Sapphira, Jamal Sims and more

When Philadelphia queen Sapphira Cristál walked into the Werk Room during the season 16 premiere of “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” it was immediately apparent to viewers at home that the seasoned and confident queen — with her comedic chops, impeccable timing skills lips and the ability to provide a flawless appearance — would be one of the main pioneers to win. So it came as a shock to many viewers that Sapphira – who eventually came second in the season after narrowly losing the final lip to contestants Nymphia Wind – had previously auditioned 11 times in the distinguished history of the show.

As casting director Goloka Bolte describes her, Sapphira was a queen who was strongly considered for the program many times but narrowly missed out. “She was 100 percent on my radar, I was definitely a fan,” Bolte said during an IndieWire Consider This panel. “It’s like alchemy, putting together an ensemble cast and there are a lot of candidates. One of the really incredible results of this show becoming a global phenomenon is that we have so many auditions and we want the cast to feel a little different every year. And sometimes someone is right this far from being on the show.”

“We always want to strike a balance between abilities, backgrounds, we want to be a diverse show, we want to make sure that the people watching see themselves really represented,” Bolte continued. “In some years, someone who might have auditioned once or twice in the past, they’ve messed up their performance that year. It really makes all the difference.”

Bolte and Sapphira were joined by “Drag Race” choreographer Jamal Sims for a conversation with IndieWire Awards editor Marcus Jones. Season 16 of the perennial Emmy favorite received eight nominations this year, with Bolte nominated for Outstanding Casting for a Reality Program, while Sims received a nomination for Outstanding Choreography for Variety or Reality TV. The three discussed the process of bringing the show — which began as a cheap, little-publicized logo series before gradually evolving into a global phenomenon that popularized drag around the world — and working with the various season 16 queens to create one of the show’s most memorable recent casts.

Bolte said Sapphira was cast this year after several rejections because her audition tape for the season featured significantly improved comedy from the opera singer, which pushed her into must-cast territory. Discussing her history navigating the casting process for the show, Sapphira said she felt she came on the show at the right time, noting that if she had gotten involved the first time around, she would have been a younger, inexperienced queen which competes against one of them. most cast (Season 5’s Jinkx, Alaska, Roxxxy, Detox, Alyssa Edwards, and more) in show history.

“I kind of used it as an inventory of where I was in my career and where I was in my craft at that time,” Sapphira said. “I said a long time ago, ‘I want to go on Drag Race, but I only want to go when I’m ready to win and be a top contender.’ And, here we are. But I don’t know that this would have happened four years ago. If I’d got my act together when I first auditioned, I would have been with Roxxxy, Alaska and Detox and all those heavy hitters, and I was just a queen. Everything happens at the right time. Maybe not at your time, but at the right time.”

Once the queens enter the show, Sims meets them in an opening episode during the season’s girl group episode, where the girls are divided into teams to learn a dance number and lip sync. Sims doesn’t interact with the cast until this episode and said that for a queen to succeed in the challenge, they have to be open to direction and feedback.

“This is a competition, so everyone is so tense. Usually when I come in, a few people have been turned away, so everyone’s like, ‘Maybe it’s me this week,'” Sims said. “So I’m always looking for people who say, ‘Okay, anything you can help me with, I’m open.’

Watch the full interview with Sims, Bolte and Sapphira above.