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Bum Interviews:
The Jason Paul Collum Interview, Part 1 | I had the privilege of interviewing the director/writer of Tempe's OCTOBER MOON recently. You know my thoughts on the film from my review. Let's see what Jason Collum thinks about the genre, and his new film.
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BUMSCORNER.COM (BC): Recently I reviewed a movie under the genre of gay/lesbian horror. Watching this movie as a straight male, some questions arose as should I be reviewing this? Some moments I could not relate to, and some situations would make sense to the gay populace, yet maybe not to me. What message I took from the movie also seemed quite different from what the viewer may have been intended to take away from the film. Well to get the answers on this, and to discuss the genre altogether we are going straight to the source. We are pleased to be speaking with Jason Collum. Jason is the writer and director of Tempe's October Moon. For starters Jason I want to thank you for taking time from your schedule to discuss filmmaking, October Moon, and the genre altogether. My first question is, do we need a separate genre altogether for gay and lesbian audiences, or do you feel that horror is horror?
JASON PAUL COLLUM (JPC): I'd like to say horror is horror, but realistically there are two reasons why gay and lesbian horror currently needs to be a separate genre. First, though it may be a shallow excuse, is the financial/marketing end. Gay-themed films in general are HOT right now. Just go to your local Blockbuster, or look at the three (!) new gay-centered television networks launched in the past two years. More specific to OCTOBER MOON, we're at the beginning of what we believe is a new trend: "gay horror." African-American horror (formerly known as "Blaxpoitation" in the 1970s) is now a huge genre again. Asian horror cinema is probably the biggest new wave. Gay horror is a completely untapped market. There have only been a few sparse examples of specifically gay horror films in past 35 years (I believe SOMETIMES AUNT MARTHA DOES DREADFUL THINGS was the first official gay horror film in 1972), but most of them have portrayed homosexuals as the "evil" element of the film. Gays in horror films are generally, or should I say "generically," either the villains (THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS) or the funny sidekick who gets bumped off half way through (BRIDE OF CHUCKY)...much like African-Americans. This new trend began VERY successfully as more homo-erotic fare like VOODOO ACADMEY (1999) and THE BROTHERHOOD (2000) -- yet was marketed as "Horror for Women." Unbelievably hot college-age boys prancing around in their underwear with their "buddies." Industry "experts" said they wouldn't sell. The producers of THE BROTERHOOD (made for $120,000) pocketed $1.2 million – for a Direct-to-Video film! Yet "America isn't ready for horror films with gay lead characters." Exact words I was told over the years in trying to get OCTOBER MOON and other similar movies produced. Six years later you have OCTOBER MOON (which we won't have sales figures for until April 2006) and HELLBENT (which, I think, did respectable business in theaters this past fall), plus a plethora of films in production like STAB, OCTOBER EVIL (ahem!), DEAD GUYS ON FILM, and many more. Will they be as successful as THE BROTHERHOOD? We are only assuming at this point that they will be. So, it's all based in marketing. Personally, I hate calling OCTOBER MOON a gay film. It sections off the film to one group. The story is meant to be seen by both straights and gays. There are lessons for both orientations. Gays need to be a little less frivilous with each others hearts; straights need to realize we're more than just "dancing queens." We have three-dimensional relationships. We feel, love, and argue just like straight couples. We own homes and many of us are devout in our relationships. We're also the last group in America which it's "okay" to discriminate against...or to mimmick in public without shame or dirty looks. We're more emotionally fragile and prone to suicide because we fear how our family and friends will react when we "come out." So there's a lesson to be had for both elements. However, companies need to specify to their viewers what they're going to be watching.
This is the second reason for a gay-specified genre. Much as I wish it wasn't true, a good majority of our society is still "freaked out" by gays and lesbians. Sure, straights love WILL & GRACE...but Will never kisses boys. Sure straights love ELLEN...but Ellen never kisses girls. Let me tell you about the gasps I heard when we premiered the OCTOBER MOON trailer at a film convention in Chicago in July 2005. Literally 2 seconds of the lead male characters locking lips, and you'd think we'd just murdered a baby on screen. Ironically, that same convention held a screening of a film in which the corpse of a 12 year old boy is raped in a bathtub.
Nobody got up and walked out. The public, at this point in our society, needs to know that the film they're about to see is going to show two men kissing. No sex. No blow jobs. And with the exception of a butt shot, no nudity. But they need to know. Protests are going on now over BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN because outraged viewers are claiming they didn't know they were going to actually see Heath Ledger kiss Jake Gyllenhaal. COME ON PEOPLE! Are you blind?! Every magazine and news show in America told you what it was about...but they didn't think they'd have to actually "see" it. Why? Because Will never kisses boys! Ellen
never kisses girls! It's a very sad and ridiculous state we're in, but I guess the public needs to be "warned" that love between two human beings might be expressed. That is why there needs to be gay specific genres. My hope is that 20 years from now American's will see anything labeled "Gay & Lesbian" as arcane and segregated.
