IS TROMA'S TEMPEST REDO LLOYD KAUFMAN'S CITIZEN KANE MOMENT?

The legendary Lloyd Kaufman, the oldest ‘enfant terrible’ in showbusiness, is back, this time with an adaptation of The Bard’s The Tempest that American society didn’t know it needed. The lovable showman, still head of the underground cult giant Troma Studios after nearly 50 years, directs himself in #ShakespeareShitstorm, a brutal, brazen takedown of cancel culture, the opioid crisis, SJW influence and Big Pharma.This nakedly ambitious, garishly grotesque freakshow has found some serious festival love worldwide, and comes to Australia on October 31 as part of the 2020 Monster Fest line-up.

From his home in New York, Kaufman spoke with SCREEN-SPACE (“I'm happy if anybody pays attention to Uncle Lloyd,” he bemoans, half-seriously) about his ongoing battle to defy the mainstream, even as the U.S. slides closer to a Troma-like reality... 

SCREEN-SPACE: Why The Tempest? What link was there between Shakespeare's work and the satire you were aiming for with #ShakespeareShitstorm?

KAUFMAN: The Tempest has always been my favourite Shakespearian play. Prospero deals with magic [and] I create magic with the movies. Prospero has been banished, as I have to the deep, deep underground by the mainstream. So, I love The Tempest. I went to see it with my mommy when I was nine years old. She took me to Stratford on Avon in Connecticut and I loved it. We studied it in eighth grade at Trinity School. Saw it numerous times on stage and a lot of the movie iterations. I very much liked Derek Jarman's version, as well as the television version with Lee Remick, Roddy McDowall, Richard Burton as Caliban. It's got a monster in it and Troma's big on monsters. It's got fairies. It's very druggy. I learned about drugs at Yale. That's about all I learned. Well, I learned about Marvel Comics at Yale, too, which is why I was friends with Stan Lee for 50 years. (Pictured, above; Kaufman, left, as Prospero)

SCREEN-SPACE: You work with your Troma troop again; Doug Sakmann, Monique Dupree and Debbie Rochon all return. Are you at that stage now where they know what you're thinking, what you want as the director? What’s a Troma set like?

KAUFMAN: Well, we attract fans. Everybody who worked on #ShakespeareShitstorm was a fan. The director of photography came from California to New York and got paid about 10% of what he would usually receive. The first cameraman came in from Denmark, the production designer from Japan. People came from all over the world to do something that they believed in and to disturb the shit a little bit. My wife was one of the producers. My assistant Justin Martell convinced us to go to Albania, becoming the first American feature film to shoot in Albania. So it really was a labor of love. It was probably the most wonderful group we've ever had. People got married; people [fell in] love with each other. There's a whole family of these people now all over the world, and that's been true of the last 20 years. 

SCREEN-SPACE: Do you keep things tight when shooting? You don’t strike me as 12-take kinda director.

KAUFMAN: We took a long time rehearsing and preparing the movie. By the time we came to the set, we were pretty well prepared. We accept improvisational ideas, such as the Chinese warlord woman singing the Sergeant Kabukiman theme song with the actor who played the Evil One in Sergeant Kabukiman N.Y.P.D. And there were a couple of young guys who are obsessed with Citizen Toxie, who put on diapers and played the nightclub scene naked except for the diapers, to pay homage the Diaper Mafia in Citizen Toxie. (Pictured, right; Kaufman with his biggest star, The Toxic Avenger)

SCREEN-SPACE: It’s great seeing you back in the director’s chair, it must be said…

KAUFMAN: The late John G. Avildsen was my mentor. I learned so much from him, like trying to shoot in sequence. As you go along, if an actor becomes nasty, you get rid of him or her or it. Or you can rewrite, and blah-blah-blah. And since we can't afford to shoot with a union, we can shoot in sequence for the most part. He also suggested that it was much more satisfying to shoot with young new actors rather than famous stars. We made Cry Uncle together, which you can see on Troma Now. He turned what should be X-rated softcore into a hilarious movie. It was Paul Sorvino's first movie. With Joe, he discovered Peter Boyle and Susan Sarandon, and then Stallone in Rocky and Ralph Macchio in The Karate Kid. Every movie he did was wonderful. He never relied on big stars. #ShakespeareShitstorm is dedicated to the memory of John G. Avildsen, and Stan Lee and Monty Python’s Terry Jones, who were major, major influences on me.

