There arent too many film revolutions anymore. They all happened in the 1970s and Melvin Van Peebles was at the forefront of the one that became blaxploitation and eventually black cinema. There would be no Spike Lee, John Singleton and especially Mario Van Peebles because without Melvin, Mario wouldnt have had a dad.
Director Joe Angio has captured the essence of who Melvin is, where he came from and where he is going in the documentary How to Eat Your Watermelon in White Company (and Enjoy It). The film opens at the Film Forum in New York City on January 20th and is part of a big retrospective of Melvins work.
Go to the site for How to Eat Your Watermelon in White Company (and Enjoy It)
Daniel Robert Epstein: How are you today?
Melvin Van Peebles: Im great. What times the interview?
DRE: 10 am.
MVP: What time is it now?
DRE: 10 am.
MVP: Its 10 oclock now?
DRE: Yeah.
MVP: My goodness. I was going to have great fun cussing you out and telling you, Whatd you call me early for? I told you 10 am. Im going to get my seat. The man takes off his coat. I just assured one of my girlfriends that I was here alone. So now Im all ready. One second. Okay. Im your SuicideBoy.
DRE: [laughs] Have you heard of SuicideGirls before?
MVP: Yes.
DRE: What do you know about it?
MVP: Not much. A couple of guys were sitting in a bar and they said Oh, youre a SuicideGirl. I overheard them laughing and saying they liked it. That was the actual extent of it.
DRE: What are you working on today?
MVP: Im working on a new movie.
DRE: What movie?
MVP: Im just putting it together right now. Its called Memories of an Ex-Dufus Mother.
DRE: Whats this one about?
MVP: An Ex-Dufus Mother [laughs].
DRE: [laughs] So youve got a female lead?
MVP: No, this guy travels through life picking up various adventures, like The Iliad, Oliver Twist or Don Quixote.
DRE: Is it set to go or are you just working on the screenplay?
MVP: Im actually shooting the first part of it right now. The first part has narration so thats what Im doing at the moment.
DRE: Whos starring in it?
MVP: Nobody. I will be the narrator. I love doing these indie films under the radar. Thats how I did my Broadway shows. My ideas are a little avant garde at the time and no one seems to get it. But then after I do it, everybodys like Oh yeah. Wow. Why didnt you let us in? You sit in a meeting in Hollywood and everybody says, I want something new, different, something like Mickey Mouse. So I could never get anybody to come in with me even with the financial success that Ive had unless I agree to do something that Ive done in the past.
People come to me to whine and bitch, Why dont you do Sweetback Part Two? They dont want to let it go forward. Everybody booed when Picasso changed his period from pink to blue with Cubism. They screamed bloody murder. I get a lot of offers to repeat history as its seen through the eyes of the Philistines but not to do it in its original sense of taking it forward.
DRE: Would you do a Sweetback sequel?
MVP: Id love to do a Sweetback sequel. In fact Ive got the other two parts written. But its like old blues songs. People listen to this music now and go Thats terrible. Why would you do blues like that? But they dont want to talk about the contemporary. Lets keep it in a realm or in a format that is safe. They dont want it to be altered to go forward. I could do a Sweetback sequel but the ante would have to be upped.
DRE: What did you think about the documentary about How to Eat Your Watermelon?
MVP: I loved it. I had a good time. It tickled me. I think they did a great job. It was about eight years when [director] Joe [Angio] approached me. At the time I was doing a movie and making a new album. But I never interfered one iota. Its not my vision of me. I wanted to see it because it was their vision of an outsider.
DRE: Whats weirder, watching a documentary about yourself or a movie about yourself directed by and starring your son?
MVP: I guess its schizophrenia or something like that because I can detach myself completely from myself when Im watching a movie. When Im editing a sequence of where Im playing somebody, I dont refer to myself as me. I say he this, he that. I remember after I saw Baadasssss! and people said Did you have anything to do with it? No, I didnt have anything to do with it except I sold him the rights to the book.
DRE: How much did Mario pay for the rights?
MVP: Business is business. The initial payment was $2500. Just enough to keep him honest and break his chops. But on the other hand if I had sold the rights to someone else I wouldnt have been around telling him what to do so I gave him the same thing. I remember when I first saw it in Toronto after 600 people were standing up and applauding he asked me, Whatd you think, dad? I said, Its Seabiscuit on two feet.
DRE: Besides these two movies, have you noticed a more interest in you and your past work?
MVP: My legend is growing if thats what you mean. People are realizing my deep, inherent genius. Im the Rosa Parks of black cinema, which aint bad.
DRE: Thats probably a good analogy.
In the documentary, Spike Lee talked about how in the 70s you turned being black into a commodity. Nowadays being white and acting black is a much biggest commodity.
