Legs McNeil
When I got to talk to Legs McNeil the subject was supposed to be the Don Letts documentary Punk: Attitude thats airing on the Independent Film Channel, but he didnt seem too interested in that. The subject was changed many times, from computer games to the upcoming film adaptation of his book Please Kill Me: The Oral History of Punk Rock. But since I was doing this for SuicideGirls he seemed most interested in talking about his new book, Other Hollywood: The Uncensored Oral History of the Porn Film Industry Other Hollywood: The Uncensored Oral History of the Porn Film Industry. That book offers an insider's view of the adult film industry's transition from a shady, backroom business to a $10-billion-per-year money machine and mainstream acceptance.
See all showtimes for Punk: Attitude
Daniel Robert Epstein: Where are you?
Legs McNeil: In Pennsylvania.
DRE:
You live there?
LM:
Yeah.
DRE:
I didnt know that. How do you get anything done there?
LM:
Its the only place I can get anything done.
DRE:
What would happen if they did know who you are? Would it be bad?
LM:
Theyd be knocking on the door and shit. Im too old.
DRE:
Youre too old to have people knocking on the door any more?
LM:
Well its just kind of rude.
DRE:
Punk Attitude is the first thing were talking about. How youd get involved with that?
LM:
I have no idea.
DRE:
Really?
LM:
Don called me, I think.
DRE:
Have you known Don for a while?
LM:
Oh yeah, hes a really nice guy.
DRE:
Yes, I was able to speak to him in person when he was in New York. Hes very nice.
LM:
Yeah, hes always been a good guy. Hes kind of like the old school.
DRE:
What did you think of the final film Punk: Attitude?
LM:
I thought it was kind of brave because he had to bring punk up to the now. The middle 20 minutes are kind of, when all that shitty hardcore music happened. It was kind of boring and you breathe a sigh of relief when its Madonna. [pause] Im sorry Im playing my game.
DRE:
What game are you playing?
LM:
Black Hawk Down on the computer.
DRE:
Are you doing good?
LM:
Yeah.
DRE:
What kind of hardcore music are we talking about?
LM:
The music just got really shitty in the 80s.
DRE:
How do you think punk is doing now?
LM:
I dont know.
DRE:
Do you still seek out new music?
LM:
Yah, Ive been listening to Ike Reilly which is really good.
DRE:
Hes good.
LM:
Yeah.
DRE:
But hes not exactly punk.
LM:
Youre going to live your life by some word that some moron came up
Oh, that was me. Ha, ha.
DRE:
Who are you writing for?
LM:
I just wrote an article for Publishers Weekly. A review of the new Russ Meyer biography, Big Bosoms and Square Jaws. Jimmy Mcdonoughs a good writer.
DRE:
Are you not dealing with much music anymore?
LM:
Im finishing the Joey Ramone bio with his brother Mickey Lee for Simon and Schuster and Im writing the Danny Fields memoirs with Joann McCain and Jim Marshall.
DRE:
Have you heard of SuicideGirls the site Im doing this for?
LM:
Yeah, yeah. Its kind of like pin-ups in a way. Do you think thats porn?
LM:
Who am I to decide whats porn and what isnt? The Supreme Court of the United States?
DRE:
You wrote the book on it, I think thats why I can ask you that.
LM:
No, I dont think its porn. I think its a clever marketing gimmick. Its girls who are skinny with tattoos and have real breasts. Its kind of like the girls youd fuck,.
DRE:
Hows Please Kill Me! doing?
LM:
Itll sell for the rest of my life. Itll be ten years next year that its been out. So I guess we got to do something special.
DRE:
I read that Mary Harron might be doing a movie?
LM:
Yeah, they went into preproduction.
DRE:
Do you have any idea who theyre going to cast or anything like that?
LM:
No idea.
DRE:
Are you involved at all?
LM:
No, they fired me.
DRE:
Why is that?
LM:
They were assholes. Jersey Films, Stacey Sher. They said You got to start with Johnny Thunders funeral and I was like Oh god. This is going to be awful. Whenever I try to play by the rules it always ends disastrously. I shouldve just done what I wanted to.
DRE:
Have you read the screenplay?
LM:
No, but I hear its awful.
DRE:
Oh, so its not going to be a very good movie.
LM:
No but it doesnt really matter.
DRE:
Why not?
LM:
Well, because punk, you know, the minute CBGB closes itll get bigger than ever.
DRE:
How close are we to CBGB closing, man?
LM:
Close.
DRE:
Scary.
LM:
Not that theyll want us around. Theyll be happier when were all dead. Look at The Ramones theyre the new Doors.
DRE:
Wasnt that the point? That they didnt want you, right?
LM:
Yeah. I mean, everybodys talking to me about CBGB closing and its kind of like they never wanted us around and now theyre going to finally get their wish.
DRE:
So you dont listen to much punk?