BC: And this is why I pose that question. Personally, I find separating of the target audience to be slightly ridiculous, yet then again I was unaware that the “backlash" is still going on. THE BROTHERHOOD's director David DeCoteau has been known for his "homo-erotic" films, such as LEECHES, yet his films still do not fall under any specific genre. This may be for the lack of gay relationships in his films. Only like you mentioned, underwear wearing teens. I believe you hit the nail right on the head pertaining to how gays are perceived in movies nowadays. It is never out of place to have a gay man in a film. He will always be the best friend of the heroine, yet will always be alone. He would never be seen in a relationship, or on a date. I find this very odd. It is as if society is saying "It is accepted to be gay. You must not be seen in a relationship however." You mentioned BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN, a movie that I will not see not for the homosexual moments, but because a western themed love story does not interest me in the least. Were you surprised at the uproar that this movie brought with it? When another gay themed love story BOYS DON'T CRY came out in 1999, it caused no where near this stir.
JPC: I got my first "professional" film job working for David DeCoteau on ANCIENT EVIL: SCREAM OF THE MUMMY (2000). I went on to do 4 additional films with him, including THE BROTHERHOOD and THE BROTHERHOOD II: YOUNG WARLOCKS (2001). I can tell you from working side-by-side with David that the attempt was to "trick" straight viewers into plunking $$$ to see a "safe" movie where they could see gorgeous men in their underwear and not feel "threatened" by any possibility of seeing homosexual activities. However, David and his investors also suspected that "out" gay men, and more importantly, "closeted" gay men, would pick up on the films. The out men could shamelessly ooogle the underwear clad boys amongst their friends. The closeted gay men could, similar to the straight audience, enjoy seeing these scantily clad hunks without anyone assuming they might be gay! After all, speaking from personal experience, it's a horrifying situation to take a gay-themed film off the shelf at Blockbuster, hide the cover against your leg or between other DVDs in your hand until you get to the checkout...then you have to hand it to a clerk! The only slight relief you might have is if the clerk is a girl, because in your mind you think, "Surely she'd be more understanding of your desire to see the film, vs. the presumed straight male clerk." Think it's an exaggeration or unnecessary? You should have seen the glares I got and whispers I heard just last week when I picked up a Chippendales calendar at the mall! So DeCoteau was extremely intelligent (and put a lot of $$$$ into his bank account) in making safe "not-really-gay-even-though-they-are" movies.
Per the furor surrounding BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN vs. BOYS DON'T CRY, there are a few elements at play. Though ridiculous, society seems more comfortable with lesbians than gay men. Look at your average porno film for straight men. How many lesbian love scenes are there? Mmm Hmm. Also, BOYS was based on a true crime story. How can you protest what you know has actually happened? You can't deny her story, because she's dead as a result from it. You know that she was a lesbian and that she was murdered. I would bet many a homophobe felt she got what was coming to her. Sick, right? Plus we have to remember Hillary Swank was an unknown at the time. Few went to see the movie specifically for her name value. BOYS gave her a name value. BROKEBACK concerns men...and not just gay men -- THEY'RE COWBOYS!!! What would John Wayne think?!?! Cowboys can't fall in love! Gay cowboys certainly can't have a movie of their own, with a massively huge budget, a famed director, A+List celebrities, and a wide theatrical release! At least that murdered lesbian movie only got a limited theatrical. This is the other problem. BROKEBACK has garnered waaaaaay more attention than BOYS. Sure, Hillary Swank won an Oscar, but when she accepted it she was a pretty girl in a pink dress crying to her handsome husband in the audience. I would be curious if, come Oscar time, confirming Ledger and Gyllenhaal's heterosexuality in real-life calms people down. It certainly made them relax when they found out WILL & GRACE's Eric McCormick wasn't really a queer. I hear it frequently. "Man, that straight guy really is funny pretending to be gay...." Takes us right back to Milton Berle. Gays are safe as long as they're only being funny and not sexual. An episode of W&G even makes that comment -- JACK to WILL on why he doesn't have a boyfriend: "America doesn't want to see you being sexual, Will!"
This is the mentality we're dealing with. It's a major reason why I wanted to bring the story of gay men in real-life relationships to the screen, but not just for gay men to see. It's also why I deliberately chose to cast gay men in the gay roles, and even one gay actor in a straight role. I won't say who they are, but if you met four of these actors in real-life, you would never know they were gay. So there. Now I feel like we're getting a bit off the subject at hand....
***continues on Part 2*** |
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Updated Tuesday, January 17, 2006 Written by Rufus |
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