recognition

Dracmorda and Swanthula Boulet debuted the first season of their drag competition series The Boulet Brothers’ Dragula in 2016. Now, fast forward nearly a decade later, the main series is gearing up for its seventh season while the second reiteration of their all-star spinoff, Dragula: Titans, is currently airing.   

“I think when we first came up with the concept of the show, we knew where we wanted it to go,” Dracmorda tells The Hollywood Reporter. “I think it’s just literally a force of will that kept it going,” Swanthula adds.

The Boulet Brothers‘ Dragula is a perfect blend of horror and competitive reality TV, differing greatly from fellow juggernaut RuPaul’s Drag Race. The show recently earned its second wave of Emmy nominations, with the Boulet Brothers predicting it’s only a matter of time before Dragula earns the coveted outstanding reality competition program. 

“I would love to see us snag an Emmy,” says Dracmorda. “I think it would be important for what we do, but also it would be important for queer people in general, right? That a project that is so itself and unapologetically queer is recognized and respected, I think says a lot to society as a whole.”

In a chat with THR, the co-hosts tease how season two of The Boulet Brothers’ Dragula: Titans will differ from season one, explain how the show differs from Drag Race, what they see in the franchise’s future and which horror film franchise they’d want to join.  

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This is the second season of Titans, which features a cast of former Dragula competitors. Looking back to the first season of Dragula to now, what has it been like to see what the show has evolved into?

DRACMORDA It’s been exciting, but I’m not gonna say it wasn’t expected. It sounds arrogant to say, but I think when we first came up with the concept of the show, we knew where we wanted it to go. It was our first foray into TV, so we just believed it would happen (Laughs). You know, our dreams hadn’t been crushed a hundred times. So I can’t say that it’s not something we imagined.

SWANTHULA When we were younger and wilder and crazy enough to start our own TV project, people were telling us that it wasn’t going to succeed, and you had to do it this way and you had to do it that way. But I think it’s just literally a force of will that kept it going, and now it’s evolved. And I feel grateful that a lot of the spirit we created way in season one has remained in the show. Somehow we have maintained a level of control where we don’t water our concepts down, and the audience sees a true vision of what we want to create.

Dragula is a spooky show, and we are deadset in the middle of spooky season. Where does both of your love for horror come from? 

DRACMORDA Horror is just a part of who I am. From as early as I can remember, I really loved the world of Halloween and horror movies. I [was] literally four or five years old watching Dracula by myself at my grandparents house while everybody’s asleep at night. I don’t know what it is about horror [that] just made me feel comfortable and a place that I wanted to exist in. 

SWANTHULA I was heavily involved in the theater. I love the drama and the theatrics of a haunted house, Halloween and horror, and in my world, it sort of all connected. It’s like this dark fantasy, which I have always kind of felt connected to. Even in some of our other projects, there’s always been kind of like this dark element, ever since I was a child.

DRACMORDA And your mom said, “You can’t just walk around wearing a black cape and black lipstick.” And you were like, “You know what?”

SWANTHULA Yes, I can (Laughs).

Why do you both think queer people specifically resonate with the horror genre so much?

DRACMORDA Oh, this is a big one. I think queerness and horror go hand in hand. If you look back to the origins of horror and film, look at James Whale, who directed some of the most famous universal monsters that we still talk about to this day. You know, queer people relate to the monster because you feel other in your life, so it’s a very familiar feeling. And I think that queer people connect with those monstrous, misunderstood figures. Not to mention how many characters were the killer or the scary person in horror movies, and they happen to be trans or in drag or whatever. You think of Psycho, Dressed to Kill…

SWANTHULA Rocky Horror Picture Show. I mean, there’s a gigantic list of [films with] cross dressers as the scariest thing on earth.

DRACMORDA The list goes on and on. I think queer people connect with horror in a big way. I don’t think the two are separable.

This past Emmys cycle was the second time Dragula was nominated. What has it felt like to receive this recognition for the second time from the Emmys?

