Tuesday, February 27, 2007

NonNudeTeens.com, and Other Things You Didn't Know About Christopher J. Scott, If You Ever Knew Him At All

Christopher J. Scott, a thirty-four year old writer, director, producer, and purebred New Yorker, finds himself in an awkward position: He doesn’t like porn. Awkward because he is about to direct his second feature film, a documentary based on Legs McNeil and Jennifer Osborne’s definitive book on the subject: The Other Hollywood: The Uncensored Oral History of the Porn Film Industry. I met the sophomore director in his empty apartment on the Lower East Side to ask him about movies, sex, and finding his Legs.

Alexis Stember: You didn’t grow up in the entertainment business. What made you want to direct?Christopher J. Scott: My father introduced me to very provocative films when I was young, things that I shouldn’t have been seeing. He took me to The Man Who Fell From Earth, the David Bowie film, which is just fucking out there. I was 8 years old. I was like, What the fuck did you just bring me to? I wanna go see Star Wars or some shit like that, you know? But it made me start look at storytelling differently at a young age.AS: Snow Blind, a snowboarding documentary you directed last year, was your first feature. You’ve been a producer most of your career. Why the switch?CS: I wanted to be a director from as long as I can remember.AS: Was there a particular moment?CS: Yeah. I was 17. I watched Blue Velvet and Raging Bull and Evil Dead all in one weekend. I remember my mother saying, “Do you think you could do that?’ and I was like, “Yeah, I think I can.” That was the moment.AS: You were in At All Cost, a punk band that played CBGB’s in the late 1980’s. Tell me what it was like to meet Legs McNeil, who claims he coined that term ‘punk music’.CS: Oh, there’s a little sense of idolism. He’s an interesting cat.AS: What does that mean?CS: He’s extremely unfiltered, which is wonderful to be around.AS: Unfiltered how?CS: I saw him sign a book to a grandmother with her granddaughter there, and what he wrote in the book was: “Dear Linda, Last night was so special. You’re the sexiest thing. So glad we were able to sleep together. Love, Legs.” I thought that was amazing. I could never do that.AS: How did you meet?CS: Through my good friend and publicist, Jonathon Marder. Jonathon was coaching me for an interview and said, “Man, you’re like Legs,” -who I knew he represented and who I was a fan of for a while - “You’re articulate, you’ve got a good point, but you just don’t give a fuck.” He pulled out Legs’ book, The Other Hollywood, and said, “You need to make this.” Two days later, me, Legs, and Jonathon went to an expensive Italian lunch that was only supposed to last an hour and it lasted four.AS: Describe the movie in a few sentences.CS: It’s the Boogie Nights of documentaries. It’s the true history of pornography; how sexuality effects people in everyday life.AS: Do you get to watch a lot of porn for research?CS: I’m actually, and this I think fascinates Legs- I don’t actually watch porn.AS: You didn’t watch it growing up?CS: My father showed me porn when I was 10. He said, “You’re going to be doing this (having sex) sooner or later, so you might as well do it right.” And he was serious. I was fucking horrified. I wasn’t even ten; I think I was nine.AS: What’s your turn-on then?CS: If someone intellectually stimulates me, that’s the biggest turn-on.AS: No porn? Really?CS: Not fully nude.AS: Explain.CS: NonNudeTeens.com; that’s specific as it gets. The reason for that is imagination.AS: Ok. What’s the first thing you do in the morning when you wake up?CS: When I’m alone?AS: Sure. I wasn’t implying anything sexual but if that’s what you do in the morning, then yeah.CS: That’s the first think I do in the morning. Some people do it at night cause it’s like Nyquil to them but I wake up so fucking horny.AS: You know that people are going to read this, right?CS: I don’t give a fuck what anyone thinks about me.AS: At least you and Legs have that in common.

‘The Other Hollywood’ is currently in production and set to be released in 2008.