LETHAL FORCE- Slapped In The Face By The Washington DC City Paper!!!

 

June 17, 2003

More crap from DC, this goddamn jerkwater town....

A week ago, freelance journalist and friend Dave Nuttycombe had pitched a feature interview with Yours Truly, focusing on my farewell from this miserable little burg, for the City Paper, the local Washington, DC alternative weekly. The interview was completed and pictures were taken, but now, because of an alleged "conflict of interest" since Dave did voice work on the movie, they have chosen to kill the piece and to continue their historic track record of generally ignoring me and treating me like crap. I don't know if my bluntness on a couple of topics was also a factor, but I don't give a damn. The City Paper can go to hell. (And you can quote me on that.)

For posterity, I have posted the interview here.

CP: Why are you leaving?

Sir Alvin D. Ecarma: I've pretty much played out the "regional filmmaker plan" a la George Romero, Sam Raimi, Robert Rodriguez, etc. With "Lethal Force", I've demonstrated that I can work outside the system and not only can I put together a good movie for nothing, I can whore it out like the finest PR-hungry pimp this side of Sunset Boulevard. These are things that can be appreciated (I hope) out in El Lay.

But more to the point, DC sucks- when it comes to a lot of things actually, but when it comes to independent film in particular. From my view point, DC is a white-bread, artistically conservative town that strives to be first at being the fifteenth. The local festivals are produced by and aimed at small cliques that seek to promulgate their own ideas of what is "cutting edge" without any idea of what actually qualifies and the same goes for most of the indie films produced around here. The area press hasn't treated me too well either. Whenever the Post has done something on me, it's always layered in a smirking arrogance a la "Look at what the trick monkey can do! How droll!". And the City Paper.... I've been here for a hell of a long time and you bastards are running a profile now? It seems like any old gimp could buy a DV camera and declare himself the next Richard Kern and you'd be all over them with a four page spread in 15pt Times New Roman but I bust my ass to shoot a movie on real live film that gets rave reviews and I don't get dick. What a crock. And let's not even bring up Arch Campbell, that creepy little dwarf. But I've gone on without the local press's recognition and have done quite nicely, thank you very much.

I guess what it comes down to is that old saying "In his own land, a prophet has no home." Not that I'm a religious figure or anything, but most everywhere else seems to like me, why not you, Washington, DC? What exactly is your goddamn problem?

And artistically, things haven't been clicking really. If I felt that I was part of some happening group of like-minded people, I'd stay but it hasn't occurred. I'm not saying that I don't have fans, friends, or allies here, but I don't have the feeling of "Hey man, this is it! We are on fire!!!!" I'm not energized by my surroundings and this area leaves me frustrated and dissatisfied on too many levels to justify staying. My rule is you should always ditch when you're wanting for more, but are tiny bit afraid to amscray; when you're feeling that, it's time to jump out of the plane and pull the ripcord.

CP: When are you leaving?

Sir Alvin: August or September.

CP: Won't you please stay?

Sir Alvin: Fuck no.

CP: How come they loves you in Baltimore?

Sir Alvin: Baltimore has a proud counter-culture tradition that goes back to John Waters and 40 years is like 400 when it comes to independent filmmaking. It's just a wild and wooly town with an easy acceptance of the bizarre and great taste when it comes to freaked out new things. I actually considered relocating there, but that seemed like a lateral move more than anything. Not radical enough.

CP: How many films have you made?

Sir Alvin: Too many to count, but if I had give a canon of my filmography actually worth watching, I'd say seven shorts and one feature.

CP: Why did you make them?

Sir Alvin: I realized in my teen years that filmmaking is why God put me on this Earth. I'm an artist, man. An audience-pleasing artist in the psychotronic vein, but an artist nevertheless. So there.

CP: How long have you been touring with LFTM?

Sir Alvin: It's been playing the circuit since Spring 2001 in various forms. It was only recently that we actually had the version that we could legally distribute.

CP: Care to comment about that OTHER Lethal Force movie?

Sir Alvin: It's stars the Man From U.N.C.L.E. and this other jerk. Actually, Roger Corman's company, the guys who were releasing the other LF, were interested in my LF but they backed off when they heard it was actually entertaining. I am not making this up.

CP: Any details about the video deal?

