from www.citytv.com – My earliest memories of Bruce LaBruce were from his articles in the alternative Toronto newspaper Eye Weekly, which I read religiously during my high school years.
He had a way with words that intrigued me and his pieces always seemed to have an attitude about them I couldn’t find in any other alt weekly at the time. When I heard he also made films, I was curious to see his work even though most people considered them to be more pornographic in nature than artistic. However, the people that understand his vision — and he does have a legitimate following — use words like “genius” and “auteur” when describing him.
His latest film, L.A. Zombie, is basically a homosexual zombie porno. It’s extremely gory and was banned in Australia because of its sexual content. Most Toronto media dismissed it for being invited to this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, and popular local sites Torontoist and blogTO both had negative articles posted about the film. None of this bothers LaBruce much as he knows his films are geared towards a specific, unique niche and the controversy is part of the fun.
CityNews.ca interviewed LaBruce about L.A. Zombie and what he plans to do next. Read our Q&A:
Brian McKechnie: What was the motivation behind ‘L.A. Zombie’?
Bruce LaBruce: I wanted to fulfill the promise I once made of making a hardcore, gay zombie porn movie. My previous film Otto kind of has those elements but it’s not entirely a porn film.
BM: So, in your head, were you making a horror film or a porn film?
BLB: It was made as a porn film. All the actors are porn stars. There’s a hardcore version where everyone has hardcore sex and that’s pretty much a porn. What I’ve been doing for the last 10 years is making movies under the auspices of porn companies, doing two versions — the softcore version is the “art” version — and then marketing and distributing them separately.
BM: Is it more difficult for you when you’re making a film knowing you have to produce two versions?
BLB: That’s what makes it fun. I couldn’t just make a straight porn movie; it bores me to tears. In fact, when I’m making the movies, the porn people are always looking over my shoulder telling me to get enough of the sex and sometimes I just let my producer shoot the sex scenes. It’s very difficult to make that stuff interesting.
BM: Do you have your audience in mind when you’re making a film?
BLB: It’s amazing to me that two different people can look at the exact same movie and some people will say it looks crappy and another person will say it’s beautifully shot, it looks amazing, it’s a work of art. It really is perspective. I do have a devote cult following, and then outside of that, some people love to hate it.
BM: What’s the allure of zombies for you?
BLB: They’re the new go-to monster. They’re contemporary and viral and that’s a big part of it. For me, there’s a built-in kind of AIDS paranoia, and to make them gay zombies amplifies that.
BM: Is it hard for you to get funding?
BLB: It’s hard for everyone to get funding for films these days, especially low budget. My previous film Otto was more of a half-million-dollar picture; this one was more like a hundred thousand. But I got the funding on this from a three-page outline and I didn’t even have a script going into the shoot.
BM: Was gay porn star François Sagat interested in the concept right away?
BLB: I developed it with him in mind. I’d seen his YouTube videos and there was one where he was wearing vampire teeth and another where he was shooting up steroids. I had this idea of making it a vehicle for him to express his personalities.
BM: What do you think the biggest problem is right now with the film industry in Canada?
BLB: Toronto baffles me. There’s a lot of hate for what I do here and it seems a little provincial to me. The mind set seems very regional and I’ve been in exile for the past 15 years. I haven’t made a film in Canada since 1994; I just shoot all over the world. This idea of micro-budget filmmaking is an old fashioned way of looking at film — it has to be a certain way, it has to have a certain narrative, and it has to have celebrities. In Europe, it’s a much more broad-minded way of looking at work. There’s more of an appreciation for art films and avant-garde or experimental cinema. That’s missing in Canada and America too.
BM: Is it a different audience at TIFF?
BLB: For me, if I have a film showing at TIFF, my hardcore supporters show up. I have really strong supporters within TIFF, and then people who just put up with me. With this film, I had no expectations because I made it as an extreme graphic hardcore splatter porn. What kind of market could that have? Even my producers thought it was disgusting. The fact that it was in competition in Locarno and is being programmed now at dozens of international film festivals… that’s all gravy to me because I had no expectations.
BM: What has the reaction been from people who have seen it?
BLB: Some people hate it and say it’s crappy digital, it’s disgusting, and there’s no plot. The Italians loved it. They took it totally seriously and explained to me what it meant. I really don’t expect a lot of people, especially reviewers, to like it. I’m prepared to be slaughtered in North America but that’s part of the fun too. I’ve gotten some of the worst reviews of any filmmaker. I’m one of the few that has gotten below zero stars.
BM: Is there a medium you haven’t worked in that you would like to?
BLB: My next project is an opera in Berlin starting in January. It’s Pierrot Lunaire by Arnold Schoenberg. It’s atonal and is a non-singing sort of opera.