honey_crash asks: How much of this film is autobiographical?
stephen_dorff_live: Hello everyone!
john_waters_live: Uhm, let's just say i've run from the police. I've asked stars to set their hair on fire...
stephen_dorff_live: Hello everyone!
john_waters_live: but i think i have a bette sense of humor and am less of a fascist that Cecil B. Demented.
john_waters_live: ;)

mistressmaetel asks: Stephen, are you anything like Cecil?
john_waters_live: LOL
stephen_dorff_live: John what should I say? Probably not as extreme as Cecil....
john_waters_live: basically....hrmm....
stephen_dorff_live: I think I definitely like his hairstyle...
john_waters_live: also, you wear clothes with authority
john_waters_live: and you are also as so sure of your acting.
john_waters_live: You're very...you know what you want to do. You're set in your ways!
john_waters_live: LOL
john_waters_live: (john giggles a lot)
stephen_dorff_live: Yes....Yeah.....Definitely. Those would be the comparisons....
john_waters_live: You're just NOT horney as much as he is.
john_waters_live: You're allowed to have orgasms, whereas he is'nt.
john_waters_live: we both agreed today to not have sex until this interview.
stephen_dorff_live: I am actually, it would be interesting if I worked with a director who asked me not to release until after filming....
john_waters_live: Y'all think we're going to talk dirty?

zooey_franny asks: How did you get Melanie Griffith to commit to the film?
john_waters_live: my agent at CAA called hers at William Morris.
john_waters_live: And then i had a meeting with her.
john_waters_live: I went to her very movie star house right near OJ Simpsons, (must have been a nightmare)
john_waters_live: She wore a skoal tshirt and no makeup.
john_waters_live: We got along great.
john_waters_live: I explained to her what i wanted this movie to be, and she said yes!
john_waters_live: She wore a skoal tshirt and no makeup!
Yahoo_Host1: Was it hard to play a campy character?
john_waters_live: i don't think he's campy. Campy to me....means...well...he's straight in this film, tho gay friendly. Campy means OVER THE TOP and Hambonish.
john_waters_live: He's not hambone-ish at all.
john_waters_live: I mean, for hollywood, Campy means Gay. He's not gay.

absenceofmalice asks: stephen - did you do your own stunts in this film?
stephen_dorff_live: Yeah actually I didn't have a double in this movie. I think the biggest stunt was when Melanie jumps off the roof.
john_waters_live: well...you've got a death scene!
stephen_dorff_live: We had a death scene in the end, where a stunt person was involved. But I did most of the action stuff, hanging out of the van, the chases, and stuff. It wasn't such a heavy stunt thing for me. But it was a heavy hand gun chose for me, a Desert Eagle.

marknyc.geo asks: Stephen... What was the coolest thing/place John showed you in Baltimore?
stephen_dorff_live: My favorite place was John's house! But we went to that bar where we shot Pecker, what was it John?
john_waters_live: We went to the Club Charles and the HOliday House.
john_waters_live: We shot Pecker in a place that was closed.
stephen_dorff_live: I was thinking of the other one...didn't you should Pecker there? Well, the Holiday House, it's a biker bar, a pretty incredible place, they have bands playing there, called like THe Smoking Guns.
stephen_dorff_live: And I met a relative of Melanie there....
stephen_dorff_live: Also the Charles Bar, was a cool place.

slavov_zizek asks: John, are you or are you not actually a part owner of the club chuck?
john_waters_live: i bought enough drinks in there!
john_waters_live: I'm not an owner. I'm just a very enthusiastic customer.
stephen_dorff_live: Was that out of Baltimore that question?

absenceofmalice asks: pecker seemed like a "happy" film, will cecil b. demented be more twisted?
john_waters_live: Well , my favorite was a quote on Pecker calling it a Disney film for Perverst.
john_waters_live: Cecil is darker. It's in many ways closer in spirit to my earlier films. ABout sexy terrorists and how much fun it is to go to riots.
john_waters_live: ;)
john_waters_live: i think first..i am poking fun at myself.

