Hey everyone. Capone in San Diego here. I did a lot of cool stuff at 2008 Comic-Con and met a lot of truly cool and nice people, including a few people I've wanted to meet for years on end. I have interviews galore coming at you over the next few days, but this one I needed to get out there because…well, I think you'll figure out why. Not only was this interview with a person I never thought I would interview in my life (and I wasn't particularly sure before Comic-Con that I even wanted to), but the circumstances of this 10-minute chat were different than every other interview I did at the Con. I'd been reading a bit about the film REPO! THE GENETIC OPERA for a few months now, and from all I've heard, it actually sounds like it has the makings of a quality cult film. Directed by SAW II, III, and IV director Darren Lynn Bousman, this rock opera involves a near-future time when a health epidemic makes organ a commodity. One company sets up an organ-financing program that allows for organ replacement as long as you keep up your payments. If you don't, a rather brutal means of repossessing your organs takes place. The film, a rock opera in every sense of the term, stars Paul Sorvino, Bill Moseley, Anthony Head, Alexa Vega, Joan Jett, Sarah Brightman, and one Ms. Paris Hilton. In all honestly, I'm eager to see the film; the couple reviews I've read have given it high praise indeed. The interview I was scheduled to do was with Paris and director Bousman, and indeed that's how it played out. I was brought into a smallish room in the San Diego Convention Center with a few round tables, far far away from the more spacious and better-lit interview rooms at the other end of the complex. What's strange about being allowed to drift in the same telemetry as Paris Hilton is that gravity actually changes when she walks in the room. And it's not so much because she does anything particularly spectacular when she enters, but the energy of the room coming off the reporters and photographer and publicist crackles. You immediately try to play it cool and not stare. I shared the room (but not the interview) with a multi-person camera crew, and a slightly smaller group from some People magazine offshoot. A body guard sat against the far wall taking in anyone that moved near his client. Paris was wearing a dangerously short, but somehow still classy, black-and-white mini-dress. She was in no way overly made up or tanned; her hair was medium length and relaxed, again nothing fancy or overdone. Actually if you go here you can see what she looked like. This MTV interview was conducted in the room next to mine just before I talked to her. I was literally on the other side of the Comic-Con backdrop behind her. Nothing about her seemed overboard in any way. You may be asking yourself why I remember all of these details about her. Simple, I knew that for weeks to come every woman I came into contact with in my life was going to want to know these things, so I took notes while attempted to seem disinterested. But then something happened that made it alright to stare, because it told me more about Paris than anything else on this evening. Now let me make this clear, I'm not knocking her in any way. She was as sweet and accommodating with me as anyone I met at Comic-Con. You can say she was fake or rehearsed, but she didn't come off as such or at least not any more than the 15 or so other people I interviewed in the last week. Anyway, the defining moment for me was when a photographer (I believe I heard he was from Associated Press, but I might be wrong) was brought in to take photos of her against another Comic-Con backdrop in our room. Out of nowhere Paris' makeup guy swooped in just as Paris pulled a compact out of her purse. In about one minute, they touched up her face and the impromptu photo shoot began. Paris immediately went into supermodel mode. Posing in a half-dozen poses in the span of about 90 seconds. The single photographer saying dopey shit like, "You don't take a bad picture, Paris." And every single person who had been straining not to stare at her turned and beheld Paris in her element. This woman loves the have her photo taken, and more than that, she loves to watched. Not exactly a news flash, but to see her got from zero to 60 in a flash really drove the point home for me. It was almost seductive watching her work this tiny room and small crowd like she was walking the red carpet of a film premiere or a club opening. The problem is, I don't think her pouty-model face is nearly as attractive as her simply smiling and talking like a normal, natural person. After this superstar moment, she walked right over to me, shook my trembling hand, and told me she loved the site when I told her who I worked for. She pulled up the chair I'd set up for her so close to me that our knees were almost touching under the table. That's right, y'all, I practically nose to nose with Paris Hilton for the whole interview. Jealous? Don't lie! If you told me that that's her way of subtly seducing lowly digital journalists like me, I'd take even money that you might be right, except she didn't do that with anyone else who talked to her that night. I'm in not way trying to imply that she was hitting on me. I guess what I'm saying is that she was in no way stand-offish or snotty. She may not be taking all aspects of her life seriously, but her movie career seems to mean something to her, as you may be able to glean from out talk. One last thing, at the end the interview, Paris lean over to me touched my forearm and said, "Do you need any photos for your website?" Since this was my first Comic-Con, I was making an effort to travel light. And since I don't travel