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photo
courtesy of kiss of death productions
On
September 6th, 2002 Lloyd Kaufman invaded the Rex Theatre
in the South Side to introduce everyone to Citizen Toxie and
he tromatized Primati Brothers by stopping in to do an interview
with me. The following is what Troma Entertainments's genius
had to say:
1.
What is it like being Lloyd Kaufman?
Well
being Lloyd Kaufman is a chore because Lloyd Kaufman is motivated
99% by the enjoyment of pissing people off, which does not make
for a very successful career artistically or financially. Lemmy
from Motorhead; he thinks all of my movies that everything I do
is purely to piss people off, which is not quite true. So being
Lloyd Kaufman also is somewhat fortunate in that I've been able
to make movies, which come from the heart. I'm one of the few
film directors in history who has been able to continue over a
period of thirty years. Doing somewhat free personal films and
movies that are totally independent. I'm also fortunate in having
a family that, I've had the same wife for 28 years, and the same
business partner for 28 years which is rather unusual. So I'm
a lucky man. I'm the luckiest luckiest man man man on the face
of the earth. Lou Gerhig..
2. Who inspired you and who do you idolize?
Well I would say the Silvios (local independent film makers, who Lloyd has a cameo film appearance with) of Kiss of Death Productions in Pittsburgh are heroic and they are heroes. They are doing what they believe in. They're independent filmmakers and as long as they give me a part in their film I will say nice things about them. I would say that in terms of heroes I think that Ralph Nader would have made a good President. I would've like to see him get a little more credit instead of being treated like a clown. He's the guy who beat up, he actually single handedly defeated General Motors and got seat belts. He saved more lives then Henry Kissinger who bombed Cambodia and got a Noble Peace Prize for it. Thomas Jefferson, you certainly can't help reading what he wrote without being somewhat moved. And then of course there is Jenna Jamison..I mean I mean uhh then of course there is movie directors: Charlie Chaplin is certainly a big hero, John Ford, Howard Hawk, Buster Keaton, Andy Warhol is a major major influence on my genre. The fact that Andy Warhol was an underground filmmaker. On the other hand he was able to get into the mainstream. Most underground artists either get into the mainstream or like Van Gogh they blow their brains out. Very few stay underground for as long as thirty years. So I'm fairly unique in that regard. I would say I'm inspired by the the directors of yesteryear Fritz Laung, Renoir, Stan Brackage who is a present day experimental filmmaker, I believe is the greatest living visual artist period.
3. What are your favorite horror movies of all time?
Well I'm really not an expert on horror films um but I think "Frankenstein" is one of my favorites. That was the big influence on Toxic Avenger. I always wanted the monster to live. You know Frankenstein is very sad. That was part of the inspiration of creating the Toxic Avenger was so that Frankenstein could live. Todd Browning's movie "Freaks" is a good one, Dracula's great, certainly "The Shining" is maybe the scariest movie. I just saw Julie Teymore's "Titus", which is her addition of Shakespeare's Titus Adronicus. That's a scary disturbing movie. "Evil Dead part 2" is certainly a masterpiece. I don't know if you'd consider "Army Of Darkness" by Sam Raimi. But you know that's a great certainly a tour de force acting role for Campbell. Bruce Campbell should have gotten the Oscar for that.
4. What are the pros and cons of fame?
Well Fame uh had some a couple good songs but I never liked the dancing in it. It was too uhh I don't know. Too much too watered down. The director was talented, good director.
5. What do you look for in an actor or actress?
At least in a movie I direct. They must be totally it has to be all about the movie. It can't be about anything other than the movie. If they are doing it for money obviously they can't work for Troma. If they are doing it for food they can't work for Troma because we don't have a Primanti Brothers in New York, which has such delicious food. We uhh you know we want unique energetic people who are there to sleep on the floor, eat cheese sandwiches three times a day, know how to defecate in a paper bag and worship the film itself. Do what they believe in and that's kinda I think that's what we look at. We look for people who are just dying to be in our movies. Now if the actor can act that's also good but there's a lot more too it than that. If you look at the Troma movies you will see they're either we tend to like extremes. There's like very beautiful people or very bizarre looking people and so we sorta always have an eye out for unusual people for our ensemble.
6. What are some of your favorite bands?
I don't know much about music. I mean I like a lot of it. I just don't know really who they are. Right now New Found Glory I think is very good. I like them a lot. I like Eminem but that's not a band. Is he a band, Eminem? Do you consider him a band? In terms of bands, I guess the Doors were great. I don't know much about bands. Benny Goodman had a good band. Lionel Hampton just died. He was the last of the Benny Goodman crew. Not to mention the fact that Benny Goodman had an integrated band long before Hollywood did. Long before Hollywood had black people Benny Goodman had Lionel Hampton and Teddy Wilson. That was pretty cool. I'm trying to think of other bands.. Who were those guys that kinda had mop hair? They were like in the sixties? The Cockroaches. Whoever they were they were good. Motorhead of course. I like Sublime a lot too. The Misfits are great- I like them.
7. What advice do you have for people who idolize you?
Well to that one person, to the two people out there- my mother thank you for having me, but I still resent the fact mom that you called me your little mistake. I don't like that. My wife thanks for putting up with me. I don't think there are too many people who idolize me. If there are, they are dangerous. Watch out! Just continue to carry on, do what you believe in, to thine own self be true, and take no prisoners.
8. What made you decide to be a director?
I made the mistake of going to Yale University. I was going to be uhh it was the sixties and I was headed to be a teacher or a social worker. I wanted to do some good, to change the world, to do something good with my life. Teach people with hooks for hands how to finger paint or teach bums how to sew beads into a necklace. But unfortunately, I got roomed with a movie nut at Yale and he started showing me all these great movies and I literally caught the bug. We had a very small bedroom. We lived together in a little tinie winie bedroom and his bed and my bed were head to toe. So every night I would smell his god darn stinking feet. And the Aroma du Troma was born. I couldn't stop watching movies and then started I decided I'd start making them. I bought a Bolex camera and uhh I can retell you the exact moment I made the decision to make movies. It was at the Yale Film Society watching Erntz Lubiches "To Be or Not To Be". I don't know if you've seen that film but Mel Brook's did a remake of it, which wasn't bad. "To Be or Not To Be" is Jack Benny, Carol Lombard, and Robert Stack. It's a marvelous film and I just sat there in the dark seeing how powerful Lubiches art was, but yet the movie was so out of control and so so crazy. And there was kind of the ying and yang and um I decided right then and there. It was as easy as getting up from the lazy boy and going to the icebox and getting a beer. I said I'm gonna be a movie man a movie maker. I will make movies. So if you wanna blame Troma on somebody Jack Benny's died, Carol Lombard is dead, but you can throw an egg at Robert Stack. He's still around. It's all his fault.
© 2011 Ariann Boisvert
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