GO Rom Com Spotlight: @minervamoon66
The amiable @minervamoon66 (also minervamoon on AO3) has claimed Victor Victoria to adapt for Good Omens in the Good Omens Rom Com Event.
For reference, here’s a little background about the source material!
About Victor Victoria: Victoria Grant (Julie Andrews), a down-and-out British soprano, struggles to find work in the nightclubs of 1930s Paris. While trying to scam a free meal, Grant meets cabaret performer Toddy (Robert Preston), who comes up with an idea that will change everything. Acting as her manager, Toddy bills Grant as a male female impersonator. When the nightclubs eat it up, the duo makes it big -- even a Chicago mobster (James Garner) is enamored with Grant. But keeping the truth a secret is no easy task.
We spent some time chatting about how the adaptation is coming so far, as well as future plans for it! Now, get to know @minervamoon66 a little better!
goromcom: So, about you: If you open a Tumblr chat with someone you haven't chatted to before, Tumblr tells you two things they post about. Tumblr reports that you post "about #good omens fic and #31 days of ineffables". That sounds incredibly on brand and valid of you. :) How did you enjoy 31 Days of Ineffables?
minervamoon66: As for the tags, I was very slow to get on Tumblr. I had an account for years but never used it until I became obsessed with GO. Not enough people local to me to rave about it with so I had to seek them out online. Nearly everything I post and heart is GO related because of it. And I loved 31 Days of Ineffables. I still haven't finished reading everything simply because I also need to catch up on so much good content all around.
goromcom: You chose to adapt Victor Victoria as your rom com. Has this movie been a favorite of yours, or is there some other reason you chose it?
minervamoon66: Victor Victoria has always been one of my favorites. I'm a sucker for musicals. Though Victor Victoria is more of a movie with a few musical numbers than a true musical, it still has a similar vibe. Maybe it's the comedic timing, or the points where it doesn't seem to take itself completely seriously. Not sure.
goromcom: How wonderful that they captured that feel in the movie without it just seeming like a filmed version of the stage play. That was probably quite a difficult line to walk.
What's your favorite moment of Victor Victoria, and are you looking forward to presenting it in your adaptation? Any loose plans for that scene that you can share?
minervamoon66: Well, one of my favorite parts is actually a bit of dialogue between two side characters. It’s Norma and Toddy's little chat about their preference for men over women, but now I get to have Crowley adding in his two cents with something like, "Both is an option."
goromcom: Oh, just have to love Crowley, don’t you? That’s a good moment for him.
Do you plan to stick very closely to the story beats of the original movie, or make bigger changes?
minervamoon66: I'd like to say I stayed close to the original beats, but then I remembered I skipped the first thirty minutes of the movie. A lot of it was visual humor that I didn't think would translate well. I backfilled with Aziraphale explaining to Crowley how she (Aziraphale is in female form for this one) ended up as a singer in a Paris nightclub. I'm also using the 1995 stage production as source material for at least one scene that wasn't done exactly the same way in the movie.
goromcom: Ah, other than borrowing from the stage play version, what's another interesting decision you've made in your planning so far--a notable casting decision, a changing of venue, or some other plan you have to paint Good Omens all over your rom com?
minervamoon66: Basically this is Victor Victoria in the Good Omens universe. Aziraphale and Crowley are still an angel and demon. Aziraphale kinda falls into being a jazz singer after an assignment in Paris, and Crowley has been spending the last decade or so as the bodyguard to an up-and-coming would-be gangster.
goromcom: Staying with canon sounds like it will be really interesting in this case!
Now that we’re wrapping up, I have a question for you that I am blatantly stealing from The Good Place: The Podcast. Tell me something "good". It can be something big or small. It can be a charity you think is doing good work, or you can talk about how great your pet is.
minervamoon66: I've always tried to support The Trevor Project when I could. Suicide prevention is important in its own right, but LGBTQ+ teens are at such a higher risk due to smallmindedness. I'd just like anyone, ANYONE who reads this to know you are not alone. I'm a safe place, and there are more like me out there. We will listen, and we will care.
Keep an eye out for the GO adaptation of Victor Victoria!
