s sea of change. Today, rather than taking me half a mile down the road to my local yoga studio, Zoom is transporting me to Los Angeles, California, for a chat with bona fide lesbian royalty and interview wish list material, Clea DuVall. Seeing her name flash up on my screen is a little surreal, and in case you’re wondering, yes, I am digitally starstruck. I guess 2020 isn’t a complete bust, after all.

COMING OUT IS CHALLENGING AND PERSONAL. HOWEVER IT HAPPENS AND HOWEVER YOU GET THERE, THAT’S YOUR JOURNEY”

While Zoom might have been a constant this year, Clea has been a constant in the lives of queers across the world for the past 20, since the release of cult classic But I’m A Cheerleader, in which she stars as rebellious gay teen, Graham. Jamie Babbit’s brilliant satirical comedy, set in the True Directions conversion camp, is beloved and iconic, helping many of us in the LGBTQI community to accept ourselves. Clea has since spoken about struggling to come to terms with her own sexuality, feeling “convinced” she was “defective” and “less than”, and has said in previous interviews that at the time of But I’m A Cheerleader, being out felt like an “impossibility”. Accepting the Human Rights Campaign’s Visibility Award in 2018, she talked about the heartache of living half a life. “Lying made me a worse actor, friend... how could I show up for anyone if I couldn’t show up for myself?” How does it feel, two decades on from But I’m A Cheerleader, to have written and directed Happiest Season, a film with a lesbian love story at its heart? “It feels incredible,” comes the crackly reply. “But I’m A Cheerleader has been such a huge part of my life, and it’s been a huge inspiration to me seeing the impact that the film has on people.”

Abby (Kristen Stewart, right) and Harper (Mackenzie Davis) enjoy a romantic spin on the ice

(Left to right): Eric (Burl Moseley), Magnus (Anis N’Dobe), Sloane (Alison Brie), Matilda (Asiyih N’Dobe), Abby (Kristen Stewart), Harper (Mackenzie Davis), Jane (Mary Holland), Ted (Victor Garber) and Tipper (Mary Steenburgen) pose for the family Christmas photo

In recent years, the 43-year-old actor, who has starred alongside huge Hollywood names including Winona Ryder, Ryan Gosling and Sean Penn, has turned her hand to writing and directing, citing a desire to tell stories that affect social change as one of her biggest motivations. Passionate about representation, authentic storytelling and “making movies that can fill a void”, Clea says But I’m A Cheerleader made her “want to make movies that were more significant” and that had a “deeper meaning”. “Being a part of films that have a greater social impact has been really meaningful to me, and so when I think about writing, I always try to connect with stories on a deeper level. I want to be more socially responsible in the stories that I tell, the characters that I create, and the way I choose to tell those stories. [But I’m A Cheerleader] made me want to make movies that could have an impact and help people feel less alone. So to be able to make this big, bright, warm romantic comedy with two women at the centre of its story for a major studio, feels...” She pauses, as if absorbing the significance for the first time. “It’s mind-blowing to me that I got to make this movie.”