Troma’s Lloyd Kaufman — this unassuming man is responsible for some of the most depraved moments in movie history
Troma head Lloyd Kaufman won’t kowtow to typical tastes
The last time Fast Forward spoke with Lloyd Kaufman was in September of 2001 just after the terrorist attacks of 9/11 brought a halt to all air travel preventing him from flying to the Calgary International Film Festival to attend the opening of Citizen Toxie: The Toxic Avenger IV .
Barring any further tragedies nothing should prevent Kaufman founder of Troma Entertainment New York’s oldest independent film studio from making it to the opening of his latest gore comedy Poultrygeist at this year’s CIFF. What inspired this cult icon the director of films like The Toxic Avenger Tromeo and Juliet and Terror Firmer to make a film combining a heartfelt criticism of the fast food industry with musical numbers and feathered zombies?
“The way that this movie got started is that McDonald’s moved next door to the Troma building” explains Kaufman. “They were very unpleasant. Their sign was too wide so they just chopped a piece out of our building and embedded it there without permission. They put their garbage in front of our place and suddenly we had these raccoon-sized rats running around the basement. We never had rats before! We read Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser and it became pretty apparent that there’s just nothing good about fast food.”
Kaufman is quick to point out that Poultrygeist is no shot-on-video quickie. “I made this picture in 35mm because the fans made it clear they would like to see it on the big screen. The problem is the movie theatres are now owned and controlled by devil-worshipping international media conglomerates so it gets harder and harder to get onscreen.”
Kaufman wrote Make Your Own Damn Movie! and All I Need to Know About Filmmaking I Learned From The Toxic Avenger two books about the movie industry but many readers may be surprised to hear that there is a Toxic Avenger: The Novel . Is it his first novel? “Yep and probably my last based on the lack of interest from the media. It’s available it’s just that the New York Times didn’t even review it. It won a Scribe Award actually but nobody knows about it!” Kaufman also bemoans large theatre chains that won’t play Troma films. “They pride themselves on playing independent movies but the problem is they play independent movies from Warner or Fox Searchlight. They don’t return our calls. When the fans ask for our movies the theatres listen because the fans are the ticket buyers. They usually end up making more money with Troma than they do with a big movie because they only give us 35 or 40 per cent and the majors take 90. It’s a very very unfair and cartel-like business.”
The distribution business concerns Kaufman. “What needs to change is that regulations that used to deal with monopolies have been done away with” he says. “They must be re-instituted. There used to be rules that the studios could not own movie theatres. There used to be rules that the networks were required to show 35 per cent independent television content. That’s been done away with. There used to be rules that the village could not have both a newspaper and TV station owned by Rupert Murdoch. It looks like we have 500 television stations but they’re all owned by five companies.”
Similar tirades can be viewed in the Lloyd’s Roids section of the studio’s website ( www.troma.com ). “I’ve got plenty of essays if you want to read them. I’ve got one called “Piracy May Be Good!” It’s good because that’s how the public can get independent art. If it wasn’t for Napster there would be a lot of musicians who would have never been heard of. Napster was a good thing. The garage bands were getting to the public and the major conglomerates don’t want us the consumers to know about anything but the top 20.”
As president of a film company Kaufman sees lots of stuff that he feels should be seen by a bigger audience. “I’ve just financed a film that Giuseppe Andrews made. He’s the sheriff in Cabin Fever and he makes these amazing films. He spends $1000 on a feature-length movie and they’re brilliant. We’re not making money with them but they’re art. They’re fascinating they’re entertaining and there’s nobody who’s seen them that hasn’t been totally knocked out by them. They’re in video stores if you look for them.”
Lloyd also runs the Tromadance film festival which is now in its ninth year and is completely free of charge. “You can submit your movies for free you can go to the movies for free and no VIP policy! We need contributions because it’s not a very good business model.”
