Gregg Araki | The Film That Lit My Fuse - video Dailymotion

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00:00 (upbeat music)

00:02 - What film or series lit your fuse

00:13 and made you have to tell stories on screen?

00:17 - Oh, okay.

00:18 That's interesting.

00:20 I thought about it before.

00:23 Well, can I give more than one example

00:25 or is it just supposed to be one?

00:26 - No, no, no.

00:29 I wanted to pay homage to David Lynch

00:32 and also to Jean-Luc Godard, who are two of my idols.

00:35 And because I thought it was gonna be film,

00:38 I think "Firewalk" with me is my favorite David Lynch film.

00:41 I think it's so underrated

00:42 and I just think it's a masterpiece.

00:44 But "Twin Peaks" also, if you're gonna make it,

00:48 expand it into series, was so influential to me

00:52 in the sense that this was on network TV

00:59 and this kind of visionary insanity

01:02 was coming over the airwaves.

01:04 I mean, I remember that just being such a kind of cultural,

01:08 kind of zeitgeist moment, you know?

01:10 So both of those, just in general,

01:12 I mean, Lynch and his sensibility of just being

01:15 just so visionary and subversive

01:18 and just artistic and crazy

01:21 and marching to his own drummer and doing his own thing

01:25 was so, so influential on me as a young filmmaker

01:29 and particularly his interest in surrealism

01:32 and this kind of stylized reality.

01:34 That's something that is definitely

01:37 kind of a trademark of my own movies.

01:41 And then Godard, my relationship with him

01:44 dates back to film school

01:46 and just being kind of just blown away

01:50 and so inspired by his radical approach

01:55 to filmmaking and cinema.

01:57 And I'm part of that generation.

01:59 I went to film school undergraduate in the late '70s

02:02 and graduate in the early '80s.

02:05 And so we were so immersed in cinema culture

02:09 and these auteur directors

02:12 and these sort of singular, visionary directors

02:18 that had such a point of view

02:21 and such a sort of passionate approach to cinema

02:26 that it was just so inspiring to me

02:29 as a young film student and as a young film director.

02:32 I would pick probably "Mask and Femin"

02:36 as my favorite Godard movie.

02:38 And that movie in particular,

02:40 when I made the film "Totally Fucked Up" in the early '90s,

02:44 it came out in 1994,

02:46 that film was basically an homage to "Mask and Femin."

02:51 It was basically a LGBT version of "Mask and Femin."

02:57 - Well, and you know, when you mentioned "Twin Peaks"

03:03 and boy, I remember that first season.

03:05 It was the most mesmerizing thing I'd seen.

03:09 Was there a particular moment that just made you say,

03:14 "I can't believe he got to do that."

03:16 I remember there was some surreal footage

03:19 with this little guy and dancing.

03:22 (laughing)

03:25 - Everything about that show was just so strange

03:29 and odd and idiosyncratic.

03:33 And the thing I love about David Lynch

03:35 is that the weirdness of them,

03:39 but it's always rooted in,

03:42 even if they seem like,

03:45 this isn't making sense or this doesn't make sense,

03:47 you know it makes sense to him.

03:48 Like there's very clearly a sense of control

03:52 and authorial point of view there

03:55 that it's not just random strangeness,

03:58 which is something I'm not a big fan of.

04:00 It's really just very much coming from a very intense,

04:05 personal place in his head.

04:10 And I think that's so fascinating.

04:13 And again, as a filmmaker, for me, so inspiring.

04:17 It's something that all through the films

04:22 and the TV shows I did,

04:25 it's something that I definitely aspire towards.

04:29 - Well now, so when you were on your way up

04:34 and finding your voice as a director,

04:39 what movie or series did you watch that was so good

04:43 it made you think, what am I doing here?

04:45 Can I actually play in this sandbox?

04:48 (laughing)

04:50 - I've just never,

04:51 I have never been in that sense,

04:55 sort of intimidated or like,

04:59 oh, like I'll never be able to touch that.

05:01 Because I grew up with sort of very influenced

05:07 by kind of punk rock music and new wave music.

05:10 That was all sort of exploding, right?

