“Artist Corner: Lloyd Kaufman” by Jeff Gross
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Born in 1945, Lloyd Kaufman is an independent American film director, producer, and documentarian. With Michael Herz (of Troma), he is the co-founder of Troma Entertainment, the longest running independent movie studio in the history of film. Mr. Kaufman has produced various cult classic over the span of his career such as The Toxic Avenger, Tromeo & Juliet, and Terror Firmer. In addition to his film credits, Lloyd has also released 3 novels: All I Needed To Know About Filmmaking I Learned From The Toxic Avenger, Make Your Own Damn Movie! and The Toxic Avenger: The Novel. He is currently finishing post production on his latest film Poultrygeist. Despite having never broken into the "mainstream," Lloyd Kaufman remains an important and influential figure in American cinema.
Jeff Gross, staff writer: At the University of Illinois, there are a lot of readers who, much to their own loss, haven’t heard of you or Troma studios. So enlighten them; in your words, what is Troma and what does it mean to you?
Lloyd Kaufman: Troma is the oldest independent movie studio in the history of movies. There’s never been an independent studio that has existed for 33 and 1/3 years and the reason it’s existed for so long and the reason that it has been such a big influence to so many of the mainstream filmmakers is that Troma has nurtured the independent spirit and has operated under the maxim "to thine own self be true." A maxim coined by William Shakespeare, who wrote that great best selling book "101 money making screenplay ideas," otherwise known as Hamlet.
JG: What is it exactly about independent film that attracts you to it? You worked early in your career with mainstream Hollywood. What was it that caused you to make the move away from it towards independent and cult/B cinema?
LK: In the 60’s, I read the "Cahiers Du Cin’ema," a film magazine published by the cinema tech Franc’ais, the most prestigious film museum in the world. It expounded something called the auteur theory of filmmaking. Auteur is the French word for "author." The idea being that the art of film requires that the filmmaker be in control of the film; That’s art – when the soul of the maker is infused into the object. That’s the difference between art and just an object. And that’s what appealed to me, and I quickly understood that if I was to have total control over my art I would have to be independent. I knew I would probably have to stay out of the mainstream and Hollywood factories.
JG: So you fully believe that director needs to be involved in all of the aspects of the production process – the casting, the writing, the lighting?
LK: Yes. I’ve believed it for almost 40 years and as a result many film organizations suggest that I’m one of only a few American film auteur directors; that I’m one of the few directors with minimal interference from anybody. There are very few people in the mainstream that have it. You’ve got Woody Allen, Martin Scorsese, Oliver Stone, I suppose, but you have very few who have long careers in the mainstream. At least very few who remain in total control of what they’re doing. But that’s what art is. When an artist makes a painting, he doesn’t have a committee doing it — he doesn’t do it with banks, it’s all his or her own work.
JG: Are there any specific directors or filmmakers who have inspired your mentality and your work?
LK: I was inspired when I was starting out by the classics – Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, John Ford, Fritz Lang, Howard Hawks, Jean Renoir, Miguchi, Stan Brakhage, Andy Warhol; basically the classic filmmakers inspired me.
JG: That’s quite a wide gamut of influences. I noticed you mentioned Brakhage; great filmmaker, but he’s not a commonly cited influence
LK: Brakhage is the greatest visualist of our era.
JG: Is there a specific Brakhage film you like most?
LK: [Either] "The Art Of Vision" or "Dog Star Man." They were very impressionable films that have stayed with me. And I’ve written an essay about Stan Brakhage that’s available on the Troma website under the Lloyd’s Roids section. There’s a bunch of essay that I’ve written in there. There’s also an article I wrote awhile back about 9/11 in there that is currently featured on the website.
JG: Seeing as how Troma is widely know for distributing older, campy and often bizarre titles on DVD, you must get a lot of scripts from aspiring young directors.
LK: We do get a lot of scripts, but very few that are truly original. We also get a lot of movies that come from people who just need distribution. With the taking over of digital technology, everyone’s a filmmaker nowadays. I often attend various conventions where they show films from people who 5, 10 years ago couldn’t have gotten them made. Feature length films can now be shot for cheap on digital film for one or two thousand dollars. My newest film, Poultrygeist cost only $500,000. Everyone can make a movie; it’s great.
