Top Of The Flops schrijfsel: Lloyd Kaufman over Troma en meer (Engels)

Random Animation -9 -Beowulf -Frank Ja Wendy -Bambi Meets Godzilla -Blanche-Neige, La Suite Laatste Recensies (Update 11/07/11) -Ame Agaru -Walk the Line -Nude Nuns With Big Guns -Return of the Living Dead III -Thor Laatste Schrijfsels (Update 10/06/11) -B.O.T.S. 2011 -Reinert Kiil over de Hora Trilogie en meer (Engels) -RRFFF 2010 -BUTFF 2010 -Lloyd Kaufman over Troma en meer (Nederlands)		Titel: Lloyd Kaufman over Troma en meer (Engels) Auteur: Frank Categorie: Interview Datum: 17/07/10 In het interview heeft Lloyd het een aantal keren over Rupert Murdock of gewoon Murdock. Hij bedoelt hiermee Keith Rupert Murdoch. Hij is de oprichter, grootste aandeelhouder en CEO van News Corporation. News Corp is de één na grootste media conglomeraat ter wereld. *Lloyd, can you introduce yourself to the people who don’t know you or don’t know Troma?* Yes, my name is Lloyd Kaufman, I am president of Troma Entertainment and creator of the Toxic Avenger. Troma is a 35 year old independent studio. It’s the oldest independent studio in America and has brought forth such movies as the Toxic Avenger, Poultygesit; Night of the Chicken Dead, Surf Nazis Must Die, Cannibal; the Musical, Class of Nuke em High, Tromeo and Juliet and Terror Firmer. Many of the stars of today cinema began in Troma Samuel L Jacson, Vincent D'Onofrio. You can see Kevin Costner’s first movie Sizzle Beach, U.S.A, you can see Samuel L. Jackson’s first movie Def by Temptation. Of course director’s like Eli Roth, Trey Parker and James Gunn and many, many others have worked for Troma. Or others like Peter Jackson, Quentin Tarantino and Takashi Miike have been very much influenced by the movies from Troma Entertainment in the past 35 years. *That’s quite a resume you’re summing up now.* *Troma started out with sexy comedy’s like Squeeze Play!, Waitress!, Stuck on You!, and the First Turn On!* Yes, indeed. Troma started out with raunchy comedy’s. It was against the rules to mix sex with comedy. Sex was supposed to be a serious thing, sex was supposed to promote the raincoat manufacturing industry. But instead the mixed it together and we made those movies. Squeeze Play! Came out before Porky’s and gave a little bit of a headstart on that particular trend. Then later on Porky’s and those kind of movies came out and we switched over to mixing in horror along with the sex and comedy. *Why the genre change with mixing in horror?* Well we don’t make horror movies, we make satire. You don’t get frightened at a Troma movie, you might get disturbed, disgusted, pissed of or you might laugh, but you don’t get frightened. The original comedy’s were raunchy comedy’s. The major studios, the big conglomerates were starting to making the same movies we were making, except they were using good scripts and good actors, so that was un fair. They were not playing by the rules so we had to go to the new world. The world of mixing sex, violence, gore and music, Shakespeare and mixing it al in one movie. We came up with The Toxic Avenger and we just kept going. *Did you ever suspect that The Toxic Avenger went on to be a big success that it is ?* Yes, I suspect that every movie I make to be a huge success and I’m always shocked when nobody comes to see it. Even though I’ve been doing it for 35 years I’m still very surprised that there is no distribution for Troma’s movies anywhere in the world. My latest film Poultygeist; Night of the Chicken Dead has no distribution anywhere yet we have millions of fans. I don’t understand is the retrospective here in this film museum was full and sold out and yet we have no distribution in Europe. *A couple of years ago you’ve also been to the Netherlands at the BUT Film Festival… (couldn’t finish my question here)* Yes in Breda. I’ve been to the Netherlands many times, since I was 12 years old I’ve been here many, many times. *(finishing my question here) Since you’ve been here numerous times, does the Netherlands have a special place for you?* Well it’s a wonderful country, it’s beautiful. When I was a young boy we came through here to our house in the south of France. I started coming here since I was 12 *Is the Dutch audience different than the American audience?* The Dutch audience is very different than the American audience. It’s much better educated. *How so?* The Dutch audience is better educated. I think the Dutch audience understands more of the subtleties in movies. The Dutch audience also have a better command of the English language than the American audience. The American audience is intelligent but I think the rot as well educated. The miss some of the subtleties of Poultygeist; Night of the Chicken Dead which I see the Dutch audience does get. *How was your first night at the Tromathon?* Great, sold out! People had a good time, a lot of women. And as I just said it was sold out, so hopefully the museum made some money. *Back to your career. How did Troma get to be what it is, and what’s with the name Troma?