In the video store is a poster for Frauds (1993), also directed by Stephan Elliott and also starring Hugo Weaving.
The line in the closing credits "Shown in Dragarama at select theatres" is a reference to some theatres using a mirror-ball and colored lighting during the "Finally" dance number.
The famous thong dress, which won the movie an Academy Award, cost only $7.
Hugo Weaving's character was based on Sydney drag-queen Cindy Pastel. who like the character has a son and female companion.
Tim Curry turned down the role of Mitzy.
The opening and closing scenes were both filmed on the same day.
The drag-queen in the barber's chair during the closing credits, is actually costume designer Tim Chappel.
Most of the crew can be seen in the movie at some point. Costumer designer Lizzy Gardiner played the "Naughty" maid at the hotel, and director Stephan Elliott was the doorman.
Bill Hunter was filming Muriel's Wedding (1994) and Priscilla at the same time, each requiring him to have different length hair, beard and to be in different parts of the country.
Due to a heavy filming schedule, lots of filming was done while the entire crew was on the road. But because the bus was such a small set, there was no room for the crew. As such in many scenes, they are actually in shot, hiding under clothes and other props.
Marion:
Stop wearing out that mirror!
Felicia:
[singing] A desert holiday, let's pack the drag away. You take the lunch and tea, I'll take the ecstasy. Fuck off you silly queer, I'm getting out of here. A desert holiday, hip hip hip hip hooray!
Bernadette:
Stop flexing your muscles, you big pile of budgie turd. I'm sure your mates will be much more impressed if you just go back to the pub and fuck a couple of pigs on the bar.
Bob:
Bernadette, please.
Frank:
BERNADETTE? Well I'll be darned. The whole circus is in town. Well I suppose you wanna fuck too do you? Come on Bernadette, come and fuck me. That's it. Come on. Come and fuck me. Come on.
[Bernadette knees Frank in the groin]
Bernadette:
There, now you're fucked!
Bernadette:
No, I'll join this conversation on the proviso that we stop bitching about people talking about wigs, dresses, bust sizes, penises, drugs, night clubs, and bloody Abba!
Tick:
Doesn't give us much to talk about then, does it?
[Cooking sausages]
Felicia:
How do you like your little boys, girls?
Bernadette:
That's just what this country needs: a cock in a frock on a rock.
Bernadette:
One more push, I'm gonna to smack his face so hard he'll have to stick his toothbrush up his arse to clean his teeth!
Bernadette:
Now listen here, you mullet. Why don't you just light your tampon, blow your box apart? Because it's the only bang you're ever gonna get, sweetheart!
Bernadette:
I've said it before, and I'll say it again: "No more fucking ABBA!"
Felicia:
It's so funny you'll laugh so hard your lashes will curl all by themselves.
Felicia:
So anyway, back to me.
Felicia:
Oh, for goodness sakes, get down off that crucifix. Someone needs the wood.
Felicia:
Do you think I'm going to let you walk away with all the attention? No chance, come on girls. Let's go shopping.
Mitzi:
Come on girls, off your snatches.
Mitzi:
Oh, get bet back in your kennels, both of you.
Felicia:
Do you know why this microphone has such a long cord? So it's easily retrieved after I've shoved it up your ass.
Mitzi:
You know, there are two things I don't like about you, Felicia... your face. So how 'bout shutting both of them?
Felicia:
Mowing those lawns must have been murder on your heels, though.
Mitzi:
What fun. Baby bottles of booze.
Felicia:
The only life I saw for the last million miles were the hypnotized bunnies. Most of them are now wedged in the tires.
Mitzi:
Bernice has left her cake out in the rain!
Mitzi:
Tack-a-rama!
Cynthia:
Me don't like you anyway. You have little ding-a-ling.
Bernadette:
Being a man one day and a woman the next isn't an easy thing.
Bernadette:
Believe me, Bob, these days gentlemen are an endangered species. Unlike bloody drag queens who just keep breeding like rabbits.
Bernadette:
Oh. Uh, gather around girls, uh, let me show you a trick. You, um, drink the Gin...
[Guzzles the entire contents]
Bernadette:
aah, uh, fill the bottle up with water and then put it back in the fridge.
Mitzi:
Va-t'on vous. What about the scotch?
Bernadette:
Aha! That's where the complimentary tea bags come in handy.
Felicia:
Do you have the Texas Chainsaw Mascara?
Felicia:
[when the Spencer's see all three and then take off] Oh, for goodness sakes, look at yourself, Mitz. How many times do I have to tell you? Green is not your color!
[Laughs hysterically]
Bernadette:
Ladies, start your engines!
[after their bus breaks down in the middle of the outback]
Bernadette:
Oh Felicia. Where the Fukawi?
Bernadette:
We've only recently discovered that young Anthony here, bats for both teams.
Mitzi:
I do not!
Felicia:
Oh, so we're straight?
Mitzi:
No.
Felicia:
Oh, we're not. So we're a donut puncher, after all?
Mitzi:
No.
Felicia:
Then what the fuck are we?
Mitzi:
I don't fuckin' know.
Bernadette:
Oh, you must be fucking joking.
