BRUCE LABRUCE ON OLDIES

By Crash redaction

SINCE HIS EARLY DAYS OF EDITING QUEER PUNK FANZINES AND DIRECTING HIS FIRST FEATURE FILM IN THE EARLY NINETIES, BRUCE LABRUCE HAS BEEN KNOWN AS A BIGWIG OF GAY, PORNOGRAPHIC, TRASHY, UNDERGROUND CINEMA. BUT WHAT COULD HAVE ENDED UP LIMITING HIM IN SOME RESPECTS, ACTUALLY HELPED HIM DEVELOP AN ART HE CAN TRULY CALL HIS OWN. BRUCE LABRUCE IS A MATURE, AUTHENTIC FILMMAKER WITH A STRONG MESSAGE TO DELIVER AND A COMMITMENT TO STANDING UP FOR EVERY FETISH AND ALL FORMS OF SEXUALITY. HIS LATEST WORK, PROVOCATIVELY TITLED “GERONTOPHILIA,” IS SET FOR RELEASE THIS SPRING.

“gerontophilia” is so different from anything you’ve ever done… how did you come up with this idea of making a movie on such an odd topic?

I was looking to make a different kind of movie. Something a little more accessible, maybe, something that could be seen by a wider audience. But i still wanted a subject consistent with my other work, which is usually about characters who are different and don’t fit in, who kind of go against the grain of society. Also, quite often my films have to do with people with unusual sexual preferences or fetishes. And the idea is to show that even though they have this strange fetish, they can still be romantic and emotional characters. So it was the combination of treating a subject i would normally treat, but in a completely different way, in a more romantic or mainstream kind of way.

Were you nervous about approaching such a taboo subject? “gerontophilia” and the sexuality of seniors might be the most taboo topic of all…

Obviously not! I’ve made a lot of controversial movies so i’m not really afraid to take on taboos and subjects that aren’t supposed to be talked about, or to represent things that aren’t supposed to be represented. To me, that’s the luxury of being an artist, in a way. There are no limitations, you can make work about whatever you want and you shouldn’t be afraid to tackle these subjects. I take it seriously and i try to make my films consistent with my political beliefs and my philosophy of homosexuality, which is about being different and expressing your difference. For me, “gerontophilia” is somehow a metaphor for any kind of sexual nonconformity. What’s interesting is that the boy and the old man achieve a believable relationship despite all sorts of differences: one is straight or bisexual and the other is gay, one is white and one is black, one is french-canadian and the other is english-canadian, one is old and one is young… despite all these enormous differences, they still manage to forge a bond.

You treated what happens to lake (pier-gabriel lajoie) in a wonderful way. it didn’t seem to be a big deal to anyone. there’s a vibe that makes you feel as if he’s not that different after all: his girlfriend supports him…

Désirée (katie boland) is an independent and intellectual girl. She’s a little confused at first. But when she comes to realize that the sexual fetish actually comes out of a great empathy for the older man, she recognizes how courageous it is, in a way, to go against all that disapproval from society, the conventions of beauty, of what is supposed to be desirable… he’s really going against a lot of things.

Did it seem important to you to treat this project with more tenderness and romance than your previous movies?

A lot of my films have romance. Even my first film, “no skin off my ass,” which talks about a hairdresser who falls in love with a skinhead, is also really romantic. And there’s a lot of love in “hustler white,” though in a more ironic way… i like stories that have a different and unpredictable tone, or an unusual way of presenting a certain fetish or relationship. It’s kind of a surprise for me to make such a nice, kind of romantic film. I’m playing off of what’s expected of me as a filmmaker. But i also think the way that the sexuality of old people is portrayed in pop culture is not romantic in any way. It’s presented as something grotesque or ridiculous. Or it’s not even acknowledged. To do it in a romantic way and make it believable was part of the strategy of the movie: to show that it can exist and that old people have the same impulses as young people. Sexuality and romance don’t just go away.

How did you find pier-gabriel lajoie? He’s perfect for the role…

Lake was supposed to be 18, so i definitely wanted an actor around that age. I took a completely different approach to this film and used a different method. It wasn’t that low-budget, guerilla filmmaking, completely renegade style with no limits, where i would just cast my friends or people i’d met… this time i had my biggest budget ever. So i worked with casting agencies for the first time ever. We looked at 25 people for both roles: lake and peabody. And Pier-Gabriel was just the guy I had in mind for the role! He was young, very good looking and, in a sense, unexperienced. He was also very open. He tried hard to understand why this boy might have this sexuality. He’s very French-Canadian: a Catholic boy. He wore a cross around his neck to the audition, so I had him keep it on for the role since it reinforced the “saint” idea.

You can feel that he was very much into the character. It’s impressive…

It was kind of a risk at first, because I couldn’t tell if the two actors would have any believable chemistry. But after two or three days, I saw that they had really hit it off as people and as friends, even off camera. I think Pier-Gabriel learned a lot from Walter. Walter is a famous stage actor in Canada. He’s been a gay and Black activist since the 60s. He’s very political and had a long and meaningful life in Canada. I think Pier-Gabriel really respected him.