* Troma was begun by Michael Herz and me in 1974 and the idea was, we wanted to have a place were we could make movies with total artistic freedom and we also wanted to establish an independent movie studio. We wanted to make a opportunity to make art that comes from the soul and not from the pocket book. *And why the name Troma?* Troma is Latin. I went to Yale university, that’s a decent school in the States and I took Latin. Michael Herz and I took a lot of Latin. Troma is from the ancient Latin. From the ancient Latin Troma means “excellence in celluloid”. That’s why we choose that word. *In your early years you’ve credited yourself as Samuel Weil, why is that?* Well, Samuel Weil was my great grandfather. I used that name because I was in the union. In the Directors Guild of America it is a crime to direct movies, they don’t want people to direct movies, so I had to direct them under a pseudonym. I was paying the rent at Troma by working as a production manager, taking jobs on movies Saturday Night Fever and The Final Countdown with Martin Sheen and Kirk Douglas. In order to pay the rent at Troma I took these shitty jobs. But to direct movies, since I was in the union I wasn’t allowed to direct movies which were non union. We didn’t have enough money and we didn’t like the stupidity that came with the union rules so we used another name to direct. Actually I was harassed, hounded and eventually I resigned from the union right after Troma’s War wich is shown here at the retrospective. After Troma’s War I resigned from the union and that was the end of my career. *Or the start of your career.* Well, I made sure I was in the underground. Without being in the Directors Guild I had no change of making a living. *Is that true?* Yes, In America to become a real director you have to be in the Directors Guild. I’ve directed a lot of movies but they were all underground. In America you can not have a cool or successful carreer unless you’re in the guild but I’m happy I am not in the union. My work is much better because I’m not in the union. The director’s were cool, but everybody else like the assistant directors were little shithead nazi’s , stupid little shit’s. The fact that they would come after me for directing a movie, that they would bother with it is just stupid. I have written about it. I have a new book out; How to produce your own Damn Movie. It just came out and I talk a bit about that and how I met the guy many years later. It was a guy named Stanley Ackerman who enjoyed going after people who did non-union work. He enjoyed being a snitch. I met him many years later when he was a really old man and he didn’t know who I was. I cursed him out. He was at a fancy ball. I think it was at the Directors Guild annual tuxedo thing. He and his hag wife were dancing around and I stopped them and said: “Hello, I am Lloyd Kaufman.” And he didn’t knew who I was. I said to him: “You little fckhead, ou piece of shit, you fucking kike.” There was music playing and he was real shocked, my wife was really pissed of as was his wife, but I said fuck em. *You’re also involved with the IFTA (Independent Film & Television Alliance)* Yes, I am, thank you for bringing this up. The Independent Film & Television Alliance is the trade association for the international independent media community. Troma is a member offcourse. The company’s who made Monster and Million Dollar Baby, the guys who financed The Lord of the Rings. But most of the company’s are smaller than Troma. I am the elected Chairman, I do not get paid but I’m elected because I wanted to fight against the media consolidation, the evil devil worshipping media conglomerates control too much of the market place, they control to much of what we the public see, hear and read. It’s a kind of economic censorship. The media cartel worldwide is blacklisting independent art, there closing the doors. American television does not support independent art, or independent programming so we’re fighting against it. *What do you think about the future of independent movies?* I think the future is very good. With the miracle of new technology we can all make our own damn movies. But I don’t think we can live off our own damn movies until we break up this monopoly of duopoly of these small Murdock types of devil worshipping conglomerates. We have to take dayjobs in order to make movies we believe in. Poultrygeist is a very good example. It has gotten very good reviews at many film festivals. The New York Times loved it, most of the major critics liked Poultrygeist. *We from TOTF do as well.* Well, thank you. The problem with Poultrygeist is, we wil never see its money back because there is no distribution anywhere. It is not because it is a bad movie it’s a good movie but the conglomerates will not allow us to live of our movies. That’s the problem. It is not so difficult to make the movie, it is difficult to find the public. Luckily Troma has a very loyal fan base wich you can see at the Amsterdam Filmmuseum. We had a sold out crowd, but unfortunately we at Troma won’t get any of that money so. But is it nice to know that people want to see my movies. That’s the main reason I make the movies for people to see them not to make money. To entertain people, to make them think a little bit, to have a small influence on society to where we go. *What’s the future going to hold for Troma?