Clown rape movie is beyond 'vulgar'
PUSSSYKATT
------------------------------
Bryan Johnson, high school buddy and protégé of New Jersey auteur Kevin Smith,
is the first to admit that his new black comedy, "Vulgar," which depicts a male
clown being sexually attacked, is not for all tastes - to put it mildly. "It's
for people who don't like by-the-numbers movies, but movies that confront the
viewer with the darker side of things," Johnson said recently of his
envelope-pushing film.
"Vulgar," which opens Friday at the Angelika, moved about 50 people to walk out
in disgust at its first screening at the Toronto Film Festival in September
2000.
Even among hard-core Smith fans at the only other public showing - in January
at the director's annual Vulgarthon film festival in Red Bank, N.J. - at least
one audience member threw up.
The film had an unusual genesis: It was inspired by a drawing of an obese male
clown in a garter belt, fishnet stockings and bustier that Walt Flanagan, a
longtime pal of both Smith and Johnson's, had created as the logo for Smith's
View Askew Productions.
"We were sitting around thinking what would be the worst possible thing that
could happen to the clown - a really mind-bending and life-altering
experience," Johnson recalled.
Smith, who launched his production company after his 1995 no-budget indie hit
"Clerks," was busy with his follow-up film, "Mallrats," so he suggested that
Johnson write and direct the movie that became "Vulgar."
"You have to understand that Kevin and I come from a small New Jersey town
where nobody ever thought they could become a movie director," said Johnson.
The film was shot in the fall of 1995 in New Jersey on a tight 25-day schedule
and a tiny $125,000 budget, with "Clerks" star Brian O'Halloran cast as the
clown who gets raped by a redneck and his two sons after the clown advertises
his services for adult parties.
"I was stunned Brian agreed to show that side of himself," Johnson said,
"especially since he wasn't in the best shape for the revealing costume he had
to wear."
The movie was picked up by Lions Gate films after its Toronto showing, but a
long battle with the motion picture ratings board lay ahead.
"They originally gave it an NC-17 rating, which is considered commercial
suicide," the 34-year-old director said.
"They objected to the language, to the rape and even to a bottle being broken
over a character's head. Haven't they ever seen any westerns? And the rape
scene in 'Boys Don't Cry,' which got an R rating, is far more in your face."
Most puzzling, Johnson said, were the ratings board's reservations about a
middle-aged character wearing nothing but a diaper being referred to as a
child.
As a result, the film is going into theaters, and ultimately out on DVD,
without a rating.
But an expurgated R-rated cut was prepared for VHS, since Blockbuster - which
controls 85 percent of the rental market - won't handle unrated films.
"I couldn't physically make those cuts, so I turned it over to producer Scott
Mosier," said Johnson, who is now working on a script for a horror movie called
"Jersey Devil."
In the meantime, the Monmouth County Community College dropout is supporting
himself by handling merchandising for Smith's Web site, Viewaskew.com.
"He's even given me a job to keep me going while I'm trying to get into the
business," Johnson said of Smith, who makes a cameo appearance in "Vulgar" as a
slick TV producer.
"Kevin's looking out for me at every turn."
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InsanelyBusy
>over a character's head. Haven't they ever seen any westerns?
(choke)
Rapes involving bottles broken over people's heads are standard in Westerns?
Marianna
Billie
bad...as in graphic.
Billie
"STUPIDITY IS NOT A HANDICAP. Park elsewhere!"
MartinZ123
which
controls 85 percent of the rental market - won't handle unrated films.<<
This to me is more disgusting than what happens in the movie.
Jason Lane
wrotd:
I've known about Blockbuster's censorship habits for years, which is
why I don't own a membership there.
Bosssssss
>"They objected to the language, to the rape and even to a bottle being broken
>over a character's head.
Hmmmm, I wonder if people would be so offended if it was a woman being raped.
The Accused had an extremely graphic and violent rape and yet it got raves.
Otter
I don't think it's so much that there is a rape but how it's been
filmed - that has a lot to do with it. I haven't seen the movie in
question yet so I can't be certain, but I'd imagine it's like
comparing the Accused to the rape scene in something like Henry :
Portrait of a Serial Killer. Accused was a little Hollywood while
Henry is indie-brutal.
-Otter
John Smith
Bosssssss wrote:
The Accused wasn't a comedy.
John