SWANTHULA It’s wildly surreal, honestly. But at the same time, when we’re in the room, I don’t feel like we’re out of place. Looking around, it’s some of the most prominent creators in TV, and some of those people are just as intrepid, I think, into new territories as we are. So we kind of feel at home. At the same time, it felt like, Oh, my God, pinch me. Is this happening?

How long do you think it will be until Dragula receives that outstanding reality TV program nom?

SWANTHULA It should have already happened (Laughs). 

DRACMORDA No, honestly. If it was based on quality, it absolutely should have already happened. I think we’ve learned a lot about awards and how the TV industry works. And, you know, there’s a machine there, right? There’s game play, and it’s not necessarily friendly to newcomers. It’s something you have to kind of figure out. So if it was purely based on the quality of the product, I think it should have been nominated already. 

Is Emmys recognition a goal with Dragula, or is that just a perk that comes along with the show’s growth?

DRACMORDA It’s something that I didn’t expect, but now that it’s happened, I really appreciate it and I value it. I would love to see us snag an Emmy. I think it would be important for what we do, but also it would be important for queer people in general, right? That a project that is so itself and unapologetically queer is recognized and respected, I think says a lot to society as a whole.

SWANTHULA Yeah, I think that goes for the fans, the competitors and even the crew. And to get that recognition, I think they would kind of be filled with just as much pride as maybe we would.

For Emmys voters [and the general public’s] wider knowledge of drag competition shows, that brings up RuPaul’s Drag Race. If a fan of Drag Race who had never seen Dragula came to you and said, “How does Dragula differ from Drag Race?” What would you say to them?

DRACMORDA Well, before we answer that, I want to throw some respect out to them. Because I do believe that if it wasn’t for Drag Race, I don’t know that we would be at the Emmys. I think they were really masterful at working the system and having the TV industry look at them as serious contenders versus camp or unserious creators. So I want to give them some respect, first of all. 

And as far as what’s different between Dragula and Drag Race, I think Drag Race is more of a “TV program.” I think our show is more raw and gritty. It’s a little more Fear Factor. Drag Race is sort of produced for mass appeal. Our show is not, and I think that’s the big difference.

Dragula casts a wide array of drag artists. [Dragula features] trans artists, “traditional” assigned male at birth [queens], AFAB queens [and more]. Why is it important to cast a broad spectrum of drag artists that are not represented in wide stream reality shows?

SWANTHULA Well, part of it is because they aren’t represented, right? And they can be, but it’s a choice that they’re not. And for us, AFAB performers and trans performers, that’s part of the real world. If you go into a green room or back room at a drag show, you’re going to see across the board a huge variety of people, and all of them are worthy of a spot and a chance to shine in the light and not in the shadow. And we take that opportunity because we can.

DRACMORDA Yeah, and again, Drag Race is trying to market to the broadest person and I think they thought, It would confuse people if we put on a drag king or an AFAB performer. And that’s where we differ, because we don’t care. Like, this is what it actually is like in the drag community to perform, and this is what we’re going to present unapologetically. And I think that’s the difference, right there.

You both have highlighted how reality TV can be damaging for those who go on these shows. Why is it important for you both to bring light to that issue, whereas some reality TV shows don’t shed light on that issue?

DRACMORDA I think that by saying that, if you’re a production company or a network, you’re sort of admitting that you’re part of the problem. And I don’t think people are comfortable with doing that. You know, we create reality TV: we control the edit, we ask the questions, we’re producing the show, so there’s a certain amount of responsibility I think some people maybe feel uncomfortable with. We’re not, because we don’t manipulate people’s stories. I mean, it’s kind of that simple. Do we want there to be juicy moments? Yes, but most the time when people display bad behavior, that’s what they do at home. I mean, if you’re not that kind of person, you’re not going to be that kind of person on camera, no matter what we do. 