tsa173 asks: Mr. Waters, is the new movie poking fun at the film industry in general or a particular genre (maybe your own)?
john_waters_live: What do you have to do anymore to be edgy?
john_waters_live: Die?
john_waters_live: Set people's hair on fire?
john_waters_live: Kidnap extras and force them in your film?
john_waters_live: It's also a joke on what women have to do to get work in hollywood, and the extremes they have to go to in order to reinvent themselves for the audience.

absenceofmalice asks: what was it like working with alicia witt?
stephen_dorff_live: Alicia's cool, she jumped right in there, gave a great audition for John...I was enthusiastic about the whole cast, a lot of talented newcomers.
stephen_dorff_live: I didn't know too much of her work, but I thought she did a great job, and she's a nice person. And she did a great scene with the gerbil.

slavov_zizek asks: John, since guerilla filmmaking plays an important role in this film, talk about your early guerilla filmmaking days in Baltimore. (e.g. naked at hopkins and in the dell)
john_waters_live: well i guess you know i was arrested while making Mondo Trasho...or Conspiracy to commit Indecent Exposure...
john_waters_live: Divine escaped driving a 1959 red cadillac convertible, wearing a gold lamme toreador outfit with a nude man next to her.
john_waters_live: The police could'nt find them...
john_waters_live: :D

absenceofmalice asks: for both john and stephen - what's been your favorite film to work on in your career?
john_waters_live: well, that's a hard question in 30 years of work.
john_waters_live: Cecil B. Demented is right up there at the top.
stephen_dorff_live: For me I would say a cross between Cecil B. Demented and a movie called Backbeat a long time ago. I had a blast making this movie.

absenceofmalice asks: how much did the film cost to make - and how did you get financing?
john_waters_live: the movie cost...about 8.5 million.
john_waters_live: I dunno.
john_waters_live: Where'd i get it? From a french company called Canal Plus, and Artisan bought the american rights.
john_waters_live: I got it by pitching at the Cannes film festival.
john_waters_live: A couple years ago....
stephen_dorff_live: Which we were just at.
john_waters_live: and it fell thru the first time, then a new french film came into play when i finished Pecker.

jeanette_m_g asks: Stephen, what was you're biggest challenge in playing your new role?
stephen_dorff_live: I think for me, I always knew I wanted to play the role and knew how I was going to do it, but for me the hardest thing was just jumping in...
stephen_dorff_live: I knew it was going to be what it was...it was hard for me to approach it till I was in wardrobe, Van Smith did the costumes helped me, once I had my whip I was ready to go....

yahoomusic asks: when you cast ricky lake in hairspray did you ever dream she'd have her own talk show (that is sometimes almost as surreal as a john waters film)?
john_waters_live: well...when Rikki ...i met her and she told me she wanted to be a TV Star. Not a movie star. THat was weird.
john_waters_live: I tell Rikki her show shocks ME!
john_waters_live: It was great to have her back on the cast for Pecker. She's a close friend.
john_waters_live: I tell her the show shocks ME!

enigma_of_illusion asks: Stephen Dorff has fame changed you? Are you happy?
stephen_dorff_live: I feel pretty happy and lucky with the people I've gotten to work with.
john_waters_live: happy birthday baby!
john_waters_live: (singing)
stephen_dorff_live: I am happy with this movie. And it's my birthday in it's about six hours, so I 'm a happy guy!
stephen_dorff_live: I don't have the problems Tom Cruise has, but it seems every year I get more well known. So I just deal with it the way everyone deals with it.