* The future is very bleak. It get’s worse and worse, the group of Murdock gets more and more power as are the two or three other giant conglomerates. There is no room for the independent filmmakers. We will become more and more underground, we will have to rely on our fans and on lady luck to keep is alive Basically it is because our fans, the only reason Troma is here is because of our fans. There are no independent movie studios who have survived so many years it’s very unique. It’s opnly because of the loyal and very hardworking fans. *From the start of Troma you have said in interviews that Troma is going to end. Do you think Troma is going to end in the near future?* We don’t have a very optimistic view of the future, it doesn’t look to good. That;s why I am fighting with the Independent Film & Television Alliance. We are 200 company’s and we are fighting against the corrupt en very unfair conditions of the labourer elite, the bureaucratic elite and the corporate elite who transpire to suck dry the economic and spiritual capital. Until we break this monstrous strangulation it doesn’t look good. It doesn’t look good for anybody accept the Michael Bay’s. You know Michael Bay I guess will do very well and a few others and that’s it. Everyone else will be making no budget movies that cost nothing. You can be a school teacher and maybe drive a milk truck or something and make your movies on the side. That’s not so bad either. Luckily we could at least do that. When I started there was a necessity for money for making movies because you had to have film, lots of film, but you also had a more level playing field. If you had a movie like Squeeze Play!, Waitress! or Stuck on You! That the public wanted to see you had something entertaining. You could get it to the public. Nowadays it is totally different. Nowadays you can indeed make movies for no money so you could easily make your movie, but it is impossible to get it to the public because the playing field is so disadvantages to the non elite. *Do you think there are too many underground movies coming out, which could result in no attention for the good underground movies?* No, it is great that there are that many movies coming out. I think the good ones will pop out. When talking about Troma and it’s 35 year career there also the good movies pop out. We have financed a movie called Combat Shock, it was obscure and it lost money but then 20 years later it went and made a profit. Terror Firmer which I made in 1999 it still isn’t broken even, but it’s getting more and more word of mouth so it eventually will break even. Tromeo & Juliet is also now making some profit, only because word of mouth. That’s something else for the mainstream movies for all their 100 million dollars advertising campaign. If they don’t get word of mouth, after one year they are forgotten. May of the stars that emerged, many of the actors that were brought forth by the directors and mainstream in 1983 with millions and millions of dollars of advertising they’re gone, they have disappeared. But the Toxic Avenger he is pretty famous, he is still around with no advertising money whatsoever and Toxie is kinda famous now. *He is worldwide know.* Yes, he is. Most of the actors, actresses and directors who were discovered in 1983 with millions of dollars of advertising money, most o them are gone, finished, kaput. *Will there ever be a Troma without you?* Yeah, I think Troma has a live of it’s own. The Toxic Avenger certainly does. I mean the Toxic Avenger is being remade. We signed a deal for some big company owned by Brett Ratner to remake the Toxic Avenger. There is a Broadway Musical called The Toxic Avenger, the cartoons (Toxic Crusaders). The very least that Troma will keep going is the Toxic Avenger. Yeah, I think that Troma will go on without me. I hope.. I couldn’t care less… *You couldn’t care? You have a 35 career with Troma..* It doesn’t matter, I don’t care. I like making movies but if somebody wants to keep it going, then the good movies will have a life of its own. I think Troma will keep going. Somehow Troma keeps going now and I suspect they have a life of its own. The brand is too strong. You now like in Croatia. There were reporters right here at this festival, the Tromathon from Croatia. I never had distribution in Croatia, so the fact that there is a pretty big an base in places like that gives me the idea that Troma is here to stay. But we still don’t have distribution anywhere. *How do you feel then about DVD piracy, downloading from the internet and spreading Troma films in that way? Do you think this free distribution helps Troma?