MAKING SOME ART WITH

THE MAN BEHIND TROMA FILMS AND THE TOXIC AVENGER

by Mike Watt

November 15, 1999 saw the launching of history. Tromaville.com, a new coalition of strange and interesting websites, was unveiled with a precedent: the first live webcast of a film shoot. From the Playboy mansion. During the filming of THE TOXIC AVENGER IV: CITIZEN TOXIE, the long-awaited third sequel to the popular 80's superhero spoof.

"We had about 3 million individuals log on, to the point where they almost crashed the site. They had to open up new lines. It was enormous," says director Lloyd Kaufman. "Hugh Hefner was in it. We did a take off on the beginning of CITIZEN KANE, with the newsreel footage of XANADU. Well, we have the Troma mansion 'Tromadu'. We have a super opening."

Though the average reader might not be familiar with the name Lloyd Kaufman, rare is the person who has not heard of the Troma mascot: The Toxic Avenger, the titular star of the 1984 runaway hit, about a nerd transformed by nuclear waste into a superhero. A deformed creature upon which, appropriately if you think about it, was built an empire.

Troma Entertainment is the largest and longest continuously running independent film studio in the world. The brainchild of Kaufman and partner, Michael Herz, Troma's oft-quoted goal is "World Peace Through Celluloid," and has tried to achieve this goal by making or releasing dozens of independent feature films. Troma movies are known worldwide for being chock-full of violence, sex, nudity, foul language and bizarre, nightmarish and downright surreal situations. Their latest film, TERROR FIRMER which is more or less about a low-budget film crew versus a deranged and sexy serial killer - in which Kaufman himself co-stars, as the blind director - opened in Los Angeles theaters in October - and shows no sign of closing (see end of article for Feb. Dallas premiere and appearances).

When asked about the film, Kaufman thought a moment, then went on, rapid-fire. "It's very personal. It was actually inspired by the writing of my book ["All I Need to Know About Filmmaking I Learned From The Toxic Avenger", Penguin Putnam Books]. Incidents came into my brain, like the, you know, the fact that the boom guy doesn't show up so you stick somebody else there. I think one of the reasons the movie is so successful is the behind-the-scenes production stuff smacks of reality. The other thing that I think is really cool is that the movie's theme is the theme of the book, which is if you believe in what you're doing, you'll create art. If you're passionate about what you're doing, you will be satisfied. And possibly successful. And this movie is about young people who truly believe in what they're doing. And maybe their art isn't great art, but because they're so passionate, reaching from the darkest recesses of their soul, it is art."

Founded officially in 1979 with the release of the film, SQUEEZE PLAY, Troma is currently celebrating its thirtieth anniversary. Thirty years of subversive messaging and social conscience buried beneath gore and sex. Kaufman, a Yale graduate and French-fluent family man, had worked behind the scenes as a production manager and production supervisor, on such diverse fair as ROCKY, SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER and MY DINNER WITH ANDRE, before his company finally hit their stride in 1984 with THE TOXIC AVENGER. A staple at the Cannes Film Festival, Troma's films are considered icons at the Riviera.

"[It might be that Americans] can't get past all the sex and violence inherent in a Troma film. Though sex and violence is infinitely more interesting than the symbolism. [Laughs] At the Cannes Film Festival, there was a very prestigious film critic who compared me to Salvador Dali and Luis Bunuel and Marcel DuChamps - and I'm honored. But there's some sense to that, because DuChamps was famous for painting the mustache on the Mona Lisa and he put a urinal in an art show and was pilloried for it. Meanwhile, last week, that very urinal which he put in an art show in 1917, sold for something like $300,000. Just a plain old urinal. He's in the museum of modern art, he's considered one of the great surrealists, Dadaists of all time. And Dali and Bunuel directed the Un Chien Andalou - where the eyeball is slit - and that's what we do. We push buttons. [In TERROR FIRMER] we have that fat kid running around naked and showing his penis and getting his head squashed. We're pushing the same buttons."

The scene Kaufman refers to takes place midway through TERROR FIRMER, in which a naked man runs flailing through New York's Times Square. The scene was shot on the fly and wrapped moments before the police arrived to shut down the guerrilla shoot, a prime example of Troma's dedication to the same low budget filmmaking employed by students and filmmakers all over the world. Get the shot, no matter what and get it as quickly and cheaply as you can.

It should come as no surprise that Kaufman despises the Hollywood system and the ideals that the corporate studios employ.

"Michael and I still cannot talk to these people. I don't have the stomach for it. I just had an experience in L.A. last week - I don't want to get into it. It was just horrible, you know? Meetings with smug people who've never done anything. I don't think we have the slightest "weight" there, really. Which is fine by me."

