“All My Heroes are Weirdos”
That’s the name of a !!! song, appropriate for the assortment of interviews this week. I was very lucky. I got to interview a filmmaker, songwriter and author I enjoy all in one week.
The filmmaker: Todd Solondz. Google Images is being weird and won’t let me import an image of the immortal Weinerdog - Dawn Weiner from ‘Welcome to the Dollhouse.’ I don’t remember how I first saw this movie. But it came out in 1996 and I saw it around then. A lot of us were so into it in highschool, I remember people taunting each other with quotes from the movie - all of which are completely un-p.c. things like “You like faggot?” But poor Dawn’s struggles of being less attractive and poorly dressed, always resonated with me. Because, during high school wearing all men’s clothes from the Salvation Army shop, I remember trying to disappear as much as possible. Solondz went on to make “Happiness” - one of the most polarizing movies to come out in the last 15 years since it sympathetically dealt with a pedophile. He’s recently come out with “Life During Wartime” which is a variation on “Happiness” - picking up where those characters left off ten years later with different actors. I was totally nervous for this interview. And he definitely kept me on my toes. As much as it was a frustrating interview, because he refuted every supposition i included in a question, he was a sweet but socially awkward person. He was uncomfortable and off-putting, just like his movies, so I guess I got what I was looking for.
The songwriter - Nic Offer from !!!. (the song “Jamie, My Intentions Are Base” attached is from the new album), I’ve been into this band since the early ’00s when they first became popular. Some of their albums have tanked by critic’s standards, but I love his arrogant voice. He always sounds like the asshole you meet when you’re out that you’re turned off by but somehow you want to make them like you anyway - or is that just me? I was happily surprised by how informal the guy was. Definitely one of those interviews where you’d like to get a beer with the guy later.
The Author - Well this is Tony O’Neill, a guy I’ve blogged about twice before. Technically I didn’t interview him this week - it was a while ago, but I met him tonight at his reading at the Green Light Book shop in Fort Green. I never dreamed I’d get to a point in my life where I could seek out the people who have produced something I enjoyed and be able to ask them questions about what they do and Mr. O’Neill is a good example of that. His new book out now is called “Sick City” http://www.tonyoneill.net/page2.htm and it’s a great read if you’re into a Tarantino-esque adventure in novel form.
I also interviewed Kevin Kline today, who was completely surprising by actually being interested to talk to me. A coworker of mine has also interviewed him and noted how he actually likes to have a conversation and listen to what you thought of his film, which is a real rarity. He was clever, picked up on my little lame jokes.
If I could have a dinner party with people I’ve interviewed who have been cool, I would include (of the top of my head) Paul Dano, A.A. Bondy, Renee Zellweger, Nic Offer, Amy Sedaris, Toots, Tony O’Neill, maybe Chuck Klosterman, Bill Murray, Jon Spencer and Tobin Bell, the guy from SAW.