* Yes, I think piracy helps Troma. We have always been but pirates, we were but pirates before the internet came along, but the internet is I think like a advertising campaign. I think it kickes up our reputation and then people will also buy our DVD’s, support us. Maybe through piracy they get to know our movies and think “I like this” and they will go ahead and buy a movie from our website. Like the bluray of Poultrygeist; Night of the Chicken Dead, although Troma says it’s a Brownray, with good reason (see the movie for this good reason). So I’m not against piracy. *Are there any upcoming projects for Troma?* I’m working on some scripts, I’m slowly getting nowhere but I’m going to make a fifth Toxic Avenger. I mentioned to you that the Toxic Avenger original is being remade, Mothersday was remade and coming out I think in October and were writing another script that is kinda like the Terror Firmer. So it is about being a author, a film director and getting no respect, though trying to getting respect. So we are working on that script for what it’s worth. *If you can pick one, what would be your most memorable experience on set?* Well, I don’t know, I don’t think I can name a memorable experience… *What about the most fun or most crazy experience?* Read my books, pick something out it. I don’t know what is crazy. I have four books out, it is Toxic Avenger; The Novel, Make your own Damn Movie, Direct your own Damn Movie and Produce your own Damn Movie. Pick the best and just pretend I said it. To be honest, I just don’t know what to tell you. *I’m going to call out a couple of names, just tell me the first thing that comes to mind when hearing those names.* *Roger Corman:* He is has been a big inspiration to me, no questions about it. When I was in Yale I discovered the movies of Roger Corman and they were small budget, great scripts, great director and he proved to me that one could make wonderful low budget movies and that one could make art at a small budget. Roger Corman was the proof. He also wrote the introductions of my first book and he is a great guy. He just got the Life Time Achievement Award and he really deserved it. In every book I have written I have said that he deserves the Life Time Achievement Award and he finally got one. Good guy! *Ron Jeremy:* Ron Jeremy is a good guy, he is not hung like David Carradine but he is hung in a different way, but not like David Carradine. A very good guy, he has acted in our movies since 1986 I think. He has never asked for any money, he is a Troma fan, he knows a lot about Roger, he knows a lot about pop-culture, he knows a lot about music, he writes his own music. We used on of his songs in Terror Firmer, Freak of the Week which he wrote. He is a team player, a good guy. *You could call him on of the Troma family.* Well yeah, he is a friend of Troma and he is a much bigger star than Troma. We are honoured to have him in our movies and he has been very supportive. It’s interesting. When we first used him in Class of Nuke em High part 2, the actors were kind of standoffish, they were a little bit disgusted by him especially the females. That was 30 years ago. But now when he came to the set of Terror Firmer I think it was. When we came to that set all the women were clustered around him and they all wanted to serve him and I think they were really turned on by him. Off course he is not so attractive 20 years later, he is older, he is fatter, but I think the women of America have become more relaxed about sexual freedom, their bodies and I think they are turned on by the fact that Ron Jeremy has fucked so many people. I think there is a big difference in attitude from 1886 towards Ron Jeremy than today. He is a real expert on pop-culture I’ll tell you that,. He really knows a lot about pop culture. *Any words of advice on how to make your own damn movie?* I would read my books. I think they are really good. I would never necessarily tell people to see my movies, but if you are interested in making movies I think my books are really good. I take em very seriously, they are very entertaining. Direct your own Damn Movie s absolutely usefull and also in addition to my own theories on distribution it has interviews and statements by Eli Roth andJames Gunn and Stan Lee and all sorts of successful directors. Produce your own Damn Movie is better. It is even more serious and usefull. So I would say read my books, but perhaps the most important rule would be; To thine own self be true. A phrase coined by William Shakespeare known from the book 101 different versions of screenplays otherwise known as Hamlet. *Lloyd, thank you. Do you have anything more to add, any final words?* Well, I think the key in film is don’t listen to anybody and certainly don’t listen to me and again I am extremely grateful to the wonderful fans in Holland and the low countries who have supported Troma for 35 years and have been active in trying to find our DVD’s and buy them. *Well, Lloyd thank you for your time*
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Titel: Lloyd Kaufman over Troma en meer (Engels)
Auteur: Frank
Categorie: Interview
Datum: 17/07/10