SCREEN-SPACE: How do you define Troma's place in the pop culture landscape, and what responsibility does that bring with it?

KAUFMAN: Well, the first step is to thine own self be true. I bought into the auteur theory, which was founded back in the late '50s and '60s by the French journalists Jean-Luc Godard and Claude Chabrol and a couple of others, who were transitioning into filmmakers. They propounded the auteur theory, which basically suggests that films should reflect the mind, soul, and heart of the director in the way a book reflects the mind, soul and heart of the writer. I bought into that because I speak fluent French and at the Yale Film Society, they had a stack of these Cahiers du Cinéma, which was the magazine of the Cinémathèque Française, and I started reading that stuff. 

SCREEN-SPACE: Troma's has been around now since, what, the Carter administration, the Ford administration? Is American society as rich a source of satirical targets as it's ever been?

KAUFMAN: Since 1974. It's a rich source of satire, but unfortunately, other than South Park, we have free speech here as long as we don't say anything. I think to create real satire, you have to step over some lines. Look who's running for president, both of them; old lying millionaires who have used public service to enrich themselves. I think some of my fans are pissed off at me because I didn't want to #SettleForBiden. In New York State, where I vote, he will get 90% of the vote. So I just couldn't bring myself to vote for him even though he's better than Trump. I voted for the Green Party because I just couldn't bring myself to vote for the better of the two lying sleazebags. (Pictured, above; Kaufman, left with #ShakespeareShitstorm co-star, Debbie Rochon)

#SHAKESPEARESHITSTORM screens Saturday October 31 at 7.00pm at Event Cinemas sites in George St Sydney, Innaloo Perth, Myer Centre Brisbane and Marion Adelaide. Full ticket and sessions can be found at the official Monster Fest 2020 website.

PREVIEW: BEYOND FEST 2020

Unfurling a bare-knuckle middle-finger to COVID-19 on behalf of the West Coast horror community, Beyond Fest 2020 will hold tight to the physical festival experience and present an eclectic mix of retro classics and hot-buzz current titles from October 2-8. Better still, horror and sci-fi fans will relive the golden years of genre filmgoing with the line-up screening at the iconic Mission Tiki Drive-In Theatre in Montclair.

Patrons must adhere to the venue’s strict pandemic prevention conditions, of course, but organisers are certain that attendees will respect and practice all that is asked of them. The festival, which exists in partnership with American Cinematheque and Death Waltz Recording Company, has ten new features set to unspool, including three World Premieres and two US Premieres, with the program further bolstered by seven genre classics.

In a special pre-Festival event, Beyond Fest will hold the West Coast premiere of Brandon Cronenberg’s Possessor Uncut (pictured, right) on September 24. Featuring a startling lead turn from Andrea Riseborough as a hitwoman who uses technology to commandeer the minds of strangers, hijacking their bodies to carry out kills, the film has already vied for Best Picture honours at L’Etrange, Sitges and Sundance festivals. It will screen in must-see double-bill with John Frankenheimer’s 1966 paranoid-cinema cult classic, Seconds, with a dynamic Rock Hudson as the Malibu artist faced with a new life and all its unforeseen consequences.