Tick:
Is it true when you were born the doctor turned around and slapped your mother?
Bernadette:
What a lovely dog. What's it's name?
Bob:
Herpes. If she's good, she'll heel.
Mitzi:
I never heard Trumpet play.
Bernadette:
Play? He didn't *play*, dear. Trumpet didn't have a single musical bone in his body. No, Trumpet had an unusually large foreskin. So large that he could wrap the entire thing around a Monte Carlo biscuit.
Benji:
Does Dad have a boyfriend at the moment?
Felicia:
No, no he doesn't.
Benji:
Neither does Mum. She used to have a girlfriend, but she got over her.
Benji:
[Benji pauses, then turns and looks at Felicia] You want to come play in my room? I've got Lego.
Bernadette:
[after Felicia tells Bernadette about her ABBA story] Are you telling me this is an ABBA turd?
Tick:
What do you assume I do?
Marion:
Assumption, my dear Mitz, is the mother of all fuck-ups.
Marion:
Morals are a choice, and he'll decide his own when he's good and bloody well ready.
Tick:
[Tick and Bernadette are discussing what it would be like to have children] What happens if they turn out like Adam?
Bernadette:
You stuff 'em back in and ask for a refund.
Felicia:
Oh, you can't do that with a ping-pong ball!
Bernadette:
Wanna bet?
Felicia:
I met some Swedish tourists named... Lars, Lars and Lars.
Felicia:
[after showing him the bus he had bought for their trip] Ta-da!
Tick:
When do we have to return it to the school?
Tick:
I've um... been asked to do a show out of town.
Doctor:
Mr. Belrose?
Tick:
Yes?
Doctor:
It's a boy.
Bernadette:
You've got to be fucking joking!
Bernadette:
How long is the run?
Tick:
Four weeks. Equity minimum, two shows a night, accommodation included.
Felicia:
This old man he played two. He played knick-knack with my poo!
Felicia:
I hereby christen this budget Barbie camper, Pricilla: Queen Of The Desert.
Felicia:
How long have we been on the road?
Bernadette:
Four and a half hours.
Felicia:
Hey, can you confirm a rumor for me? Is it true that her real name is Ralph?
Tick:
Night, John Boy.
Bernadette:
Don't Darling, me, Darling. Look at you. You've got a face like a cat’s ass.
Felicia:
I mean who is the fish that runs this bloody hotel in the middle of nowhere anyway? Your mother?
Tick:
My wife. I'm married.
Felicia:
What did she used do for kicks? Put a bucket on your head and swing off the handle?
Felicia:
You haven't got any kids stashed away as well have you?
Felicia:
All dolled up and nowhere to go.
Bernadette:
At least the bump on your head is bigger than your prick!
Tick:
What sort of bent-childhood... did you have, Adam Whitely?
Uncle Barrie:
Uncle Barrie's penie-pie is caught in the drain. Get mummy! Get mummy!
Felicia:
Sorry... Ralph.
Bernadette:
Do tell us your hilarious joke.
References
A Night at the Opera (1935)
Les Girls (1957)
"The Waltons" (1972)
The Poseidon Adventure (1972)
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)
Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975)
"Neighbours" (1985)
Evil Angels (1988)
- When Tick's son plays charades, he mimes Lindy Chaberlain. "The dingo took my baby!"
Referenced in
"Red Dwarf: Ouroboros (#7.3)" (1997)
- "Priscilla, Queen of Deep Space"
"The Drew Carey Show: New York and Queens (#2.24)" (1997)
- Mimi and others are dressed as characters from Priscilla and dance to "Shake Your Groove Thing" outside of a midnight showing of the film.
"The Drew Carey Show: Drew's Dance Party Special (#4.10)" (1998)
- A clip from the episode "New York and Queens" is featured. In it, Mimi and other characters dress as characters from "Priscilla."
The Book That Wrote Itself (1999)
- talked about in the movie
A Raíz do Coração (2000)
Dr. Dolittle 2 (2001)
The Time Machine (2002)
Ali G Indahouse (2002)
"The King of Queens: Mammary Lane (#5.5)" (2002)
- TiVo has recorded this for Spence.
Kangaroo Jack (2003)
Featured in
Ladies Please! (1995)
- features footage from this film.
MST3K Little Gold Statue Preview Special (1995) (TV)
The 52nd Annual Golden Globe Awards (1995) (TV)
- clips
The 67th Annual Academy Awards (1995) (TV)
The Celluloid Closet (1995)
The Last Seduction II (1999)
Frank McKlusky, C.I. (2002) (V)
The Hidden History of Homosexual Australia (2005)
- extracts from this movie are featured
"20 to 1: Magnificent Movies (#3.14)" (2006)
- Some clips from this movie are shown when it is the subject of a segment.
Schau mir in die Augen, Kleiner (2007)
- features a clip of the film
Spoofs
Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
- When the bus breaks down the drag queens cross the desert in similar costumes and style as in Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)
Spoofed in
Plump Fiction (1997)
South Park: Bigger Longer & Uncut (1999)
The Sweetest Thing (2002)
- Christina and Courtney dress up in outfits worn by characters in that movie during their 'movie montage' scene