PRETTYBIRD's Joseph Wilson Directs Drag Queen Fancy Shews! In Autoheart’s Lo-Fi ‘Juggernaut’ Promo

Director and artist Joseph Wilson has directed the music video for Indie-pop group Autoheart’s new track ‘Juggernaut’. At the request of the band, the ‘Juggernaut’ promo stars Georgie B (AKA Fancy Shews!).  Director Joseph Wilson was once a Queer drag performer and gained recognition for his talent with moving image after working with and documenting the eclectic East London queer scene. Joseph has performed with Georgie B at Queer club nights including ‘Sink the Pink’ and ‘The NYC Downlow’ at Glastonbury, and cast Georgie as lead character Vicky in the Authoheart video, with a narrative inspired by the late Anna Nicole Smith’s relationship with 89 year old J. Howard Marshall when she was just 26.  The video was produced by PRETTYBIRD with head of music videos and special projects Chris Murdoch.

Joseph Wilson chose Margate as the shoot location, because of the British roots of the band and an affinity with Margate, the former hometown of his grandma, which he describes as the ‘Kent Riviera’, and where he remembers her going for walks along the seafront with her then 85-year-old boyfriend. The video stars 90-year-old Margate legend Maurice Morris.

Director Joseph Wilson says, “When I was approached by Autoheart to direct the video for Juggernaut, they had only one request: base the storyline around Georgie B aka Fancy Shews! She had done the styling for our last collaboration for the ‘I Know That He Loves Me’ video in 2021 and they had become fans. I’ve performed with Georgie for the past 10 years with Queer club nights ‘Sink The Pink’, ‘Savage Disco’ and ‘The NYC Downlow’ at Glastonbury, and most recently travelled to Australia to perform in a cabaret about a failing 18th Century Mollie House with our Drag Mum, A Man To Pet. 

"Georgie played Princess Seraphina and had size ZZ boobs… the biggest breastplate size you can get! We joked about using them for the video but it actually became the starting point to the idea. A few days later the plot came together. ‘I knew that we would set each other free’. This line felt like it needed a good juxtaposition, which led me to think of Anna Nicole Smith who married 89-year-old J. Howard Marshall when she was 26.  I spoke to the band about the idea and we started researching Anna Nicole and the way she and many famous women are vilified in the media. We agreed on the idea and ‘Vicky’ (Anna Nicole Smith’s real name was Vickie Lynn Hogan) was born. 

"We did some make up tests with MUA Guy Common and played around with some forehead prosthetics and enhanced cheekbones. I wanted Vicky to appear demonic – a literal manifestation of the demonisation of women. And despite looking like a monster from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, we would see that she was vulnerable, emotional and devastated at the loss of her great love.

"When casting Marshall we were put in touch with 90 year old Margate legend Maurice Morris, who has lived in Margate his entire life. He was so wonderful to work with and feel really privileged to have met him. He was completely speechless when he first saw Georgie as Vicky! Throughout her life people doubted Anna Nicole’s feelings for Marshall, assuming she was a gold digger, and she was constantly asked about it. She was judged, ridiculed and abused for the way she looked. She always said she loved Marshall, despite the age difference, and that he was the only man who ever made her feel loved. ‘I feel euphoric in your arms tonight. As I’m magnified, I feel alive’. Isn’t that what we’re all looking for?”

Joseph Wilson gained recognition as a director after documenting the eclectic East London queer scene, a scene which he came to know as a drag performer. A graduate of the University of the Arts London with a BA in Fine Arts (print and time-based media), he has written and directed a series of films amplifying marginalised voices of in LGBTQI+ community. His inaugural documentary project ‘Drag is my Ecstasy’, was an acclaimed portrait of underground drag collective ‘Sink the Pink’, was featured in the BFI Flare program of the London LGBTQI+ Film Festival, and screened at The East End Film Festival.

Several of Joseph’s films centring on the LGBTQ+ lived experience have had their world premiere on global arts video channel NOWNESS, and his latest short film ‘LUA’ has launched on NOWNESS, and follows Lua Brainer, a 24-year old trans dance teacher fighting transphobic violence through voguing in the favelas of Rio. Watch here: nowness

In 2019 Joseph directed ‘Il-Widna’, a reimagined reality of queer people banished from the UK after Thatcher’s Section 28 amendment. The film had its online premiere on iD at the start of 2021 and has just been accepted into the 2021 Fringe! Queer Film & Art Festival. Joseph was selected as one of the FLAMIN (Film London Artists Moving Image Network) artists in recognition of his film ‘Isn’t it a Beautiful World’ (2021) and the film was shown at the LFF Festival. Joseph has won many awards including the prestigious CIRCA x DAZED Class of 2021, presented by Marina Abromovic.