05:13 As I was in college and going to film school

05:16 and becoming who I was gonna be.

05:20 And so the attitude,

05:22 the whole attitude of the punk aesthetic is DIY.

05:25 It's like, just watch your own drummer, do your own thing.

05:29 And it's not really about like, oh, the big guys

05:34 or oh, the huge commercial success or oh, this person.

05:38 Obviously as a film student,

05:40 I hugely admired like all the pan pan,

05:44 Hitchcock, Godard, Hawks, like everybody.

05:47 Like I went to traditional film school.

05:49 So I have a very deep background in all kinds,

05:54 all of film history, particularly American film history,

05:58 but also internationally.

06:00 So, I'm very aware of all the places that cinema has been,

06:08 but I don't really feel intimidated by it.

06:10 I just feel kind of enriched by it and inspired by it.

06:13 And so, because I've always had a very strong personality,

06:18 a very strong point of view and where I come from

06:23 as a sort of punky, new wave, artsy,

06:28 queer person of color.

06:31 It's definitely my, there's, I've never felt like,

06:35 oh, there's a million of me out there.

06:37 I mean, I always feel like I have a very unique voice.

06:40 And so, I'm not, I don't always feel, I don't feel,

06:45 I just wanna, I approach cinema very much as a painter,

06:48 approach to painting or poetry, approaches poetry.

06:52 It's just like, I just really kind of expressing myself

06:55 and kind of doing my own thing.

06:57 - Yeah, I like that.

06:59 So now, whether it was the success of something that you did

07:04 or approval from someone whose opinion really mattered

07:07 to you, what first gave you the confidence

07:10 that in fact you did belong doing this?

07:13 - Well, one of the really cool things about,

07:16 I mean, I feel like so fortunate in, you know,

07:22 when I was born and I was always kind of in the right place

07:26 at the right time.

07:27 And so, I began making indie movies

07:29 in sort of the late '80s, early '90s,

07:31 when it was just starting to take off,

07:34 Sundance was just starting to take off.

07:35 And one of the coolest things about it was,

07:38 you know, there's sort of this international film circuit

07:43 of these, you know, Sundance, but at the time,

07:45 like Munich International Film Festival,

07:47 like all of the film, international film community,

07:51 which still exists today,

07:53 but it's become kind of so monolithic and big.

07:56 But in those days, you know, in those early days

08:01 of the '90s, when indie cinema was just sort of,

08:05 you know, taking root, I met like all of my peers,

08:09 you know what I mean?

08:10 Gus Vincent, Rick Linklater, Alison Anders,

08:13 Christine Bachon, Todd Haynes, Tom Cannon,

08:15 every, we all were always at the same film festivals

08:18 and all our work was being shown together.

08:20 And there was such, you know,

08:22 there was such a great camaraderie.

08:25 Like I'm friends with almost all those people today,

08:27 you know, and it was such a cool time.

08:31 And I hope this still happens today, you know,

08:34 amongst this, you know, this sort of Sundance class of 2023.

08:38 But back in those early days, you know,

08:41 we all sort of kind of supported each other

08:44 and kind of were rooting for each other.

08:46 And that was such a huge, huge, important thing.

08:49 I really always say that the film festival circuit

08:53 and their support of young filmmakers,

08:55 and also, you know, in those days,

08:58 you would apply for like NEA grants and like AFI grants

09:01 and you get like $20,000,

09:03 which is how I made "Totally Fucked Up" on an AFI grant.

09:06 And so that kind of validation, you know,

09:09 for a young artist was so, so important.

09:13 You know, I mean, it really made you feel like,

09:15 I am a real filmmaker, I'm an artist, you know what I mean?

09:18 And what I do is important.

09:21 And it's sort of that kind of community

09:23 is, was like crucial to my identity as a young filmmaker.

09:28 - Now, what would you say was the biggest obstacle

09:34 that you had to overcome to allow you to turn the projects

09:39 that influenced you into your own language as a filmmaker?

09:42 - The biggest obstacle, well,

09:47 the biggest obstacle for any filmmaker

09:50 is always just like money, you know what I mean?