The festival proper launches with writer/director Jim Cummings’ sophomore feature, The Wolf of Snow Hollow. Having made a festival splash in 2018 with his offbeat character study, Thunder Road, Cummings stars as the small town sheriff faced with what may be an unwelcome werewolf presence. The world premiere will be followed by a repertory session of Joe Dante’s biting suburban satire The ‘Burbs, the 1989 Tom Hanks starrer that has developed a devoted cult following of its own in recent years.

October 3 will leave many festival goers dazed and confused with a David Lynch triple-bill booked to run well into the night. The fun kicks off at 7.30 with Lynch’s 1986 version of a smalltown murder mystery, Blue Velvet (pictured, right; starring Kyle McLachlan and Isabella Rossellini); from 9.30, audiences can reassess whether or not, as dubbed by BBC Culture in 2016, Mulholland Drive, with Naomi watts and Laura Harring, is the new millennium’s best film; then, from 11.55, the non-linear 1997 headscratcher classic, Lost Highway, with Bill Pullman and Patricia Arquette.

In debutant director Rose Glass’ stomach-tightening Saint Maud, carer Maud (Morfydd Clark) allows a malevolent force to dictate her nursing instincts, resulting in pure terror for the terminally ill Amanda (Jennifer Ehle). In a sublime piece of programming, Beyond Fest will screen a 30th anniversary session of that other ‘insane nurse’ classic, Rob Reiner’s 1990 Stephen King adaptation, Misery, with James Caan and the brilliant Kathy Bates in her Oscar-winning performance.

From October 5, contemporary works take centre stage. Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead’s long-delayed follow-up to The Endless will have it’s West Coast premiere. Synchronic features Anthony Mackie and Jamie Dornan (pictured, right) as paramedics who find the world around them engulfed in madness when a new designer drug starts to spread along the streets of New Orleans. Justin Simien’s razor-sharp satire Bad Hair utilises 70s/80s-inspired psycho-thriller vibes and sensibilities in its brutal indictment of the inherent violence of the Western gaze.

Debuting on US soil on October 6 are Bryan Bertino’s The Dark and The Wicked, a nightmarish homestead shocker steeped in dark family secrets, and Neil Marshall’s witchfinder torture vision, The Reckoning, featuring a stunning central performance from Charlotte Kirk. Next day is the World Premiere of Archenemy, from Daniel Isn’t Real director Adam Egypt Mortimer, a tale of an intergalactic hero (appropriately portrayed by larger-than-life Joe Manganiello) cast adrift on Earth sans powers, followed by Steven Kostanski’s Psycho Goreman, a bloody ode to prosthetic monsters, guts & gore, and practical effects.

Wrapping up Beyond Fest 2020 in true party fashion will be the World Premiere of the latest from Blumhouse, the serial killer body-switch horror-comedy Freaky (pictured, top), starring Vince Vaughan and Katherine Newton, from Happy Death Day director Christopher Landon. To sweeten the deal, entry is free with every ticket purchased to the repertory screening of the hillbilly romp, Tucker & Dale vs Evil, celebrating its 10th anniversary.

BEYOND FEST runs October 2-8 at the Mission Tiki Drive-In Theatre. Session and ticket details can be found at the festival’s official website.

THE GENRE FESTIVALS FRONTING AUSTRALIA'S CINEMA RE-EMERGENCE

Australian cinemas are only just starting to re-emerge from pandemic lockdown (Victorian exhibitors have shuttered again as a second viral outbreak takes hold). With distributors tiptoeing around release commitments, a roster of genre festivals unfurling in the final months of 2020 will be amongst the first wave of specialised programming and fresh content.

This unique situation - brought about by a combination of reworked dates, relaunched brands, reconsidered formats - represents both a huge challenge and wonderful opportunity to these science-fiction/horror/fantasy events...           

