“Why are we giving any credence to anybody who says ‘I would like to reduce the number of abortions and the way that I want to do that is to remove all access to birth control.’”
– Lizz Winstead
Lizz Winstead is one of the bravest comedians around today. She talks about abortion with a rare candor, as is a staunch supporter of Planned Parenthood. Her work raising awareness and funds (over a million dollars to date!) for the organization has not surprisingly raised the ire of the religious right, but she stands firm, fighting for women’s reproductive rights at a time when in recent history they’ve never been more in peril.
In her new book, Lizz Free Or Die, she devotes a chapter to her own experience as a frightened and bewildered teenager who discovered she was pregnant, and who was even more frightened and bewildered by the reactions of the adults she trusted to give her honest advice, help, and support.
The book also features essays, which are poignant and hilarious in equal parts, on her upbringing in a conservative Catholic family, her coming of age as a stand up comedian in Minneapolis, the roots of The Daily Show which she co-created, and the rise and fall of Air America which she co-founded.
We caught up with Lizz by phone. Though the native Minnesotan currently calls New York home, she spoke to us from Texas where she’d just done one of her numerous Planned Parenthood stand up fundraising shows. This particular one raised money for a clinic that had recently lost every penny of its state funding for essential community services such as teen pregnancy testing and health care.
“Staying true is way more important than staying current.”
– Patton Oswalt
Patton Oswalt braved a very rough cell phone connection to give a phone interview for his latest film. He stuck to funny one liners to keep it safe when the questions were breaking up, so it was kind of a free 10 minute standup set from a major comedian. Even his polite refusal of a SuicideGirls membership was funny.
There’s only one scene with Patton Oswalt in the movie, Seeking a Friend for the End of the World. He plays Roache, a neighbor Dodge (Steve Carell) runs into at an end of the world party. Since an approaching asteroid gives earth only three weeks before destruction, people are living up their last days.
Roache explains to Dodge how he’s been using the end of the world to get laid. It turns out 8s and 10s lower their standards when they don’t have any time to wait for someone better. Oswalt gives a funny monologue in a memorable scene from the movie, and he gave us some time in support of the film.
“They don’t give us any tools in high school or elementary school to think about dying and death.”
– Darren Aronofsky
According to Warner Bros, Darren Aronofsky is the next Stanley Kubrick. It may be hard to believe that any filmmaker can be compared to what many consider the greatest filmmaker of all time. But Aronofskys new movie The Fountain, starring Hugh Jackman and Rachel Weisz, may very well prove Warner Bros’ claim correct. The Fountain combines elements of Braveheart, a love story and 2001: A Space Odyssey into one film in which a man discovers the fountain of youth and all throughout history he tries to save the life of the woman he loves.
Visiting the set for The Fountain was so much fun and very exciting. I remember first seeing PI, and while it didnt grab me as much as Requiem for a Dream later did, I knew that Aronofsky was a major talent. Of course Requiem later proved that but everyone wants to know what he could do with a large budget.
Walking into the assuming Montreal building that houses the sets for The Fountain you would never think that genius is afoot in there. After getting settled we were led into a monstrous room that held the last set that has been constructed for the film. It’s a giant spaceship that was built to look like it was made out of a tree. A freshly bald Hugh Jackman says something to Rachel Weisz, and then something else happened that I couldnt see…
“I have to confess that I find pornography a bit dull. I always feel that I should be a participant rather than an outsider looking in. I tend to have very vivid sexual dreams, and these interest me far more than somebody else’s staged fantasies.”
– Irvine Welsh
Irvine Welsh is one hell of a prolific writer. He literally doesn’t know what writer’s block is. In an era where the printed word is in question this man still churns out sweet decadent filth with no signs of stopping. His newest work Skagboys is the prequel to Trainspotting, which also has a sequel called Porno.
Irvine’s definitely got a unique writing style which may be a bit much for some to digest, but it’s still highly entertaining and almost other worldly. This is Irvine’s third SG interview, the first one done by the late great Daniel Robert Epstein and the second on by me. Irvine is definitely a writers writer; I’m still waiting for him to write a couple issues of Hellblazer.
“Every film for me is very personal.”
– Stephen Chow
Stephen Chow is one of the most hysterical filmmakers working today. The film that first broke him out, Shaolin Soccer, is a huge cult hit in America and his latest film, Kung Fu Hustle, is getting the right kind of release from Sony Pictures Classics.
Kung Fu Hustle has some brilliant imagination behind it. As the co-writer/director/star Chow has a lot on his plate with this, his most personal film. It’s about a hapless wanna be gangster; Sing [Chow], who must overcome his inability in order to become a member of the notorious Axe Gang. The Axe Gang, meanwhile, want to reign supreme by occupying the most coveted territory, which is a sacred street protected by an unlikely cast of characters, many of whom are highly skilled kung fu masters disguised as ordinary people.
A personal kung fu film may seem like an oxymoron, but Americans have to realize that China’s entire film culture is 95 percent kung fu flicks. They represent the zeitgeist of China’s entire history and are as iconic to them as the Western is to us.
”Whenever I’m with my mom in a public place and there is a 20 year old around she will pimp me out as Cleveland.”
– Mike Henry
Mike Henry has one of the best jobs on Earth. He is a voice actor, writer and producer on my favorite primetime cartoon ever, Family Guy. In addition to doing the voice for Peter Griffins neighbor Cleveland, he does a myriad of other voices including Herbert the aging pedophile, and the Greased up deaf guy.
“Making other people happy is not your goal”
– Sara Gran
Sara Gran has been writing for many years, but it’s her most recent novel Claire DeWitt and the City of the Dead that has taken her to a new level. The book, just out in paperback, is set in post-Katrina New Orleans and stars Claire DeWitt, a woman who is arguably the world’s greatest detective. This isn’t quite the major accomplishment that many people might think; most people who know Claire tend to hate her or think she’s crazy. A devotee of Jacques Silette, a French detective who wrote about the nature of mysteries and their investigation, Claire’s story is as much about the nature of mysteries and why we’re captivated by them as it is about this particular crime.
In her previous novels, whether she was writing about being young and screwed up in New York City, a woman who finds a demon controlling her, or a recovering drug addict in fifties New York, Gran doesn’t shy away from dark corners or rough edges. In her books there’s violence and drugs, addiction and tragedy, but also possibility and change. The heroine of her latest novel is a brilliant creation. Like Gran herself, Claire, as a woman who marches to the beat of her own drum and isn’t afraid of walking into dark places, is the perfect epitome of a Suicide Girl. The book is original, hypnotizing and addictive. The second book in the series comes out next year.
