jon: it was weird too because i would have meetings with these producers and stuff and they would fly in from the main office in minnesota and meet with me and andrea to try to boss us around and "uh, we don't like..." oh, this is a cool story! one of the head guys, james shamus...ok, he produced the wedding banquet, and he's like this fat rich white guy from the city, bowtie wearing fat rich white guy...so he was like the head of this whole series so he would fly in and try to boss me and andrea around and try to make the movie the way he wanted to see it...and it was fucked up because at one point this one actor, this one actor who i've worked with in 3 or 4 movies already...he plays tom sawyer the lawyer (in terminal) ...victor...yeh, and so james shamus came to the set and victor mistook james for like a caterer, like "excuse me, are you the caterer?" and james was like, "no! i'm the producer in charge!" he got all whigged out just because someone mistook him for a caterer so when we were watching the almost finished movie, james shamus sees victor and recognizes him and says to me, "jon, that actor sucks! why don't you just like erase his voice and we'll get someone else's voice and dub it in...i was like, "james, man, victor is brilliant in this movie! fuck, yr not gonna do that!" and then you know amy's in the movie, so james shamus looks at amy and to piss me off, he says "who the fuck is this girl? she doesn't know how to act! but at least she has a young tight body i can look at." he and i were going at it at that point, so i was like, "james, that's my fiancee man, we're gonna be married, so fuck you!" i mean, he was saying shit like that...like "get rid of this person because i don't like him," and "get rid of the last third of the movie with the shootout and all the cheerleaders and blood...get rid of it, just throw it on the floor!" and like, "if you do yr movie yr way, it's gonna suck, but if you do it my way, it's gonna be good." i was just like, "james, fuck you!" andrea and i were dealing with 3 or 4 different people like this.
GR: i hope you didn't have to go through this shit with fame whore.
jon: no, for fame whore, i was like, this is the movie i wanna do right after terminal and whatnot...i was like, i'm only going to work with people who are friends or people who i've worked with before...people close to me...it's going to be no budget and i was like, yeh, i wanna work with andrea again because she's like the best producer and it was such a small crew, like a crew of 3 people...and it was the best shoot...cos like for meals, i was like, man, if we get a caterer, the food's gonna suck...we're just gonna keep the shoots really short so that all we would have to do is go out to lunch and we're just gonna go to a different restaurant everyday...and then we would usually start working at like 9 in the morning and we'd be wrapped up like 5 or 6 in the afternoon...and everyone was just having a good time and it was totally cool...yeh, one thing everyone says is, "aw man, yr making a movie, it's like being in hell," but it doesn't have to be...totally have fun, have a great time and enjoy the project!
for more on jon moritsugu, go to www.naatanet.org/festival/2000/essays/jonmoritsugu.html.
this interview was originally printed in flower bridge, available in our GR Store.
