Preserving the Cult Classic Status of Drop Dead Gorgeous (1999) Through Design

Guest post alert! Jeremy here, and I’m very excited that Courtney LeSueur is expanding her contributions to this newsletter via the written word. Courtney is kinda the creative director of this newsletter, since she came up with our amazing Dusty logo, which allowed me to go crazy with some subscriber merch. Anyway, since you already know she's an amazingly talented designer, you probably won't be surprised to hear that she just created a smattering of Drop Dead Gorgeous shirts, mugs, and stickers for Super Yaki. And now she's here to tell you how that came to be. Take it away, Courtney!

From 2002 until around 2005, my neighbor across the street would buy movies only to watch them once.

Why she didn’t just go to the local Movie Gallery in Arab, Alabama is beyond me. But whenever she was ready to unload her stock, she’d call my young self over to take the movies off her hands, sending me home with a box full of VHS tapes after every visit. You could say she was a pusher fueling my addiction to cinema; I would say those were the moments that defined my taste for the rest of my life.

These hauls contained all kinds of discoveries. There were films like Moulin Rouge!, which instantly became a classic among my 11-year-old friends and I despite some very mature content. There were also films like Evolution, which I’m not sure I ever actually watched. But I’ll never forget stumbling upon the underseen but brilliant dark comedy Drop Dead Gorgeous in one of those boxes.

It’s like Christopher Guest for the teen girlies. Written by Lona Williams, the mockumentary-style film follows contestants in a Minnesota high school beauty pageant. Kirsten Dunst co-stars as an underdog overachiever (in a charming and not annoying way), the mortuary cosmetologist and aspiring newscaster Amber Atkins. Current Real Housewife of Beverly Hills Denise Richards co-stars as Rebecca Ann Leeman, the rich bitch shoo-in and daughter of the pageant coordinator.* Richards is at her career peak in this film, delivering a handful of the most incredible line reads you’ll ever hear in your life. (More on that later.)

But the cast is surprisingly deep here. Featured players also include Brittany Murphy (R.I.P.) as a Broadway-loving teen with a gay brother, Amy Adams in a very early role as the slutty cheerleader, Kirstie Alley as the aforementioned pageant coordinator, and Ellen Barkin and Allison Janney as unhinged trailer trash mother figures. (And we celebrate them!)

It’s only 98 minutes too! They don’t even make movies that short anymore! It must be illegal or something.

Two decades after those boxes of tapes changed my life and opened my eyes to the world of cinema, I make my living as a graphic designer/illustrator. On rare occasions, my worlds collide, like when I got to design a Star Wars theme for UPS truck and boxes a couple years ago. Thankfully, I’ve found a creative outlet through Super Yaki, “a shop for people who watch very good movies,” as they proudly proclaim.

In 2021, I collaborated with Super Yaki to do a collection of stickers, t-shirts, even a bowling shirt for my beloved Grease 2, another underseen but brilliant film.** After we rolled that one out, I immediately suggested a follow-up collection for Drop Dead Gorgeous. Much to my delight, Super Yaki enthusiastically agreed! It didn’t hurt that the film had become a cult classic since I first discovered it. In fact, my favorite podcast, Las Culturistas, even had an entire category in their 2023 Culture Awards titled “The Denise Richards Drop Dead Gorgeous Line Reading Award.” You simply have to respect the cultural implications of something like this.***

The Super Yaki Drop Dead Gorgeous collection finally released last weekend. If you missed the drop, the bad news is that preorders officially closed at midnight on July 4th. But the good news is there’ll be a limited number of extras available soon, so you haven’t missed your chance yet!

I have to say, I spent a long time championing this movie when it felt like it had been all but forgotten. And now it’s really special to share it with everyone in a meaningful way, especially when they say things like “How had I never heard of this before!?” It brings me so much joy to finally see Drop Dead Gorgeous getting its moment in the sun, possibly even making its way onto the Mount Rushmore of cult films. Or putting its face onto an ugly old mountain, if you will.

*Jeremy here to point out that somehow, some way, we’ve covered two Denise Richards films on the newsletter this year and it’s only July. (Read up on Tammy And The T-Rex if you missed that issue!)

**I made Jeremy watch Grease 2 for this newsletter around that time, and I felt very vindicated when he did, in fact, like it. Also, there are still a few Grease 2 shirts left and they’re on sale! Go get one!

***If there are any readers/Kayteighs/publicists/finalists out there, you get me. If not, this is falling on incredibly deaf ears and I’m so sorry to all the Dusties reading this and wondering what the hell I’m talking about! Also, Dusties are what we’re calling your subscribers now, Jeremy. I just made this decision for you.

Drop Dead Gorgeous is no longer streaming anywhere, but it was on Max last month, I promise. I hate it when this happens.