By James
Latham
This year we
have the pleasure of showing Spidora,
the first short film made by Fred Olen Ray, who has had an extensive career in
film and TV production, with some 135 credits for directing feature-length
projects as well as many credits for producing, writing, and acting.
Fred has worked steadily and proudly in what
might be called the trashier genres, including low-budget horror, science
fiction, erotic comedy, and crime drama —though lately his credits actually
include some mainstream Christmas films that have played on cable TV. “Suddenly,” he says, “I’ve become Mr.
Christmas.” Consistent with his work in
film, Fred also has been a professional wrestler, with the name Fabulous
Freddie Valentine. Maybe these lines of
work are not so surprising for someone who grew up in the circus town of
Sarasota, Florida; who almost joined the circus as a teenager; who later owned
and operated his own carnival sideshow; and who eventually married the Electric
Girl.
Some of
Fred’s films have been released theatrically, but he is really an expert on
independent distribution, from drive-ins to DVD and cable TV. Fred has his own distribution company, Retromedia, and has written the book The
New Poverty Row: Independent Filmmakers as Distributors.
Also, for
much of his colorful career, Fred has worked here in the San Fernando
Valley. Yet another reason I wanted to
talk with him.
James Latham: Spidora is consistent in some ways with
your previous work, even perhaps your own youth—as with the sideshow
setting. But the film also is a pretty
youthfully earnest and innocent romance.
And it’s a short, following a long list of features. So my first question is why Spidora, why now?
Fred Olen Ray: I had always wanted to make this film
in one form or another, but I never felt that it would survive as a feature
film where a profit must be generated or a significant cash loss would occur. I
wanted to explore crowd-funding, but felt uncomfortable taking what are
basically “donations” to make a feature film that hopes to make money without
your funders being able to participate, so it seemed like a great opportunity
to make a short film and lose money all at the same time!
I loved the
old Sideshow illusions like the Headless Woman and Spidora, but always felt
uncomfortable looking at performers with real deformities because our parents
teach us as children not to stare… but here we are, being encouraged to not
only stare, but to pay for the privilege. And he’s not just a guy with a terrible
deformity… he’s a “Prince” or she’s a “Penguin Girl”… always something fanciful
to help take the curse off it. Like Tod
Browning, I wanted to use real sideshow performers in any role I could and I
think they all did very well.
JL: Watching Spidora reminded me of emotionally
powerful classic films like Freaks
and The Elephant Man, or even Star Wars—where the freakish or
non-human characters tend to be more human, likeable, and memorable than the
“normal” ones. Spidora puts us on the side of the freak, or outsider, rooting for
her to find happiness. With all of your
work in exploitation films, as a professional wrestler, as an independent
filmmaker and distributor—can you speak to the theme of being eccentric, or an
outsider? What’s scary about being an
outsider, and what’s exciting or fun about it?
FOR: Growing up, I
never wanted to be “normal” or ordinary. I figured you only go around once, why
not try things that you might otherwise regret having passed on later? I grew up in Sarasota, Florida where your
classmates were aerialists or their dads were clowns (literally). My math
teacher was a retired member of the Flying Wallendas. When the family drove to Tampa to see my
grandparents we always passed right through Gibsonton where the carnival people
wintered. People called it Freaktown. As a kid, I played on a cross-country
traveling football team, the Ringling Redskins, sponsored by Ringling Bros. It all seemed pretty normal at the time. Everything was just the way it was. It only
occurred to me later what “being different” was all about…when I got away from
what my “normal” world was.
JL: Over the years,
you’ve had some experience working with the Hollywood studios. The upsides of that obviously can be great,
but I suspect you see many more downsides.
What are some of the main reasons you haven’t gone that route?
FOR: The further up
you go the further down you go. But the
big money is in the Studios. As I see
more and more in TV, you have little or no say at all about who the cast will
be. Directors are, but not always,
viewed as a necessary evil. Once you’ve
done your cut, your services are no longer required. Obviously, most of us would like to be more
involved in the final process, but in order to truly have control over your
project you have to risk the money (or raise the money) yourself. But, it can be worthwhile in keeping your
sanity. I’ve certainly risked a lot of
my own money over the years.
JL: When I look at
your film career, the person who most comes to mind is Roger Corman, though he
is primarily a producer. I notice that
both of you have worked in the recent monster shark genre, in your case with Super Shark. How do you explain the popularity of those
particular films?
