Zalman King helped me become a man in the 1980s more so than my Bar Mitzvah or even stealing my fathers Playboy magazines. As the co-writer and director of many erotic films such as Nine 1/2 Weeks, Two Moon Junction and Wild Orchid he actually made me believe I could see my favorite female movie stars naked. King, Kim Basinger and Sherilyn Fenn just have no idea how they helped bring about my sexual awakening.
After the enormous success of Nine 1/2 Weeks in 1986 King seemingly created his own cottage industry of erotic adventures on film. Even though he has diversified with works like the surfing film, In God's Hands, he always seems to come back to the types of films that made him famous. Now in the 21st century he isnt finding as many sexy stories to tell and is now moving into taping reality and turning them into a series of DVDs called Sex, Y & Z.
In the 1990s Zalman made less movies because he was concentrating on the erotic anthology show Red Shoe Dairies but a special project got offered to him by New Line Cinema, the adaptation of Anais Nins book of short stories, Delta of Venus. Im sure it was Nostradamus who in the early 16th century predicted that King had to adapt Nins work. Thats just a joke but it is the perfect material for him because many of his works have been erotic stories through a womans point of view and Nin was one of the powerful voices in erotic literature of all time.
You can buy Delta of Venus from New Line Home Video.
Daniel Robert Epstein: Its a pleasure to talk to you. When I was a kid your films made me very happy.
Delta of Venus just came out on DVD for the first time. Was the combination of Anais Nin and Zalman King inevitable?
Zalman King: [laughs] I dont know. It seems like it because it made sense.
DRE: When did you first read that particular book of stories?
ZK: I read them probably when I was 19 or 20. Then I didnt read them again until New Line offered me the film.
DRE: Were you surprised that a book written in the 1930s could still be relevant now?
ZK: No because of Henry Miller. His stuff is still wildly relevant and so is hers. Shes sort of Henry Millers female counterpoint.
DRE: New Line must have known what they were getting when they offered it to you. What made them decide not to release it theatrically?
ZK: It did come out but in just a few theaters. It was at a time when Ted Turner first came into Warner Bros. and I had done a film that was extremely sexy. I frankly I dont know what version they are putting out on DVD whether its rated or unrated.
DRE: Did it also go on Showtime?
ZK: Yes it was I think.
DRE: Its almost the same thing that happened with Adrian Lynes Lolita in the same year.
ZK: I think people have the fantasy of putting really erotic films but when push comes to shove I think they back off a little bit. The companies themselves have to decide whether they want to take the heat at a particular time.
DRE: Was the mid-90s any different for films of this nature?
ZK: No I think it was a corporate change at Warner Bros. New Line was not sure if Ted Turner was interested. I dont think they thought it would be a huge moneymaker. Why lead with your chin if you dont have to.
DRE: Youve always worked with stars in your movies, like Mickey Rourke, David Duchovny and Matt LeBlanc. Just having your name attached they can end up being controversial. How do you get them to be in your films?
ZK: Usually the scripts and roles are pretty good. There are a lot of great actors to work with if they feel comfortable. I think the success of Nine 1/2 Weeks [released in 1986] and my other films helps a lot. Going into these films you have a real shot of possibly breaking through and doing a fabulous performance.
DRE: How was it doubling Prague for Paris?
ZK: It was pretty easy because Prague is one of the few cities in Europe which was not bombed by the Germans so a lot of the art deco and the city itself was preserved. For what I needed I think it worked pretty well. It was a great place to shoot and Id like to shoot there during winter in the future.
DRE: Youre very good at presenting these sexually charged tales through womens eyes.
ZK: Definitely. Delta is probably the most significant pieces because the way we chose to do the story was about a woman who gives up the idea of romance for her own sexual liberation. She even gets a chance to get it back. It really is a feminist movie in a way because she becomes disillusioned in a way with her own weakness thinking that a man will supply this romantic idea that she has. As the film progresses she becomes more and more in touch with her own sexuality and sensuality. She takes control of it and by the end of the film she is on her own and forsakes her lover because she is having too much fun being liberated. I think its brave and interesting.
DRE: Are these movies your personal fantasies or are they what you think other people enjoy seeing?
ZK: They are not my personal fantasies because most of them I tell from a womans point of view. I dont know if I even have fantasies I think Im beyond it [laughs]. I sort of live this privileged life with tremendous entre into the erotic world and all kinds of worlds. Im not even voyeuristic; I dont know what I am.
