- Symone plays a villain role in the first major drag queen-led film, showcasing queens’ talents as leading actors.
- The film brings together Drag Race alumni, fostering camaraderie and highlighting the impact of RuPaul’s important work.
- The movie aims to provide laughter and escapism during challenging times, affirming joy as an act of resilience.
You can Stop! That! Train!, but you can’t stop Symone!
After becoming one of the most beloved winners in RuPaul’s Drag Race HERstory and earning the rare distinction of being considered one of RuPaul’s protégés, Symone has spent the years since her victory transforming from reality competition standout into a bona fide multi-hyphenate. Now, the drag superstar is boarding Stop! That! Train!, a copiously campy, delightful disaster comedy that finds her trading the runway for railways and embracing a scene-stealing villain role alongside a cast of fellow Drag Race royalty.
Directed by Adam Shankman (Hairspray, Rock of Ages), the film brings together an all-star lineup of drag performers for one of the first wide-release feature films fronted entirely by drag queens.
Part disaster spoof, part buddy comedy, and part love letter to queer culture, Stop! That! Train! follows train stewardesses Tess (Ginger Minj) and DeeDee (Jujubee) as they team up with a trio of glamorous first-class attendants and President Judy Gagwell (RuPaul) to stop a catastrophic “Stormaganza” from sending a high-speed train careening toward Florida. It also features cameos from the likes of Sarah Michelle Gellar, Raven-Symoné, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Chris Parnell, Joel McHale, Rachel Bloom, Michelle Visage, and Charo.
For Symone, joining the first movie out of the RuPaul’s Drag Race universe represented not only a personal career milestone but also an opportunity to help showcase drag performers as leading players in a major comedic feature.
“I was absolutely honored,” Symone told BOSSIP. “I knew there were multiple girls that auditioned for it. I knew a wide net had been cast. So to be asked, and then to be asked again to reshoot it, I was like, ‘Oh, they’re considering me.’ Then Adam personally called me and said, ‘We would love for you to play Ayshleiygh in this movie.’ I was like, ‘Oh my God.’”
She continued,
“It came at such a great time for me personally and my career,” she said. “I was just so happy.”
While audiences often gravitate toward heroes, Symone had a blast stepping into villain territory as Ayshleiygh, one-third of a gloriously catty clique that terrorizes the film’s unsuspecting train attendants, portrayed by Ginger Minj and Jujubee.
Ayshleiygh, yes, the spelling is intentionally absurd, essentially functions as the Gretchen Wieners to Brooke Lynn Hytes’ Regina George, delivering plenty of mean-girl energy with a drag queen twist.
“I had a blast being a villain,” Symone told BOSSIP. “I want to do more villainry on screen.”
The role allowed her to lean into the film’s larger-than-life tone while still grounding the character in recognizable archetypes.
“We obviously knew the archetype of what we were doing. We knew who we were referencing,” she explained. “As much as what was on the paper, he [Shankman] wanted us to do the acting and say the words, but we got to play a lot as well.”
That creative freedom proved especially valuable given the film’s whirlwind production schedule. Shankman shot the feature in just 19 days, a compressed timeline that required the cast to balance comedy, choreography, and elaborate drag transformations at breakneck speed.
One of the production’s biggest rewards, according to Symone, was the chance to spend extended time alongside fellow Drag Race alumni, including Brooke Lynn and Marcia Marcia Marcia.
“We don’t really get to work together a lot, as much as people like to think we do,” she told BOSSIP. “All of us are doing our own separate thing. We’re traveling, different gigs. So to really be hunkered down for a month and really bond with specifically Marcia Marcia Marcia and Brooke Lynn, because most of our scenes were together, it was really cool.”
The camaraderie reflects one of the film’s larger ambitions. While Stop! That! Train! is packed with drag talent, Shankman has emphasized that “the joke is not that they’re drag queens,” instead positioning the project as a broad comedy that happens to feature drag performers at its center.
Producers similarly describe the film as a celebration of artists whose creativity, humor, and talent have entertained audiences for generations.
For Symone, the film’s existence is inseparable from the cultural groundwork laid by RuPaul, who stars as President Judy Gagwell, whose ridiculous campaign slogan is “She fun!” and serves as one of the project’s driving creative forces.
When asked about the impact the entertainment icon has had on both her career and the broader LGBTQ+ community, Symone couldn’t help but gush.
“I love RuPaul Charles. I love what he’s done through his career,” Symone told BOSSIP. “Making our art form so public and being able to even make this film — we wouldn’t have it without the work that he’s done.”
She added that RuPaul’s influence extends well beyond drag culture itself.
“What he specifically has done for not just drag queens, but for Black queer men and people is really important,” she said. “When I saw him, I was like, ‘Oh my God, that’s it!’”
Ultimately, when the film arrives in theaters on June 12, Symone hopes audiences embrace its central message of joy, community, and escapism.
“We need to laugh,” she told BOSSIP. “People are getting so bogged down by what’s happening around them. Rightfully so. It is crazy in these streets.”
The Arkansas-born entertainer also stressed that the film serves as a reminder that joy itself can be an act of resilience.
“What we need to remember is that the joy is within us individually and us together,” Symone said. “Go see the film, have a laugh with your friends, your family, your loved ones.”
Just between us squirrel friends, this film arrives at a moment when both drag culture and LGBTQ+ visibility remain flashpoints in the national conversation. Stop! That! Train! offers something refreshingly simple: a celebration of community, camp, and the enduring power of joy.
