Hayseed @ Toronto Film Fest

[M.S. Burton]

Hayseed
directors: Josh Levy, Andrew Hayes
(PC) CANADA, 1997 - 93 minutes

producers: Laura Mac Donald, Martha Kehoe
writers: Paul Bellini, Josh Levy, Steve McKay
cinematographer: Jason Tan
cast: Jamie Shannon, Scott Thompson, Mark
McKinney, Maria Vacratsis, Elva Mai Hoover, Bruce LaBruce, Deborah
Theaker, Dan Redican, Daniel McIvor

Toronto ends up as home to many immigrants bewildered and amused by
big city airs, and some of us arrive here from other worlds that really
aren't that far away. Such is the case of Gordie, the hayseed hero of this
satiric romp, who hails from the middle-of-nowhere Ontario hick town
called Porridge Glenn. A bright-eyed and apple-cheeked farmboy, Gordie
lives a life of bucolic perfection with his Auntie Charity, a dizzy
sixties acid victim, and Auntie Prudence, a guitar-picking good-ole girl
with a tune and a clich for every occasion.

September 11 7:00 PM Cumberland 3
September 12 11:45 AM Varsity 1

HORROR SHOW

When you put the Directors of CUBE, HAYSEED, and SHOPPING
FOR FANGS in a Room Together, Hilarity Ensues: a Transcription of
One Hour of Craziness.

Fate. Karma. Kismet. Call it what you want; the guys assembled here today
were destined to be together. Maybe it's because I asked them all their
sign, (incidentally, Capricorn, two Aries, and a Virgo), but they have an
instant rapport. The directors of CUBE, HAYSEED, and SHOPPING FOR FANGS
need no prompting from me; right away, they are off on an hour-long
rampage of words, ideas, descriptions and affirmations. It's crazy how
well they read one another -- without prior acquaintance, there is already
something of the unspoken between them; sentences half-finished are
understood and elaborated upon. Laughter is the predominant sound in the
room. The interview is more like one of those intense, satisfying,
you-know-what-I-mean? conversations between good friends than a question
and answer session between colleagues. It was great -- some of the
directors had seen one another's films and knew what was going on; they
had questions of their own to ask. The threads that were picked up lead
in all sorts of interesting directions. I don't think it would be possible
to give a true sense of the rhythm and flavour of the interview. You
really did have to be there.

To try and preserve a modicum of the live energy and enthusiasm I
witnessed, I'll present the interview as I experienced it, in an abridged
version: a meeting of the minds between Vincenzo Natali (V), director of
CUBE, Josh Levy (J), director of HAYSEED, Quentin Lee (Q) and Justin Lin
(L) , co-directors of SHOPPING FOR FANGS, and, for a while anyway, David
Hewlitt (D), one of Vincenzo's cast.

V: How are the nerves?

J: I really thought I would be getting freaked out and I'm not yet -- I
want to be. I'm just so nervous 'cuz there's a part of the movie where I'm
naked except there's like a tree covering my dick. And my grandparents are
all coming and I haven't really warned them; and I'm getting really
freaked out. My grandparents are just gonna croak.

D: Vince forgot his mom's name. "I'd like to thank mmnuhh . . Gayle."

V: I started to say my stepmom's name.

J: Ohhh! That's brutal!

Me: (Quentin and Justin have not yet arrived). You know what? I think
we're going to start without them.

J: Yeah. Fuck 'em! . . . Who are they?

Me: The SHOPPING FOR FANGS guys.

J: Oh. I wanna see that.

D: I saw it.

Me: Okay, so . . . let's begin.

V: So, you're not going to record this or anything I guess.

Me: Oh, it's on.

V: Oh my god! There's a tape recorder there!

D: We're being recorded! We're all on tape; be very very careful. (The
SHOPPING FOR FANGS guys arrive).

Me: can you talk a little bit about the themes in your movies?

LQ: I have a strong theory background, so to me the whole film is about
the postmodern identity. (small pause, followed by laughter).

Simultaneously: Oooh, that's good. That's what I was going to say! That
was going to be my answer. No fair!

D (to L and Q): So you each divided the story into sections that you
individually wrote? Yeah. (to the rest of us). What these guys did was
they essentially went into two different
rooms and then came out and pieced it together.

J, V: Wow! Wow, that's really interesting. So you co-directed it as well?

L: We each directed our own segments.

V: I'm dying to see it; it's just that we have been so busy hyping our
own stuff that I haven't been able to see one single film.

J: I've been seeing everything because I haven't been hyping mine at all!
I've seen like every other movie!

[snip]

Me: Okay. Are there any clever little details that people might not pick
up on that are kind of funny or sly?

J: There's lots of stuff.

L: Well we have -- the last shot of our film, you totally see the AC's
hand with the matte box. The thing is, no one sees it at all, but it's in
the shot.

