Crispin Hellion Glover

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Crispin Glover's Other Weekend Release Is 'Fine'
Source: MTV

If you want to really impress a date this weekend, show off your complex cinematic tastes by not only taking her/him to the blockbuster "Beowulf" alongside the masses, but following it up with an art-house showing of the other Crispin Glover film opening this weekend.

"I'm going to open part 2 of my trilogy, entitled 'It Is Fine! Everything Is Fine' on the same week 'Beowulf' opens," the oft-ostracized Hollywood actor reminded us recently. "I'm riding on the coattails of the publicity wave of 'Beowulf,' to open the sequel."

This past January, the "Back to the Future" star spoke to us extensively about his passion projects, which began with 2004's "What Is It?" Now, he's once again touring with his Al Gore-like multimedia presentation, giving film fans an experience that, if nothing else, they'll certainly never forget. And you can't say that about "Fred Claus."

"I will be doing exactly what I did with the first film, which is this: I have eight different books, and I have a slide show, because all of my books are heavily illustrated," he explained. "I perform the slide show, which lasts an hour; it's a dramatic narration. It has slides behind me, to help to move the story along with the illustrations. Then I show the films, which are 72 minutes for 'What is it?' and 74 minutes for 'Everything Is Fine,' on different nights. They don't show both the films on the same night. Then I have a question-and-answer session, and then I have a book signing."

Glover's freaky flicks are as indescribable as you can get, but the basic gist is that a group of actors with Down syndrome are displayed alongside images meant to make the viewer feel the rarest of cinematic sensations: that of being uncomfortable. While some may want to dismiss Glover, others view his efforts as part of a grand tradition that includes Tod Browning, Bunuel, Jodorowsky, and David Lynch.

Say what you want about Glover (who appears as the monster Grendel in Robert Zemeckis 3-D tentpole), but it's doubtful that a star has ever released two films at such opposite ends of the spectrum simultaneously.

"I'll open in New York at the IFC Center the same week as 'Beowulf,'" Glover said of his schedule. "Then I go to the Music Box Theatre in Chicago the week after. After that I go to Los Angeles at the Egyptian Theatre, and then after that I go to San Francisco at the Castro Theatre. And then next year, into Seattle and Portland. Crispinglover.com is where people can find out where I'm going to be."