DRE: Are you just beyond being titillated very easily?
ZK: I guess so. I must be now, dont you think? Its interesting. I just spent last weekend shooting the Exotic Ball in San Francisco. Im going to Chicago to shoot the Players Ball which is the pimp ball. Im doing these DVD magazines which are called Sex, Y & Z. My line is that I used to be interested in relationships and romance now Ive gone into recreational sex in terms of what interests me. There is just such a proclivity of recreational sex. Meaning people that are not interested in relationships and just into an immediate erotic experience, doing it publicly, voyeuristically or whatever it is.
DRE: Is it safer for a male filmmaker to tell these erotic tales through a womans eyes?
ZK: I never thought about it as being safer. It just interests me more. When I think about it though I dont think its safer but I think men and women are much more interested in the erotic journey of women rather than men. I just think thats where the heart of eroticism is. Following a guy fucking a lot of women is interesting but it can get old.
DRE: Do you always work with the same crew?
ZK: No but I would like to. When I was doing the [TV series] Red Shoe Diaries I was in a rhythm of using the same people. I always use a very young crew mainly because even though most of my films have beautiful production values they are very inexpensive. Basically I cant afford a $25,000 a week DP [cinematographer], I use a $1200 a week DP or sometimes I shoot.
DRE: I would imagine as a young man you were either very repressed or not repressed, which one was it?
ZK: I was sort of in the middle. Ive been married for a long time, over 40 years. My wife and I wrote Nine 1/2 Weeks and Wild Orchid together. My wife wrote Delta of Venus as well. My daughter is a writer as well and she wrote some episodes of Red Shoes. We actually have a very normal family. But Delta is a phenomenally sexy movie.
DRE: Would you be as normal if you didnt do these movies? Is it a kind of a release?
ZK: It is in a way. A creative release for sure. There are themes I am always pursuing. A painter will take a theme and work that theme for years. Maybe thats what Im doing.
DRE: A lot of critics call your work soft-core porn.
ZK: Yes which I find a bit humiliating. I think they miss the point but what are you going to do. Its unfortunate because some of the films get marginalized because they call them that. I think its a shame because Delta of Venus is not soft-core porn, it has very big themes and its got very strong characters.
DRE: How about when they call you the reigning auteur of erotic fantasy?
ZK: Thats not bad. Im not even sure if thats it. I dont know how I would categorize myself. Soft porn is really marginalizing what I do.
DRE: I was reading a bit about Nine 1/2 Weeks and you had said that every single powerful woman in Hollywood pushed it forward and it was always a man who stopped it from happening.
ZK: Yes and that is absolutely true. Talk about politics with making films, up until the last week before we started shooting Nine 1/2 Weeks we had crews and everything, TriStar pulled out and we had to get involved with the financing to actually start filming the next Monday. TriStar felt it was too hot for their corporate structure and it would be damaging to them. Thats happened to me many times. People think they are brave and it turns out they are not.
DRE: How autobiographical are your films?
ZK: I dont think they are autobiographical. I think there is an aspect of it in them though. The Mickey character in Nine 1/2 Weeks is a way I could have turned out if I took another turn in the road. I identify with that character. I choose not to play those games. What I think Nine 1/2 Weeks is really about is that so many men seduce women only to push them away because the only the thing they can feel is pain and loss. I was saying to someone in my family who just went through tremendous heartbreak in a very short relationship is that it was a Nine 1/2 Weeks syndrome.
DRE: When you sit down to write do you say to yourself, I am going to write a story with sex or does it just come out that way?
ZK: Well no, with Delta of Venus it was adapting a book, Nine 1/2 Weeks was from a diary. I had written Two Moon Junction [released in 1988] before Nine 1/2 Weeks. But I guess I do sometimes. I like pushing boundaries and watching women go through experiences. I like Kim [Basinger] at the end of Nine 1/2 Weeks finding strength and walking away. I love the end of Delta of Venus. Its extremely emotional to me when she gets on this barge, goes away from her lover.
At a certain point I was halfway across a river and people think of me as an erotic filmmaker and thats my curse and my blessing. If I write an erotic film my chances of getting it financed are high.
DRE: I was surprised that you were originally from New Jersey. With your cool name and the kinds of films you make I thought for sure you were French. How did Jersey influence you?