FOR: A producer friend
of mine once told me “Sharks always work”. People just have a rooted fear of them. We did SUPER SHARK because we wanted to
produce our own Syfy Channel type film and this was the model we chose. We raised the money ourselves so we could have
creative control over the project. Obviously, I had made this kind of film before
with SEA SNAKES and JERSEY SHORE SHARK ATTACK. The trick was how to do it on a budget.
JL: The cartoonish
violence in these films is similar to that of professional wrestling. I bet you could tell a lot of stories about
your experiences in that world. What are
some things you can tell about wrestling that we amateurs may not know?
FOR: Wrestling
reminds me a lot of theater in the round.
You wait in the wings and every night you have butterflies in your
stomach. It’s like performing in some
kind of free flowing play. No one hangs
their head in depression backstage waiting for an envelope with fifty bucks in
it like in the movie THE WRESTLER. The
workers are excited. It’s their time to
shine. Everybody goes out of their way
to try to not injure their opponent, but it’s understood that there are those
moments where you simply HAVE to lay it in there…the audience is too close to
you not to. A steel chair to the head is
exactly what it looks like. In that,
there’s no holding back. You just have
to hit the guy…the one thing you WILL see, though—every time—is that you’ll
only get hit with the “seat” side of the chair…if a guy’s not holding it right
you’ll see him flip the chair over before he hits his opponent.
JL: You’ve done a lot
of your filmmaking work in the San Fernando Valley. As you say, “I live in Studio City and hate
traffic, so I generally try to force all locations to be filmed in the 818.” Besides an easy commute, can you discuss what
aspects of the Valley make it appealing to filmmakers?
FOR: I love the Valley
because you can get around in it from so many ways… if you don’t want to take
the Freeway you don’t have to. Its layout
is pretty uncomplicated and there aren’t many areas that I would be nervous
about filming in late at night. It also
features a wide variety of looks from city streets to the rocky expanse of the
old Iverson Movie Ranch that plays for Africa or Mars, or beyond.
JL: As I understand
it, the recent condom law has caused much of the porn industry’s production to
relocate from the Valley to Las Vegas or elsewhere. Though this may be the underside of the
entertainment industry, it also is a huge moneymaker, and I assume was
generating a lot of money and jobs for people in the Valley. Can you comment on that?
FOR: I’m not involved
in that arena, but I do know that it caused a drop off in Studio and site
location rentals. Kind of the same way
the over abundance of Reality Shows vs. Scripted TV killed the big prop
houses…and soon the costume houses too, I think.
JL: A film we
screened many years ago at VFF, Boogie
Nights, is partly about how new technologies in the 1970s and 80s would
change the business and culture of porn film, from tacky theaters to the
home. From what you’ve seen, how have
more recent technological developments—Internet, social media, etc.—further
changed this part of the entertainment industry, for better or worse?
FOR: I think VHS
killed the Drive-In theaters for sure. As
we’ve seen, the viewer suddenly became the programmer. Able to select what films would play, at what
time the films would start (or pause) and they could kill the movie completely
and move on to the next one when it suited them. I think the Internet has caused a huge up
shift in film piracy. As soon as a film
becomes legally available, someone will start stealing it. My movie, AFTER MIDNIGHT, premiered on PPV and
VOD on October 28th. Within six hours there were illegal uploads all
over the internet. It’s maddening.
JL: Is there anything
else you’d like to mention?
FOR: Well,
when people think of me they think of the horror films I’ve made. People expect SPIDORA to be a horror film, and
the poster, which I love, might foster that notion. They are equally surprised
to discover that the movie is a love story with an uplifting message. I needed to condense everything I wanted to do
into a few short minutes. My goal, ultimately, was to try to move people. I wanted the audience to feel the incredible
sadness and then the incredible happiness of the characters. That’s what it’s all about. It’s about being different and finding love.
JL: OK, thanks for
your time, and for sending us your film.
---
The 14th
annual Valley Film Festival takes place December 10-14, 2014, at the
all-digital Laemmle
NoHo 7 in North Hollywood. For more info,
visit our website
or Facebook page. Spidora
screens as part of our “Flights of Fantasy” short film program, at 10:00 pm on
Saturday, December 13.
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