with a photographer like Quint does, I didn't have a camera with me. My single biggest regret of the Con. Before Bousman joined us, Paris and I decided to start talking without him. Just as I was starting to ask my first question, Bousman arrived… Paris Hilton: It is absolutely freezing in here. Capone: Sorry, I know my hands are way too cold to shake. Do you want to just get started while we're waiting? PH: Yeah, why don't we do my questions while we're waiting. Capone: I haven't seen the movie but I've been reading about it for a while… [Bousman arrives] Darren Lynn Bousman: Hi, I'm Darren, nice to meet you. Capone: Great meeting you. DLB: And this is Paris Hilton, let me tell you a little bit about her. [All laugh.] Capone: I was just telling Paris, I've been reading up on the movie, and my first question is how do I get a copy of it as soon as possible? When can I see this thing? Because it sounds like very few things I've seen before. DLB: You know it's cool. We've been doing these rogue screenings for the first month, because I wanted to build buzz. I've never been more proud of a project. When you first hear about it, you're like, ow, it's a rock opera and it stars Paris Hilton and Alexa Vega and Paul Sorvino, you're like, "I don't know about that." But it's weird thing to say you've done, and that' why I wanted people to see it and get the word out there. And we started getting great feedback from it. We just got back from Fantasia, and it was awesome. It was the most awesome event ever. One concern we had was, I love this idea, we love this idea, but how are people going to respond to a rock opera? We had people wrapped around four blocks with signs saying, "We'll do anything for a ticket to REPO!" And it started pouring down rain, and everyone was standing there laughing, and then they get let in and it sold out, and there are still hundreds of people outside. It was an awesome experience watching it with an audience like that, because I looked around and I nodded to Terrance [Zdunich, the film's credited co-writer], and said, "People do want to see this kind of thing." Capone: Come rogue that thing in Chicago, seriously man. We'll fill a theater for you. DLB: I would love to, really. Capone: So Paris, this script lands in front of you. What is going through your head when you read this wild story? PH: Actually, I was at a party and one of the producers approached me and said, "The director of the SAW movies really wants to meet you about this rock opera." And I was like, "Oh my God, I love the SAW movies; I have to meet him." I didn't even know what the movie was; I just wanted to do it because he's the director. And I got the script and I thought, "Well, this is weird but I like it because it's so original and so different. And I really liked the character, because usually I always get offered the role of, you know, the airhead blonde, whatever my stereotype is. Capone: You mean a variation on the image people have of you? PH: Right, the image of who people think I really am. And it's not me, so it was really fun to actually get the chance to play something completely different, and I really worked really hard to get the part. DLB: Let me put in my two cents on this, because it's a crazy story. Mark Burg, one of the producers of all the SAW films came to me with Paris as a name. And I only knew Paris form what I'd seen on TV and the way the media portrayed her, and I blew it off. I said No. And then it came back to me and I thought about it and realized that this movie is so weird, it has to have an eclectic cast. So I took the meeting, but I was very hesitant. She walks in the room, and she's got this thing where she lights up a room, and I tried to be straight faced, with my arms crossed, looking unamused. Capone: We all did that when she walked in here. PH: [laughs] Oh God. DLB: But I found her so engaging, and I found myself smiling. So I quickly wiped the smile away and said, "Thank you." So she leaves the room, and we're all sitting there talking, and we were all like, "That's not the Paris that I know." So I was thinking, "Alright, she's awesome in a room. Let's see if she can really do something." So we gave her the song; she had one day to come back with the song. So she comes back the next day, she walks in, and I had my fingers crossed. And she walks in, and just starts singing, and everyone in the room just looked at each other. This was not the Paris Hilton I had heard on her CD; this was awesome. And we all look at each other and go, "That's Amber Sweet." So then we go back to Lionsgate and say, "We have to cast Paris Hilton in this role." And we started this big campaign to get her in this movie. So everyone at Lionsgate said, "Okay, we want to see her audition." So we gave her another song, another day. This is the most grueling audition process we'd put anyone through on this movie. She comes back the next day with a room full of everyone with their arms crossed sitting there straight-faced. She comes in, rocks this thing out, screaming, singing. She walks out. Everyone with a show of hands: who wants Paris Hilton. Everyone raised their hands. It was awesome. It was a ridiculous casting process, but she earned it. Capone: You mentioned that this was a different kind of character for you compared to the other roles you've been getting offered. Is this a step in a different direction for you? Are you done taking those kind of roles? PH: I've turned down so many of those movies ever since I've done this film. I really believe in this movie, and I know there's nothing out there like it. It would be even hard to top, so I've turned down so many things. I don't know, I feel like this is a huge