ZK: Jersey was a very sexy place when you grow up by the Jersey Shore I can tell you that [laughs]. I was a lifeguard on the Jersey Shore, man, it doesnt get better than that.
DRE: Do you have any tattoos?
ZK: I dont but I think the right tattoos on women are very sexy. Ive been doing a lot of really contemporary stuff lately and a lot of the women have tattoos.
DRE: Is Chromium Blue.com still happening?
ZK: Its finished and its not happening. I loved it but Showtime didnt. Its putting romantic comedy with sex and it worked very well. Its almost board ???? romantic comedy and extremely sexy. I guess there is no genre to classify it as. It seemed to confuse Showtime; I think they were expecting Red Shoe Diaries again. I didnt want to do that I wanted to do something different. I hope someday TV will catch up with it. Its an acquired taste like Six Feet Under because it has a recurring cast instead of being an anthology. It will hit video pretty soon.
DRE: Have you thought about doing a reality show?
ZK: Yeah I am. I just did a thing for VH1 called Forty Deuce. Forty Deuce is a burlesque lounge in Hollywood and it is a celebrity hangout. The dancers are fantastic. There is no nudity so the show is about the club.
DRE: Brigitte Bako [female lead of Red Shoes Diaries] said you can be a difficult director.
ZK: I am difficult. Im there to get what I want. Ill chase actors around the block with hatchets if I have to. You have to be difficult. You cant be a director and not be difficult.
DRE: How do you see sex in the 21st Century?
ZK: Well I think Suicide Girls is on target. Its recreational sex full on. Thats where Im headed. The women that I know and dig treat sex the way men treat sex. They got the guys they want; they fuck them and go on with their lives. Also bisexuality is very strong.
DRE: Yeah there doesnt seem to be any straight people left anymore.
How much time do you spend on the internet these days?
ZK: Not too much because Im busy. Of any of the erotic sites I dig Suicide Girls.
by Daniel Robert Epstein
SG Username: AndersWolleck
After the enormous success of Nine 1/2 Weeks in 1986 King seemingly created his own cottage industry of erotic adventures on film. Even though he has diversified with works like the surfing film, In God's Hands, he always seems to come back to the types of films that made him famous. Now in the 21st century he isnt finding as many sexy stories to tell and is now moving into taping reality and turning them into a series of DVDs called Sex, Y & Z.
In the 1990s Zalman made less movies because he was concentrating on the erotic anthology show Red Shoe Dairies but a special project got offered to him by New Line Cinema, the adaptation of Anais Nins book of short stories, Delta of Venus. Im sure it was Nostradamus who in the early 16th century predicted that King had to adapt Nins work. Thats just a joke but it is the perfect material for him because many of his works have been erotic stories through a womans point of view and Nin was one of the powerful voices in erotic literature of all time.
You can buy Delta of Venus from New Line Home Video.
Daniel Robert Epstein: Its a pleasure to talk to you. When I was a kid your films made me very happy.
Delta of Venus just came out on DVD for the first time. Was the combination of Anais Nin and Zalman King inevitable?
Zalman King: [laughs] I dont know. It seems like it because it made sense.
DRE: When did you first read that particular book of stories?
ZK: I read them probably when I was 19 or 20. Then I didnt read them again until New Line offered me the film.
DRE: Were you surprised that a book written in the 1930s could still be relevant now?
ZK: No because of Henry Miller. His stuff is still wildly relevant and so is hers. Shes sort of Henry Millers female counterpoint.
DRE: New Line must have known what they were getting when they offered it to you. What made them decide not to release it theatrically?
ZK: It did come out but in just a few theaters. It was at a time when Ted Turner first came into Warner Bros. and I had done a film that was extremely sexy. I frankly I dont know what version they are putting out on DVD whether its rated or unrated.
DRE: Did it also go on Showtime?
ZK: Yes it was I think.
DRE: Its almost the same thing that happened with Adrian Lynes Lolita in the same year.
ZK: I think people have the fantasy of putting really erotic films but when push comes to shove I think they back off a little bit. The companies themselves have to decide whether they want to take the heat at a particular time.
DRE: Was the mid-90s any different for films of this nature?
ZK: No I think it was a corporate change at Warner Bros. New Line was not sure if Ted Turner was interested. I dont think they thought it would be a huge moneymaker. Why lead with your chin if you dont have to.
