I was unfamiliar with the late Carl Bean until approximately 5 years ago. I had bought a new car that included Sirius XM satellite radio and I often listened to their Studio 54 channel. One day, they played a remarkably progressive, LGBTQ-positive disco era song I had never heard called “I Was Born This Way.” I subsequently researched it and Bean, who sang it.
He ultimately became Archbishop Carl Bean and founded the Unity Fellowship Church, the first large-scale LGBTQ+ ministry in the USA. Having survived racism, homophobia and childhood trauma, Bean initially found his voice through song – first as a gospel singer in Harlem’s Christian Tabernacle Choir and later performing with his group, Carl Bean and Universal Love, on their 1974 album Universal Love. But it was his recording of the 1977 Motown hit “I Was Born This Way” that would earn him fame. The song was celebrated as the world’s first gay anthem.
However, Bean eschewed a mainstream music career and instead chose a vocation in activism. He started the Minority AIDS Project in Los Angeles, serving a vital role for underserved populations at the height of the AIDS crisis. Established 40 years ago, it is still in existence and serving those in need today.
A fabulous new documentary, I Was Born This Way, celebrates the life and legacy of this unapologetic gay Black trailblazer. It is currently playing at the Laemmle North Hollywood Cinemas and will expand to additional cities/theaters soon. The film utilizes innovative rotoscope animation and features appearances by Lady Gaga, Questlove, Billy Porter, California state representative Maxine Waters, and the legendary Dionne Warwick.
Lead producer Wellington Love and co-director Daniel (Dan)
Junge recently spoke with Reverend about the process of making their
revealing, engrossing documentary. Note: Some questions and comments have been
edited for space and/or clarity.
DJ: I was researching a television series on social action and music, protest music essentially, and one of the episodes was going to be on sex. That made me think immediately of Lady Gaga and her anthem Born This Way, so in researching that I found out that her song was an homage to this earlier song and the man who sang it. I was enthralled and thought that would be an incredible part of the episode. Well, the series—like so many—didn’t happen but that story stuck with me. When I initially researched him I for some reason thought he was in the Midwest, but then I dug in and realized his church was in L.A., probably 2 or 3 miles from where I lived at the time. I thought this could be an amazing standalone film, so I reached out to him and was shooting within a month.
WL: I’m embarrassed to say I really didn’t know much of anything about him until 4 ½ years ago when I got a call from executive producer Josh Green while I was on vacation in Amsterdam. He called me and says “Hey Love, I’ve got this project about this guy named Carl Bean and we’re looking for a little money and maybe you can make a couple calls.” So Josh sent me an interview of Carl who, as you see in the film, was this incredibly charismatic, magnetic figure. It was 45 minutes of him telling his story and (afterward) I couldn’t call Josh back quickly enough to say “How can I help? What can I do to move this along?”
Daniel, in terms
of interviewing him—and I don’t want to be morbid or anything—but how long
after you interviewed him did Carl pass away?
DJ: About a year later (in 2021) but he was already immobile and that’s why we’re playing a little trickery there in the film with the background. He was in his home, which was a mobile home near Compton, living in very humble circumstances, and he hadn’t moved from that chair (seen in the film). He was being assisted by members of his congregation. We didn’t want to place him in that world for the film, and that’s why we shot on bluescreen and put him in his church where we felt he belonged. He was as vibrant as ever at that point, you can hear how strong his voice is, but from the waist down he was unable to move. For the sake of the film it really works well because he seems as healthy as ever, but we knew that he was unwell and was very unwell within a few months of shooting that.
Well, that just
tells me how providential the timing was that this project came together when
it did and you were actually able to get him instead of it being all archival
footage or retrospective. That’s great.
DJ: Yeah, I don’t believe in angels but if ever there were, there was one on our shoulder. Or maybe it was providential for him as well because he got a chance to use us as a microphone to amplify his message right at the end of his life.