MVP: Yo, dawg. Yo [laughs].
DRE: Were you conscious of that idea of black as commodity when you were doing these films? Its time for a black man to make a black movie and make some money off it?
MVP: As long as were speaking in Ebonics, I will reply in Ebonics. Is a pigs ass pork? Is the Pope Catholic? Does a bear shit in the woods? Sure I was conscious of it. But it wasnt new. It was just underground. People were stealing it and not giving credit. But nobody would say, Why fucking let them steal? Why dont you just do it yourself?
DRE: Are people still even stealing it today?
MVP: Theyre different forms people steal. They keep the artist, especially the black artists, economically strapped in a way that they can dictate what it is. They cant steal the record but they can order what you do and dont do, which is a form of oppression. Its not called stealing right now. If you use even a larger term than stealing, its the oppression of having to do the vision that somebody else wants you to do.
With some of my Broadway shows I invented the form that is now rap. They didnt even know how to categorize it. But I just saw a forum sitting there and now as I get the accolades for the cinema and for opening up Broadway.
DRE: Im sure youre aware of the comments that Bill Cosby said about how modern black youths should stop blaming white people and move on.
MVP: That has nothing to do with young black and young white people. The point is you should move on anyhow, black, white, anything. As specific to his comment, I dont comment on comments. All I say is, Its nice he said it. I dont know if hes talking about black, white, just do it.
DRE: How was working with Jonathan Kesselman on The Hebrew Hammer?
MVP: That guys so great. I came down. We had fun. He said, Hey, do this. Do that. And I did it.
DRE: I read youre doing a hip hop album right now.
MVP: Yep. It was supposed to come out this spring. Ive done a lot of albums and the early ones have become major collectors items.
DRE: But this is your first official hip hop album.
MVP: I dont call it anything. Its just another album. I dont bother with the labels.
DRE: Are you and Mario going to be working again together anytime soon?
MVP: Im sure. As a matter of fact a week ago I was up in Providence doing a cameo Marios new movie with Wesley Snipes called Hard Luck.
DRE: Are you going to go down to the Film Forum and hang out there while people are watching your films?
MVP: Ill be down there the opening night to do a Q & A. Im really psyched out about this whole Film Forum thing and its such a clever idea that theyre showing my stuff with the same time with the documentary. Each time that puts it in a new light. So Im pretty psyched out.
by Daniel Robert Epstein
SG Username: AndersWolleck
Director Joe Angio has captured the essence of who Melvin is, where he came from and where he is going in the documentary How to Eat Your Watermelon in White Company (and Enjoy It). The film opens at the Film Forum in New York City on January 20th and is part of a big retrospective of Melvins work.
Go to the site for How to Eat Your Watermelon in White Company (and Enjoy It)
Daniel Robert Epstein: How are you today?
Melvin Van Peebles: Im great. What times the interview?
DRE: 10 am.
MVP: What time is it now?
DRE: 10 am.
MVP: Its 10 oclock now?
DRE: Yeah.
MVP: My goodness. I was going to have great fun cussing you out and telling you, Whatd you call me early for? I told you 10 am. Im going to get my seat. The man takes off his coat. I just assured one of my girlfriends that I was here alone. So now Im all ready. One second. Okay. Im your SuicideBoy.
DRE: [laughs] Have you heard of SuicideGirls before?
MVP: Yes.
DRE: What do you know about it?
MVP: Not much. A couple of guys were sitting in a bar and they said Oh, youre a SuicideGirl. I overheard them laughing and saying they liked it. That was the actual extent of it.
DRE: What are you working on today?
MVP: Im working on a new movie.
DRE: What movie?
MVP: Im just putting it together right now. Its called Memories of an Ex-Dufus Mother.
DRE: Whats this one about?
MVP: An Ex-Dufus Mother [laughs].
DRE: [laughs] So youve got a female lead?
MVP: No, this guy travels through life picking up various adventures, like The Iliad, Oliver Twist or Don Quixote.
DRE: Is it set to go or are you just working on the screenplay?
MVP: Im actually shooting the first part of it right now. The first part has narration so thats what Im doing at the moment.
DRE: Whos starring in it?
MVP: Nobody. I will be the narrator. I love doing these indie films under the radar. Thats how I did my Broadway shows. My ideas are a little avant garde at the time and no one seems to get it. But then after I do it, everybodys like Oh yeah. Wow. Why didnt you let us in? You sit in a meeting in Hollywood and everybody says, I want something new, different, something like Mickey Mouse. So I could never get anybody to come in with me even with the financial success that Ive had unless I agree to do something that Ive done in the past.