JG: So are you a supporter of the digital movement? Several director’s latest works, such as Lynch and Soderbergh, have been shot on digital. However, several critics have claimed that a lot of the richness of film is lost on the digital medium and that the "soul" of the film lies in the film stock. For instance, I was reading about David Lynch’s "Inland Empire" and some of the first reviews I read claimed that the rich, haunting colors that Lynch is best known for in his previous works such as "Blue Velvet" and "Mulholland Drive" seemed to be "dulled down" and "lost" on digital.
LK: Well, I prefer film [over digital] because I’ve spent 30-somthing years of my craft working with it, so I’m just used to it. I prefer it to [digital] video, which is why I spent half a million dollars to make "Poultrygeist," which is still nothing compared to mainstream films which spends a hundred million dollars on each film. I shot Poultrygeist on 35mm because it does, in my opinion, look more beautiful. But video is a totally different medium; it’s unfair to say that film is better than [digital] video. That’s like saying poetry is better than theater. It’s apples and oranges. There’s so much more you can do with digital video that film can’t do. Everything’s different, even the lighting. I’m sure a little more time will go by and the next generation of filmmakers will use digital technology to make masterpieces for next to nothing; films equally as entertaining as Peter Jackson’s $100 million "Lord Of The Rings."
JG: We just had a film come out last year that was made by a fellow U of I student Chris Lukeman called "The University of Illinois VS A Mummy." It was shot on digital for just a few thousand dollars, and even though it took forever to complete, it was quite entertaining.
LK: Hey, it may have taken forever and not looked as crisp as film stock, but he got his movie made. Good for him. Like I said, digital films are cheap. Even shooting on 16mm is expensive. With digital, you can have a day job and still afford and have time to make these movies without having to move to Hollywood and kiss ass. We have a store on our website that distributes films like the one your friend made.
JG: Do you have a favorite Troma movie?
LK: "Poultrygeist." It’s not finished, but I think it’s my best film.
JG: I saw a trailer for it back a few months ago at "Flashback Horror Weekend." It looks hilarious.
LK: Thank you.
JG: So where did the idea for "Poultrygeist" come from?
LK: "Poultrygeist" started because we have a place in New York called the Troma building where we work and a McDonalds moved in next door and they were very rude. We found rats in the building shortly after and we never had them before McDonalds moved in. So I quickly started to hate McDonalds and then began to hate the whole world of fast food because of a book called "Fast Food Nation." And then it turned out that our supervising editor, who edited "Terror Firmer" and "Citizen Toxie," came up with the idea of making a movie; a satire of the fast food business. "Poultrygeist" grew from there; it’s a satire about the evils of the fast food business. It’s about a fast food chicken establishment that is built on an ancient Indian graveyard. The spirits from the slaughtered chickens and the spirits from the slaughtered Indians meld together and come up into the fast-food restaurant and create Poultrygeist. And there’s some singing and dancing in the movie too!
JG: Singing and dancing?
LK: Singing and dancing, although it’s not a musical. It’s like… have you ever seen a Takashi Miike movie called "The Happiness Of The Katakuris?"
JG: No.
LK: It’s kind of like that. It’s a very good horror comedy with some random songs in it.
JG: So it’s sort of a "tromage," a Troma homage, to Miike’s film?
LK: Yes, to some extent it is. Parts of "Poultrygeist" were inspired by Katakuris; Miike’s film gave me the courage to fulfill my life long dream of making some sort of musical. But "Poultrygeist" is not a musical. It’s just got a few random song and dance scenes here and there.
JG: Is there a release date?
LK: No, I haven’t finished the movie yet. I’m still editing and re-shooting a few scenes. But we’re pretty much locking up production and we should have a finished movie by November.
JG: I’m looking forward to it. If "Poultrygeist" is half as good of a romp as "The Toxic Avenger," then I’m sure it’ll be spectacular. "The Toxic Avenger" is a personal favorite film of mine.
LK: Thank you, I’m glad you enjoyed it. I think it’s amazing how many filmmakers, like Peter Jackson and Quentin Tarantino, have claimed to be influenced by Troma and "The Toxic Avenger." And Miike loves the "Toxic Avenger." He’s written about "Citizen Toxie" in Japan. He wrote a bit defense of "Citizen Toxie," which is Toxic Avenger Part 4.
JG: Was it banned in Japan?
LK: No. Just some of the critics didn’t get it when it came out and he wrote about what a great satire it was. He explained how the critics just didn’t get it and how it influenced him. And now he’s influencing me. It’s a revolving process.
JG: Of the Toxic Avenger quadrilody, which is your favorite?
