Best selling Author and Playwright Charles Busch is a very happy man these days. He has a major Broadway show that stars Boy George, and being co-produced by Rosie O’Donnell called “”Taboo”” opening this month, and he has his first major film opening October 31st. He’s come a long way from the days when he was doing mostly gay themed campy off, off, Broadway productions. In his recent film, Busch and fellow Theater Director, Mark Rucker pay homage to 60s suspense thrillers, or as Mark calls it “”Women’s Noir”” films in “”Die Mommie Die.””
DMD has an eclectic cast that includes Jason Priestley, Natasha Lyonne, Phillip Baker Hall, and Charles Busch playing a fallen pop diva who battles her vicious husband, vengeful children and a hornet’s nest of secrets. And hey, he even gets to give a lip lock to Jason Priestley. We recently caught up with Busch and Rucker to talk about the movie, and to find out how Busch managed to get Boy George into the country.EMI like to start all my interviews off with my basic overly broad question, please tell us who you are and why we’re speaking with you today?MRMy name is Mark Rucker and I directed the movie “”Die Mommie Die!””CBMy name is Charles Busch and I wrote the screenplay and star in the film.EMWhat can you tell us about the film?MR It’s opening on October 31st, and is part of the new “”Sundance Film Series,”” we’re opening in 10 major cities.CBI think we are probably the most mainstream out of the films that is showing as part of the film series.EMWhat makes you say that?CB[laughs] Well one is from Afghanistan. Ours is the only comedy in the lineup. Even though our movie has gay themes, and its own built in audience. We think that it is very accessible that makes it unique in an art house festival like this.EMWhen you set out to make the film, did you intend for it to be more mainstream?MRI think it’s a happy coincidence. The film is what it is, which comes from Charles’ play and screenplay. He has a great history of writing successful comedies.CBMy career has been writing fringe pieces for the theater that played successfully in commercial venues. So it was just natural for me to progress into movies.EMMost actors and writers who I talked to love doing theater more than movies, what made you want to branch out into film?CBI love movies! Most of my plays are about movies. This is the first time that I’ve actually starred in a film. I’ve had bit parts in several films, and most of my film career is on the cutting room floor, but in this, I’m actually the star and am in 98 percent of the scenes. It was a real challenge to find the right sort of balance. We’re not only doing a homage to 60’s suspense films, but I’m also playing the female lead in drag. It’s sort of outrageous in a way, but we also had to make the audience loose themselves in the story. So we couldn’t get too outrageous with it.EMBased on the material and the fact that you played the lead female character, how did you manage to walk that fine line between camp and seriousness?MRI think that’s what he does. He always walks that fine line. In other people’s hands it would have been a parody, in his [Charles] hands it’s a loving homage. When you are on stage you have to give characters a bigger life than on film. When we filmed it, we tried to do three takes of every shot. One where he underplayed a scene, one where he was over the top, and one normal/midway take, so when we edited the movie it was easier to get the tone of the scene that we wanted.CBIt’s funny because I was in NY while Mark was editing the film, so I could have come off as a raving lunatic, or the most quiet understated performance. I left it all in his hands. When I saw the final cut of the film I was thrilled with the performance he created in the editing room.MRIt was very organic in a way, because it told us which way to go. For instance there’s this very emotional scene at the end where he reconciles with his children. It’s a deliciously emotional moment in the film and while we were shooting it, he was really crying. When we originally staged the scene, it wasn’t really supposed to be that way, but the setting, situation and everything just came together and we just went for it.CBThere are different kinds of parody and satire. For me it’s not enough to have a campy spoof in the middle of a movie. I want to actually feel something. We like to think that the film works not only as an homage but also as a suspense film and a something that touches people emotionally.EM When you are doing those three different takes all the time, as an actor and director do you find it hard to remain a performance consistency?[pagebreak]MRNo, it wasn’t, because they were all degrees of the same emotional choice. EMYou both come from theater backgrounds, how difficult was it to make the transition to film?CBIt was always frustrating for me, because I’ve had bit parts in several movies, and been on television. This was the first time that I was able to really act in a film, and put myself out there emotionally. I’ve always admired actors who could convey an emotion with just their eyes. It takes a certain amount of trust and confidence to do that, and it’s something that I’ve always wanted to try that. This part had so much variety, and was totally different from who I am. I’m playing a woman, an older woman, and trying to pay homage to old 60s actresses like Betty Davis, Joan Crawford, etc… EMWithout the audience feedback how did you know what worked and what didn’t?MRI have done a fair amount of comedy in the theater. In the theater you can always go back and change things based on the audience response. In film you have to go with your instincts.EMYou didn’t use testing to decide what works?MROn a big studio picture we would have done that, but with a small film like this, we didn’t have that luxury. Fortunately the material tells you what the timing is.EMWhat made you want to adapt this particular piece as your first film?CBIt’s funny because I really don’t know. [Speaking To Mark] I would like to hear from you how this film came about. From my point of view, it seems like there were two separate things going on. My experience was totally different than yours. All I know for me, is that I did this little disposable play in L.A. I did it for a couple of months and then I met with Anthony Edwards for a project for his film production company which died. After that I’m not sure what happened. MRAbout ten years ago I was really into Women’s Noir films and I was thinking that I would love to make a film like this with Charles Busch. When he was in LA doing his play I went down to see it, and someone from the production company went down to see it as well, and everything went from there.[pagebreak]EMBeyond the acting, how difficult is it to translate a play and this particular piece into film?MRIt’s interesting, because the impetus for the play was an homage to film, the material wasn’t as difficult to translate as a regular play would normally be. CBIt was easier to be truer to the actresses that I’m emulating on film than it was in the theater, because I didn’t have to be as over the top with my performance. When I was writing this play, I was thinking how perfect it would be for film. My original impulse was how easy this would be to film, that all I had to do was find a large house and I could shoot this on video for $5,000. It is such a small story, and I started working on that, but then I thought that I should just write the best screenplay that I could. I was lucky that I didn’t have to go through the process of trying to sell the script, once we did the play in LA, everything came from that.MRWe were also lucky that we were able to get Jason Priestley, and Natasha Lyonne came on board the project very early. The entire process of financing was very quick (by film standards). CBFrom the time that I wrote the script to producing the play, and then selling the screenplay all took a matter of a few months.MRWe were really lucky with casting the film. We worked with a great Casting Director and we ended up getting most of our first choices.EMHow did you get involved in the Sundance process?MRWe just submitted the film and it went from there. CBI never met Robert Redford though. He doesn’t know this, but I was his temp receptionist in the earl 80s.EMWhat projects are you guys working on now?CBI just wrote a big Broadway Musical based on the book “”Taboo.”” It’s produced by Rose O’Donnell and stars Boy George and is opening this month. EMWow, you tell me this at the end of the interview. Now I have a bunch of questions….CBIt’s an all brand new score, written by Boy George. It has a real “”Culture Club”” feel to it.EMI thought he couldn’t travel to the US because of the whole drug thing?CBWe had a hard time getting him a Passport. More importantly he’s really into numerology and was really passionate about traveling on certain days, and the number of days. Luckily it all eventually worked out.EMAnd what are you working on?MRI have a couple of film projects that I’m working on, and I’m working on a new play based on Cyrano.