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CHRIS NEUMER: Well, congratulations, Melvin on the award. MELVIN VAN PEEBLES: Thank you very much. Good calling it man, I’m very excited about the whole thing. CHRIS NEUMER: Now, is this the type of thing that it would propel you forward to any new things? Sort of a stepping-stone in your career to reinvigorate you on the path on which you’re going? MELVIN VAN PEEBLES: Well, it’s always nice to receive awards, especially from your peers and groups that you’re in, but I don’t really know. I’ve never actually even thought about it. I’m doing okay, though! But I’ll take any of the help that wants to come along. CHRIS NEUMER: That’s… MELVIN VAN PEEBLES: I hadn’t looked at it as coming out of retirement. Really, I ain’t never been in retirement. CHRIS NEUMER: Well, it’s just sort of a nice validation. MELVIN VAN PEEBLES: Yeah. And also, outside of the personal context, it’s very important that our young people are aware of the different aspects. And that’s what is so very special about this award; it’s about another whole aspect of the industry, a very important aspect of the industry. A very important point, that everybody knows is there, but on the other hand, it still tends to get the short shrift. It tends to be overlooked, and that’s what’s so important about this — it spotlights an important aspect, a crucial aspect, even, of the industry… CHRIS NEUMER: This is the film industry you’re talking about? MELVIN VAN PEEBLES: …It’s about the film industry; and it’s the people behind the camera, behind the lens. I’ve been — I’m diverse enough — to step from behind the lens. There were times, when I was short of the necessary finances, that I was in front of the lens, also. But, primarily, I’m a behind the lens person. Many people aren’t even aware. I mean, they’re aware, they know it’s there, but they’re just not really aware of how crucial this whole other aspect of things are. CHRIS NEUMER: Let me ask you this: It seems your name is intrinsically connected with the words, "black filmmaker," or "black pioneer." Do you ever stop and think, well, maybe I’m just a filmmaker? MELVIN VAN PEEBLES: Do I ever stop to think that? CHRIS NEUMER: Well, I mean, everyone seems to describe you as… the color of your skin always comes into play when other people describe you: black filmmaker, black pioneer. And I was thinking, this guy isn’t just a black filmmaker, he should be just a filmmaker, period, who’s done something very significant. Does it ever weigh on you that you’re constantly referred to as a black filmmaker or a black pioneer? MELVIN VAN PEEBLES: Well, I could answer that the way… I just don’t expect, in the context of the society we live in, for it to be any other way. But I don’t live by their limitations on myself… CHRIS NEUMER: When you say, ‘their,’ you mean whom? MELVIN VAN PEEBLES: By ‘their,’ I mean someone who would say, he is a black this… I find that it tells me more about them than it does about myself. CHRIS NEUMER: But it seems like everybody refers to you in that way. This award that you're receiving is a 'black' filmmaking award. MELVIN VAN PEEBLES: I won’t carry that weight on my shoulders, of their ignorance. For example, Sweetback was the largest grossing independent film of its time. CHRIS NEUMER: Okay... MELVIN VAN PEEBLES: And an independent film had never been taken seriously before Sweetback broke in. And, many times, people will recognize that […] filmmakers, and sometimes the filmmakers will recognize. And then, other people will say, ‘Oh, you started Blaxploitation, nwah-nwah-nwha.’ That’s true, but it’s much more than that. But we’ve learned to expect that type of treatment all along, man. And frankly, to be perfectly honest, it doesn’t bother me, I don’t even hear it. I just… it doesn’t bother me at all. CHRIS NEUMER: You have been very instrumental in promoting the agenda of the black filmmaker, and I was trying to think of some recent films that would be the modern versions of some of the independent black films of the ‘seventies. I was wondering, do you just think it’s the current perception of America, that there were more independent, black films being produced in the ‘seventies than now, or do you find that to actually be the case? MELVIN VAN PEEBLES: Well, you know, I don’t know what films you could possibly be alluding to. Such as? CHRIS NEUMER: You mean in modern times or…? MELVIN VAN PEEBLES: No, then. CHRIS NEUMER: Well, like Sweetback, Foxy Brown or Superfly were produced independently of the studio system. Now, I know you have said that independence does not come from making it outside of the studio system, but like at Sundance or Slamdance, there doesn’t seem to be a whole, burgeoning black film community today. MELVIN VAN PEEBLES: Why do you say today? When was it? Did I go to sleep and miss something? CHRIS NEUMER: Well, I guess that’s what I’m asking. Is there a viable, black, filmmaking community today in 2004? MELVIN VAN PEEBLES: Well, the only thing I would have to say — with the way you phrased the question — it seems implicit that there was. And my point is, I’m not sure there ever was. But then, I don’t know. I don’t really know… CHRIS NEUMER: Didn't you complain a lot about the lack of a black filmmaking community though? Never mind. Let me try this then: what types of things would you suggest need to happen to somebody, what types of positions need to be filled, what type of thing would have to occur, to create that type of environment today… a positive black filmmaking community, or is it possible to? MELVIN VAN PEEBLES: Um, I’d like to ask a couple of questions before I respond to that. CHRIS NEUMER: Ok. MELVIN VAN PEEBLES: Today… is there a reason why your interest is on today? CHRIS NEUMER: Today as in Monday or today as in the metaphoric time at the present? MELVIN VAN PEEBLES: Today as in yesterday?… I’m trying to get a handle on the vigorous use of the word ‘today.’ Do you think there was before, or…? CHRIS NEUMER: Weren't there some successful independently financed films that would be considered black independent cinema of the seventies? MELVIN VAN PEEBLES: Were there? CHRIS NEUMER: That's what I'm asking. MELVIN VAN PEEBLES: Which ones are these? CHRIS NEUMER: I don't know. I mean, other than the one's I named previously? Sweetback, Coffey, Foxy Brown, Shaft, um… [Van Peebles’ publicist steps in] PUBLICIST: Okay, Chris, if you don’t mind me interrupting, I think what Melvin is trying to say is that while there were other films, and you mention Shaft as being one, that was not an independent film. So, I think what Melvin is trying to say, is that when you’re looking back to 30 years ago, there was no other independent film back then. It’s just today, or in the last 15 years or so, where you’ve begun to see that independent trend. CHRIS NEUMER: Okay. And Melvin, was that what you were trying to say? MELVIN VAN PEEBLES: Yes, exactly. It didn’t happen. They weren’t there before. CHRIS NEUMER: Ok, well, so, apply… so things have been getting better… Or are they? MELVIN VAN PEEBLES: You know, what’s really happened is that technology has dropped the cost below the line of making a film down. And technology has also brought the need of expertise. It’s made it much simpler to do. And so, it’s like the microphone, or the echo chamber [laughs], for singers. I mean, it makes damn anybody sound good. And that’s what’s happened. And therefore, even if you set aside the content of it, more people are able to make films now than could ever make them before. In fact, it’s easier to make a feature now than it probably was to make a short years ago. CHRIS NEUMER: Okay. Let me ask you this: looking back at your days as a guerilla filmmaker, was there anything that surprised you that you didn’t know at the time that you know now? MELVIN VAN PEEBLES: Um… it doesn’t have much to do with film, but it was just a political understanding of the landscape. I must say, we were pretty well prepared for the eventualities. CHRIS NEUMER: When you say, ‘eventualities,’ you mean…? MELVIN VAN PEEBLES: Well, for example, I was prepared that the studios would give me trouble, that some of the financing that’s supposed to come falls through. That’s excellent! Just seeing the drama of making films [laughs], I mean, you expect that. CHRIS NEUMER: Was there anything, though, that you didn’t expect, or you had done your research and were pretty much on top of the ball? MELVIN VAN PEEBLES: Yes. CHRIS NEUMER: That’s a change of pace. MELVIN VAN PEEBLES: But, you know, you had to be prepared. You know, they just reissued the book of the making of Sweetback. Um… CHRIS NEUMER: This is the fifth printing, I think? MELVIN VAN PEEBLES: …I mean, it’s published in Japan and it’s published in France and it’s published in England… CHRIS NEUMER: You just did the translation into French, correct? MELVIN VAN PEEBLES: …Baadasssss! is based on that book. And I run down; I kept a diary and log and my thoughts of… which was interspersed with the actuality of what actually happened. But you know what’s going to happen, that’s all. There was nothing… When you set out in a boat in the stormy seas and you gotta go from one island to another, you know that there are going to be storms, you don’t know when they’re going to come, but you’re prepared for them. There’s a storm, or two or three of them, okay! CHRIS NEUMER: [Laughs] That’s right. You talked about the preparation, and I am a little surprised because, most times when you deal with filmmakers, or you hear stories that are coming out of Hollywood, not that I am equating you with a Hollywood filmmaker, it surprises people to learn how unprepared they are, how big decisions haven’t been made up until the point in time of principle photography. Do you find that preparation is an independent filmmaker’s best friend, or does it even surprise you that people on such big projects are not prepared at all in certain cases. MELVIN VAN PEEBLES: Well, people… [laughs] I won’t talk that much on big projects. I’ve seen big projects, I’ve seen little projects. It’s just like, ‘Come on! I don’t believe this!’ I saw something, it’s like a Band-Aid, and they had just been opening a new, swanky nightclub, and they fix this thing up, and it closed. I was like, ‘What happened?’ Well, the guy, to save a couple bucks, didn’t put [a few important things in]. I mean, you say, ‘Duh!’ I mean, how could people be this… but it happens all the time. I mean, it’s nothing new. It happens not only in the film business, but in the film business, you got more people standing around and watching when you goof up, you know what I mean? CHRIS NEUMER: So, it’s sort of highlighted because of its prominent position in the entertainment world? MELVIN VAN PEEBLES: Well, I mean, you’ve got 60 people standing around with their hands in their pockets because you… It does become clear that something is amiss a lot quicker, you dig what I’m saying? CHRIS NEUMER: Mm-hm. MELVIN VAN PEEBLES: That’s show biz. And you can’t get away with a lot without it being seen… CHRIS NEUMER: Okay. MELVIN VAN PEEBLES: …and that is why it is so awesome because it becomes obvious so quickly that you’ve messed up. However, if you don’t have any money or anything else you better know where everything is going to go before you step out there. Because that is essential. And you would think people would do that, but many times they don’t. That is a little on the shocking side. But, I didn’t really have that problem. I had been down that road many times. Don’t forget, many of the […] are people who are making their first film. Sweetback was my third feature, and I had already made 30 or so documentaries or shorts, so I knew what to expect and what to do. CHRIS NEUMER: Well, it’s also possible that your success as a filmmaker is also directly linked to the preparation that you put in. MELVIN VAN PEEBLES: Absolutely! I mean, you’ve got to really check on what you’re doing, check and recheck it seven other times to be prepared. Sometimes, people get carried away with the artisticness of the endeavor, and don’t quite have their game face on when the time comes. It’s always a pretty costly mistake. | |||