LK: Well, it would be a tie between the first and the fourth. The first one obviously had some kind of magic and it has a life of its own. Something we did that was to some extent accidental. Something made that movie famous. There’s still kids today going to conventions and just discovering "The Toxic Avenger" for the first time and it was made before they were even born. Before you were born probably.
JG: By a couple of years.
LK: That’s three generations of people. There’s people my age, you age and other young people still to discover it. There’s some kind of chemistry in that film that I wasn’t aware of when I made it. However, with "Citizen Toxie," I tried to make a much more profound movie. I think it’s a better movie. It’s got a lot more going. There’s more ambition and courage risk-taking with "Citizen Toxie." But the original is a classic. I can’t really decide which one I like best.
JG: The head squishing scene in the original kicked ass. What did you use to achieve that effect, a watermelon?
LK: Nope, a cantaloupe. Yeah, a cantaloupe with a wig.
JG: It looked great. Talk about low budget. A several thousand dollar special effects shot achieved by going to your local grocery store.
LK: Well, I talk about that in my 3 books. Especially in my second book, "Make Your Own Damn Movie!," I’ve got a lot about how we do all the special effects in there. I reveal all of the methods and secrets of how we do them, including the head squishing. I’m sure you’re library has it.
JG: Probably. It’s on my list of books to read, but I’m partially illiterate, partially lazy… mostly lazy… .
[Lloyd laughs]
LK: And toxic avenger the novel just came out. That’s my 3rd book.
JG: I saw an ad for it at Flashback Horror Weekend. It’s it just a monetization of the movie?
LK: Well, it’s a full blow novel. It’s more than just the movie.
JG: So if the idea for "Poultrygeist" came from McDonalds, where did "The Toxic Avenger" come from?
LK: "The Toxic Avenger" came from newsletters I read about toxic waste dumps ticking away like time bombs all over the world. This was around the early 80s, and me and my wife like to go camping and when we went we’d find styrofoam cups, which weren’t biodegradable in those days, all over the place. And then I remember I saw a frog stuck one of the styrofoam cups and it looked so pitiful. It seemed so weird how there was all of this toxic waste and how we were defiling the earth, but at the same time health clubs had started to pop up everywhere and health food had started to become popular. People were attending to body beautiful at the same time the planet was being made into a giant garbage dump. It seemed like an interesting and important theme. In my first book, "All I Need To Know About Filmmaking I Learned From The Toxic Avenger," which is sort of my memoir, I have a whole chapter about the inspiration behind the toxic avenger. When I saw Frankenstein, I always wanted the monster to live. I also decided the monster should be a good guy. As you can tell, there’s a lot of thinking that goes into these movies; a huge amount of inspiration, preparation, contemplation, masturbation, lots of I-O-N’s. You’d be happy to hear, by the way, that some producers are interested in turning "The Toxic Avenger" into a musical.
JG: A musical?
LK: Well, it may be. They want it to be. They’ve paid some money and bought the rights to make the play; whether or not they’ll succeed in bringing it to the stage is anyone’s guess.
JG: Let’s backtrack a bit; you mentioned that you viewed Oliver Stone as a film auteur. If my sources are correct, you worked with him early in your career. How did you two pair up?
LK: I grew up with and went to grade school with him. He was writing a shitty novel when he was at Yale and I was making shitty movies and he got interested in movies because of me. Turns out he had a hell of a lot of talent… fucking bastard. I love his movies. He’s a psycho; he’s not a terribly pleasant person, but he’s the kind of person who’s gifted. Every time I see one of his movies I’m knocked out.
JG: Except "Alexander."
LK: At least it was kind of funny with that wig. He was the wrong director for that movie.
JG: Oh he’s convinced else wise. He’s trying to get a three and a half hour extended version released on DVD.
LK: Well it could be that his three and a half hour version is the masterpiece. Maybe when it’s all chipped up it looked like shit. Look at "Heaven’s Gate.
JG: The Michael Cimino movie?
LK: Yeah. The version they cut up for theaters was like 48 minutes or something. If you see the uncut version, you can tell it’s quite a masterpiece. It’s the movie blamed for bankrupting United Artists.
JG: Quite an accomplishment.
LK: If Stone truly believes that there’s something in the extended version, there might be something there.
JG: Hopefully, the extender versions of his other films kind of sucked.