In the film, Lake discovers not only his homosexuality – already very difficult in itself – but also his desire, his fetish for older people, which makes it even harder for him. But once he meets Mr. Peabody, a kind of serenity seems to settle in…

I think it’s something he feels naturally, but he’s made to feel bad about it because of the way society thinks. When I was kid coming out as gay in the 70s, there was still a lot of disapproval and hostility directed towards gays. Coming out was very painful: not because there was anything wrong with being gay, but because society disapproved of it. So Lake recognizes that his urges go against society’s rules. That’s what makes him hesitant.

When you come out as gay as a young person, you need friends who approve and who are cool with it. If you find those people, you can also find the serenity Lake finds…

His mother is very open-minded about sex. Lake, Désirée, and Lake’s mother are all very open in the way they express their sexuality… All the characters have this fluid sexuality where they’re able to cross over these borders. Most people stay inside their boxes in terms of sex life or gender identity, even in the gay community. A lot of gay men are suspicious of bisexual guys. I think it’s ridiculous. It just comes out of their own insecurities about their sexuality. I wanted to make a subtle point by showing these characters who are transgressing the rules…

You say you want to reach a wider audience, but the title is very confrontational and shocking. Do you still have a drive to be provocative?

I always want to be provocative… But if you look up gerontophilia in the dictionary, it just means “love for the elderly”… But I really wanted to start with the fetish. I didn’t want to make it a story where a young boy happens to fall in love with an older man in spite of his age. No, the movie starts with a fetish. Fetishes are very mysterious: you can never really tell where they come from or how they develop. That’s what I wanted to emphasize with the title. In the end, you’re left the feeling that his fetish will continue. It’s part of the irony of the movie: it presents something provocative or scary, but there’s a reversal of expectations when you see the movie.

After “Hustler White” and “L.A. Zombie,” I have to ask if you like this new way of making movies (with funding from the Canadian government)…

I really did enjoy the process. I also really love making low-budget, guerilla films. It’s challenging, there’s a lot of adrenaline, but it’s also very difficult: you have no money, a very short shooting schedule, you’re always trying to avoid the police… (Laughs) “Gerontophilia” was a very different process: it was well prepared, we did pre-production for a month, the locations were all figured out… It was completely different. In some ways, you make a plan and stick to it instead of improvising. There’s also something nice about working with a professional crew. It’s a bit more relaxed in a way. In the end, I enjoy both.

Many people think pornography and film can never go together. But you’ve pushed the boundaries by using François Sagat, a famous French porn star. Seeing him in “L.A. Zombie” makes you realize he’s also a very good actor and can be very touching on screen. Do you think these two worlds can go together?

I’ve done three really hardcore porn movies. But each time I’ve also made a softcore version. They’re intended for different eyes. Softcore movies are meant for theaters and festivals, while the hardcore versions are marketed as porn movies. The point was always to make a different kind of porn movie, something more contemporary. I always look back to the 60s and 70s, when porn was more cinematic and had stronger narratives and more developed characters. I’ve made porn about skinheads and revolutionaries. So for me it’s not enough to make just another boring porno. I have to add some other interesting elements. Porn actors have loved working with me because I ask them to do more than what they’re usually expected to do. It’s more of a challenge to do a movie with a political side. François really got into that character. And we put him through hell over a torturous seven-day shoot with sixteen-hour days and all the sex scenes… In the end he managed to create a very compelling character.

He had to push his own boundaries as well…

The same thing happened with “Hustler White.” Tony Ward was only known as a fashion model, but he really threw himself into that role, too. I like to challenge people.

“Hustler White” was quite a shock when it came out in 1996. Now almost 20 years later, with all the
shocking images and information on the internet and everything, do you think you still need to shock
people and make a difference?

Things have changed in that way, you’re absolutely right. The internet is this huge encyclopedia of crazy porn, extreme imagery, and violence in whatever you want to see. But there’s always a lot of regression, too. In England and Canada they want to make people contact their servers to access porn… Sometimes there are backlashes and people become more conservative. You can’t always rely on what you’ve accomplished. Look at what’s happening with gay rights, for example, in russia, India, and even in France with gay marriage! Producers have told me it’s even happening in some parts of Germany! You can’t always count on everything staying liberal and open-minded. Sometimes things go backwards and that’s why the criteria for making a provocative work are always changing. Sometimes with super hardcore movies you have a very limited audience and you end up preaching to the choir. People who like that kind of movie will go see it, but in reality it alienates a lot of people. For me it’s important to make something gently subversive, so I can still deliver the same message as always, just with more subtlety.

INTERVIEW BY
RODRIGUE MARTINEZ
« gerontophilia »
Directed by Bruce Labruce
with Pier-Gabriel Lajoie,
Walter Borden, Katie Boland