Fitting in can be a tall order in this British comedy

LOS ANGELES -- "Not much can bear the weight of a man," says Lola, the drag queen played by Chiwetel Ejiofor in the British comedy "Kinky Boots."

She's not just referring to the broken stiletto heel on her shoe. Lola was actually born Simon, whose father had strict ideas about being manly. Instead of trying to live up to this impossible standard, Lola finds confidence in women's garb. "Put on a frock and I can sing 'Stand by Your Man' in front of five hundred strangers," she explains. "Put on a pair of jeans and I can't even sodding well say 'hello.'"

In "Kinky Boots," one fateful night Lola runs into Charlie Price (Joel Edgerton), who's been struggling to save his family's shoemaking factory in Northampton. After watching one of Lola's performances, he's suddenly inspired to corner the market on drag queen/transvestite footwear.

At first, Ejiofor didn't think he had anything in common with his character, but he soon found his inner Lola.

"It was something that was very much part of me, even if it wasn't something that I had ever considered," he says. "So it was kind of a fun, eye-opening experience. I love the stuff in the clubs. A central part of Lola was always songs and these costumes."

In his research, Ejiofor learned Lola's particular feelings were just one of many reasons men choose to wear women's clothing and soon felt a connection to the cross-dressing community.

"Because I had the whole sort of waxed eyebrows and acrylic nails ... if I was walking out on the street ... to all intents and purposes, I looked like an off-duty drag queen," he recalls. "Initially, I was very much at pains to kind of explain I was doing this movie and it wasn't really [me]. And then, very quickly, I was like, 'Why the f**k do I have to explain it?' I think what's interesting for me was how quickly an actor can become very partisan."

Like Lola, Charlie has issues with his dad. The Price family is about well-made classic shoes like loafers, but Charlie favors scruffy sneakers. When he inherits the shoe factory, his outsider status has him worried about doing the right thing. Edgerton could identify with Charlie's dilemma, having grown up in a conservative, small town himself.

"When I was a kid, I really wanted to be a dancer," he reveals. "I remember going to one ballet class and I was the only guy there. I was like, 'I'm never going back there again.' And then I got right into karate because that was cool."

Edgerton, whose character tries on stilettos in one pivotal scene in the film, found that his shoe size wasn't the only thing he has in common with Lola.

"If you want me to sing karaoke, I literally almost have to be so drunk that I'm clinically dead," he says. "And yet, when I am on stage ... I actually really relish those scenes. That day wearing the boots was my favorite day of shooting. In fact, you could hardly get the boots off me."

"Kinky Boots" opens in select cities on Friday, April 14.