LK: Well, he’s very arrogant, but he does what he believes in and he’s not a complete sleaze bag like 99% of the other people in the business are. At least he has integrity. He’s still a big psycho though. When we were kids I always knew he would either do something very great or be an axe murder. There was no middle ground for him. He turned out to be one of the few mainstream directors who have a major body of work. There are very few active filmmakers our age. Very few people can maintain control over what they’re doing and not sell out. He’s up there with Scorsese.
JG: You’ve given many actors and directors their starts: James Gunn, Kevin Costner, Matt Stone and Trey Parker, etc etc. Is there a sense of indebtedness there? What kind of relationship do you have with these actors and directors now that they’ve broken into the mainstream?
LK: Eli Roth’s pretty cool. He’s a Troma fan. He recommended Poultrygeist to the Toronto film festival. James Gunn put me in Slither… and paid me. He’s always talking about "Tromeo & Juliet." In fact, we’ve just put out a 10th anniversary double DVD set of "Tromeo & Juliet" on DVD. The DVD was Gunn’s idea too, if I remember correctly. We did a new commentary track for the disk. He’s very pro-Troma. In fact, I’m going to send him a cut of Poultrygeist and get his advice. But most of these guys don’t give a fuck. Matt Stone and Trey Parker are nice to us too. I’ve acted in one of their films.
JG: "Orgazmo?"
LK: Yeah, I played the doctor in the end. That’s a great film. They’ve been very nice to us. We’re working on a 12th anniversary for "Cannibal: The Musical" too. It was supposed to be a 10th anniversary, but they’ve been busy. Trey also wrote the forward to my book "Make Your Own Damn Movie!" He was also in "Tales From The Crapper." He tells the aristocrats joke. "Tales From The Crapper" also stared Jorge Garcia… the fat hunk from "Lost." He’s a very nice guy. I just ran into him in L.A. recently and he couldn’t have been nicer. And he shouldn’t have been because "Tales From The Crapper" was an abomination. You have to be stoned to enjoy it. We gave him his start. When people say they’ve been in a Troma movie, people in Hollywood are interested because we are the future of film. We are the ones who take the risks and try out new actors. It’s a very good calling card. If you can bring a Troma DVD to Mr. Bigshot in California they’ll get interested. They may not even look at the movie, but they’ll get interested. Trey Parker talks about that in the forward for "Make Your Own Damn Movie!"
JG: Are there any actors or directors who have broken into the mainstream who you have a bad relationship with? People who are complete assholes or someone who ignores that they started out in a Troma film?
LK: Not really, but I always felt bad that Samuel L. Jackson didn’t do anything for Troma. We put up the money for one of his first movies "Def By Temptation." It couldn’t have been made without our money. But he went on one of those talk show and they brought up "Def By Temptation" and rather than say "Hey, that was a cool low budget movie," he kind of ridiculed us and dismissed us and I thought that was pretty rude. And then he has the nerve to try and make a Troma-like movie called "Snakes On A Plane." And it flopped. It was a huge flop. You can’t manufacture a cold film. They tried to buy their way into our world. What he should have done was get together with us and say "here’s what I want to do," but instead they started drinking their own wine and making shit. Hollywood always tries to buy its way in and it rarely works.
JG: Especially with horror.
LK: Unless you have talented people.
JG: I assume you didn’t much like "Snakes."
LK: I absolutely hated it. All of those CGI snakes looked terrible. They should have used real snakes! That’s what’s fun. Using real snakes
JG: That might be a little dangerous.
LK: No. Just defang them. Or get some harmless snakes. There’s plenty of harmless snakes that look absolutely disgusting. Put slime all over them. It was a funny idea, but let’s not talk about it. The main point is that they tried to buy their way into the Troma style and brainwash the public and they didn’t understand the internet. There was this big online buzz for "Snakes On A Plane;" the title was funny and there was a major actor in the movie. Many people said "hey this is pretty cool." But the movie sucked and very few people went to see it. If they had someone like James Gunn writing and directing, more people would have shown up.
JG: I loved "Slither."
LK: Slither was brilliant. That and "The Descent" are the two best horror films of the year. Did you see that?
JG: Unfortunately.
LK: Well the European version is supposed to be better than the US one. I think more people die in the European version.
JG: Meh. I’m sick of hearing how Neil Marshall’s films are "the best since Alien" from Fangoria. They need to shut up.
LK: To me ["The Descent"] was better than any other summer movie I saw. It wasn’t better than "Alien," but it was pretty damn good.
JG: I preferred "The Hills Have Eyes" remake, shockingly enough. I generally hate remakes, but this one surprised me. I love Aleandre Aja and his visceral 80’s grindhouse style.