DRE: Youve always worked with stars in your movies, like Mickey Rourke, David Duchovny and Matt LeBlanc. Just having your name attached they can end up being controversial. How do you get them to be in your films?
ZK: Usually the scripts and roles are pretty good. There are a lot of great actors to work with if they feel comfortable. I think the success of Nine 1/2 Weeks [released in 1986] and my other films helps a lot. Going into these films you have a real shot of possibly breaking through and doing a fabulous performance.
DRE: How was it doubling Prague for Paris?
ZK: It was pretty easy because Prague is one of the few cities in Europe which was not bombed by the Germans so a lot of the art deco and the city itself was preserved. For what I needed I think it worked pretty well. It was a great place to shoot and Id like to shoot there during winter in the future.
DRE: Youre very good at presenting these sexually charged tales through womens eyes.
ZK: Definitely. Delta is probably the most significant pieces because the way we chose to do the story was about a woman who gives up the idea of romance for her own sexual liberation. She even gets a chance to get it back. It really is a feminist movie in a way because she becomes disillusioned in a way with her own weakness thinking that a man will supply this romantic idea that she has. As the film progresses she becomes more and more in touch with her own sexuality and sensuality. She takes control of it and by the end of the film she is on her own and forsakes her lover because she is having too much fun being liberated. I think its brave and interesting.
DRE: Are these movies your personal fantasies or are they what you think other people enjoy seeing?
ZK: They are not my personal fantasies because most of them I tell from a womans point of view. I dont know if I even have fantasies I think Im beyond it [laughs]. I sort of live this privileged life with tremendous entre into the erotic world and all kinds of worlds. Im not even voyeuristic; I dont know what I am.
DRE: Are you just beyond being titillated very easily?
ZK: I guess so. I must be now, dont you think? Its interesting. I just spent last weekend shooting the Exotic Ball in San Francisco. Im going to Chicago to shoot the Players Ball which is the pimp ball. Im doing these DVD magazines which are called Sex, Y & Z. My line is that I used to be interested in relationships and romance now Ive gone into recreational sex in terms of what interests me. There is just such a proclivity of recreational sex. Meaning people that are not interested in relationships and just into an immediate erotic experience, doing it publicly, voyeuristically or whatever it is.
DRE: Is it safer for a male filmmaker to tell these erotic tales through a womans eyes?
ZK: I never thought about it as being safer. It just interests me more. When I think about it though I dont think its safer but I think men and women are much more interested in the erotic journey of women rather than men. I just think thats where the heart of eroticism is. Following a guy fucking a lot of women is interesting but it can get old.
DRE: Do you always work with the same crew?
ZK: No but I would like to. When I was doing the [TV series] Red Shoe Diaries I was in a rhythm of using the same people. I always use a very young crew mainly because even though most of my films have beautiful production values they are very inexpensive. Basically I cant afford a $25,000 a week DP [cinematographer], I use a $1200 a week DP or sometimes I shoot.
DRE: I would imagine as a young man you were either very repressed or not repressed, which one was it?
ZK: I was sort of in the middle. Ive been married for a long time, over 40 years. My wife and I wrote Nine 1/2 Weeks and Wild Orchid together. My wife wrote Delta of Venus as well. My daughter is a writer as well and she wrote some episodes of Red Shoes. We actually have a very normal family. But Delta is a phenomenally sexy movie.
DRE: Would you be as normal if you didnt do these movies? Is it a kind of a release?
ZK: It is in a way. A creative release for sure. There are themes I am always pursuing. A painter will take a theme and work that theme for years. Maybe thats what Im doing.
DRE: A lot of critics call your work soft-core porn.
ZK: Yes which I find a bit humiliating. I think they miss the point but what are you going to do. Its unfortunate because some of the films get marginalized because they call them that. I think its a shame because Delta of Venus is not soft-core porn, it has very big themes and its got very strong characters.
DRE: How about when they call you the reigning auteur of erotic fantasy?
ZK: Thats not bad. Im not even sure if thats it. I dont know how I would categorize myself. Soft porn is really marginalizing what I do.
DRE: I was reading a bit about Nine 1/2 Weeks and you had said that every single powerful woman in Hollywood pushed it forward and it was always a man who stopped it from happening.
ZK: Yes and that is absolutely true. Talk about politics with making films, up until the last week before we started shooting Nine 1/2 Weeks we had crews and everything, TriStar pulled out and we had to get involved with the financing to actually start filming the next Monday. TriStar felt it was too hot for their corporate structure and it would be damaging to them. Thats happened to me many times. People think they are brave and it turns out they are not.