In het interview heeft Lloyd het een aantal keren over Rupert Murdock of gewoon Murdock. Hij bedoelt hiermee Keith Rupert Murdoch. Hij is de oprichter, grootste aandeelhouder en CEO van News Corporation. News Corp is de één na grootste media conglomeraat ter wereld.

Lloyd, can you introduce yourself to the people who don’t know you or don’t know Troma?

Yes, my name is Lloyd Kaufman, I am president of Troma Entertainment and creator of the Toxic Avenger. Troma is a 35 year old independent studio. It’s the oldest independent studio in America and has brought forth such movies as the Toxic Avenger, Poultygesit; Night of the Chicken Dead, Surf Nazis Must Die, Cannibal; the Musical, Class of Nuke em High, Tromeo and Juliet and Terror Firmer. Many of the stars of today cinema began in Troma Samuel L Jacson, Vincent D'Onofrio. You can see Kevin Costner’s first movie Sizzle Beach, U.S.A, you can see Samuel L. Jackson’s first movie Def by Temptation. Of course director’s like Eli Roth, Trey Parker and James Gunn and many, many others have worked for Troma. Or others like Peter Jackson, Quentin Tarantino and Takashi Miike have been very much influenced by the movies from Troma Entertainment in the past 35 years.

That’s quite a resume you’re summing up now.

Troma started out with sexy comedy’s like Squeeze Play!, Waitress!, Stuck on You!, and the First Turn On!

Yes, indeed. Troma started out with raunchy comedy’s. It was against the rules to mix sex with comedy. Sex was supposed to be a serious thing, sex was supposed to promote the raincoat manufacturing industry. But instead the mixed it together and we made those movies. Squeeze Play! Came out before Porky’s and gave a little bit of a headstart on that particular trend. Then later on Porky’s and those kind of movies came out and we switched over to mixing in horror along with the sex and comedy.

Why the genre change with mixing in horror?

Well we don’t make horror movies, we make satire. You don’t get frightened at a Troma movie, you might get disturbed, disgusted, pissed of or you might laugh, but you don’t get frightened. The original comedy’s were raunchy comedy’s. The major studios, the big conglomerates were starting to making the same movies we were making, except they were using good scripts and good actors, so that was un fair. They were not playing by the rules so we had to go to the new world. The world of mixing sex, violence, gore and music, Shakespeare and mixing it al in one movie. We came up with The Toxic Avenger and we just kept going.

Did you ever suspect that The Toxic Avenger went on to be a big success that it is ?

Yes, I suspect that every movie I make to be a huge success and I’m always shocked when nobody comes to see it. Even though I’ve been doing it for 35 years I’m still very surprised that there is no distribution for Troma’s movies anywhere in the world. My latest film Poultygeist; Night of the Chicken Dead has no distribution anywhere yet we have millions of fans. I don’t understand is the retrospective here in this film museum was full and sold out and yet we have no distribution in Europe.

A couple of years ago you’ve also been to the Netherlands at the BUT Film Festival… (couldn’t finish my question here)

Yes in Breda. I’ve been to the Netherlands many times, since I was 12 years old I’ve been here many, many times.

(finishing my question here) Since you’ve been here numerous times, does the Netherlands have a special place for you?

Well it’s a wonderful country, it’s beautiful. When I was a young boy we came through here to our house in the south of France. I started coming here since I was 12

Is the Dutch audience different than the American audience?

The Dutch audience is very different than the American audience. It’s much better educated.

How so?

The Dutch audience is better educated. I think the Dutch audience understands more of the subtleties in movies. The Dutch audience also have a better command of the English language than the American audience. The American audience is intelligent but I think the rot as well educated. The miss some of the subtleties of Poultygeist; Night of the Chicken Dead which I see the Dutch audience does get.

