Fourth annual film issue in store now.
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ON THE COVER: THE DARK UNIVERSE OF AMY SEDARIS
AMY: “What makes you laugh?”
AMY: “Everything. During the recent hurricanes in Florida, my friend’s mother was outside praying for the hurricane to stop, and her wig blew off her head. Can’t write that shit.”
In an index exclusive, the star of cult cable comedy Strangers with Candy is interviewed by the one person who understands the inner demons that fuel her comedy – her best friend and worst enemy, herself.
Photos by Leeta Harding
GUERILLA FILMMAKING: WERNER HERZOG AND DOUG AITKEN
“I scared my wife recently by saying that I should be the first director to make a real porno movie.” Werner Herzog, master filmmaker, and Doug Aitken, video artist, compare notes on the rigors of filming in the jungle, why theater is a dead art form, and what you need to make a real movie – karate, Fred Astaire, or porn.
Photos by Doug Aitken
SCOTTISH VERITE
“I cast a lot of kids straight from the street – to change the way they speak would make things far too stilted.” Lynne Ramsay’s poetic tales of Scottish inner city life are the only English-language films to come with subtitles. The director of Morvern Callar talks about the challenges of working with kids straight from the street, her new project with Warp Records, and staying indie in the face of international acclaim.
Photos by Juergen Teller
DOES SYD MEAD DREAM OF ELECTRIC SHEEP?
“Science fiction designers nowadays don’t want to design some wild futuristic thing and then find it for sale in the latest Sharper Image catalog.”
Self-proclaimed visual futurist Syd Mead shaped the retro-tech worlds of Blade Runner, Aliens, and Tron. The son of a Baptist minister with a sharp wit and eye for telling detail, Mead’s pragmatism is matched only by his wry sense of humor. He tells photographer Shawn Mortensen about scrounging for junk to build Blade Runner’s street sets, and Steven Spielberg’s fast cars and bad dress sense.
Photos by Shawn Mortensen
A MAGNIFICENT OBSESSION
“As a teen, I spent a lot of time in my room chain-smoking and watching Z Channel. And it wasn’t just me – everybody in Los Angeles watched it.”
In her new documentary, Xan Cassavetes traces the rise and tragic fall of Z Channel, the all-movie cable station of the ’70s and ’80s. It brought Paul Verhoeven, Rodney Dangerfield, and Bernardo Bertolucci to a generation of L.A. teens including Quentin Tarantino and Alexander Payne.
Photos by Todd Cole
ALSO IN THIS ISSUE Interviews with:
– Aiden Shaw, porn star and poet, featured in Timothy Greenfield-Sanders’ new book, XXX;
– Oksana Akinshina, 17-year-old Russian star of Lilya 4-Ever;
– Steve Golin, movie and music video producer;
– Seu Jorge, Brazilian star of Wes Anderson’s upcoming The Life Aquatic;
And
– On the set of Everything is Illuminated: Photo portfolio by Susanna Howe.
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Complete interview archive at www.indexmagazine.com