Sir Alvin: It should be hitting shelves in the Fall/Winter, possibly under a new title. Apparently, the title "Lethal Force" is poison to the major video chains so it's going to be changed to something more marketable. I suggested calling it "Lethal Killaz" or "Lethal Gangstas" since those rap/black action movies seem to be clogging up shelves nationwide and nobody seems to care that they're absolute bull plop. It wouldn't be totally dishonest since we have black people in prominent and pivotal roles in our movie. Plus, the Brothers do love the kung fu (or so I am told.)

CP: Any surprises in making your first feature?

Sir Alvin: Finding actors. You don't have the ink for me to go off on some of the prima donna bullshit we were subjected to. You'd have thought we were shooting porn. And if we were, we'd probably have had less trouble.

CP: Next project?

Sir Alvin: "Certain Death". More of the same, only bigger and better. The plot: A thieving, cowardly con man, the last surviving member of a famous crimefighting family, must rise to the occasion when he is called upon to capture the world's most dangerous criminal mastermind. It's basically "Don Knotts vs Fu Manchu" and there'll be plenty of kung fu, death and at least three musical sequences a la Hope and Crosby. I've been watching a lot of Bollywood lately and it's rubbed off on me. Production begins in the Summer of 2005 and will be filmed mostly in Wilmington, DE and Baltimore, MD but with some shooting around here. It'll star all the LF alum who are still talking to me plus David "Crash" Stewart, star of my action director's movie 23 HOURS. I'll be returning in my position as Writer/Producer/Director along with Eric Thornett as Action Director/Director of Photography and FX Maestro Danny Fiedling as Art Director.

CP: Any people you'd like to thank?

Sir Alvin: Even though I seem to be slamming DC, I'd like to thank the following local people in no particular order :

Dave Nuttycombe

Jeff Krulik

Brainbox Productions

Visions DC

Carl Cephas and The Washington Psychotronic Film Society

Washington Area Lawyers For The Arts

The Cast and Crew of Lethal Force

And my family: mom, dad, Gino and the other one-- I believe his name is "Victor" although this cannot be independently verified at the moment.

CP: Any people you'd like to crush?

Sir Alvin: They know who they are. My vengeance will be swift and merciless. (I'm looking at you, Steve.)

CP: Finally, who is Cash Flagg, Jr? And why do the ladies love him so?

Sir Alvin: Cash is a talented and modest actor known for his generosity and charitable works. Single but available, the sensitive Cash seeks a special lady to share long afternoons window shopping at rural antique stores, chilly October nights snuggling by a roaring fire and who, most importantly, can appreciate his fucking sense of child-like wonder and his monstrous 10 inch cock.

 

POSTSCRIPT:

Reaction has been mostly positive to this posting although I have received a couple of vocal complaints on some message boards that bring up the attitude and casual swearing as the cause of the article killing so let me make this clear: the Washington City Paper is a hard left, anti-establishment weekly that runs ads for phone sex services and prostitutes in the back pages; it's not going to be shaken off by a pissed off rant and four-letter words. The City Paper isn't the "Amish Weekly" where headlines like "Barn Raising This Saturday!" or "Elders Proclaim Nay To Moustaches, Yay to Beards" are standard.

Secondly, there are those who say that everywhere is the same and location doesn't make a difference. Phooey to that. In my own personal experience, location can mean a lot.

I went to two film schools: Penn State and NYU. Penn State was the most staid, conservative, creatively deadening place I have ever been. People thought my ideas were crazed and that I was an escaped mental patient. At NYU, people embraced my ideas, dug what I had to express and didn't mind that I sometimes acted like an escpaped mental patient.

Now, you might say NYU is simply chock full of other mental patients on the lam but last time I checked they knock out kick-ass filmmakers by the bushel and Penn State has been lucky to knock out Riker from ST:TNG and some producers for the "Cosby Show" and that was just because of the Law of Very Big Numbers. (I apologize to any Nittany Lions I have just offended).

On the flip side, a talented Ohio filmmaker living in DC had a very different experience. He was a student at Ohio state and he was planning to ditch to NYU but he hit a groove. He clicked with a bunch of other like-minded and talented people so moving became unnecessary. He currently works for a cool bunch in Silver Spring, MD and will be making a feature on 35mm next year using his area of employ to do the post and his Ohio connections to do the actual production. He's found another groove around here and he's quite happy.

So whatever works for you, but sometimes leaving is a neccessity. Don't stay in some place that you don't like, doesn't appreciate you and hasn't supported you. (Parting shots are optional.)