Crispin Hellion Glover is undoubtedly best known for his roles in classic 80s movies like Back To The Future and River's Edge. However, while he might seem like a marginal figure to those who see the world through the filter of a Hollywood lens, in truth Glover is a multi-talented artist who has spent the past three decades putting the majority of his energies into his independent projects. These projects range from producing and directing low-budget independent films to releasing albums to writing books, all of which reflect Glover's unique sensibility. His more recent work in big-budget Hollywood movies also reflects this sensibility to a great extent, as Glover typically portrays eccentric characters in his more recent film work. Among those roles are the title role in the 2003 remake of the 1971 film Willard, that of the Creepy Thin Man in the Charlie's Angels film series, and that of Grendel in Robert Zemeckis's 2007 adaptation of Beowulf.
In 2005, Glover released What is it?, a film he'd been working on for over a decade, financing it with the paychecks from his appearances in big-budget Hollywood films. What Is It? was a shocking experimental film dealing with taboo subjects such as racism and prejudice towards the handicapped and disabled. Most members of the cast have Down Syndrome, although the condition is not addressed during the film. In order to best present the film, and deal with the questions it was sure to raise, Glover chose to forego typical avenues of film distribution. Instead, he took the film on tour and presented it himself at independent theatres, accompanied by a question and answer session, as well as a slideshow presentation of several of his books entitled Crispin Hellion Glover's Big Slide Show. Glover's books are just as much works of visual art as writing; he constructs them by radically modifying books from the 19th Century that have become part of the public domain. He has published several through his production company, Volcanic Eruptions, but many more remain unpublished. Glover is currently touring with his 2007 sequel to What is it?, entitled It is fine! EVERYTHING IS FINE. This film was written by and stars Steven C. Stewart, who also appeared in What is it? Glover produced the film and co-directed it with David Brothers.
His tour will bring him to Richmond's Byrd Theatre on Friday, December 3rd, in an appearance facilitated and sponsored by the James River Film Society. The event will start at 9:00 PM, and will consist of two programs: Crispin Hellion Glover's Big Slide Show Part 2, a one hour dramatic narration of eight different, profusely illustrated books; and a screening of It is fine! EVERYTHING IS FINE (35 mm, 74 minutes). Tickets are $10 for each program, or $20 for both, and are available at Chop Suey Books and Video Fan.
Todd Raviotta got in contact with Mr. Glover over email to ask about his films, his books, and how he balances his work within and outside of the Hollywood studio system.
TODD: What is your process and ritual in the book making?
CRISPIN:I made all the books in the shows in the 80’s and early 90’s. I would find older bindings from the 1800’s and images from around the same time and rework them. I usually reworked the text with india ink and the photos and illustrations with graphite and india ink. I would use rubber cement to glue in the illustrations. Some of the books were made over a period of months or even years, if they were put aside for a time, and some of them were made more rapidly. There usually was some revising of them after having gone through the pages, and then at a certain point it would become apparent that the book was completed.
The books are taken from old books from the 1800’s that have been changed into different books from what they originally were. They are heavily illustrated with original drawings and reworked images and photographs. When I first started publishing the books in 1987, people said I should have book readings. But the book are so heavily illustrated, and the way the illustrations are used within the books, they help to tell the story. So the only way for the books to make sense was to have visual representations of the images. This is why I knew a slide show was necessary. It took a while, but in 1992 I started performing what I used to call Crispin Hellion Glover’s Big Side Show. People get confused as to what that is, so now I always let it be known that it is a one hour dramatic narration of eight different profusely illustrated books that I have made over the years. The illustrations from the books are projected behind me as I perform the show.
TODD: How do you strike a balance between the experience of working on big impersonal projects and that of making complex intimate smaller films?
CRISPIN: I do not really use the same vocabulary to describe the balance of my film work. I will explain what you are asking this way: In the last ten years I have been acting in films that I have been utilizing the money to finance my own film projects. I often see it written as though I am only acting in other people’s films to finance my films, but this is not true. I enjoy acting in other people’s films. Actually financing my own films with the money I have made acting in other people’s films has made me enjoy acting in other people’s films more and be more grateful for it.
TODD: When did you first start working on your personal films? What got you started on making them?
CRISPIN: I have been making films starting when I was thirteen and purchased a Minolta super 8 camera with an intervalometer. I do not quite remember what attracted me to making movies at that age, but I did like it.
