Mondo Lizard: A Guide To Gonzo Cinema will be screening at the Straight Jacket Guerrilla Film Festival
*How did you get into making films?
First of all I would like to point out that I do not consider myself a " filmmaker" or "director" or "video artist" or "photographer" etc, etc. I used these titles in the past thinking that's what I must be because of what I'm doing, right? Wrong! I have no burning desire to make films or photography, Im not at all concerned if nobody sees anything I make, I don't care if people like it or hate it, I think most filmmakers do feel the need to make and show work and rightly so, there are some great people making some great work! I got into this by being frustrated with the music industry Divas, everybody thinks they are so fucking deserving, fuck em! I decided to mess around with cameras, taught myself how to develop film so I could film/record or document things that interest me. Along the way I've met some brilliant people!
*What inspired you to make your movie?
I used to be a member of the Experimental Film Society, a collective based in Ireland and I came across an interview or article which featured this filmmaker Fabrizio Federico, he was ripping into us, I think he referred to us as dish-washing hipsters, which was fucking great! So I thought who the fuck is this guy? Who the fuck does he think he is? I hated him! I'm an experimental filmmaker, I'm important,etc,etc. So I got in touch with him, called him up on the phone and asked if I could make a movie about him because he irritated me.....I was so wrong, he turned out to be a great guy and has given much of his time in helping me make my latest pile of tripe called Mondo Lizard. Yeah, so you can say Fabrizio Federico inspired me to make Mondo Lizard.
*How has your style evolved? Possibly by not watching many films, avoiding the cinema, trial and error? I've no idea if I'm honest.
*Tell us any strange or funny stories while making the film?
Tony's toothless interview: Fabrizio and I visited a mature gentleman's fetish dungeon for Mondo Lizard, Tony loves eggs but can't eat them with his false teeth in. So, when we took a break Tony decides he's having a few pickled eggs, takes his teeth out, leaves them on the worktop, has his eggs. Meanwhile, I decide they'd make a good prop, so I edged over to the kitchen worktop and slipped them into my pocket, they feel extremely life like, made me wretch a bit too! So we finish our break, Tony can't find his teeth, he's wandering around the kitchen, Fab is singing " I am the eggman " and distracts him by asking what type of music he likes. He gives up, we get back to work and I've got a great prop for a street fight scene in my Boxing movie " I'm in a Wheelchair and this time it's Personal " and Tony gums his way through an interview. Funny? Strange? Nah, just plain fucking weird.
*The Misrule Film Movement & Pink8 manifesto bring what to mind?
Pink8, I think if we understand that it was basically used for one film by Fabrizio Federico (Black Biscuit) then its just there for the taking, if you want to follow it, great! If you want elements of it, great! I think it's a good way to say fuck you! The Misrule Cinema Movement, hopefully it's created a lot of mutant punk filmmakers. Actually the film Anarchy in the UK was one of the reasons I'd called Fabrizio, that and the fact he was ripping into EFS. It's good people challenging the government. Even better now that there are skint, ugly, freaky filmmakers on the loose!
*What can we expect from your next film?
I have a couple of on-going projects, the first is researching into something called Autogynephilia and sexologist Dr Ray Blanchard, I started it a year maybe 18 months ago, complex and controversial. The other will be some sort of weird boxing movie. But you never know what might come along, who knows?
*Tell us about this new film movement that you have captured in your film?
I think maybe the underground needs to be exhumed, maybe there is no underground. All the people in this film are on their own, they're broke, they all have next to no resources. They are all insane in their own way, they are all true to themselves. They are all completely genuine. None of them backed out of Mondo Lizard. They're maverick filmmakers.