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Interview: Michael Stephenson, director of ‘Best Worst Movie’
An Italian director who hardly speaks English heads to Utah to make a horror movie about vegetarian ‘vampires’ played by novice actors. It sounds like the beginning of a bad joke, but it’s actually what led to the ingredients for one of the worst movies ever made. “Troll 2” came and went in 1990 with hardly a peep. There was no fanfare — and in fact no theatrical distribution — behind the unmitigated flop. But in the late ’90s, a funny thing happened. The child star from the movie, Michael Stephenson, started catching wind of viewing parties around the country. The grass-roots movement that pushed “Troll 2” into the pantheon of cult movies led Stephenson to make the documentary “Best Worst Movie,” which premiered at SXSW in 2009 and opens at the Alamo South this weekend. I talked with the filmmaker by phone this week.
The M.O.: When did you first recognize the cult resurgence of “Troll 2”?
Michael Stephenson: It was about four years ago. I was living in Los Angeles and out of nowhere, on MySpace, I started getting messages from kids in different parts of the world. And they would say things like, “Are you Michael Stephenson who played Joshua Waits in ‘Troll 2’? Please say it is so.” I just remember looking at these messages and wondering what was going on. What was interesting is that these messages were coming from different people in different parts of the world and they were all saying things like ‘I’m a huge fan of ‘Troll 2.’ And nobody knew that anybody else was watching this movie, and there were no screenings. Then all of a sudden I started getting these pictures of like seven or eight kids in a basement somewhere in the middle of nowhere watching ‘Troll 2.’ And they’d be dressed up as goblins or would have like green punch and make food that had references to the film … And nobody knew that there were other people having these ‘Troll 2’ parties, and I started responding back to them.
I just got really intrigued on how organically this had happened on its own. It seemed like and it felt like it had reached its critical mass … I’d go on to some of these social networking sites and you’d see people list their favorites films, and you’d see this long list of Hollywood blockbuster films and right in the middle would be ‘Troll 2,’ you know nestled between ‘Shawshank Redemption’ and ‘Life is Beautiful.’
When and why did you decide to make the movie?
I just woke up one morning and I just remember smiling and staring at the ceiling and saying, ‘Wait a minute. I’m the child star of the worst movie ever made. There’s a story here.’ And I thought I have to make a documentary about this. And I kept thinking about what happened to the guy who played my father - ‘He was a dentist and had this crazy Alabama accent … And what happened to Claudio (the director)? What does he know about this and what would he think about people loving his movie because it’s bad?’ And it went from there and really just became this almost obsession. I was really intrigued on how this was happening on its own. It wasn’t like ‘Snakes on a Plane,’ where it was made to kind of be wink-at-the-camera bad. This was a genuine failure on every level but then had become this kind of unintentional comedy and had become loved genuinely because it was so bad.
Was it hard getting people to participate?
It was a process. There were a few cast members who right off the bat were, ‘Oh, this would be fun,’ and then there were others who were just like ‘What? Why are you making a movie? ‘Troll 2’ is horrible. Haven’t you seen it?’ It took three years to make the film, so it was a process. One time I couldn’t get an interview and they didn’t want anything to do with it and then I’d catch them on a better day a month later.
Italians aren’t necessarily the most ironic people. Did you feel weird bringing (director) Claudio Fragasso into the fold? Did you think he would he was going to appreciate it the way you guys appreciated it?
You have no idea. It was one of these things that for the film I really wanted his fresh perspective because it would explain how the movie was made in the first place and why ‘Troll 2’ is what it is. When I actually talked to him on the phone for the first time, I said, ‘Do you understand what is happening with ‘Troll 2’? People are celebrating this movie in basements and dressing up and all of these things.’ And there was this silence on the phone and he said, ‘Why after 18 years do they like this movie? Why?’
And I was in Italy a couple weeks later and found out how sincere he is and he was in making ‘Troll 2,’ and that was really great. The reason why ‘Troll 2’ is what it is is because it’s sincere. There’s not irony and there’s not cynicism. It’s a genuine failure. When I was over there (in Italy), I started to learn about what he thought when he was making the film and realized he had no idea … And I thought, how do I sit down and tell him, ‘You are the director of one of the worst movies ever made but people love the movie. And it’s not necessarily a bad thing.’ How do you get that across? And I remember the only way I could do that was letting him see it and let him actually be at a screening. Because once you see it at a screening, you realize it is not mean spirited and is actually a fun vibe.
I have a lot of respect for Claudio and what he did in making ‘Troll 2.’ Making this movie I constantly thought, ‘What a trip for him: to go to small town Utah, work with actors who couldn’t act, and he couldn’t speak English … all to make his movie about vegetarian goblins.’ And somehow he got it done. And somehow 20 years later it’s had this will to live and it’s entertained hundreds of thousands of people.
George seems like such an imminently likable guy, but I feel kind of bad and embarrassed for him near the end of the movie as he the fanfare for ‘Troll 2’ falls flat even as he admits to his lifelong desire to be an actor.
George is one of the most genuine and authentic people you will ever meet. And it’s impossible to make George look bad because that’s just him. But it was refreshing. The thing that was so important to me with this story was that it wasn’t all phenomenon, rah-rah, sold-out screenings.
Did you expect that going in?
As with any story, it was going to have its ups and downs. But I really wanted to see and understand the people who were in the cast for who they really are … and actually get to know these people. I didn’t want it to be about experts on the outside looking in and saying, ‘What makes a bad movie.’ When we first started filming, it was all sold-out screenings and I thought, ‘This is all one note.’ And it didn’t really give the perspective on what ‘Troll 2’ is. ‘Troll 2’ isn’t for everybody. It takes a very certain person to like ‘Troll 2.’ And being famous for being in ‘Troll 2’ is worlds apart from another film. And there’s this line between fame and infamy. And then all of a sudden it was a bomb in the UK and a bomb at the horror convention and all of a sudden we were seeing George realize, ‘This isn’t quite what I thought it was.’ And that’s for me when it got exciting because this is real.
Why did you guys choose to officially open the movie in Austin?
There’s the obvious Alamo connection in the film. But this is such a fan city and such a movie-loving city that it felt right to come here first before New York and L.A. When I made the film I always wanted to premiere it at SXSW (which he did in 2009), and that was even before the Alamo connection. Then all of a sudden the Alamo had the first ‘Troll 2’ screening that actually played in theaters (in March 2007).
‘Best Worst Movie’ screens for a week at Alamo South. Stephenson and actor George Hardy will be in attendance at the 7 and 9:50 p.m. screenings on Friday and Saturday. Following the 9:50 p.m. screening Friday, there will be an afterparty at The Highball.
For the fan perspective on ‘Troll 2,’ check out my chat with Alamo Drafthouse programmer Zack Carlson, who appears in (and gets a ‘Troll 2’ tattoo in) ‘Best Worst Movie.’
The trailer for “Best Worst Movie” …
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By Hugh Hunter
April 24, 2010 10:18 AM | Link to this
Michael, George and BWM rock!