LK: He’s a good director.
JG: Another random question off my list of things to ask you is about Ron Jeremy. You’ve cast him in several of your films and often acted with him. Do you two have a friendship? How did it develop?
LK: He’s a complete movie nut. He was a big Troma fan who loved our movies and wanted in, so we cast him in "Class Of Nuke ‘Em High Part II." He’s always wanted to be in the mainstream, but in the 1980’s he was looked down upon because people were disgusted by porno. In fact the girls on the set back then were like "ew." But now things are different and porno’s much cooler. The women on our sets nowadays are all over him. Look at how the world has changed in just twenty years.
JG: Since the 70’s society has become more "accepting" of sex, gore, and violence in film. However, there’s been a recent push from the right back to "moral America" and a resurgence of outcry over film content. What do you think about that.
LK: There’s no real push from the right or the left. It’s more of a push from the studios to take over the independent art world and pre-empt it. To dumb it down and make baby food out of it. They make these remakes that are shit. They take "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" and get Michael Bay involved. They make "Freddy vs. Jason." There isn’t any sophistication or satire or anything in that movie. It’s just complete shit. They turned Robert Aldrich’s "The Longest Yard," a dark, brilliant evil comedy with Burt Reynolds, into a Adam Sandler movie. They took the best scene in which a guy was killed on the football field and transformed it into a guy shitting his pants. And it doesn’t come from the right. If anything it comes form the Barbara Streisand and Hilary Clinton world, where they support the consolidation of conglomerates. They’ve done away with the laws that used to protect us from monopolies. Now General Electric, who owns NBC and Universal Studios, can make shit movies like "United 93," which is the biggest exploitation films in film history except for Oliver Stone’s "World Trade Center," and advertise it on primetime network TV. They use the survivors of the world trade center disaster and go out and advertise because they give them 10% of the revenue. SO all these supposedly bereaved widows On top of this, the Today show, which is also owned by General Electric, does a newscast about how important the film is. More advertising on TV. It’s definitely more of a problem caused by the left and the limonene liberals of the world. "The Toxic Avenger" remains one of a few classic 80’s films that hasn’t been remade. And I won’t let them remake it because they’ll dumb it down and turn it into complete shit. Even "The Hills Have Eyes" remake wasn’t spectacular hot. But then again, I’m not a big fan of Craven’s earlier work. He’s a very talented director, but I prefer Romero. I wish the remake had more political content to it. There was some, but not much. Probably because the studios made him remove it.
JG: Hollywood sucks.
LK: That’s the problem. There’s a small number of conglomerates who control everything people see and hear and the independent movie is dead basically. You can’t get in without the big studios. The only independent movies most people get to see are those coming in through the vassals of the major studios.
JG: I wrote an article about "United 93" (which is available in the archives of ReadBuzz.com) and how it exudes a powerful statement of Hollywood greed, manipulating the emotional intensity of such events to compensate for struggling box office business.
LK: I agree. In fact, I wrote an article about that too. You can find it in the "Lloyd’s Roids" section too.
JG: These movies are rarely realistic and moving accounts of the heroic patriotism. They’re facades for the Hollywood ejaculate known as the blockbuster. What’s next, "Hurricane Katrina: The Movie?"
LK: I’m sick of seeing the windows using their tragedy to get themselves on TV and push their agendas. It’s all exploitation.
JG: Moving on, there’s a TV series on Showtime called "The Masters Of Horror." The premise is that they gather the "best" minds of horror and give them X amount of money to complete a 60 minute mini-horror feature10/11/06. Have they contacted you about making a piece.
LK: No, never.
JG: I don’t know how they pick some of these people as "the best minds in horror." Joe Dante, William Malone, Ernest Dickerson, Mick Garris.
LK: Who the hell is he?
JG: A hack. He’s only on the show because the premise was his idea. He’s a terrible director who terribly adapts Steven King stories. You’ve got more talent than several of these guys.
LK: We’d probably get into some fight because I’d make something too controversial. I also have a bad reputation in the mainstream for being a fighter. I don’t like being told what to do. And I’m sure I’d make something that’d piss somebody off and they’d try and make me change it. They know this, so they didn’t even bother. They’d rather take someone more docile like Stuart Gordon, who’s very talented but doesn’t piss people off.
JG: Miike did an episode that got banned from Showtime. It was apparently too controversial for premium cable. Odd how a show with no content restrictions restricts its content.
