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Brew City Magazine | |
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Guidelines About the Magazine Editor-in-Chief: Managing Editor: Associate Editor:
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Interviewed by Stacey Cochran
Texan turned Hollywood actor Joe Bob Briggs has starred in “Casino,” “Face/Off,” and “The Stand.” For four years Briggs hosted TNT’s cult favorite MonsterVision, and he has published five books with his trademark insight, humor, and pop-culture acumen. His sixth book Profoundly Disturbing: Shocking Movies That Changed History is due out in May 2003 from Universe Books. Publishers Weekly calls Profoundly Disturbing “wryly amusing” and “informative,” that it “merits attention from fans tired of high-minded essays about classics such as Citizen Kane.” Briggs explains with clarity and intelligence “why crass, tasteless pictures often make more impact than those released with the stamp of respectability.” Recently, Briggs took time out for an e-mail interview with writer Stacey Cochran.
You’ve watched a lot of movies over the years. Do most B-movies deserve to be forgotten? JOE BOB BRIGGS: Yes, that would be fairly accurate. However, a run-of-the-mill B movie is no different from a run-of-the-mill pulp detective novel. There’s some satisfaction just from watching how it plays out. When an “A” movie bombs, on the other hand, it stinks forever.
What do you think of all the hype surrounding the new Scorsese flick? BRIGGS: “Gangs of New York” is a great movie, but I don’t think it’s Scorsese’s greatest movie. I think he should have won the Oscar twenty years ago for “Raging Bull.”
What was it like on the set of “Casino?” How
is the attitude different among actors working on a
Scorsese-directed set?
You’ve got a new book due out in May 2003 Profoundly Disturbing. Where does it stack up along with the other books in the Joe Bob Briggs cannon? BRIGGS: This is an entirely new sort of book. I’ve taken 15 movies that shocked society in one way or another and tried to show how they changed us. It’s a serious treatment of movies that most people don’t take that seriously. It’s a celebration of the subversive nature of film.
Why is a film like
Vadim’s “And God Created Woman” [which Briggs writes about
in Profoundly Disturbing] not taken more seriously?
If you could pick one day in the past twenty-five years to live through as your kind ’a heaven, which would it be? BRIGGS: It’s impossible to answer, because I don’t really think that way. I’m all about cumulative things, not quantum leaps. I can say, though, that quitting a job always feels great. I haven’t had a real job in years.
Who’s a better director: George Romero or Jacques Tourneur? BRIGGS: Sort of a strange question. Really impossible to compare. George Romero is a better showman, and Tourneur a better artist, I would say.
Does being a showman tend to preclude being an artist? BRIGGS: No, there are many examples of artists who are also showmen. Martin Scorsese. Steven Spielberg. John Ford.
Who’s your favorite journalist of all time? BRIGGS: Ambrose Bierce.
Do you see Playboy magazine surviving another half century? BRIGGS: I see it surviving, but not in its present form. It’s the strongest, or one of the strongest, brands in the field of men’s products, and corporate America has a way of transforming and recycling brands. I’m sure they’ll find their place. What’s odd is that they’ve been eclipsed by men’s magazines that show less flesh. I’m sure Hugh Hefner never expected to see that happen in his lifetime.
If you could change one thing about the way the movie business is run, what would it be? BRIGGS: I would get rid of the star system. Stories get distorted by being adapted for certain stars, or simply having a lot of star baggage attached to them.
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