How was your first night at the Tromathon?

Great, sold out! People had a good time, a lot of women. And as I just said it was sold out, so hopefully the museum made some money.

Back to your career. How did Troma get to be what it is, and what’s with the name Troma?

Troma was begun by Michael Herz and me in 1974 and the idea was, we wanted to have a place were we could make movies with total artistic freedom and we also wanted to establish an independent movie studio. We wanted to make a opportunity to make art that comes from the soul and not from the pocket book.

And why the name Troma?

Troma is Latin. I went to Yale university, that’s a decent school in the States and I took Latin. Michael Herz and I took a lot of Latin. Troma is from the ancient Latin. From the ancient Latin Troma means “excellence in celluloid”. That’s why we choose that word.

In your early years you’ve credited yourself as Samuel Weil, why is that?

Well, Samuel Weil was my great grandfather. I used that name because I was in the union. In the Directors Guild of America it is a crime to direct movies, they don’t want people to direct movies, so I had to direct them under a pseudonym. I was paying the rent at Troma by working as a production manager, taking jobs on movies Saturday Night Fever and The Final Countdown with Martin Sheen and Kirk Douglas. In order to pay the rent at Troma I took these shitty jobs. But to direct movies, since I was in the union I wasn’t allowed to direct movies which were non union. We didn’t have enough money and we didn’t like the stupidity that came with the union rules so we used another name to direct. Actually I was harassed, hounded and eventually I resigned from the union right after Troma’s War wich is shown here at the retrospective. After Troma’s War I resigned from the union and that was the end of my career.

Or the start of your career.

Well, I made sure I was in the underground. Without being in the Directors Guild I had no change of making a living.

Is that true?

Yes, In America to become a real director you have to be in the Directors Guild. I’ve directed a lot of movies but they were all underground. In America you can not have a cool or successful carreer unless you’re in the guild but I’m happy I am not in the union. My work is much better because I’m not in the union. The director’s were cool, but everybody else like the assistant directors were little shithead nazi’s , stupid little shit’s. The fact that they would come after me for directing a movie, that they would bother with it is just stupid. I have written about it. I have a new book out; How to produce your own Damn Movie. It just came out and I talk a bit about that and how I met the guy many years later. It was a guy named Stanley Ackerman who enjoyed going after people who did non-union work. He enjoyed being a snitch. I met him many years later when he was a really old man and he didn’t know who I was. I cursed him out. He was at a fancy ball. I think it was at the Directors Guild annual tuxedo thing. He and his hag wife were dancing around and I stopped them and said: “Hello, I am Lloyd Kaufman.” And he didn’t knew who I was. I said to him: “You little fckhead, ou piece of shit, you fucking kike.” There was music playing and he was real shocked, my wife was really pissed of as was his wife, but I said fuck em.

You’re also involved with the IFTA (Independent Film & Television Alliance)

Yes, I am, thank you for bringing this up. The Independent Film & Television Alliance is the trade association for the international independent media community. Troma is a member offcourse. The company’s who made Monster and Million Dollar Baby, the guys who financed The Lord of the Rings. But most of the company’s are smaller than Troma. I am the elected Chairman, I do not get paid but I’m elected because I wanted to fight against the media consolidation, the evil devil worshipping media conglomerates control too much of the market place, they control to much of what we the public see, hear and read. It’s a kind of economic censorship. The media cartel worldwide is blacklisting independent art, there closing the doors. American television does not support independent art, or independent programming so we’re fighting against it.

What do you think about the future of independent movies?

I think the future is very good. With the miracle of new technology we can all make our own damn movies. But I don’t think we can live off our own damn movies until we break up this monopoly of duopoly of these small Murdock types of devil worshipping conglomerates. We have to take dayjobs in order to make movies we believe in. Poultrygeist is a very good example. It has gotten very good reviews at many film festivals. The New York Times loved it, most of the major critics liked Poultrygeist.

We from TOTF do as well.