Some details about the two feature films I have completed are as follows:
What is it? is my psychological reaction to the corporate restraints that have happened in the last 20 to 30 years in filmmaking. Specifically, anything that can possibly make an audience uncomfortable is necessarily excised, or the film will not be corporately funded or distributed. This is damaging to the culture because it is the very moment when an audience member sits back in their chair looks up at the screen and thinks to themselves, “Is this right what I am watching? Is this wrong what I am watching? Should I be here? Should the film maker have made this? What is it?” And that is the title of the film. What is it that is taboo in the culture? What does it mean that taboo has been ubiquitously excised in this culture’s media? What does it mean to the culture when it does not properly process taboo in its media? It is a bad thing when questions are not being asked, because these kinds of questions are when people are having a truly educational experience. For the culture to not be able to ask questions leads towards a non educational experience, and that is what is happening in this culture. This stupefies this culture and that is of course a bad thing. So What is it? is a direct reaction to this culture’s film in content.
I have completed part two of the trilogy entitled It is fine! EVERYTHING IS FINE. Steven C. Stewart wrote and is the main actor in It is fine! EVERYTHING IS FINE. I put Steve into the cast of What is it? because he had written this screenplay, which I read in 1987. When I turned What is it? from a short film into a feature, I realized there were certain thematic elements in the film that related to what Steven C. Stewart’s screenplay dealt with. Steve had been locked in a nursing home for about ten years when his mother died. He had been born with a severe case of cerebral palsy and he was very difficult to understand. People that were caring for him in the nursing home would derisively call him an “M.R.” short for “Mental Retard.” This is not a nice thing to say to anyone, but Steve was of normal intelligence. When he did get out, he wrote his screenplay. Although it is written in the genre of a murder detective thriller, truths of his own existence come through much more clearly than if he had written it as a standard autobiography.
I put Steven C. Stewart into What is it? when I turned What is it? into a feature film. Originally What is it? was going to be a short film to promote the concept to corporate film funding entities [of] working with a cast wherein most characters are played by actors with Down’s Syndrome. Steve had written his screenplay in in the late 1970’s. I read it in 1987 and as soon as I had read it, I knew I had to produce the film. Steven C. Stewart died within a month after we finished shooting the film. Cerebral palsy is not generative but Steve was 62 when we shot the film. One of Steve’s lungs had collapsed because he had started choking on his own saliva, and he got pneumonia. I specifically started funding my own films with the money I make from the films I act in. When Steven C. Stewart’s lung collapsed in the year 2000 this was around the same time that the first Charlie’s Angels film was coming to me. I realized with the money I made from that film, I could put straight into the Steven C. Stewart film. That is exactly what happened. I finished acting in Charlie’s Angels and then went to Salt Lake City, where Steven C. Stewart lived. I met with Steve and David Brothers, with whom I co-directed the film. I went back to LA and acted in an lower budget film for about five weeks, and David Brothers started building the sets. Then I went straight back to Salt Lake and we completed shooting the film within about six months, in three separate smaller productions. Then Steve died within a month after we finished shooting.
I am relieved to have gotten this film finally completed because ever since I read the screenplay in 1987, I knew I had to produce the film, and also produce it correctly. I would not have felt right about myself if I had not gotten Steve’s film made. I would have felt that I had done something wrong and that I had actually done a bad thing if I had not gotten it made. So I am greatly relieved to have completed it, especially since I am very pleased with how well the film has turned out. We shot It is fine! EVERYTHING IS FINE while I was still completing What is it? And this is partly why What is it? took a long time to complete. I am very proud of the film, as I am of What is it? I feel It is fine! EVERYTHING IS FINE will probably be the best film I will have anything to do with in my entire career. People should join up on the email list at CrispinGlover.com as they will be emailed with information as to where I will be where with whatever film I tour with. It is by far the best way to know how to see the films.
TODD: What is your experience with the handicapped and disabled? What attracts you to telling part of their story?
CRISPIN: I should reiterate that What is it? is my psychological reaction to the corporate restraints that have happened in the last 20 to 30 years in filmmaking. And although most of the actors in the film have Down’s Syndrome, the film is not about Down’s Syndrome. The second film in what will be the trilogy is the film I will be showing at the Byrd Theatre. I am very proud of this film.
TODD: How has touring with your independent films affected the way you see the country and the world?
