25 years later, Jawbreaker stars open up about the film's queer subtext & fave one-liners

This year marks the 25th anniversary of the cult classic film Jawbreakerand earlier this month, the cast and crew gathered for a special screening at The Academy Museum in Los Angeles.

The 1999 movie follows popular girls Courtney, Jules, and Foxy (Rose McGowan, Rebecca Gayheart, and Julie Benz respectively) as they deal with the aftermath of accidentally killing Liz, the fourth member of their clique, with a jawbreaker. To shush up a nerdy witness to their crimes, the trio inducts Fern Mayo (Judy Greer) into the clique, complete with a makeover and a new bitchy attitude. If '90s gays weren't already living enough, the film also features an iconic scene of McGowan seducing her hot jock boyfriend to fellate a popsicle — a titillating clip still makes the rounds on Tumblr and TikTok all these years later.

"After seeing so many films that didn't have sex scenes that were homoerotic or for me, so to speak, I was like, 'This is my dream film,'" director Darren Stein told Out about the now iconic moment. "I wanna write this the scene I want to watch. I couldn't have a gay character at that point, but I could have her do gay things to her boyfriend."

Though it didn't do so well at the box office originally, Jawbreaker cultivated a fervent cult following over the years – and its legacy is lasting enough to sell out a screening audience of nearly 1,000 people decades later.

"I thought it was a great movie when we were filming it and unfortunately it didn't release very well," Benz reflects. "It was done by Columbia Tristar video and they didn't put much behind the actual release of it and I was sad about that and then all of a sudden, it started developing legs. It's so nice to see it grow. 25 years later people are talking about it, younger people are discovering it and we're here tonight."

Moments ahead of the screening, RuPaul's Drag Race star Trixie Mattel sat down with Jawbreaker director Darren Stein and actors Rebecca Gayheart, Julie Benz, and Judy Greer for a panel to ask all the hard-hitting questions like when they first realized the film was fierce and what their initial reactions were to the surrealist dark humor of the script.

"Oh, I just wanted to be in a movie," Greer said to uproarious laughter from the crowd. "I don't remember reading it. I was a child. I didn't even live in LA. I just wanted to be in a movie and I was really excited because I had a makeover. I was a lot like Fern and I felt like I always wanted a makeover and I didn't have anyone to give me a makeover. So I got a makeover."

Mattel, who is a superfan of the film, went on to praise the script, fashion, make-up, music choices, and Jawbreaker's one-liners, which led the cast to reflect on the film's legacy with Out after the screening.

"I mean, that's what Darren wanted. He said it when we were on set," Greer explains. " I was like, wow, this guy is really confident, but he was right and he knew what he was doing. I think it's about making the art that you need as the artist, and yes, I'm considering Jawbreaker art. I think if we make art for ourselves and to tell the story that we really need to tell, the story that we needed to see, you have to assume someone else out there needs it too."

Benz agreed with a joke, saying, "I really hope we inspire future generations to kidnap their best friends to shove a Jawbreaker down their throat." She laughs, then adds, "The universal theme of the movie is about high school politics and wanting to belong, fitting in. I think that's why it resonates and hopefully, future audiences that watch it will be more like Julie and Fern Mayo and less like Marcy and Courtney and Violet got a little bad there for a little bit. Hopefully, they'll see the good and the bad."

On a lighter note, the cast and director picked their favorite outfits and one-liners from the film.

"After rewatching it tonight, I loved my bitch outfit but I think my favorite was when I had on this weird Lemaire tube top and hot pink pencil skirt," Greer shared. "I was reminded so much that I love, 'Peachy fucking keen.'"

"My favorite look was definitely my prom look, my prom dress," Benz said. "It was a Jessie McClintock and they could only find it in a size two and I needed a size four, but I said to Vicky, 'This is the dress I'm wearing, sew me into it. We'll figure it out.' It was kind of hideous and awful. I think they filmed the prom over two days and I just remember the dress kept tearing and we just kept sewing the boa to cover the tears. And I insisted on the crimped hair. That whole look was my doing. My favorite line... when we throw her on the bed and I say, 'That's no 105 pounds.' That's the thought that Marcy has. They just killed somebody and then she's just like, 'That bitch was lying about her weight all this time.'"

"When Rose is like, 'You're the shadow, we're the sun,'" Stein said. "I love that one because I remember writing it and thinking this sounds kind of Shakespearean. The film is a Faustian tale, right? About selling your soul to the devil essentially. I wanted the language to be heightened."

And finally, after all these years, when gay rights are the law of the land, we just had to ask... was Fern Mayo in love with Liz Purr?

Benz, Greer, and Stein all gave a unanimous, "yes."

Take that 1990s homophobia!

This Jawbreaker screening was produced by The Academy Museum alongside community partner and newly-launched organization F.LU.I.D., an initiative dedicated to honoring unsung LGBTQ+ voices in cinema while also ushering in the next-generation LGBTQIA+ film talent. Co-founded by Akbar Hamid and Evan Schwartz, the indie production studio and film find is ready to show the world just how big of an impact LGBTQ+ folks have on the culture.

"Darren is a queer film producer and director, but he couldn't express his queerness in 1999," Hamid tells Out. "He did it through this movie. This movie was an expression of his queer identity when the mainstream did not accept queerness. It's really important that we all recognize that this is a queer film."

"I think we really tapped into something that no one else is doing," adds Schwartz on the event. "Everyone gave a standing ovation at the end of [the screening]. It was great to have this redemption moment."

F.L.U.I.D. has big plans for queer cinema, including an upcoming film about a queer Muslim boy that Hamid promises won't be "trauma driven."

"We're going to raise about $25-30 million over the next two years and pump that into creators, producers, and directors that have these kinds of stories to share, big and small," Hamid says. "We want to help new people. We want to help established people. We want to make sure that our voices are in established studios and emerging studios. The problem is the studios don't look at emerging talent. They're not going to give them the same tracks they're going to give established talent, and I get it, it's a business. But that's where people like us have to come in and establish these organizations that are going to give a voice and give money."

Jawbreaker is available to stream on demand.