SCIFI FILM FESTIVAL
When: August 28-30
Where: Event Cinemas George Street, Sydney
What we know: As the major capital city festivals succumbed to COVID-19 conditions, organisers for the SciFi Film Festival bided their time, while admitting that options such as shifting online, postponement and cancellation were discussed. This week, with the backing of their venue partner Event Cinemas, the 8th annual program was announced, with tickets to go on sale in the days ahead. Programmers have secured some high-profile festival hits (Arati Kadav’s Cargo (pictured, right); Jeremy LaLonde’s James vs His Future Self; Erin Berry’s M.A.J.I.C.) and will be counting on savvy audiences keen to see big-screen sci-fi to turn out in support. 

MONSTER FEST 2020
When: October 1-9, Melbourne; October 29 - November 1, Sydney / Perth / Adelaide / Brisbane  / Canberra.
Where: Cinema Nova, Melbourne; Event Cinemas - Myer Centre (Qld.), Innaloo (W.A.), George Street (N.S.W.); G.U. Film House, Adelaide; Capital Cinemas, Manuka (A.C.T.)
What we know: The only truly national genre event, Monster Fest has a two-tiered roll-out schedule - early October in its hometown of Melbourne; Halloween weekend in other capitals - that has made dealing with the pandemic doubly challenging. Having committed to a presence at the recent Marche du Film virtual marketplace (where Monster Fest reps are sought out by global sales agents, eager to secure the brand’s credibility), organisers are now faced with the second coronavirus wave in Victoria. The lockdown did not mean 'shut down' for Monster Fest bosses; in recent weeks, it was announced that Monster Pictures will partner with Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA) in the genre funding initiative, ISOLATION. (Pictured, right; Monster Pictures General Manager Grant Hardie, left, and the Monster team).

SYDNEY SCIENCE FICTION FILM FESTIVAL
When: November 19-21
Where: Actors Centre Australia, Leichhardt
What we know: While very much the new kid on the block, the Sydney Science Fiction Film Festival has ambitious plans for their inaugural event in November. With an eight film-strong core screening schedule, it will also feature a broader sci-fi community commitment; planned are script-reads, art exhibitions and filmmaker presentations. Patron Alex Proyas (The Crow; Dark City; Knowing; I, Robot) will present a masterclass at the Actors Centre Australia campus, a state-of-the-art facility that has itself recently undergone extensive refurbishment and upgrading. Submissions are still being received via their FilmFreeway site.    

A NIGHT OF HORROR FILM FESTIVAL
When: TBD
Where: TBD
What we know: Few festival organisers have felt the sting of the pandemic like the team behind the re-energised A Night of Horror event. Originally slated for May and with a leading inner-city venue on board, coronavirus conditions saw the finalised program mothballed (which boasts Dean Yurke's Stay Out Stay Alive, Josh Reed’s We're Not Here to F**k Spiders and Sam Curtain’s The Slaughterhouse Killers) and the exhibitor back out of the deal. Determined to bring the brand back to all its glory (the once high-profile event has been on a two-year hiatus), A Night of Horror is moving forward but treading softly-softly; organisers assure it is coming in 2020, though details are being closely guarded.  

REVELATION PERTH INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL  
When: December 2-13
Where: Luna Cinemas, Leederville, Perth.
What we know: Renowned for its progressive, proactive approach to festival presentation, Perth’s Revelation event became the nation’s first ‘hybrid festival’ experience. To hold strong to their third-quarter dates in defiance of COVID-19’s impact, they launched their ‘Couched’ online screening roster; come December, the physical event will move forward at their spiritual home, Leederville’s Luna Cinema. A classic case of ‘making lemonade out of lemons’, the Revelations team have strengthened their online presence while still standing by their regular patrons.

FOOTNOTE: One of the most popular genre film gatherings, the annual Sydney Underground Film Festival, was not able to reconcile its 2020 schedule with pandemic conditions and had to cancel its physical event. The organisers will be presenting a series of virtual sessions, including the TAKE48 Film Challenge, Inhuman Screens Academic Conference and SUFF Online, a collection of short films. Donations can be made to the festival's Australian Cultural Fund campaign here.