spud_manson asks: John: was Stephen your first choice for the lead role?
Yahoo_Host1: Was Stephen your first choice for Cecil?
john_waters_live: of course he was! He was my first choice even before i wrote it! I had pictures of him on my desk while i was writing the script.
stephen_dorff_live: It was those Paper Magazine pictures! John actually gave me, when I got down to Baltimore and started making it, he gave me the slogan, the ad slogan, it was this cool thing...
john_waters_live: :)

callie518 asks: Stephen, How crazy is it working with John?
stephen_dorff_live: It's crazy in the way that the material is crazy and fun.
stephen_dorff_live: Most scripts and most movies, usually they are not that original, just different characters names, but this movie, every scene is a new challenge.
stephen_dorff_live: Every scene is this incredible world, all these different characters. And the rhythm of the dialogue, how to be a cult leader.
stephen_dorff_live: It was crazy in the way that it was fun. John, though, to be honest, is very relaxed. It was a very smooth set I found. I've been in movies where there was a lot more craziness going on.
stephen_dorff_live: It was very enjoyable.
stephen_dorff_live: It was chaos, but in a good way.
Yahoo_Host1: People expect chaos on a JOhn Waters film!
john_waters_live: the schedule is not chaos...or we could never make it on the budget. It HAS to be well produced and well planned.
john_waters_live: But we have fun.

callie518 asks: John, I really like what I have seen of the cinematography in Cecil...what kind of lighting did you use?
john_waters_live: this movie was made very quickly.
john_waters_live: Minimal Lighting.
john_waters_live: Bobby Stevens was the DP who has worked with me before. And a great camera operator who used a steadicam a lot
john_waters_live: If i had to cover every shot at every angle i wanted...we'd need 300 days rather than 32
stephen_dorff_live: It was very fast. But there are so many characters in the movie, so it's more complicated. There were like 14 of us running around? There was a lot of steadicam actually.
john_waters_live: :)

spud_manson asks: Stephen: What do you feel or hope you've brought to this film? Happy Birthday btw xxx
stephen_dorff_live: I hope I just have done Cecil B. Demented justice. ANd brought an amazing character to life.
stephen_dorff_live: I'm pretty proud of it, and I think it's the funniest character I've done.
stephen_dorff_live: I wanted him to be solid, no flaws, just a character people haven't seen before. John wrote it that way, I hope I brought everything out of it.
john_waters_live: you did Stephen. You did.
stephen_dorff_live: THanks buddy. I love this movie. I think my nanny will even love it. I don't think she'll understand it. But I think she'll get a kick out of my outfits. And my nanny loves John's moustache.
stephen_dorff_live: And my friends love it, which is a good sign.

Geddy007 asks: John...HOw can one man be SO HIP?
john_waters_live: oh puhleeze!
john_waters_live: You just get up very early
john_waters_live: You have more time to think up more things!

anidgirly asks: john, have there been any movies you've written but could never go through with because they were too out-there?
john_waters_live: well, there was only one...other than the sequel to Pink Flamingo...in the end Divine flies away on a magical turd.
john_waters_live: but that never seems to be able to get made.
john_waters_live: Now that Divine is no longer with us....and Anthony Hopkins should play the role.
john_waters_live: He'd look great in that gown and would bring dignity to the role.

Sunbeam198 asks: HI Stephen, Sunni from Florida, Any chance that you'll take a bite out of a Blade sequel?
stephen_dorff_live: No, I pretty much died in the first one, I blew up.. The director didn't like the first script for the sequel, so he wanted to bring me back as Deacon Frost's evil twin brother.
stephen_dorff_live: But basically I don't think he's doing it, I haven't heard, but as of now, probably not.
stephen_dorff_live: THey are doing one though I think,
john_waters_live: they should give Tracy Lords a bigger part this time!

slavov_zizek asks: John, in your opinion what is the biggest difference between making a ,000 movie and a ,000,000 one?
john_waters_live: you have a place to shit.
stephen_dorff_live: LOL!
john_waters_live: is that too rude to print?
stephen_dorff_live: LOL!
john_waters_live: used to be the woods. Now it's a trailer.

callie518 asks: How much is written before and how much improv?
stephen_dorff_live: THe whole script from three years before I got it to start shooting, was pretty much the same script. When you do a movie with John, you pretty much don't want to improv.
john_waters_live: if there was improve, we'd work it out in rehearsal.
stephen_dorff_live: If something was changed in the rehearsal weeks, we rehearsed....

tsa173 asks: Mr. Waters, any new movie projects under way?
john_waters_live: Well..... i'm beginning to think up a comedy called a DIRTY SHAME
john_waters_live: it's about blue collar sex addicts in Baltimore and their search for some kind of dignity...
Yahoo_Host1: John Waters had to leave us - he had a meeting. But Stephen Dorff is going to stick around and answer some more questions.
john_waters_live: well...i want to thank you all for having me into your computer...and i hope you go see the film that opens in many places on August 11th.

