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Alan Cumming on ‘The Traitors,’ Iconic Roles & Embracing Inclusivity (Exclusive)
Apr 1, 2025
From Mr. Floop in 'Spy Kids' to the "dandy" of a host of 'The Traitors,' Alan Cumming's career has spanned decades. Now at 60 years old he's arguably a bigger part of the cultural zeitgeist than ever before. He discusses his love of fashion, passion for inclusivity and all the roles that have brought him to where he is today (including 'Sex and the City' and 'Spice World!')
View Video Transcript
0:00
Hello, I'm Alan Cumming and I am the cover boy of Parade
0:09
Did the Emmy wins change the way that you think about the show or think about your career at all
0:15
I don't think it changed how I think about the show. I loved the show from the start
0:19
It's very reassuring when it's something you really like and nobody else can understand why you're doing it and what's going on
0:25
And then all of a sudden becomes this huge juggernaut of a success
0:28
So it's very affirming about just going with your gut, you know
0:33
I mean, it's nice to win prize. I sort of feel it's funny. Like I get novices for an Emmy so many times and never won
0:40
And to win two, it's sort of like, you know, that old joke about buses not coming
0:44
and then loads of them all come at once. Your fashion is such a big part of the show
0:49
At what point in the process when you guys are putting season one together
0:52
did you think, okay, like, I want this to be a big section of this character
0:57
It was sort of before we started, really. You know, they said, oh, do you have a stylist that you work with
1:03
I'd spoken to the producers about him being a dandy. That's the word I used, a sort of Scottish dandy laird of the manor
1:12
And so they said, oh, you'll get your stylist. I mean, it's gone, it's got more sort of expansive and more daring, I think
1:20
as the show has gone on, as series have gone on. But even in the first series, I had some really, you know, definitely very natty
1:26
And there were lots of all the extra accoutrements of lots of other kind of bellies and spars and things like that
1:33
And now it's just off the charts. Who would you say has been the most fashionable contestant who's been on the Traders so far
1:40
I mean, they all are upping their game. I would say Bob Harper was all Tom Brown up the wazoo
1:45
And he really wears that well. I thought Bob the Drag Queen was incredible
1:50
I mean, I just love his looks were stunning. Actually, I love Phaedra's, you know, sort of sensibility
1:56
So it's like, she's like a cartoon. When I tapped her on the shoulder to be a traitor
2:00
I suddenly thought, well, she'd feel my hand. She's got such big shoulder pads
2:04
I wonder if she even feels that like that. But yeah, I like her aesthetic
2:10
She's like a sort of comedian to the artsy character. So I read that after Peppermint got banished on season two
2:18
that you sort of made a big push for season three to have more queer contestants on the show
2:23
Why was that so important to you? Well it wasn because Pepper was vanished I just felt like just in general I mean I said there two things really I said it wasn a good look at all for a trans woman of colour to be the first person put off You know that happened and it wasn through any sort of blatant malice
2:40
But nonetheless, it was just, I was hurt by that. It hurt my sense of, you know, the way the world should be
2:47
I don't think that should be the case. And it was just unfortunate. And I just, I felt, gave a really bad optics
2:53
But prior to that, I had said there are not enough queer people on this show
2:57
Because, I mean, I am a producer on the show as well. So when I say things, they really listen
3:02
And so that's why we've got so many queer people on this season. And they're very conscious of not just statistical representation
3:09
but just giving more visibility to queer people. And especially now with what's happening with Trump to America now
3:16
I think what we can do is, you know, if people are scared of something
3:21
because they don't feel comfortable with it. They don't know people who are trans or they haven't seen people
3:26
I think that on television, seeing them, when you love the show and they're part of the show
3:31
then, you know, hopefully that will make you think that they're not so scary and why are you being asked to hate them so much
3:36
Since this is such a mainstream show and there's so many people watching it, there are a lot of conservative people who watch it
3:41
Like, what would you say to them? I understand how you have got to the place you are
3:47
because I think a lot of people are angry and a lot of people didn't know where to put their anger
3:52
And along came this person who offered you places and people to place your anger
3:57
I would ask that if you love people, if you love the traitors and you love the contestants
4:01
and you love the theatricality and frankly, the queerness of the show
4:06
then maybe you should connect that to how you voted and how your government is persecuting some of the people that you love on this program
4:17
how hard is it knowing who the traitors are are you ever worried that you're going to slip up
4:22
yes all the time all the time i'm terrible i'm the worst person keeping a secret in first season
4:28
i came back from scotland and i was doing this i think for showtime it was like a club coming
4:33
my bar you know comedy special and there was a comedian we were all having drinks for the thing
4:38
he said oh i i hear you just on this um show this reality show and i'm like yes it's such fun
4:44
And he went, oh, I absolutely love Siri. And I went, oh, she wins
4:48