SWANTHULA And it’s just like the conscientious thing to do, right? I remember learning those difficult lessons having been on television [for] only one or two years, and just how assaulting it can be to have your persona out there in the public eye and have anybody with a keyboard and the will to do it be commenting on you, attacking you, criticizing you, and it’s a hard lesson to learn. So, yes, we want to make juicy TV. But we don’t want these oftentimes young artists to come out traumatized by television. So we do everything we can to kind of prepare them for that.

DRACMORDA And at the same time, it’s the real world we live in. I mean, society is so polarizing now. You’re either left or right, you’re bad or you’re good — there’s no in between. There’s no space for people to make mistakes or to be shades of grey. You’re either black or white, and that’s it. And I feel like that’s really dangerous, and unfortunately, that’s what politics are like now. That’s what being in the entertainment industry is like now, and it just comes with the territory.

Dragula is about to head into its seventh season and you’re now in the second season of Titans. Do you have any ideas for more potential spinoffs? Where do you see the future of this growing franchise going?

DRACMORDA I think the limit is within Shudder and AMCs hands, because we have a million ideas. It’s just how much Dragula do they want on their network a year? And maybe the fans can encourage them and influence them on their decision (Laughs). 

SWANTHULA I think as long as the appetite is there, as long as the fans are as passionate and as excited about Dragula as they have been, we have so many ideas. Drac and I, I like to say this, we’ve been in a creative conversation for 20 years, and we have lists upon lists about ways to tweak the experience and make it more interesting. But we really also are excited about potentially getting into the scripted world. We have a lot of ideas about what a Boulet Brothers horror movie would look like, and hopefully that is in the pipeline soon.

What else can you tease about the rest of Dragula: Titans season two? How is it going to differ from the first season?

DRACMORDA Oh my god, it’s so different. It’s like night and day. I think the first iteration of Titans was almost like us sticking our toes in the water to explore what an All Stars format would feel like. And we learned a lot from it, partially from how vocal the fans were. You know, it’s weird. The fans never say, “Hey, we love the cold opens,” or, “We love the exterminations.” But when they’re not there, they certainly let you know. But it’s weird because I don’t know what they’re attached to. Like, the whole [tradition of] dumping a bucket of blood on the winner — I didn’t know that they cared about that until the first season of Titans and they were like, “That has to be there!” Like, okay, message received.

SWANTHULA We literally got death threats because we didn’t dump blood on Victoria [Elizabeth Black, the winner of The Boulet Brothers’ Dragula: Titans season one].

We did learn a lot from the first season of Titans. And this year, we looked at each other and said to ourselves, “We are going to deliver in spades everything that people love about the show.” The best extermination challenges, the Fright Feats, the Ghostly Gallows, twists and turns, betrayals — like we loaded it, and I can’t wait for people to see it.

What is next for Dragula and The Boulet Brothers? 

DRACMORDA We’re really excited about hosting Knott’s Scary Farms. We’re in love with that place, and there’s been such an illustrious line of horror hosts there before us, with Elvira, Wolfman Jack and Sinister Seymour. We’re very proud of that. We’re focusing on that and looking forward to the development of a full show there next year. Definitely scripted projects from us. We’re working on a holiday horror anthology special that’s coming out around Christmas, so you’ll see some scripted stuff from us that is more aligned with the work we would create that people probably wouldn’t expect. As far as Dragula the brand, Dragula is a monster with its own willpower and its own luck factors. So I think you’re going to be seeing a lot more of Dragula in the future. 

If both of you had to enter a horror film franchise, what film would you want to be in?

SWANTHULA Hellraiser. 

DRACMORDA Halloween. For me, 100 percent, and that’s exactly what should happen, because I know how to pull it all together. I have a master plan.

SWANTHULA I don’t doubt Drac’s power, but I just love the darkness. I love the creativity of Clive Barker, I love the twisted world, the pain and pleasure. Like, it’s Hellraiser for me.

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The Boulet Brothers’ Dragula: Titans airs Tuesdays at midnight on Shudder and AMC+.