LM:
No because punk is a lot different than what the world thinks it is; what happened at CBGB, which is what I tried to capture in Please Kill Me.
DRE:
Is there a culture any more to be interested in?
LM:
Theres always a culture. I know its teenagers reading Please Kill Me. I never thought anyone would read the book and I didnt write it for anybody else. We didnt think it would sell. We got $30,000 advance for it. It cost us $100,000 to do it.
DRE:
When did you realize that the culture was going to be sticking around?
LM:
I was halfway through the porn book and we had to do a mini tour of the west coast for Please Kill Me. We did this reading and 500 kids showed up. Thats when I realized oh my god, somethings happening. That was probably about 2000.
DRE:
Are people still going out and doing their own thing?
LM:
I dont know. What the fuck do I know about anything? Im 49 years old. Im like one of those old assholes that, that used to say fuck them and now I am one of them.
DRE:
Is there a lawsuit going on with the makers of the film Inside Deep Throat or not? [Legs produced three-hour special for Court TV which featured the last exclusive interview with Deep Throat star Linda Lovelace]
LM:
With me?
DRE:
Yeah.
LM:
No, why? You know how I got involved in that is my friend Bert Kearns and Brett Hudson called me and said were fighting with these guys. So I said, Sure Ill get involved and of course I was left fighting with these people and I didnt give a shit. They paid me $10,000 for 44 seconds. I never even saw the movie.
DRE:
You never saw Inside Deep Throat?
LM:
It sucked!
DRE:
Wait, you saw it or you didnt?
LM:
I didnt.
DRE:
But it sucks?
LM:
Well, you can tell, Cant you?
DRE:
But I thought it was kind of a funny movie.
LM:
Did you see our documentary?
DRE:
No.
LM:
Its actually pretty good and Im not a big fan of my own work.
DRE:
Its tough to find because it was Court TV.
LM:
They played it like a 100 times. Where the fuck were you?
DRE:
Not watching Court TV.
LM:
Did you watch the Michael Jackson verdict?
DRE:
No, I heard about it on the radio.
LM:
It was such great television. It really was. It was on Court TV and that woman commentator was such an asshole.
DRE:
I watched a little bit of those recreations and I thought it was insane.
LM:
The recreations were the best part! That guy that didnt look anything like Michael Jackson was great.
DRE:
I cant watch too much reality TV. Thats what the Michael Jackson thing was to me. It was like pumped up reality TV.
DRE:
What else are you working on?
LM:
You want me to say something inflammatory and controversial?
DRE:
If youd like.
LM:
I think you have a small penis.
DRE:
Lets leave it at that.
LM:
Do you want to ask me serious stuff?
DRE:
Was I asking you serious stuff before?
LM:
Not really. Youre goofing around.
DRE:
What do you got serious to say?
LM:
. I like it that someone actually wrote, someone being me, the history of the porn industry. because basically you could say anything you wanted about it.
DRE:
I did hear this rumor a couple of years ago, about how possibly the studios in Hollywood might have money in porn.
LM:
On the soft-core cable stuff, but they really have to differentiate between them.
DRE:
Who runs porn now? Its not the mafia anymore or is it?
LM:
No, the mafia
Well, once the Freeman decision was passed in the 1980s they could arrest you. Then they took it to the Supreme Court and the Supreme Court ruled that they could no longer arrest you. Porn has always been sort of quasi-legal because it was legal to watch it, but it wasnt legal to make it.
DRE:
Lets say someone wanted to go find a prostitute and have sex with them so could they have a camera there and pay the person. Can you then say its porn and not prostitution?
LM:
Sure.
DRE:
Oh, thats weird.
LM:
Well when you go and blow up a building on a movie set, do you say thats demolition. But, you obviously bought the building or paid somebody and got the legal right to blow it up. Youre really not being a criminal.
DRE:
So basically as long as youre pointing your camera at something, you could almost do anything you want?
LM:
Everything except break the law but having sex on camera wasnt really breaking the law. I guess thats what the Supreme Court ruled.
DRE:
How long were you working on the book for?
LM:
Eight years.
DRE:
Did you know much about the porn industry before you decided to do the book?
LM:
Not really. I had to go in and figure out what the story was.
DRE:
What totally surprised you about the industry?
LM:
Everything. I love it when my preconceived notions are shattered. I asked some porn star if she had been abused and she said, Yeah I came home and my husband was a sailor and he was drunk and he was talking bad to me, so I broke his arm with a broom handle and I broke his nose. I was like thats your definition of being abused? Sending your husband to the hospital?? It was a lot of stuff like that. Then there was some girls who had been sexually abused by stepfathers and stuff. Then there was people who grew up with loving parents who just loved sex. All the motivations for getting into porn were as different as all the people.
by Daniel Robert Epstein
SG Username: AndersWolleck
by Daniel Robert Epstein
SG Username: AndersWolleck
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