People come to me to whine and bitch, Why dont you do Sweetback Part Two? They dont want to let it go forward. Everybody booed when Picasso changed his period from pink to blue with Cubism. They screamed bloody murder. I get a lot of offers to repeat history as its seen through the eyes of the Philistines but not to do it in its original sense of taking it forward.
DRE: Would you do a Sweetback sequel?
MVP: Id love to do a Sweetback sequel. In fact Ive got the other two parts written. But its like old blues songs. People listen to this music now and go Thats terrible. Why would you do blues like that? But they dont want to talk about the contemporary. Lets keep it in a realm or in a format that is safe. They dont want it to be altered to go forward. I could do a Sweetback sequel but the ante would have to be upped.
DRE: What did you think about the documentary about How to Eat Your Watermelon?
MVP: I loved it. I had a good time. It tickled me. I think they did a great job. It was about eight years when [director] Joe [Angio] approached me. At the time I was doing a movie and making a new album. But I never interfered one iota. Its not my vision of me. I wanted to see it because it was their vision of an outsider.
DRE: Whats weirder, watching a documentary about yourself or a movie about yourself directed by and starring your son?
MVP: I guess its schizophrenia or something like that because I can detach myself completely from myself when Im watching a movie. When Im editing a sequence of where Im playing somebody, I dont refer to myself as me. I say he this, he that. I remember after I saw Baadasssss! and people said Did you have anything to do with it? No, I didnt have anything to do with it except I sold him the rights to the book.
DRE: How much did Mario pay for the rights?
MVP: Business is business. The initial payment was $2500. Just enough to keep him honest and break his chops. But on the other hand if I had sold the rights to someone else I wouldnt have been around telling him what to do so I gave him the same thing. I remember when I first saw it in Toronto after 600 people were standing up and applauding he asked me, Whatd you think, dad? I said, Its Seabiscuit on two feet.
DRE: Besides these two movies, have you noticed a more interest in you and your past work?
MVP: My legend is growing if thats what you mean. People are realizing my deep, inherent genius. Im the Rosa Parks of black cinema, which aint bad.
DRE: Thats probably a good analogy.
In the documentary, Spike Lee talked about how in the 70s you turned being black into a commodity. Nowadays being white and acting black is a much biggest commodity.
MVP: Yo, dawg. Yo [laughs].
DRE: Were you conscious of that idea of black as commodity when you were doing these films? Its time for a black man to make a black movie and make some money off it?
MVP: As long as were speaking in Ebonics, I will reply in Ebonics. Is a pigs ass pork? Is the Pope Catholic? Does a bear shit in the woods? Sure I was conscious of it. But it wasnt new. It was just underground. People were stealing it and not giving credit. But nobody would say, Why fucking let them steal? Why dont you just do it yourself?
DRE: Are people still even stealing it today?
MVP: Theyre different forms people steal. They keep the artist, especially the black artists, economically strapped in a way that they can dictate what it is. They cant steal the record but they can order what you do and dont do, which is a form of oppression. Its not called stealing right now. If you use even a larger term than stealing, its the oppression of having to do the vision that somebody else wants you to do.
With some of my Broadway shows I invented the form that is now rap. They didnt even know how to categorize it. But I just saw a forum sitting there and now as I get the accolades for the cinema and for opening up Broadway.
DRE: Im sure youre aware of the comments that Bill Cosby said about how modern black youths should stop blaming white people and move on.
MVP: That has nothing to do with young black and young white people. The point is you should move on anyhow, black, white, anything. As specific to his comment, I dont comment on comments. All I say is, Its nice he said it. I dont know if hes talking about black, white, just do it.
DRE: How was working with Jonathan Kesselman on The Hebrew Hammer?
MVP: That guys so great. I came down. We had fun. He said, Hey, do this. Do that. And I did it.
DRE: I read youre doing a hip hop album right now.
MVP: Yep. It was supposed to come out this spring. Ive done a lot of albums and the early ones have become major collectors items.
DRE: But this is your first official hip hop album.
MVP: I dont call it anything. Its just another album. I dont bother with the labels.
DRE: Are you and Mario going to be working again together anytime soon?
MVP: Im sure. As a matter of fact a week ago I was up in Providence doing a cameo Marios new movie with Wesley Snipes called Hard Luck.
DRE: Are you going to go down to the Film Forum and hang out there while people are watching your films?
MVP: Ill be down there the opening night to do a Q & A. Im really psyched out about this whole Film Forum thing and its such a clever idea that theyre showing my stuff with the same time with the documentary. Each time that puts it in a new light. So Im pretty psyched out.
by Daniel Robert Epstein
SG Username: AndersWolleck
VIEW 5 of 5 COMMENTS
For some reason that statement is awesome.
SWEEET SWEETBACK!!!!!