Kaufman isn't coy in the slightest when it comes to his movies. "We take our work seriously, but we don't take ourselves very seriously." Or when it comes to the admission that there are underlying themes to his films, though put into an exploitative context - almost buried beneath in order to get that point across.

TROMEO AND JULIET is a prime example. A retelling of the Shakespeare story (the film's tag line reads "From the creators of THE TOXIC AVENGER and THE MERCHANT OF VENICE") transplanted to the urban streets of the fictional Tromaville, New Jersey. Tromeo is a slightly clueless gang punk who falls for Juliet, here the wealthy bisexual daughter of porn king "Cappy" Capulet. Amidst scenes of cartoonish mutilation and lesbian coupling, the actors deliver snippets of Shakespearian dialogue like they actually understand it, with a passion that comes through much more believably than the Hollywood remake that same year. Many have expressed that Shakespeare wrote whatever it took to get the butts on the seats of the Globe Theater, and put his messages in a context of ribald misadventure. The same can be said for Kaufman, who has co-written and/or co-directed the bulk of Troma's features.

It could be argued that the true Troma mission statement is this: true independent filmmaking for love of the form, and without the interference of, say, money.

"Most of the people who work on our movies do it for nothing. I'm talking about people who play main parts. Most of the crew don't get paid. That's why it really is for the sake of art. There's no other reason to be involved in TERROR FIRMER, for instance, except make some art or to learn. We had people from Israel, Italy, Spain, England, Japan, all of whom came to New York, lived in the production office. We fed them cold pizza and chicken sandwiches, for, like, twelve weeks - shit food, all of it just to have the experience of working on a Troma movie.

"I'm definitely hard to work for. Very hard. Because I have standards. I believe people are intelligent and people are talented and they have high potential. So when I meet somebody who isn't performing up to standards, I assume they don't care, so I take it personally. We're producing a movie in Belgium, and I just heard today, this actress who I recommended to get the main part, she's asking for a hotel room and wants to bring her fucking boyfriend to Belgium! And if that's her attitude, forget it. I just sent an e-mail that making movies is not about hotel rooms and boyfriends. It's about making a movie, that's it. That's what their lives should be. And I require that everyone who makes a Troma movie, no matter what he, she or it is doing, the Troma movie has to be the most important thing in their lives. Always. I have a wife and family, and when I'm making a movie, they know where they stand. And I've been married for twenty-five years. Otherwise, you end up with garbage."

When asked about the "auteur" theory among independents, Kaufman pauses, then replies. "I guess I really am an Auteur. I mean, Jesus, everyone signs their films 'A Film by So and So'. But I grew up with the Cahiers du Cinema (French journal of filmmaking during the New Wave period), that was where I got a lot of my philosophy, and the only people who signed their films 'A Film By So and So' were those auteur filmmakers. You know, 'A Film By Francois Truffault', 'A Film by Goddard' - Charlie Chaplin didn't sign his films 'A Film By' - John Ford didn't sign his films 'A Film By John Ford'. I've never signed my films 'A Film By Lloyd Kaufman', and my movies are mine: I write them, direct them, produce them, act in them, do music, write lyrics, and I've never ever had the presumption to put myself in a class with Claude Chabrol. But meanwhile, every fucking asshole in Hollywood, every piece of shit like WILD WILD WEST gets a 'Film by'. The auteur thing is totally overused.

"[The problem is that] I want to be a businessman, as does Michael Herz, my partner of [more than] 25 years, but in spite of ourselves, we are very true to our vision, to our artistic soul, so to speak, and we act like businessmen. I wear a tie, I wear a suit, and yet I don't compromise. Even when I want to compromise, I can't. There are many times I want to compromise, and we say, we'll let this person be more mainstream and do a movie, and before it's over, you end up with a mediocre piece of shit. You know?"

There are plenty of detractors, railing against the over-the-top violence and gore, the explicit sex of Troma films. What many people don't realize is that the movies have a sense of humor about them. Looking at the truly subversive artists in the past, such as the aforementioned Dali, DuChamps, John Waters, Kenneth Anger, they all used scatological humor and shocking images to make statements about society. They said things in their art that had not been said out loud before, or, at least, not quite as loudly. Like them or dislike them, it was impossible to dismiss them.

So it will be with CITIZEN TOXIE, as it was with TERROR FIRMER, TROMEO AND JULIET, and the rest of the sick and twisted offerings from Troma, that Lloyd Kaufman rallied his troops to battle, tongue firmly held in cheek, with his cry of "Let's make some art!" CITIZEN TOXIE is due to be released in Spring, 2000. Troma Entertainment can be found on the web at http://www.tromaville.com/, or their parent site at http://www.troma.com/. And remember, Toxie loves you.

Originally published in GC Magazine - Edited by Jon Keeyes.