stepping stone for the next part of my career. Capone: So the definition of opera that I'm familiar with is all singing-no dialogue. Is that what we're talking about here? DLB: I think there are seven lines of spoken dialogue, and even they're done to music. There's no silence in the movie. I think that's the things that's either going to make people love or make people hate it. And I'll be the first to say, this movie is polarizing; it's not for everybody. My hope is that it will cross platforms and it will bring people in because I love music. Find me someone who says they do not love music; they're a liar. I think when the majority of people workout, the put their iPod on and listen to music; when you drive your car, you listen to music. What do you do on the weekend? You go see movies; I'm the first guy there Friday night--DARK KNIGHT, whatever. If you can combine those two things successfully, you have tapped into two of people's major interests. And that was kind of the way I wanted to approach this, trying to combine the elements of two things I love. There is no talking in the movie; it's all song. Everything in the movie is done in operatic style. It is a opera in the classic sense of the word. There is tragedy. So I'm excited. I think it's something people haven't seen before. Love it or hate it, that's what I wanted to do, something that people haven't seen before. I'm sick of seeing the same thing over and over again. Yes, I've done three sequels; yes, I'm going to do a remake next [Bousman has not revealed what this remake project is yet; he's denied he's making a SCANNERS remake and I've read rumors of everything from LEPRECHAUN to CHILDREN OF THE CORN]. That's exactly why I had to do this movie. I'm sick of doing things that are in these boxes, and that's why I wanted to do REPO!; it's so out of the box. Capone: Paris, tell me about the character of Amber Sweet. All I know about her is that she's addicted to plastic surgery. PH: Amber is the daughter of Rotti Largo [played by Paul Sorvino]. We are the most powerful family in all of the world. My father owns the company that sells all the organs that get repossessed. She's just very lonely; her dad doesn't pay much attention to the kids. He's a mean father. So I just played it as this girl who really wants love from her dad, and she's kind of messed up in the head. She does drugs, she's into sex. She's into changing her appearance all the time. She wants to make herself feel better about herself. They're all pretty deranged, the whole family. Capone: Do you change your look during the course of the film? DLB: Yeah, that's my favorite thing about her in this movie. The first thing I told her after she got the role was, "Paris, no blonde hair, no blue eyes. Gone! I want you to be this character." And she completely embraced it to the point where she's wearing prosthetic noses, chins. In some scenes we pad her up, in others we pull her in. Different hair, different eyes. She's a complete chameleon in this movie. In every scene, she looks completely different. Capone: Because this is a film about organ repossession, does that means there's gore in it? DLB: There is gore, but it's not like SAW. One of the things I wanted to do is, again, from doing all the SAW films, I wanted to change the way that I approached violence. There's not flash cutting or whip pans, no crazy editing style. I wanted to make it look beautiful. The first thing I did was throw away all the tricks from SAW. I got a new camera. I refused to use film; I wanted to go to video. I refused to use the same lenses; I changed the color scheme. I decided to got somewhere completely different. So yes, there's violence in it; there's a lot of violence in it. A lot of it happens to her [points to Paris]. But it's a beautiful type of violence. Capone: I've read comparisons for your film to everything from ROCKY HORRO to the "Buffy" musical episode. Your plastic surgery character reminds me of that storyline from BRAZIL. [Darren point to me as if to say "Spot on.] Is the world ready for a musical like this? DLB: Here's my deal. Are we going to appeal to everyone? Absolutely not. But I don't care about that. I set out to make a movie that's fun, that's an experience in the movie theater, and it's something you haven't seen before. BRAZIL is one of my favorite movies. Terry Gilliam is one of my favorite directors. And did BRAZIL appeal to everyone when it first came out? No. But look what has happened to it now. Capone: It didn't even appeal to Terry Gilliam when it first came out. DLB: [laughs] Look at the nightmare that happened in getting BRAZIL out. Same thing with BLADE RUNNER when it first came out, it was this weird thing that got a mixed response. It's an honor to be put in the same category as those films, out of the weirdness factor, but I think this will cross over to a lot of people. Give it a chance. It's one thing to talk about it when you haven't seen it, and say, "Aw, it's a musical, this and this and this" Watch it. It's drama too. It's an extremely emotional film. Capone: I'm sold. I repeat: send me a copy. PH: I went over to Ryan Seacrest's house last night and showed it in his screening room, just me and him and a manager. And he was like, "I have tears in my eyes because there's a really sad scene." He loved it. He was raving about in on the air this morning [on his radio show]. He thinks it looks like a beautiful music video, just a movie you've never seen. It's so insane. I'm so excited about it. DLB: We all are, and we're proud of what we've accomplished here. Capone: Well, it was great meeting your both. DLB: Thanks a lot. PH: Nice to meet you. -Capone capone@aintitcoolmail.com