CRISPIN: When I show What is it? outside of the United States, I get a much different reaction than when I show it in the United States. People become much more aggressive in the US in the Q and A session. I would attribute this to the fact that the control of the US media is more stringent in the US by corporate interests than it is in other countries. Therefore What is it? feels more alien and more questionable in the US than it does in most of the other parts of the world I have shown. Strangely, the only other countries that I have had similar kind of aggressive questions as the US are in Ireland and Germany. My experiences in Canada, Norway, Spain, Japan, Australia and Finland were that the audiences were far less aggressive about the material that they witnessed. It could have just been the mood of the particular questioners in the audience though. I have had less aggressive questioning in the US as well. I did notice that cities in the US that would be often considered liberal cities had the more aggressive questions, and that cities that may be considered more conservative in the US would have less aggressive questions. I would not consider What is it? either a liberal or conservative film, but I do not think either film would be appropriate for anyone under the age of 18.
TODD: Do you have any hope for 21st century independent media in the US?
CRISPIN: I think the continuing tightness of the constraints over the corporate funded and distributed media will make it necessary for non-corporately funded media to be funded and distributed by individuals who want to express specific thoughts that corporately funded media will not fund or distribute.
TODD: What do you look out for in visiting places where you share your films?
CRISPIN: It is more about the aggressiveness of the people involved with the venue in getting me to them than it is about me searching out and pursuing venues. I have to admit I love playing in genuine vaudeville theaters because I can feel that they were constructed for live performance, but the individuals who are passionate about bringing unusual films and media to help educate their community are true unsung heroes!
TODD: What directors or artists first inspired or continue to inspire your creativity?
CRISPIN: Werner Herzog, Luis Buñuel, Stanley Kubrick, Tod Browning, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Fritz Lang, F.W Murnau, Federico Fellini, Roman Polanski, Gaspar Noé, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Ludwig Van Beethoven, Diane Arbus, and many more.
TODD: Do you make work with an audience in mind?
CRISPIN: I often am thinking about my own enjoyment, but for the films I also know that I have to recoup the investment, and if there is a limited audience for what my personal interests are, then I have to be very careful with the budget.
TODD: One of my favorite moments from Wild at Heart is the Cousin Dell parable. Can you share thoughts on developing Jingle Dell?
CRISPIN: I loved working with David Lynch. That performance is the most concisely directed performance I have ever done. As much as I am very happy with the performance and being in the film, I have to say that it was to the second precisely directed by David Lynch.
TODD: I found your portrayal of Andy Warhol in The Doors to be very interesting. How difficult is it portraying an art icon that has been interpreted many times over in numerous other films?
CRISPIN: I shot that film in 1990. To my knowledge, I was the first person to portray Andy Warhol in a feature film. I had met Andy Warhol and talked with him a bit at Madonna and Sean Penn’s wedding in 1985, five years previous to portraying him. After I spoke with him I stood back and watched him and how he moved. I thought he would be an interesting person to play sometime. The first time I hard about a film that had him as a character was for The Doors, and I pursued the role and auditioned for Oliver Stone. I did have certain concerns about how to portray the character, but many of the concerns were about having the character say less, and Oliver Stone was very good to work with as a director.
TODD: How do you feel about being forever connected with George McFly?
CRISPIN: I am glad that I was in Back To The Future. The character of George McFly was an excellent role, and I feel good about the final results in that film. I need to clarify that I did not play the character in the sequels to the film. There was never an agreement reached for me to appear in the sequels to Back to the Future. The producers hired another actor and, with a false nose, chin and cheekbones, made him up to look like me, then inter-spliced a very small amount of footage of me from the original film in order to fool audiences into believing it was me playing the character. Because of my lawsuit, there are laws in the Screen Actors Guild that make it so no producers, directors, or actors are ever able to do this again. I am proud of that. I have noticed, however, that Bob Gale, who was the co-writer and one of the producers on the films, and one of the chief architects of the concepts that led to the lawsuit, has been stating false things about me to attempt to lessen his wrongdoing. I do not like his false statements and would like to remind that what he did caused laws in the Screen Actors Guild to be changed to protect actors from his kind of wrongdoing. I ended up having an excellent working relationship with Robert Zemeckis on Beowulf, which was released in 2007. Despite the negative aspects of Bob Gale, I am glad that I played the character in the original film.
For more info on the work of Crispin Hellion Glover, please check out his website: CrispinGlover.com.
For more info on Glover's appearance at the Byrd Theatre: jamesriverfilm.com