INTERVIEW 6
(taken from INTERVIEW MAGAZINE, September 2001)
BRAD RENFRO
HE'LL NEVER HAVE TO RAM A YACHT INTO THE DOCK FOR ATTENTION AGAIN
Nineteen-years-old Brad Renfro made his acting debut opposite Susan Surandon in Joel Schumacher's 1994 film The Client, at the tender age of 10. With Sleepers (1996) and Apt Pupil (1998), he seemed to be making the transition to bona fide stardom when, in August 2000, he attempted to steal a yacht (although, to much media mirth, he forgot to untie it from the dock). It resulted in his second arrest and Renfro retreated to his hometown of Knoxville, Tennessee, where he lives with his grandmother, to clear his head.
This summer Renfro made a very big comeback in Larry Clark's deeply distrubing and equaily moving Bully, playing a youth so troubled he makes the actor's own adolescent tomfoolery seem G-rated in comparison.Based on a true story, Bully tells the tale of Marty Puccio, and insecure Florida teen who's tormented by his best friend until his girlfriend (Rachel Miner), like a white trash Lady Macbeth, convinces Marty to murder him. Renfro was also seen this summer playing Thora Birch and Scarlett Johansson's chauffer-slash-object of desire in the delightful Ghost World, director Terry Zwigoff's dark-tinted coming - of- age story. And later this fall comes a suporting role alongside Stephen Dorff and Norman Reedus in the ensemble '50's gangster film Deuces Wild.
EMMA FOREST: Your first line of dialogue in this past summer's Bully is "I want you to suck my big dick." How do you subsume the fear of what your family is going to think?
BRAD RENFRO: My family is actually very cool like that. As a matter of fact, My grandmother, if she were to watch me deliver that very line, would probably laugh her ass off.
EF: Does it seem a dichotomy to you that with the recent Bully and Ghost World and, in fact all the way back to Apt Pupil and Sleepers, get you're doing such gritty work and yet you're still living with your grandma in Knoxville?
BR: I kind of dig it, actually.
EF: You've lived with her for a while, haven't you?
BR: Yeah, since I was six. Actually, I'm about to move out, into a cabin up in the mountains in the country right next to Knoxville.
EF: Sounds lovely. What's harder as an actor, very graphic sex or very graphic violence? because you've done both.
BR: As an actor I'd say very graphic violence.But as a viewer, very graphic sex. As a matter of fact the first time I saw Bully, My one problem was that there was too much graphic sex.
EF: Some people have said that Bully's cast was exploited. Was there ever a point in making the film that you felt uncomfortable?
BR: No, not really. It's kind of hard to exploit or imbarrass Old Brad Renfro. I've done a good job of that my damn self.
EF:Which we'll come to. (both laugh) Was there anything you did to make Rachel Miner feel more comfortable, or that she did to make you feel mor comfortable, during those graphic sex scenes?
BR: Rachel and I were extremely good friends (when we started filming), so it made it much easier. I would have had a lot more quarrels with the story, except for the fact that this shit really happened. So it wasn't as if I could say "well you know Larry. I don't know if this character would really do this."
EF: Is that something that you usually tend to do, quarrel with a director?
BR: Oh, yeah, I totally like to get in the grit.Because there've been so many movies were I haven't done that, and when I see that, I just want to puke. With movies like Tom and Huck (1995)-my dumb ass thought I was making an American classic. And it wasn't that.
EF: Do you ever feel protective of the child version of you, the you that was a child actor?
BR: Oh, most definitely. I started smoking cigarettes when I was 11 years old. If I could, I would go back and smack the shit out of myself.
EF: And you were only 10 when you made The Client. Did you have sexual thought about Susan Sarandon?
BR: (laughs) Yeah, of course I did I mean her fire! You're damn straight! Yeah, and I still do, I mean, come on honey, she's Susan Sarandon, She's hottie! Oh God, Susan's gonna murder me know. (laughs)
EF:You want to hear something crazy? The morning after the presidental election I was out in the street (in New York) and I saw Susan Sarandon coming towards me on scooter. I just felt, "Susan will know what to do". So I asked her." What are we gonna to do?" She was so cool about being stopped on the street, and she said "we go through the father and we'll make it through the son. I'll be OK-I promise you."
BR: That woman is just my favorite. She is my favorite woman alive.
EF: You said in the production notes from Bully that actors trade their sanity for pleasure. So, to get to the topic you've probably been waiting for, were you arrests a manifestation of that?
BR: No, my arrest were, I think, just God trying to tell me "chill-before jail isn't an option."
EF: Have you become more religious since all that happened?
BR: Most definitely.
EF: And do you think God is OK with your sex scene in Bully?
BR: Oh, definitely. Other wise He wouldn't have precented me with the opportunity. Hey, hold on a second -Gotta get Tennesssee with it.
EF: What?
BR: I said " I has to get Tennessee with it" - take my shirt off. It's too hot. It's killing me. OK. So, no, My God's not gonna be to down on my work, I don't think.
EF: You've said he wouldn't have precented you with the opportunity, but could say that about anyhing. Isn't that dangerous?
BR: Well, if you try to use it to your best adventage, yes that could be dangerous, I suppose.But everybody - religious, atheist, satanist- knows right from wrong.
EF: Ghost World is based on a comic book. I wonder, have you ever felt like a comic book character, like the next panel is already mapped out for you, whether you like it or not?
BR: No. I really believe I'm in controll of my own destiny.
EF: In Deuces Wild you have a love scene with Fairuza Balk. She would made a lot of heterosexual girls I know experiment, which guy will make you experiment?
BR: Steve McQueen! (laughs)
EF: All the best once are dead. "what's your favorite Steve McQueen's movie?
BR: I have got many of them. I am actually about watch the Cincinnati Kid (1985).
EF: I love that film! Tuesday Welt is one of my favorite actress
BR: Oh,she's beautiful.
EF: You seem to have an affinity for older women.
BR: Definitely.
EF: Have you ever date an older woman?
BR: Mmm-hmm
EF: Is it something you hope to do again?
BR: I don't know. They certainly enjoy it, though.
EF: That sounds cocky.
BR: I'm not a bad person.
EF: I didn't say you were a bad person.
BR: Actually I'm not arrogant
EF: Are you insecure ?
BR: Highly.
EF: In a parallel universe, where the yacht wasn't tied to the dock, where did you go?
BR: Nowhere. I just sat there and rammed it into the dock, just like I did. If I'd wanted to go somewhere I would've untied it.
EF: Really, it wasn't mistake?
BR: No, no. I am fucking retarded, but I'm not fucking stupid. I just wanted to sit there and cause a ruckus and ram it into the dock.
EF: You wanted some attention.
BR: Right
EF: But not as much attention as you got.
BR: No shit.