Fri Jul 28 16:35:25 2000

jeanette_m_g asks: Stephen, what was the hardest character that you've ever had to play?
stephen_dorff_live: Probably the character Stu Sutcliffe in Backbeat, I had this hard Liverpudlian accent, and complicated emotions and complicated real life people involved.
stephen_dorff_live: THey were great people and it was a great experience though, and one of the favorite movies I've made.

mistressmaetel asks: Stephen, what was it like working with Melanie Griffith?
stephen_dorff_live: Cool, she's kind of a crazy gal.
stephen_dorff_live: But she's real nice and paid John respect, and did her job well. I think it was a risky part for a lady in her situation, but I think it was a hip move for her.
stephen_dorff_live: It didn't to be a movie star, but a movie star not like Michele Pfeifer, it needed to be a movie star you could believe in. Not just any actress could make fun of herself.

slavov_zizek asks: So, Stephen, no that John is gone, what did you REALLY think of Charm City?
stephen_dorff_live: I think it's a strange city.
stephen_dorff_live: It's definitely not a city you'd want to be in if you don't know anybody. I wouldn't want to be there if I didn't know John Waters.
stephen_dorff_live: If you don't know it, you won't find it.
stephen_dorff_live: But it's got an interesting charm and energy about it, John captures something different about it every time he makes a movie.

cheereo187 asks: Did u like being in the movie"Power of One'?
stephen_dorff_live: That was amazing for me because I was 17. I had grown up and went to school in Los Angeles which I hated.
stephen_dorff_live: It was not only my first big movie, but it was an amazing experience to go to Europe and Africa. it was great.
stephen_dorff_live: It was also my entry into making real movies, not like TV stuff.

lil_baby_kid asks: stephen What other job did you want in high school?
Yahoo_Host1: Did you always want to be an actor?
stephen_dorff_live: I kind of just started doing it. I did want to do it, I did it on instinct, and I learn something every time. I'd like to make my own movies too.
stephen_dorff_live: And be a rock star. And do everything! Own an island, invite everyone to come down there.
stephen_dorff_live: Make movies on the island. But not be big and fat like Marlon Brando.
stephen_dorff_live: I'd like to do a Cecil B. Demented II.
stephen_dorff_live: WIth a sequel taking place in the south of France, on yachts, and at the Cannes Film Festival.
stephen_dorff_live: But we'd need a bigger budget, like million.
stephen_dorff_live: But I want this movie to be the widest released and biggest success for John's career.
stephen_dorff_live: I'd love this movie to be a hit, so John gets his ass kissed in Hollywood. I would love to do Cecil II. Just like Blade 2, Matrix 2, you know?
stephen_dorff_live: It opens on August 11 in selected cities, and then a wider release later.
stephen_dorff_live: Hopefully two weeks from there it will hopefully go out to a lot more theaters.
Yahoo_Host1: Thank you so much to Stephen Dorff and Happy Birthday to him!
Yahoo_Host1: Go see Cecil B. DeMented. I've seen it. It's AMAZING!!
Yahoo_Host1: Stephen Dorff and John Waters have left the chat room.
Yahoo_Host1: But they were fabulous and charming - as evidenced by the transcript.
Yahoo_Host1: Thanks to our friends at Distant Corners www.distantcorners.com
Yahoo_Host1: for helping us to set this up.
Yahoo_Host1: That was thanks to our friends at Distant Corners www.distantcorners.com
Yahoo_Host1: for helping to set this up
Yahoo_Host1: Make sure you see Cecil B. DeMented and have a fabulous weekend!