LK: I wonder if they ever told Beethoven to throw the Pastoral Symphony away. Besides, Showtime is owned by Viacom. It’s another one of those giant conglomerates whose trying to put talented independent filmmakers out of business. Another reason they probably didn’t contact me about the show. They certainly aren’t going to give me work. They’re trying to put me out of business.
JG: This is sort of a tangent question, but how often do people point out that you kind of look like Mel Brooks?
LK: Actually, more people have told me that I look like Mel Gibson.
JG: Mel Gibson?
LK: Yeah, because I hate Jews… at least when I get drunk.
[it’s important to note here that Lloyd Kaufman is himself Jewish]
JG: Fuck Mel Gibson.
LK: Yeah, he deserves all the shit he’s been getting lately. His Jesus movie was a little over the top… in the wrong way.
JG: Like I said. Fuck Mel Gibson.
LK: I must say, however, that I love "The Producers." It’s kind of like the Troma anthem. I can’t say that the movie has had much of an influence on us, but my partner and I often find ourselves quoting that movie. "I’m wearing a cardboard belt." And "where’s Leon Bloom’s share of the gold?" People always tell me I look like Mel Brooks. I wish I would have had the same talent or success as Mel Brooks, god damnit. He’s got so much money.
JG: I’m sure Poultrygeist will be a smashing success.
LK: Let’s hope so. It’s young people like you that can spread the word because the mainstream media ignores us. We’re economically blacklisted from mainstream media.
JG: Well, my favorite movies have always been the ones no one has ever heard of. So what’s next for Troma after "Poultrygeist?"
LK: "Troma releases 3-4 movies every month. We’ve got once called "Coons" coming out about killer raccoons. It’s got some song and dance in it too. But we haven’t released it yet, the filmmakers are finishing it up. There’s another once called "The Evolved" that many film festivals are picking up right now. It’s about a fucked up marionette doll. It’s coming out on DVD any minute. Tell your video store to order it. It’s not as profound as "Cannibal: The Musical," but it’s still a great film. It’s art. It’s eerie and disturbing. We’re also working on a documentary about the Tromadance film festival. Tromadance takes place at the same time and place and Sundance. I discovered when I went to Sundance for the first time that it was very snobby and not very encouraging of independent filmmakers. Many of the movies shown there already have distribution and all that kind of stuff. Tromadance is the free and fun alternative to Sundance. Your friend should submit your movie to it. It’s all free. If you can get there and volunteer a little bit, we’ll even let you sleep in the Troma condo. Plus since all the mainstream media and big time executives are there in Park City, Utah for Sundance, people who show their movies at Tromadance can’t help but run into these people. It’s a small town. It’s a good way for people to get exposure for their movies and it doesn’t cost them anything. It’s not like Sundance where you have to pay. You can find more information about it at www.Tromadance.com
JG: Before I let you go, I need to ask you one final question. What are your favorite and least favorite movies?
LK: My favorite movie is "Princess Yang Kwei Fei" by Kenzo Mizoguchi. It’s my favorite movie, but I’ve only seen it once because it was such a sublime experience that I’m fearful that if I saw it again that I wouldn’t have the same amazing spiritual ejaculation that I did. However, one of the movies that I hate the most is "Forest Gump." That and "Pretty Woman." I hate those movies. "Forest Gump," angers me because the message of that movie was be a moron and follow orders. It’s propaganda that tells us that we should follow orders, even if it means following an unjust war and getting our asses shot off. We should just be zombies. And if we do that, we will then become billionaires. We will be rewarded by the system. But then there’s the girl in the movie. In "Forest Gump," if you’re a girl and your working for peace, trying to make the word a better place, you’ll be punished with AIDS and die. I always thought that "Forest Gump" was a hateful movie. Steve Tish, who produced the movie, was also a production assistant on Cry Uncle, a movie in the Troma library. He’s a good guy though. And then there’s "Pretty Woman," which is a disgrace because it’s a family oriented movie that they even show on airplanes which glorifies prostitution. A rich beautiful, handsome guy can be given the gift of love from a street walker. The only gift I ever got from a hooker was syphilis. The problem is that little kids watch this movie. Little girls watch this movie and say "hey this is cool. I wanna be a hooker and meet prince charming too." What a beautiful fairytale. But there’s plenty of other movies I hate too. "United 93" is another hateful project.
JG: Thank you very much for your time and accepting this interview. You’re down to earth style is refreshing. It makes conversation much easier.
LK: Your welcome. Best wishes to you.
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