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Lloyd
Kaufman has a busy schedule
in Portland this weekend:
He will
present his film Terror Firmer at the Clinton Street
Theatre, 7 and 9:15 pm Saturday-Monday, Sept. 16-18.
He'll
also autograph copies of his book All I Need to Know
About Filmmaking I Learned from the Toxic Avenger at
3:30-5:30 pm Sunday, Sept. 17, at Tower Books, 1307 NE 102nd
Ave., and from 4 to 7 pm Monday, Sept. 18, at Movie Madness,
4320 SE Belmont St.
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The Toxic Avenger. Surf Nazis Must Die. Terror Firmer.
These films speak of a cinematic world far removed from
mainstream Hollywood, where superheroes born of toxic waste
become champions of justice. This is the world of Troma
Studios--the world of Lloyd Kaufman.
It would be easy to see Kaufman as a schlockmeister responsible
for some of the most notorious B movies of the past three
decades. But the Yale-educated director's live-action films
are more than just cheap exploitation that might once have
graced drive-in movie screens and the long-defunct grindhouses--they
are true works of independent cinema.
Kaufman, who will be in town this weekend, is as interesting
himself as the off-the-wall characters who inhabit films
like Tromeo and Juliet and Sgt. Kabukiman N.Y.P.D.
A shrewd businessman who has managed to thrive in the film
industry while steering clear of Hollywood, he is a hardcore
anti-censorship advocate who believes in mixing message
with madness. One may wonder what kind of message can be
gleaned from Nymphoid Barbarian in Dinosaur Hell,
but that's part of the fun of watching Troma pictures.
Last week, WW film editor David Walker tracked Kaufman
down in Gotham City, to talk about Eddie Murphy, Gary Marshall
and why he'll be voting for Ralph Nader.
Willamette Week: There are probably some people
out there who have never seen a Troma film. Maybe you should
tell them what to expect.
Lloyd Kaufman: The New York Times said that Troma
was the only studio, other than Disney, that has brand-name
recognition. People who are looking for an adventure in
the cinema go to see a Troma movie. People who want to be
challenged. And people who want to get their juices flowing.
You know, when I say "get their juices flowing"--maybe they
will laugh, maybe they will be really pissed off, maybe
they will cry, maybe they will get turned on. Or they might
be sincerely revulsed. But they will have an intense emotion.
Twenty years ago it seemed like only Troma and guys
like John Waters were making movies that grossed out audiences.
But now that type of humor seems to have gone mainstream
with films like Me, Myself & Irene.
The guy at the Times-Picayune, in New Orleans, in
reviewing Terror Firmer, said, "If it hadn't been
for Lloyd Kaufman, there wouldn't have been Something
About Mary."
Do you find it harder to rattle the cages? I've seen
stuff in theaters the past six or seven months that I honestly
would've thought I'd only have seen in a Troma film.
Like Scary Movie?
The fact that they got an "R" rating is astounding.
And then there was some stuff in Nutty Professor II...
That shows you that Disney writes the rules. But there's
no point of view in those movies. I've got no objection
to Nutty Professor II, but it's going to be long
forgotten. Whereas if you look at Troma's War, there's
amazing things going on.
The Toxic Avenger came out back in 1983 and really
put Troma on the map. Did you think it was going to lead
to the lunch boxes and cartoons and comic books?
The magic happened, no. Every time I make a movie, I know
there's going to be an audience for it, I always have that
feeling. Our movies come from the heart and we believe in
them. When you do something like that, you're going to have
people showing up. Clearly, we got lucky with Toxic Avenger--there's
some kind of magic Toxie has that, in spite of the fact
that there's economic blacklisting, Toxie goes on.
There's a new Toxic Avenger movie due out soon, Citizen
Toxie. What can we expect?
We're dealing with abortion and plastic surgery and penile
implants and dual universes and lesbians. We've got a lot
of interesting issues going on in Citizen Toxie.
We've got the racism thing and the pickup dragging the black
guy around. Citizen Toxie's a happening movie. There's
a lot of people whose buttons are going to be pushed.
There are people out there who want to blame movies
for the ills of society, and Troma makes the sort of films
that revel in the things conservative people want to blame--sex
and violence. Do you have a response to all the people out
there who think movies and television and rock-and-roll
are part of the downfall of society?
We are amateurs when it comes to obscenity. I mean 20 percent
of the children in this country live in poverty. That's
obscenity. We're amateurs. It's ridiculous. I'll tell you,
Pretty Woman may be responsible, and Forrest Gump
might be responsible. These are movies shown on airplanes.
Children can watch these movies. My little children watched
Pretty Woman, a movie that glorified prostitution
and made prostitution into a Cinderella story. And
my little girls--I have little teeny weeny girls--they thought
prostitution was pretty cool, thanks to Gary Marshall. And
Forrest Gump, that movie teaches you to follow orders.
Be a retard, follow orders and you'll get your ass shot
off in an unjust war--a war that will kill millions of yellow
people--and you will end up a millionaire. I mean that,
to me, is obscenity.
What do you think of the presidential race?
Gore is a tobacco farmer, he's a big tobacco guy. He's
a major shareholder in Occidental Petroleum, which is totally
destroying the environment and screwing this little Indian
tribe. And of course the other side, they're all into it.
And it's all really pretty disgusting. Lieberman, the Jew,
he wants to censor. Tipper Gore tried to make her career
on censoring music, and when the American public didn't
want to buy it then she changed her tune real fast. So my
message to America is that you better watch these bastards.
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