Well, thank you. The problem with Poultrygeist is, we wil never see its money back because there is no distribution anywhere. It is not because it is a bad movie it’s a good movie but the conglomerates will not allow us to live of our movies. That’s the problem. It is not so difficult to make the movie, it is difficult to find the public. Luckily Troma has a very loyal fan base wich you can see at the Amsterdam Filmmuseum. We had a sold out crowd, but unfortunately we at Troma won’t get any of that money so. But is it nice to know that people want to see my movies. That’s the main reason I make the movies for people to see them not to make money. To entertain people, to make them think a little bit, to have a small influence on society to where we go.

What’s the future going to hold for Troma?

The future is very bleak. It get’s worse and worse, the group of Murdock gets more and more power as are the two or three other giant conglomerates. There is no room for the independent filmmakers. We will become more and more underground, we will have to rely on our fans and on lady luck to keep is alive Basically it is because our fans, the only reason Troma is here is because of our fans. There are no independent movie studios who have survived so many years it’s very unique. It’s opnly because of the loyal and very hardworking fans.

From the start of Troma you have said in interviews that Troma is going to end. Do you think Troma is going to end in the near future?

We don’t have a very optimistic view of the future, it doesn’t look to good. That;s why I am fighting with the Independent Film & Television Alliance. We are 200 company’s and we are fighting against the corrupt en very unfair conditions of the labourer elite, the bureaucratic elite and the corporate elite who transpire to suck dry the economic and spiritual capital. Until we break this monstrous strangulation it doesn’t look good. It doesn’t look good for anybody accept the Michael Bay’s. You know Michael Bay I guess will do very well and a few others and that’s it. Everyone else will be making no budget movies that cost nothing. You can be a school teacher and maybe drive a milk truck or something and make your movies on the side. That’s not so bad either. Luckily we could at least do that. When I started there was a necessity for money for making movies because you had to have film, lots of film, but you also had a more level playing field. If you had a movie like Squeeze Play!, Waitress! or Stuck on You! That the public wanted to see you had something entertaining. You could get it to the public. Nowadays it is totally different. Nowadays you can indeed make movies for no money so you could easily make your movie, but it is impossible to get it to the public because the playing field is so disadvantages to the non elite.

Do you think there are too many underground movies coming out, which could result in no attention for the good underground movies?

No, it is great that there are that many movies coming out. I think the good ones will pop out. When talking about Troma and it’s 35 year career there also the good movies pop out. We have financed a movie called Combat Shock, it was obscure and it lost money but then 20 years later it went and made a profit. Terror Firmer which I made in 1999 it still isn’t broken even, but it’s getting more and more word of mouth so it eventually will break even. Tromeo & Juliet is also now making some profit, only because word of mouth. That’s something else for the mainstream movies for all their 100 million dollars advertising campaign. If they don’t get word of mouth, after one year they are forgotten. May of the stars that emerged, many of the actors that were brought forth by the directors and mainstream in 1983 with millions and millions of dollars of advertising they’re gone, they have disappeared. But the Toxic Avenger he is pretty famous, he is still around with no advertising money whatsoever and Toxie is kinda famous now.

He is worldwide know.

Yes, he is. Most of the actors, actresses and directors who were discovered in 1983 with millions of dollars of advertising money, most o them are gone, finished, kaput.

Will there ever be a Troma without you?

Yeah, I think Troma has a live of it’s own. The Toxic Avenger certainly does. I mean the Toxic Avenger is being remade. We signed a deal for some big company owned by Brett Ratner to remake the Toxic Avenger. There is a Broadway Musical called The Toxic Avenger, the cartoons (Toxic Crusaders). The very least that Troma will keep going is the Toxic Avenger. Yeah, I think that Troma will go on without me. I hope.. I couldn’t care less…

You couldn’t care? You have a 35 career with Troma..

It doesn’t matter, I don’t care. I like making movies but if somebody wants to keep it going, then the good movies will have a life of its own. I think Troma will keep going. Somehow Troma keeps going now and I suspect they have a life of its own. The brand is too strong. You now like in Croatia. There were reporters right here at this festival, the Tromathon from Croatia. I never had distribution in Croatia, so the fact that there is a pretty big an base in places like that gives me the idea that Troma is here to stay. But we still don’t have distribution anywhere.

