A GUN FOR JENNIFER
Interview by Jesse Nelson
With Deborah Twiss (Star, Producer and Co-Writer)
And Todd Morris (Director and Co-Writer)
1 A. Can you give a little history behind the making of the film, including how you got the idea? DEBORAH: a few years ago I lost a good waitressing job because I kept taking off to rehearse for a play. So I needed to find another job fast that would provide me with enough money to live in New York and be flexible enough for my acting schedule. Then a friend took me to this go-go bar. From the outside, go-go dancing seemed like a simple job that might solve my money problems. But the first 6 months were pure agony. I would cry every day before going to the bar and then again after I got home. I couldn’t believe how nasty most of the men in the club were. It seemed like they only came in to harass and degrade the dancers. Maybe they needed to vent frustrations caused by their jobs or their family life, but to me it seemed like they just hated women. I really wanted to quit, but I needed the money too badly. Plus , figured that if the other women (who’d been dancing much longer than me) could take it, then I could too. But during one unusually bad night, this one prick said something really nasty to me and I just snapped and ran into the dressing room sobbing. I couldn’t stop crying until I started fantasizing about going out with a gang of angry women to hunt down assholes like that guy and teach them an awful lesson. Jokingly, I told Todd about it, but he thought it was a good idea for a movie.
1 B. And how did you finance the film? DEBORAH: We originally planned to finance the film using a dozen of Todd’s credit cards, but we realized that wouldn’t be enough. So I tried to make up the difference by working my butt off six nights a week at the go-go bar. Then in July of ‘93, this funny little guy came into the bar and asked me to have a drink with him. We talked about life and all sorts of things and I eventually told him about our movie project. Coincidently, he just happened to work for a large Japanese corporation that was looking to get into the film business. But then I didn’t see him for a few weeks so I forgot all about him. Then one day he returned and told me his company was interested in our project. He even went as far as to say he would become my "guardian angel" and ‘make all my dreams come true". I know it sounds crazy, but considering the fact that some wealthy customers were known to give dancers jewelry, cars and even houses, it seemed totally plausible that this guy could end up financing our film. It was so exciting in the beginning. I remember the first check the guy gave me. Todd was in Toronto working on a commercial and I called him at his hotel and said,"Guess what I’m holding in my hand." When I told him it was a $10,000.00 check, he didn’t believe me. Then Todd met my "investor" and agreed that the guy seemed legit. So we were in business. But things started getting weird half-way through the shoot. Our investor was apparently having problems taking care of his seven-hundred pound, bed-ridden mother. She was so obese that her legs had become gangrenous and had to be amputated. He really started to lose it. He’d come to the set totally wired on God knows what and would literally cry to Todd and me about how depressed he was. It was sad and very strange. Then one night, after principal photography was completed, our "investor" called us at 4:00 in the morning to confess that all the money he’d given us was embezzled from the Japanese corporation he worked for. "Good luck," he told us, "you’re on your own." The furious Japanese corporation immediately sued us for everything we had and even threatened to send us to jail. So all the money we’d saved for post production went instead to pay an expensive attorney. During the course of litigation, we discovered that our "Guardian angel" had embezzled over $6 million from the Japanese corporation and had bankrolled all sorts of illegal businesses. No wonder the Japanese were angry. But after a torturous six month legal battle, we managed to prove that we weren’t really criminals, just stupid indie film makers. After all, we DID have an actual (unfinished) film and tons of receipts showing how we spent the doe. Then to finish the film, Todd & I had to fall back on his credit cards. That’s something we’d never do again. Those credit card companies will suck you dry!
2. What (or who) were your influences in writing the screenplay? TODD: Deborah wrote the original story based on her angry go-go bar fantasy. Then I took it and turned it into a screenplay inspired by the vigilante films of the 70’s and early 80’s and many the New York cop movies from the same era. My idea was to turn the women into a gang of hardcore political terrorists, not bikini-clad bimbos with guns. I wanted to make them as violent and brutal as any of the male anti-heroes. Maybe even more so. My biggest influences were Sam Peckinpah, Don Siegel, William Friedkin and Abel Ferrara.
3. The film has a good hardcore soundtrack. How did that come about? TODD: We had help from Vicky Starr & Felice Ecker who have a company in New York called GIRLY ACTION which promotes and manages a lot of great up-and-coming rock acts, especially female-powered bands. They gave me literally hundreds of CD’s and cassettes and I went over all of them song by song. Then I played the best ones under scenes on my editing system until I found the right match. I also have to give a lot of credit to Jim Coleman from the band COP SHOOT COP. He scored the film and ended up creating some really cool tracks that were so much better than I could have hoped for. Jim has also written scores for Hal Hartley and his wife, Beth B.
4. The film has played the festival circuit to a lot of good press, but has not yet found a distributor. Are you frustrated by this? TODD: Well, our film was distributed theatrically in France last year and it did surprisingly well. It played in Paris for 1 8 weeks and got incredible reviews. And this month, it’s being released in Germany and Finland. But it’s true we haven’t found a distributor in the U.S. and yes, that’s very frustrating. American distributors are so damned politically correct. They say "your film is way too violent" and "Why do the women have to be so mean?" They just don’t get it. All they want are light romantic comedies with popular TV stars from FRIENDS and PARTY OF FIVE. We did get offers from the usual collection of "bottom feeders," but of course we turned them down. These so-called "distributors" prey on naive desperate film makers without delivering a thing.
5. Will you continue to look for a distributor or are you planning on trying to get a video release? DEBORAH: We’re holding onto the rights until we make another film. This was Abel Ferrara’s advice to me. We have nothing to lose by doing so. The only U.S. distributors who are interested in JENNIFER right now don’t want to pay for anything. And if we did give it to them, they would just sit on it until we made another more successful film. Then they’d cash in. Besides, we’re still screening JENNIFER in the U.S. and around the world and it’s developing a real cult status.
6. What plans do you have for film making in the future? TODD: Right now we’re in the process of raising money for our next feature called THE DREAM KILLERS. It’s about a desperate female film maker who borrows money from a loan shark to finish her film. It’s sort of a metaphor for the hell we went through making A GUN FOR JENNIFER.
7. The film is pro-feminism, but the poster is pure exploitation. Do you feel there is a contradiction?
DEBORAH:Yes, but it was intentional. We wanted the poster to attract a lot of dumb guys who’d think it’sa typical T & A flick. Then they start watching and it’s like, "Hey! This isn’t what I expected!" But the extreme tag line, "DEAD MEN DON’T RAPE" should be enough of a warning for most people.
8. Are the characters in the film pro-feminism or anti-male? DEBORAH: You have to realize that these women have been damaged so severely by men throughout their lives that they’ve just gone over the edge. That’s what bound them together in the first place. But they don’t hate ALL men, just those who are abusive assholes.
9. Do you have any special bonds with the character of Jennifer? DEBORAH: If you’re asking me if I was ever raped or physically abused, the answer is no. But I have dealt with psychological and emotional abuse, and that’s how I bond with Jennifer. Plus I’ve known a lot of women who’ve been physically abused. This film is for them.
1 0. Is violence the answer? DEBORAH: Of course it’s not. And our film doesn’t suggest that it is. In fact it shows that violence has horrible consequences. We wanted to make the violence cathartic like in most of the better films of the genre. And we must have succeeded to some extent, because so many women from around the world have come up to me after screenings and thanked me for making this film. That always blows me away. But luckily, lots of guys seem to like iit too!