CraveOnline: That brings me to something else you wrote recently, that because of your reluctance to judge characters, “it’s easy for ‘humanist’ critics to be dismayed” by your work. Was that a direct response to what people were saying about The Canyons, or was that more of a general statement of the world view that permeates through a lot of your writing?
Bret Easton Ellis: I think it started from Less Than Zero on. I’ve always felt that way. I’ve always noticed as a writer, one who reads the reviews… I do read the reviews… that there was, again, a disconnect from what I was writing to what people wanted from art. People mostly demand from a movie a kind of balm, a kind of… “Give me a couple laughs. Soothe me. Flatter me a little bit.” I think a lot of people go to movies for that reason, and if a movie kind of confronts them, or holds a mirror up to them, and is not flattering, then there is a lot of divisiveness. People don’t like seeing that, and they also don’t like seeing…
I think a lot of audiences have gotten to the point where I think they need to be coddled. They need to be soothed in a way, and that’s never why I went to movies and that’s never what I respond to when I go to a film. In fact, I often resent it if I feel a little bit like the filmmakers are condescending to me. I think that’s why The Canyons doesn’t work for a lot of people, because it is so resolutely itself and it doesn’t care what you think about it. I don’t know. But yes, getting back to that quote, that is really about the totality of all the work.
I recently interviewed James Deen and I asked him a question that he said was more of a question for you and Paul Schrader. When you cast James, and you were one of his early boosters, was there a particular film or films of his that you saw that convinced you he had the chops and that he was worth taking a meeting with? Because I’m a fan.
[Laughs] I would not know the titles of any of these films that James was in. I don’t even know if I saw films. I saw clips, and then I would go and watch his non-porn scenes. At first I watched the porn scenes because I wanted to know who this guy was, that I had just read about. Does this guy really exist? Is there a porn star who’s kind of attractive and has a huge female, adolescent following? Are you kidding me? And then I liked his look. I liked the way he looked, and then I became interested enough to start looking at the non-porn clips, and I thought he was really good. I thought he was kind of a natural, and that’s how I got involved with James Deen. But I don’t know the titles to any of his movies. I think James probably does, but I don’t. I think saw the Simpsons stuff…
Ugh. That was weird.
That was really weird. Really weird.
He said in one of the films he shot around The Canyons he had trouble getting out of character as Christian, so there is a pornographic film out there which he’s basically doing in character as Christian. Which I need to seek out now because I think that’s awesome.
I will find out from James. I’m going to text him and find out what the name of that movie is.
He said he thinks it was Watch Over Me. If you can confirm it, I’d love to hear it…
Yes!
It was?
You know what? I do know this. Yes, it was Watch Over Me.
Awesome. It’s part of the Bret Easton Ellis-verse now.
Yay! Real porn! Real porn this time!
William Bibbiani is the editor of CraveOnline’s Film Channel and co-host of The B-Movies Podcast. Follow him on Twitter at @WilliamBibbiani.
