Vulgar talk with director Bryan Johnson

By Russell Burlingame

Onondaga Community College Overview
Entertainment Editor

Photos courtesy of View Askew Productions

Remember that time your friend from school got you a job setting up the Pepsi display at Wegman’s? Well, imagine your friend is independent film guru Kevin Smith. What kind of job would you be asking for then? For Bryan Johnson—comic shop clerk and now writer/director of his own feature film—that little favor was a shot to break into show business.

Smith and his production company, View Askew Productions, bankrolled Johnson’s film and after years in development hell and delays to accommodate other releases by the studio (including Smith’s own Chasing Amy and Dogma), Vulgar finally saw the light of day at the Toronto Film Festival…and was promptly snatched up for distribution by Lions Gate Pictures.

Based on the cross-dressing clown whose face is the View Askew logo, Johnson’s movie follows the story of Flappy the Clown, played by Brian Christopher O’Halloran of Clerks fame. Flappy is a down-on-his-luck clown who’s just barely scraping by performing at children’s parties and decides that he might be able to make some extra cash if he were to start performing as Vulgar, the transvestite clown at stag parties. His first time out for the Vulgar schtick, though, finds Flappy anally raped by a dirty old man and his two middle-aged sons.

Time passes and Flappy is over his financial crisis when he becomes the much-loved clown on a children’s television show…only to find his tormentors have returned with a video tape, blackmailing him and threatening to show the world his fishnet-clad clown show. What to do, what to do? Well, I'm not gonna tell you. The movie comes out in about a year; start watching the small, local theaters for its release! Until then, here's what Johnson has to say about the flick, some other upcoming projects, and being attached to Kevin Smith like Jimmy Olsen to Superman.

Overview: You've been given a handful of cities where the flick is definitely opening. Other than those, have you been given any ideas at all?

Bryan Johnson: No, All we've been told is that we're guaranteed 11 or 12 cities and if it does well in those markets most likely it will go wider.


O: I mean, is this going to be strictly arthouse, or will there be a reconsideration if the picture starts building a reputation and grossing some real money?

BJ: I imagine that this will only see screens in arthouse theatres. It doesn't have the production value people are used to seeing in multiplexes and doesn't have the appeal of say a Blair Witch Project that it can use as a means to overcome that hurdle.

O: Do you think that the film's edgy content will make it harder to appeal to a wide
audience?

BJ: Yes. As evidenced by the walkouts in Toronto it's kind of easy to see that it's not a film for everyone. At points it's fairly intense and the language is—how shall I say?—somewhat blue? I don't think the walkouts (which were about 35-40 for the first screening and less than 10 for the second) are a reflection of the film's quality but on its content. Hell, I walked out of The Preacher’s Wife because I was bored out of my skull. That doesn't mean it wasn't a movie that many people enjoyed. Vulgar won't ever pull in the mainstream audience but I'm not exactly floored by that.

O: Do you currently have any expectations as to what your MPAA rating will be?

BJ: I always believed it would receive an R because there is no nudity or heavy duty violence. When Clerks went up against the MPAA for language it won and I thought the same would hold true for Vulgar. Turns out that it could possibly be ruled an NC-17 for SITUATIONAL language, whatever that means. Personally I don't see the difference if one of the characters in Vulgar says the word fuck or it's said in say, The Big Lebowski. It's the same word right? What does it matter if the situations aren't?

O: There was one article recently that said the picture wasn't as disturbing as it sounds from the one anal-rape sequence that everyone keeps talking about. Any reaction to that statement?

BJ: I never thought the film was all that disturbing and the rape wasn't intended as a shock-o-rama. I do feel however that is contains of the most entertaining rape (never thought you'd see rape and entertaining in the same sentence huh?) sequences in recent history. It's very dark and not laugh out loud funny but there's no denying that there are comedic elements present. Most of the film while very quirky has a theme that many people find kind of sweet. On the other end of the spectrum there are people who approach me and tell me it was the most fucked up movie they've ever seen. You have to take my opinion with a grain of salt though. First I'm biased since I've seen the movie about 150 times and I'm also completely desensitized from being an avid viewer of "reality TV." I'm talking Faces Of Death reality not Survivor reality.

O: Who was the easiest performer to work with on Vulgar?

BJ: That's a tough one because all the actors were very easy to get along with. In terms of main characters I'd have to Matthew Maher who played Gino Fanelli. We had a great time rehearsing and he had a whole back story to the character which I believe helped in his performance. Ethan Suplee was also great. He was really into the script from the get-go—even the first draft, which was considerably darker. For as many days as he put in, O'Halloran was also unbelievably easy to work with. He worked almost every day, wasn't receiving a dime for his trouble, yet remained totally focused the entire time.

O: What kind of other projects are you going to be pursuing now that Vulgar's been sold?

BJ: I have a few things in the works. I have three screenplays that I'm currently working on. Two are horror and the other one is kind of a

Catcher in the Rye meets Leaving Las Vegas. I'm also working on the first Non-Kevin-Smith scripted Clerks comic.

O: Wow…your own Clerks comic. What are your thoughts on the Steve-Dave and Walt one-shot comic that Smith says he's working on? You get to pick up checks on that stuff?
(Editor’s Note: Steve-Dave and Walt are characters in Smith’s films played by Johnson and old friend Walter Flanagan)

BJ: I think it's cool being in the comics and dig the fact that the two characters have enough cult appeal to carry their own book. As far as payola, sadly no.

O: Even though Clerks’ devotees will certainly get you a readership, it’s still a Kevin Smith concept. Any fear that with your cameos in the Jersey flicks and the presence of Brian O'Halloran in your picture that you'll be seen by the film community as "Kevin Smith's Pal, Bryan Johnson?"

BJ: Let's face it, right now that's who I am. The only way I was able to make this film was based on nepotism. The way I look at it is everybody at one time or another gets someone they know a job. It's just that my friend was able to secure me a really cool, hard to get job. If I was utterly devoid of talent I don't think Kevin would have had the faith in me to hand over the budget. The flick also never would have gotten to the Toronto Film Fest or picked up by Lion's Gate. My belief is that anyone who makes statement to the effect of "he's only where he is because he knows Kevin Smith" is in essence a jealous little bitch because no fest or distribution company picks up a movie that's crap simply because of who the writer/director knows. In time I'm sure the film community (whoever they are, I'm certainly not a citizen) will judge me on my work rather than who I know.

O: Speaking of Bryan Johnson, is that your real name? I find it interesting that when Dogma had so much to do with John Hughes' Shermer-based movies, the guy who Smith hangs with just happens to have the same name as the nerd in The Breakfast Club.

BJ: I'm the original. Born Bryan Lee Johnson on December 7th 1967.

O: Tell ‘em, Steve-Dave