DRE: How autobiographical are your films?
ZK: I dont think they are autobiographical. I think there is an aspect of it in them though. The Mickey character in Nine 1/2 Weeks is a way I could have turned out if I took another turn in the road. I identify with that character. I choose not to play those games. What I think Nine 1/2 Weeks is really about is that so many men seduce women only to push them away because the only the thing they can feel is pain and loss. I was saying to someone in my family who just went through tremendous heartbreak in a very short relationship is that it was a Nine 1/2 Weeks syndrome.
DRE: When you sit down to write do you say to yourself, I am going to write a story with sex or does it just come out that way?
ZK: Well no, with Delta of Venus it was adapting a book, Nine 1/2 Weeks was from a diary. I had written Two Moon Junction [released in 1988] before Nine 1/2 Weeks. But I guess I do sometimes. I like pushing boundaries and watching women go through experiences. I like Kim [Basinger] at the end of Nine 1/2 Weeks finding strength and walking away. I love the end of Delta of Venus. Its extremely emotional to me when she gets on this barge, goes away from her lover.
At a certain point I was halfway across a river and people think of me as an erotic filmmaker and thats my curse and my blessing. If I write an erotic film my chances of getting it financed are high.
DRE: I was surprised that you were originally from New Jersey. With your cool name and the kinds of films you make I thought for sure you were French. How did Jersey influence you?
ZK: Jersey was a very sexy place when you grow up by the Jersey Shore I can tell you that [laughs]. I was a lifeguard on the Jersey Shore, man, it doesnt get better than that.
DRE: Do you have any tattoos?
ZK: I dont but I think the right tattoos on women are very sexy. Ive been doing a lot of really contemporary stuff lately and a lot of the women have tattoos.
DRE: Is Chromium Blue.com still happening?
ZK: Its finished and its not happening. I loved it but Showtime didnt. Its putting romantic comedy with sex and it worked very well. Its almost board ???? romantic comedy and extremely sexy. I guess there is no genre to classify it as. It seemed to confuse Showtime; I think they were expecting Red Shoe Diaries again. I didnt want to do that I wanted to do something different. I hope someday TV will catch up with it. Its an acquired taste like Six Feet Under because it has a recurring cast instead of being an anthology. It will hit video pretty soon.
DRE: Have you thought about doing a reality show?
ZK: Yeah I am. I just did a thing for VH1 called Forty Deuce. Forty Deuce is a burlesque lounge in Hollywood and it is a celebrity hangout. The dancers are fantastic. There is no nudity so the show is about the club.
DRE: Brigitte Bako [female lead of Red Shoes Diaries] said you can be a difficult director.
ZK: I am difficult. Im there to get what I want. Ill chase actors around the block with hatchets if I have to. You have to be difficult. You cant be a director and not be difficult.
DRE: How do you see sex in the 21st Century?
ZK: Well I think Suicide Girls is on target. Its recreational sex full on. Thats where Im headed. The women that I know and dig treat sex the way men treat sex. They got the guys they want; they fuck them and go on with their lives. Also bisexuality is very strong.
DRE: Yeah there doesnt seem to be any straight people left anymore.
How much time do you spend on the internet these days?
ZK: Not too much because Im busy. Of any of the erotic sites I dig Suicide Girls.
by Daniel Robert Epstein
SG Username: AndersWolleck
VIEW 8 of 8 COMMENTS
Missy said:
Zalman King helped me become a man in the 1980s more so than my Bar Mitzvah or even stealing my fathers Playboy magazines. As the co-writer and director of many erotic films such as Nine 1/2 Weeks, Two Moon Junction and Wild Orchid he actually made me believe I could see my favorite female movie se...
I love that ZK grew up in Jersey... never knew that. I too grew up on late night showtime... the red shoe diaries was a thousand times better than any of the other awful erotica shows on late night that I'd sneak in viewing. I loved that the shows weren't all about the sex... though I do specifically remember wishing the sex scenes were longer because after all of the suspense trying to sneak in watching a few last minute of tv before my mother would come upstairs and tell me to go to bed, well, I just was getting into it and then the story was over. Of course I was... what... 12 years old at the time?
and i'm embarassed that the delta of venus adaptation had escaped me until now!
want.