J: Yeah in my film there's basically so many references to other films. I
stole lines right out of movies. Like, there's one scene where the gay
mafia kidnaps the main character, and they're having him for dinner before
they auction him off to raise money for AIDS research. But while they're
eating dinner with him, the scene is shot exactly like the TEXAS CHAINSAW
MASSACRE dinner scene. It's like identical; shot by by shot. But no one
will pick up on that.

D: So you do, like, movie sampling.

J: Yeah. Yeah. The porno scene, where Scott Thompson plays an ex-porno
star with a wife; it's like a parody of WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF.
And within the parody, they watch a porno that they made years earlier
called "Who's Afraid of Vagina Woolf" which is paraphrased right out of
the film. And you didn't have to change much to make it into a porno
movie. I stole a Roger Ebert line from BEYOND THE VALLEY OF THE DOLLS:
"You're a groovy boy. I'd like to strap you on sometime." Roger Ebert
actually wrote that line.

V: He's actually around here now.

J: He's everywhere! That guy is everywhere.

D: Yeah, I've been going up and handing him passes.

[snip]

Me: I have a few other questions to ask; ummm . . . you can answer how
did you try to set the tone; what kind of tone did you try and create; what cinematic
devices did you use . . . how did you get interested in making films, you could try.

Q: Okay. Well I grew up watching horror movies, from when I was six years
old. So I always wanted to make horror films, but somehow I ended up not
making horror films but making artsy films. So, someday I will return to
my roots.

J: Well, I think we all grew up watching horror movies. That was my
addiction. I ended up making a comedy but I'd like to make a horror movie.

Q: What was your favourite horror movie?

J: Oh, umm. . .

All (minus Justin): I liked Texas Chainsaw massacre. BLACK CHRISTMAS is
good, I saw that! It was a good Canadian horror flick. Let me tell you
something: I know a guy who wants to make a sequel to that movie Oh!
That's awesome! There's so many great horror films, it's hard to know
where to begin. PSYCHO! ALIEN! All the usual suspects. What's an obscure
great horror film? DAWN OF THE DEAD! DAWN OF THE DEAD rules! It's a
great, great -- actually, the editing -- I like the dead in the title;
just all those dead things...

Me: Justin, are you a horror fan?

L: No, not really.

Me: But you three are; that's sort of weird. (Note: Justin is the only
non-Canadian. Coincidence?)

Q: Did you guys read "Fangoria" when you were kids? I had a pen pal.

J: Oh my god; I DID TOO!

V: Oh! oh! We'd be very remiss if we didn't mention Mr. Cronenberg's
work. He's the greatest horror film director of all time.

J: Well . . . he's pretty good. I don't know about the greatest.

Q: He's very smart. he's definitely smart.

V: Yeah, he's smart.

Me: Can I ask a question, though? I wouldn't really expect that from your
films, to have that sort of horror connection.

J: You wouldn't expect it from CUBE?

Me: I haven't seen it.

J: It's a total gore fest!

Me: Well, okay; I guess you could tell me, maybe, how you think your
horror sensibilities translated into your movies; yours maybe more
directly, yours maybe more subtly.

V: Well, my answer is that horror is the perfect genre for film because
it's the most visceral type of movie, and that's what movies do best I
think.

J: I think that comedy and horror are the closest of the genres,
because essentially they are about the same thing -- subverting the
audience's expectations and freaking them out. But, you know, one
produces laughter and one produces scares. And you use all the
same filmic techniques to accomplish horror and comedy. That's why
so often they don't work well together. Like, often it's hard to scare
someone if you're making them laugh. That's why horror is so often
campy. Because it's really hard to make a horror without falling into
laughs. And, like, for instance my love of horror movies came in in
other ways, like the TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE dinner
scene.

Q: Well, I think like, I like Brian de Palma and all the CARRIE stuff --

J: Totally!

J: Okay, has anyone seen SISTERS?

(Many things are discussed, Margot Kidder among them. Says Josh: Margot
Kidder is an awesome Canadian goddess.)

Me: So, what do you think the medium of film can do that other mediums
can't do as well?

J: Get you laid! I thought that making a movie would get me laid, but it
hasn't! I haven't been laid since this festival started. I need sex!

Q: I think it's the mass audience.

L: Yeah. One thing I enjoy the most is, actually, and especially from LA,
like even though it's a big city, no one even says hi to each other. And
to go into the theatre, you're sort of stuck in the space with a bunch of
other people, and that energy is really addicting.

The conversation drifts on, but like all interviews, comes shortly to a
close. All four directors leave together. I am still on a high from the
great energy and flow I witnessed when I go downstairs to a table near the
press room and begin transcribing the interview. I run into the CUBE guys,
and we begin to chat. I ask them what they're up to. "We're trying to get
tickets to see HAYSEED," they tell me. Fate works in mysterious, amazing
ways.

-Elisheva A. Lambert