09:52 It's just like finding the money,

09:54 finding someone that will back your vision.

09:57 And, you know, I would have always been so fortunate

10:01 in that, you know, my movies are very unique

10:06 and very singular and have a strong point of view,

10:10 but I've always been very fortunate in being able to,

10:14 you know, my movies have always been kind of like,

10:16 not giant budget.

10:19 So it's not like I'm had to get a ton of money

10:21 to make one of my movies.

10:23 So, but, you know, finding that financing

10:27 and getting all that into it together

10:29 is always the most challenge.

10:31 That's always the worst part of it, I think.

10:34 The creative part of it's all amazing, you know what I mean?

10:39 But the financial aspect of it kind of sucks.

10:44 - Well, you know, the, so I was reading up on you

10:49 and, you know, and there are references like,

10:52 oh, the one of the pioneers of queer cinema and,

10:56 you know, and these accolades and here you are,

10:58 you know, being honored at the Academy Museum.

11:01 And I'm sure, how does it make you feel?

11:04 Does it make you, do you still feel like that rebel

11:07 or do you go, damn?

11:08 (laughing)

11:10 - Well, it's, I mean, I, you know, in my heart,

11:13 I will always be that kind of rebel outsider,

11:16 but, you know, it's, I'm so thrilled

11:19 about the Academy Museum screenings.

11:22 We're screening on September 15th,

11:25 we're screening "Totally Fucked Up" and "The Doom Generation."

11:28 And on September 16th, we're doing the world premiere

11:33 of the 4K remaster of my film "Nowhere,"

11:36 which was never released on DVD in the US.

11:39 And it's a film that has a huge cult following

11:43 and kids are always coming up to me at screenings going,

11:46 you know, "When is 'Nowhere' coming out?

11:47 "When is 'Nowhere' coming out?"

11:48 So I am so thrilled about this remaster

11:52 because we were able to go back

11:55 to the original camera negative

11:56 and completely recolor time the whole movie.

12:00 It's on amazing, like 4K resolution.

12:04 It looks so fantastic.

12:07 We remixed the entire soundtrack.

12:08 I just finished it yesterday.

12:10 And the movie is like a brand new movie.

12:14 And I'm so blown away and so grateful to Strand Releasing

12:19 who made it all possible.

12:21 And also Roundabout who did the video

12:26 and then Monkey Land Audio who did the remixing for us.

12:29 Because we get to screen at the Geffen Theater,

12:33 it's just a giant 900 seat theater.

12:36 And it's gonna be mind-blowing to see it on that screen.

12:42 The film has never been screened on a screen like that before.

12:46 And it's never before been seen in this version.

12:49 So I am beyond the moon about that.

12:53 And then after that,

12:55 "Nowhere" is gonna be released theatrically

12:58 kind of all over the US and in this new 4K remaster.

13:03 And we're going to New York, San Francisco.

13:05 We're screening "Nowhere" at Austin Fantastic Fest

13:09 the weekend after the Academy screening.

13:11 So all through September or October,

13:13 I think into November, we're screening those films.

13:18 Yeah, it's really amazing to me that I'm so honored

13:26 by the Academy believing in us enough

13:30 to set up these screenings.

13:33 And the screenings are almost sold out.

13:36 It's kind of crazy.

13:41 But I'm also super, super excited

13:43 because the weekend that we're screening

13:47 coincides with the opening of the John Waters exhibit

13:50 at the museum.

13:51 And John Waters is of course another idol of mine.

13:55 I should have mentioned him along with Godard

13:57 and David Lynch in the sense that he was the first one.

14:03 He's the ultimate rebel outsider.

14:05 And I call him, he's like the North Star.

14:09 He was there before anybody, before Sundance even existed,

14:13 before any of us ever even thought about,

14:18 oh, indie cinema and all of this and that.

14:21 He was doing his own thing like way back then.

14:24 And so the fact that the John Waters exhibit

14:28 is at the same time as our screenings

14:30 is just so fitting and perfect and amazing.

14:35 [MUSIC PLAYING]

14:38 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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Gregg Araki | The Film That Lit My Fuse

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