SCREEN-SPACE editor Simon Foster is involved with the organisation of SciFi Film Festival, Monster Fest and Sydney Science Fiction Film Festival.  

FIRST WAVE OF FRONTIÈRES FUNDING HOPEFULS ANNOUNCED

The 12th Frontières Co-Production Market has unveiled the first wave of genre projects to vie for 2020 financing. For the first time, the high-level pitch sessions will take place online, with an eventual roster of 20 projects - ten from North America and ten from Europe - bidding for funding. The Montreal-based virtual film market, usually a key component of the Fantasia International Film Festival, has been repurposed in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic and will run July 23-26.

"The submissions we received for the Frontieres Market confirmed that we needed to keep going, even virtually. We welcomed many excellent submissions and the selection was a highly difficult process, and from that we are extremely proud to feature a majority of projects directed by women in this first wave," said Frontières executive director Annick Mahnert (pictured, below) via statement, noting 70% of the titles have women directors attached. Past Frontières-funded films include Julia Ducornau’s Raw, Alexandre O. Philippe’s 78/52, Neasa Hardiman’s Sea Fever and Lorcan Finnegan’s Vivarium.

Projects announced last week include director Ashlea Wessel
's Lest We Be Devoured, a retro horror-comedy set for release on Shudder; Norwegian writer/director Kjersti Helen Rasmussen's The Nightmare; Chelsea Lupkin's Tell Them What You Saw, from the indie genre slate at Yellow Veil Pictures; and, Simon Jaquemet’s Electric Child, the first film from Switzerland to find favour with the Frontières selectors.

After festival circuit success with the offbeat alien exposè Love and Saucers (2017), director Brad Abrahams (pictured, below) will be at Frontières repping his latest feature, the unknown creatures doc Cryptozoologist. “It’s been a long road for this project, with a lot of false starts,” says Abrahams, “so Frontieres is huge for us. It is our best shot at getting this doc made and finished. We’re also proud to be the only documentary in this strong genre film lineup.”

The introduction of the online pitching process is not being taken lightly by the young director, who is approaching the digital meeting, he says, “with an incredible amount of preparation, more so than if we were doing it in person.” Abraham points out, “Video chats are inherently awkward, with even small delays negatively impact delivering lines. A pitch video is required, and we’re going to do something fun with it.” 

In the true genre filmmaking spirit, Abrahams promises nothing will be left to chance. “Our bigfoot suit may make an appearance,” he teases.

The ten first wave films announced are: 

616 (Italy) Director: Lyda Patitucci; Writer: Milo Tissone and Federica Pontremoli; Producers: Marina Marzotto, Mattia Oddone (Propaganda Italia), Simone Gandolfo (Macaia Films)

CRYPTOZOOLOGIST (USA) Director: Brad Abrahams; Writer: Matt Ralston; Producer: Matt Ralston (Yeti Films)

ELECTRIC CHILD (Switzerland, France) Director/Writer: Simon Jaquemet; Producers: Michela Pini (8horses GmbH), Didar Domerhi (Maneki Films)

ICE (United Kingdom) Director/Writer: Stéphanie Joalland (pictured, above); Producer: Sean McConville (Frenzy Films)

LEST WE BE DEVOURED (Canada) Director: Ashlea Wessel; Writer: Jim Munroe; Producers: Peter Kuplowsky, Shannon Hanmer (Low Sky Productions)

OUBLIER CHARLOTTE (Canada) Director/Writer: Chloé Cinq-Mars (pictured, left); Producer: Nicolas Comeau (1976 productions)

PERCHTEN - THE LOST WINTER (Italy) Director/Writer: Rossella De Venuto; Producers: Maurizio Antonini (Interlinea films)

TELL THEM WHAT YOU SAW (USA) Director/Writer: Chelsea Lupkin; Producers: Sarah Kalagvano, Michael Peterson (775 Media Corp), Yellow Veil Pictures

THE LAST VIDEO STORE (Canada) Director: Cody Kennedy; Writers: Tim Rutherford; Producers: Greg Jeffs (NJC Productions), Cody Kennedy & Tim Rutherford (The Last Video Store Inc.)

