Adam Shankman talks Stop! That! Train!, drag queens and returning to Toronto

Added: 2026-05-29

[00:00:00]Madam President, this Glamazonians [music] Express headed directly into a massive storm.

[00:00:05]All aboard the Amazonian Express. Pay attention.

[00:00:10]This train is dripping in glitter, glamour, and pure chaos. The idea of being able to do something this stupid, this silly, this this slapstick, it was irresistible to me. And so, I I thought like why not? Director Adam Shankman, known for hits like Hairspray, The Wedding Planner, and A Walk to Remember, is back with Stop That Train. It's very silly.

[00:00:34]It's very funny. It's very comfortable feeling because it feels very familiar in a certain way, but it's also being led by a group of people who do not get to be front and center in a theatrical release movie very often.

[00:00:50]You just got a presidential address. The film features an all-star cast of celebrities and drag queens who must stop a runaway train from heading into a storm. Gonza is Shankman's first indie film.

[00:01:02]>> They approached me and they said, "Hey, we have a script." And I was like, "You know, I don't usually do independents."

[00:01:08]But a long-time [music] collaborator and friend convinced him otherwise. I've known RuPaul since 1994. We've been friends for obviously a long time. And after I had uh been a guest judge on Drag Race, and I was like, "Yeah, if Ru wants me to read it, I'll read it." And it was just really funny. The cast is stacked, but I'm curious, you've worked with some big celebrities, big personalities, but take us inside what is a set like with such a big group group of drag queens? Um well, they were there to work. It was I mean, we obviously had a ton of fun. I was really specific with them about what the requirements were going to be of being there. The film was shot in just 19 days, a fast and furious sprint that Shankman says left no time to slow down.

[00:01:54]And there's there was no divas. They were just all everybody was just there to work and do their job and do their best. They don't get the opportunity to do this very often. So, everybody took it very very seriously. But beyond the laughs, Shankman says premiering at the Inside Out Festival in Toronto means something much bigger. Tell me about the importance of a festival like Inside Out and and and its existence. Well, just the idea that you can have a place and a space for this kind of film that doesn't have a giant amount of studio backing and doesn't have a huge marketing machine behind it. Talk about you being in Toronto. Again, you've had multiple experiences in Toronto. Crazy to think 20 years ago you were here for a Hairspray. What What was that experience like and what's it like to be back? Well, that experience was extraordinary cuz I got to kind of go through all the seasons. Like we started we got here and started rehearsing in the spring and we rehearsed through the summer, started shooting in fall and didn't wrap until the winter. Turning Toronto into Baltimore was in the 1960s was pretty wild.

[00:03:02]>> energy changed like being back in the city from then to now?

[00:03:05]>> think so. I you know, when I We're still chaotic. Yeah.

[00:03:08]>> [laughter] >> Compared to what's going on back in where I'm from, no. You're not chaotic at all. Do you like me to help? Look who it is. Some complete rando who can't stay in her seat.

[00:03:17]>> Get out of here.

[00:03:19]Sarah Michelle Gellar. She was absolutely amazing and and I'm curious was there a celebrity or a drag performer that you were the most excited for to to work with? Well, having Sarah there was a big deal for me because we're really old friends. I I officiated her wedding.

[00:03:35]So, yeah. So, so, being able to be in that kind of proximity with people who I adore and and are close to me made the whole thing much more fun.

[00:03:46]>> President, have you made a decision? I have. It's time to nuke Russia.

[00:03:54]Kidding.

[00:03:55]>> [laughter] >> The train is departing soon. Stop That Train hits theaters across the country on June 12th. If you could program or have a conductor announcement prior to the screening of it for audiences, what would it be? All aboard, get ready for a great ride.

[00:04:10]>> [music]