How do you feel then about DVD piracy, downloading from the internet and spreading Troma films in that way? Do you think this free distribution helps Troma?

Yes, I think piracy helps Troma. We have always been but pirates, we were but pirates before the internet came along, but the internet is I think like a advertising campaign. I think it kickes up our reputation and then people will also buy our DVD’s, support us. Maybe through piracy they get to know our movies and think “I like this” and they will go ahead and buy a movie from our website. Like the bluray of Poultrygeist; Night of the Chicken Dead, although Troma says it’s a Brownray, with good reason (see the movie for this good reason). So I’m not against piracy.

Are there any upcoming projects for Troma?

I’m working on some scripts, I’m slowly getting nowhere but I’m going to make a fifth Toxic Avenger. I mentioned to you that the Toxic Avenger original is being remade, Mothersday was remade and coming out I think in October and were writing another script that is kinda like the Terror Firmer. So it is about being a author, a film director and getting no respect, though trying to getting respect. So we are working on that script for what it’s worth.

If you can pick one, what would be your most memorable experience on set?

Well, I don’t know, I don’t think I can name a memorable experience…

What about the most fun or most crazy experience?

Read my books, pick something out it. I don’t know what is crazy. I have four books out, it is Toxic Avenger; The Novel, Make your own Damn Movie, Direct your own Damn Movie and Produce your own Damn Movie. Pick the best and just pretend I said it. To be honest, I just don’t know what to tell you.

I’m going to call out a couple of names, just tell me the first thing that comes to mind when hearing those names.

Roger Corman:

He is has been a big inspiration to me, no questions about it. When I was in Yale I discovered the movies of Roger Corman and they were small budget, great scripts, great director and he proved to me that one could make wonderful low budget movies and that one could make art at a small budget. Roger Corman was the proof. He also wrote the introductions of my first book and he is a great guy. He just got the Life Time Achievement Award and he really deserved it. In every book I have written I have said that he deserves the Life Time Achievement Award and he finally got one. Good guy!

Ron Jeremy:

Ron Jeremy is a good guy, he is not hung like David Carradine but he is hung in a different way, but not like David Carradine. A very good guy, he has acted in our movies since 1986 I think. He has never asked for any money, he is a Troma fan, he knows a lot about Roger, he knows a lot about pop-culture, he knows a lot about music, he writes his own music. We used on of his songs in Terror Firmer, Freak of the Week which he wrote. He is a team player, a good guy.

You could call him on of the Troma family.

Well yeah, he is a friend of Troma and he is a much bigger star than Troma. We are honoured to have him in our movies and he has been very supportive. It’s interesting. When we first used him in Class of Nuke em High part 2, the actors were kind of standoffish, they were a little bit disgusted by him especially the females. That was 30 years ago. But now when he came to the set of Terror Firmer I think it was. When we came to that set all the women were clustered around him and they all wanted to serve him and I think they were really turned on by him. Off course he is not so attractive 20 years later, he is older, he is fatter, but I think the women of America have become more relaxed about sexual freedom, their bodies and I think they are turned on by the fact that Ron Jeremy has fucked so many people. I think there is a big difference in attitude from 1886 towards Ron Jeremy than today. He is a real expert on pop-culture I’ll tell you that,. He really knows a lot about pop culture.

Any words of advice on how to make your own damn movie?

I would read my books. I think they are really good. I would never necessarily tell people to see my movies, but if you are interested in making movies I think my books are really good. I take em very seriously, they are very entertaining. Direct your own Damn Movie s absolutely usefull and also in addition to my own theories on distribution it has interviews and statements by Eli Roth andJames Gunn and Stan Lee and all sorts of successful directors. Produce your own Damn Movie is better. It is even more serious and usefull. So I would say read my books, but perhaps the most important rule would be; To thine own self be true. A phrase coined by William Shakespeare known from the book 101 different versions of screenplays otherwise known as Hamlet.

Lloyd, thank you. Do you have anything more to add, any final words?

Well, I think the key in film is don’t listen to anybody and certainly don’t listen to me and again I am extremely grateful to the wonderful fans in Holland and the low countries who have supported Troma for 35 years and have been active in trying to find our DVD’s and buy them.

Well, Lloyd thank you for your time