THE NIGHTMARE (Norway) Director/Writer: Kjersti Helen Rasmussen; Producers: John Einar Hagen (Nordisk Film Production), Einar Loftesnes (Handmade Films in Norwegian Woods)

NEW MUTANTS IMAGES GENERATE PRE-RELEASE BUZZ...AGAIN

Another round of enticing pics have emerged from director Joshua Boone’s long-delayed X-Men spin-off, The New Mutants, but is it too little too late?

Hot off the box office success of his 2014 YA adaptation The Fault in Our Stars, Boone and offsider Knate Lee used panels from the graphic novel by Chris Claremont and Bill Sienkiewicz to pitch the project at 20th Century Fox. Principal photography began in July 2017, with an impressive cast headlined by Anja Taylor-Joy as Illyana Rasputin / Magik, a Russian mutant with sorcery powers and a purple dragon called Lockheed, and Game of Thrones’ actress Maisie Williams as Rahne Sinclair / Wolfsbane, a Scottish mutant in command of her own brand of lycanthropy.

The latest series of images suggest the ‘nightmarish fantasy’ element has been amped up. Former Fox CEO Stacey Snider told Variety that the cut she saw was, “Breakfast Club meets One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”, while Boone cites the institutionalized horror of A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors as a key inspiration. The April edition of special effects bible Cinefex Magazine features impressive shots of ‘Demon Bear’ towering over Taylor-Joy’s Majic and a hideous creation tagged ‘Smiley Man’.

The subject of much fan speculation and industry conjecture, The New Mutants has to date juggled planned reshoots, internal bickering over final cut rights, the Disney acquisition of 20th Century Fox and, for good measure, a global pandemic that shuttered cinemas indefinitely. So far, it has been allocated then bumped from April 13, 2018 to February 2019 to August 2019 to April 3, 2020; been cut to suit a PG-13 rating from its original R-rated vision (though some reports suggest the R version is back in place); and, watched from the sidelines as X-Men Dark Phoenix bombed, tarnishing the core brand.

With the streaming platform business booming, the seemingly cursed film has been touted as a prime candidate for a home viewing premiere. Disney were quick to signal that is always an option when they bumped Kenneth Branagh’s Artemis Fowl from a theatrical slot to the small-screen, where it premieres June 12. But a complicated contractual arrangement that dictates HBO gets current Fox product until 2022 means that Disney (or, more likely, their adult-oriented platform, Hulu) are unlikely to premiere it without a multiplex run.

Word spread overnight that the film was available for pre-order on VOD platform Amazon Prime. No release  date was confirmed, but prices suggested it would be a home-viewing premiere, with the streaming service charging US$25.99/£13.99 before the link was removed. None of the other streaming services offered a pre-order option, suggesting slippery fingers at Amazon Prime may have ‘accidentally’ gone live with the page prematurely.

Co-starring Blu Hunt (pictured, above) as Native American mutant Danielle Moonstar / Mirage, Brazilian actor Henry Zaga as solar energy manipulator Roberto da Costa / Sunspot, and Charlie Heaton as human projectile Sam Guthrie / Cannonball, The New Mutants carries with it a great deal of industry expectation. In the wake of the expensive implosion of Dark Phoenix at the international box office, Joshua Boone’s new-look X-Men adventure takes on the added responsibility of a brand reboot; a fresh take on an ageing franchise to appeal to a younger audience. The original 1980's setting was made contemporary, while series' holdovers James McAvoy, as Professor Xavier, and Alexandra Shipp, who played Storm in 2016’s X-Men: Apocalypse, disappeared from key roles as new drafts of the script were developed.

The latest release date for The New Mutants has yet to be announced.