And he was like, what? And I just told him. He still talks about it, apparently
4:53
that I just ruined it for him. And so I know that was, that's when I always think back
4:57
to that just like the look in space when I said that So I recently interviewed Antonio Banderas and he said oh 30 year olds are always coming up to me and asking me about spy kids Do you have the same experience
5:11
Incredible. Not just 30. Well, I mean, I guess 30 and downwards
5:16
Because I remember the moment in the early noughties, young adults suddenly changed towards me
5:23
Instead of being a famous guy, they were like, hey Mr. Feele
5:28
you were a part of my childhood and so they have this really childlike beautiful reaction
5:34
and it is really magical that I feel I've been a part of their
5:37
childhood, sort of like in a fairy tale almost and so that's
5:41
what Antonio is talking about and it continues because kids still watch it
5:46
it's one of those films that hasn't aged, I love it actually
5:49
I really really love that that's for the majority of younger people know me from
5:56
or come up to me and talk about. Because it's a magical childhood thing
6:00
And I love that. Floop also sort of has a Traders-esque outfit, I feel like
6:06
His wardrobe is great. Yes. Yes, he had great clothes. He had sort of a bustle as well
6:11
I had a big sort of bustle bit at the back. And he was a bit of a dandy. And also I loved Link because he's sort of
6:16
you think he's a baddie, but he's not really. He was just sort of misunderstood and waylaid by the baddies
6:22
So that's always nice as well. How about R? He's just sort of a sad person
6:26
His creativity was abused. So you were also in an episode of Sex and the City
6:32
They're shooting and just like that. And they're having cameos of people from old seasons
6:36
Would you come back? I love that character. And I mean, I run into Sarah Jessica, you know, from time to time
6:42
It's always nice to see her. And also Cynthia, I know. I see her quite a lot
6:47
So yes, I'd love to. You were also in Spice World. I wondered if any of the Spice Girls would ever come on Traders
6:53
I bet they would. Like in the British version, they're talking about doing a celebrity version
6:58
because they have real people. And I bet some of the girls would go on it
7:03
because they're such good fun. They do all these shows and they're always around
7:06
and they're like these kind of amazing sort of cool aunties that we've grown up with
7:12
So yeah, I think that would be great. I think it'd be hilarious actually. You've done so many things in your career
7:19
Are there things that you're still looking forward to? are the things that are still on your bucket list
7:23
I don't have a bucket list. I sort of think bucket lists are not very healthy
7:28
because I think it means you can just put things on the back burner and never do them I mean you think oh I do that one time before I die I just think go and do them What are you waiting for you might die tomorrow um so I do have a book on this but I do like you know I now running a theatre in Scotland I artistic director of the Pallocry Festival Theatre
7:45
I just started doing that so I love that I love kind of you know being able to kind of
7:50
give something back and have my create my own sort of season of plays and bring people in and
7:57
you know do readings it's really that's very fulfilling to me and it's always kind of like
8:02
all the different strands of things that i've done that i'd like to do a talk show actually
8:06
watch our kelly clarkson i'd like to do a sort of a show where i talk to all you know politicians
8:11
and sports and all sorts of people and real people if you could sort of dream cast a season
8:16
like who are people that you would love to see on like uh you know reality stars or just regular
8:21
celebrities um martha stewart is a big favorite of mine i would love to see her wet i think she
8:27
be amazing she's very resourceful she's very wise she's sort of you know got all the qualities i
8:32
think she'd be a hoot i'm sure she's going to be you know some more time now i'm sure she's not
8:36
going to be working with snip dog quite as much what the hell snip dog i would have liked snip
8:41
dog but i don't want him now i mean the thing about the people from the housewives and those
8:45
reality shows and competitions is that they have us they have a personality they have their shtick
8:50
that they bring you know what i mean they have their their characters too in the way that i've
8:54
made myself a character they are characters too and then there's some celebrities like Martha and
8:59
Snipdog who who do their character as well so I think it's actually really good when you have
9:03
people like that come on because they are already playing a game and they understand sort of what to
9:09
bring and stuff like that so that I think that would be those two or that one. How does it feel
9:16
to have just had your birthday to have turned 16 to sort of I guess be in this like renaissance of
9:20
your career it feels pretty good in terms of my self and my body like i you know everything's still
9:26
working i set a joke that i keep thinking you know i keep waiting for something to fall off
9:31
like an old card or stop feeling horny or to stop you know what i mean being curious i think that's
9:37
the thing i just i think i'm curious about life and so it doesn't feel that it's changed much
9:43
but no I really like it I like being this age it's very exciting
9:49
to be sort of maybe in the same way that I subvert
9:53
the form of a competition reality show host on The Traitors I hope I'm also subverting
9:59
the expectations of what you're supposed to be like when you turn 60
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