E-Mail This Article to a Friend Naked lunch (continued)

Q: How do you feel the about the NC-17 rating?

A: I work with Fine Line a lot. We’re not trying to make a big deal of it. You know what I mean? Why am I going to whine about it? I don’t think I should. But I sure as hell can take it. My only political thing that I say to everyone is that obviously the MPAA wants the NC-17 rating to be rehabilitated. They want studios to put out films that will get the rating. Which none will. Well, then, help us. Why doesn’t Blockbuster carry it? Send your lobbyists and go in until they change. I’ll sell it for you. I’ll go ahead and try to make this because all I need is one movie that makes money and it’ll change.

Q: Did they mention specifically why they gave you the rating?

A: It’s the "pervasive sexual content." Which means you just can’t make a movie about sex. When Pink Flamingos came out for the 25th anniversary, we said to the MPAA, "You don’t have to watch it," and they said, "We have to," and it got an NC-17. And then Female Trouble got one when it was re-released, which kind of surprised me. But then all the rest were R.

Q: Do you feel you are a target of Moral Majority types?

A: They never go after me. I’m a lost cause to those people. They never attacked me, because I always was like that, from the very first movie. So it’s not like I changed into something. And I’ve become successful enough that I don’t have to ever be around those people. That’s the only thing about success: it’s not about money, you just never have to be around assholes. I don’t ever come in contact with those people, ever. I don’t see them, I don’t hear them. I would never listen to their radio shows. I have friends who like talk shows, the ones where they’re screaming. Is there a backlash? I don’t feel it — well, I got an NC-17, I do feel it. I think a year ago I wouldn’t have. People say to me, "If Clinton was president, you wouldn’t have gotten the NC-17." Maybe that’s true. But maybe the NC-17, well, sometimes you know, sometimes things are fun when things are illegal, tough when you have to fight.

Q: Do you think sex is making a comeback?

A: Oh, yeah, I think it is back. But I think it’s, you’ve got to be careful about that, because I know young people who are 20 with AIDS and it shocks me. I really was careful about it in the movie. You can try all these things at home. You wouldn’t even get pregnant.

But I think things are better than they’ve ever been, in a way. I think everything is much freer than it was when I was young. Lenny Bruce went to jail for saying "fuck" when I was young. Now, gay marriage? In 30 years? A lot’s happened. And the day that an established star has penetration in a Hollywood movie, unsimulated sex in the movies will be over.

Q: Over?

A: Yes, over.

Q: Who will be first?

A: Sean Penn. You have to take bets. Gérard Depardieu already did it, but it can’t be European. I think somebody should do it. It’ll be anarchy. When that happens, that will be historic and it will change everything again and then nobody will have to do it.

I just think Sean Penn has always been ballsy. And I think if a woman did it, it would be someone you’d never expect who was reinventing their career, like Meg Ryan just tried to do, or Sandra Bullock is doing now, you know what I mean? Like someone that was a huge star that would do it for Pedro [Almodóvar]. But no, they’d have to do it for an American director. Europe doesn’t count. It has to be an American. You could win the Oscar. You could maybe win the Oscar or you could never work again.

Q: Sex seems to be the only taboo these days. Otherwise it’s hard to offend people. I was watching Larry King last night and they had people from Fear Factor on. When you see stuff like that, do you think ...?

A: I’ve never seen that stuff. I’ve never seen a reality show in my life. I did that kind of thing in Pink Flamingos, I guess. And Johnny Knoxville in a way did that with Jackass. That’s why I liked him so much. I was drawn to him because it seemed kind of the spirit that I made Pink Flamingos in, in a way.

TV is just not interesting to me. You know, I like scripts, I like writing. It just seems there’s good bad taste and bad bad taste, and it seems like bad bad taste. I don’t think it’s witty or funny. And it doesn’t make me change how I think about anything. What also I can’t stand is how stupid they have to be. There’s only an hour: they show like 10 minutes of real content, then they just repeat everything. Like you forgot what happened two seconds ago. When you come back from a commercial? That’s what drives me away. I didn’t forget, it was 10 minutes ago! I’m not stupid.