Yeah, he got to
tell his story firsthand. That’s awesome. Love, as the producer can you talk
about your role in wrangling or supporting this project?
WL: Initially I came on to help raise much needed funds and when the film was meant to be a 40-minute short. Soon after I came on board, we realized that we couldn’t do Carl’s story justice in that time so we had to recalibrate, open up the film, bring in more talent, raise more money, and think about what other elements we could include in order to really do justice to his life. As a producer, part of your job is to keep it moving, not only the money side but the spirit or the morale so we could keep going. Thankfully, Dan is a real force and we made a good team in terms of making sure, even in the low moments, how important it was to get this right not only to help bring in talent like Questlove and Billy Porter and Lady Gaga, but also to be responsive and responsible to the community whether it be the LGBT community, AIDS activists or the black community. So part of my role was being there to support everything that Dan and (co-director Sam Pollard) needed to do to make sure that this got done as best we could make it.
Who was
responsible for reaching out to the talent involved, like Billy Porter?
DJ: We both did but Wellington was really the primary impetus for reaching out to Billy and working with Billy. Wellington, you can fill in more there but I think that’s a critical element for the film.
WL: Obviously, one of the things that we wanted to do in the film was to bring Carl’s story forward, to make it relevant to what’s going on now, and Billy was the perfect sort of ambassador or advocate or embodiment of that in so many ways: being an out, black person of faith; he’s been very open about his HIV status; his musicality and how important that was to embrace that as part of your art. I think that was something that Carl was so adamant about since he was a kid. He was unapologetic about being this gay kid who had this voice, and so Billy was a critical part of that and then obviously—without revealing too much of the film—the recreation of the Liberation song and to make that a point of continuity and moving things forward. Certainly, when Dan started this and I came on board, we had no idea that the film would arrive at this moment when we need these messages more than ever.
DJ: Chris, it’s worth mentioning because of your background (as an out gay clergyperson) that in the Venn diagram where black civil rights and LGBTQ rights overlap, we can probably name a lot of people there and we know there’s a strong history there. Also, there’s some conflict there as well. But in the Venn diagram where you bring Christianity into that, that’s a very small sliver—I won’t say it’s a miniscule sliver—but it’s unknown and not often spoken of.
Yes indeed. Jamie
Lee Curtis is listed as one of the film’s executive producers. How did she get
involved?
DJ: Thankfully, I had made an earlier documentary with her called Hondros, about a war photographer, so I knew her through that and had an immediate point of contact with her. Also, she has a trans daughter and has been a very strong advocate for LGBTQ+ rights.
WL: To add to that, one of the things we want to highlight with the film is how much we need allies, and Jamie has been so supportive of the film in many respects and also just in terms of promoting it. As Dan said, she has a trans daughter so she has a vested interest in making sure that this work lives and can get out into the world.
There are so many messages, so many inspirations that people can get out of your film and out of Carl’s story. If there is one thing that each of you most hope or want people to take away from viewing this film, what would that one thing be?
WL: You know, Carl talks about God is love; love is for
everyone. Love is for everyone! I think that is an increasingly hard thing to
remember and to embrace. We need to be compassionate. We need to think about
other people, remember to love other people. That would be it for me.
DJ: I would only add that, in times like these, we have to remain hopeful. Carl had an indomitable spirit and was always hopeful. We hope the film sees a wide audience and that his spirit gives people some hope in this era. It’s just dark days, as you know.
Amen to that!
For more information, visit iwasbornthiswayfilm.com.
The Most Reverend Chris Carpenter is editor of Movie Dearest and chief contributor. He has been reviewing movies and theatre since 1996 and also contributes to Rage Monthly magazine (ragemonthly.com). He is a founding member and former Vice President of GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Critics (galeca.com) and currently serves as a nominating/voting member of its New York-based Theatre Wing. Reverend Carpenter has been an ordained minister since 1995.
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