The Sex Film Project - Shortbus

[Film Student]

I remember hearing about John Cameron Mitchell doing an open casting call for this a few years ago, but I have since not heard a thing about it... Sounds interesting though... Anyone have any idea on its status?

[Ghostboy]

Just this week, the NY Times had an article that will fill you in on everything you might want to know: http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/19/movies/19mitc.html

[ᾦɐļᵲʊʂ]

Can you copy/paste?

It's asking for subscription and all that...I'd like to just see the article.

[Jeremy Blackman]

A Movie Full of Sex, With Nothing Simulated About It
By DINITIA SMITH

Published: August 19, 2004

Correction Appended

John Cameron Mitchell, the creator and star of the drag hit "Hedwig and the Angry Inch," would like your money to make a sex film, please. No, it's not pornography, Mr. Mitchell says. It's a comedy with real live sex taking place on camera. There'll be none of those fake encounters found in films like "Monster's Ball" or "In the Cut."

Come on, Mr. Mitchell. You've got to be kidding. What's the difference, really, between this and pornography? He's got an answer: The purpose of pornography is to arouse, whereas here, he said, "the priority is the emotional life of the characters."

Sex, said Mr. Mitchell, "has been cheapened by porn."

"Why can't we not focus on sex, as porn does, but make sex part of the film?" he asked.

If it were not for the success of "Hedwig," (the film won directing and audience awards for drama at the 2001 Sundance Film Festival and became a cult classic) it would be easy to dismiss Mr. Mitchell.

At this point, after a year and a half of rehearsals, he has raised about $60,000 from friends and supporters, including the musician Moby. He needs only $2 million. But so far, several potential funders have turned him down. "They really want to see it made, but they don't know how they can successfully market such a sexually explicit film, and one without a rating," he said. And, he pointed out, a number of sexually explicit movies have been successfully marketed to mainstream audiences without a rating. The Mexican film "Y Tu Mamá También" was distributed without a rating and, according to Variety, it took in more than $13.6 million in just 20 weeks. The jury on "The Brown Bunny," released this month, in which Chloë Sevigny performs oral sex on the director and star Vincent Gallo, is still out.

The working title of Mr. Mitchell's film is "Shortbus," from the name of a salon where the characters meet to give readings and performances, and sometimes to have public sex. It is modeled on real-life salons in Downtown Manhattan.

The movie takes place after 9/11, in a city haunted by terrorism and too expensive for artists anymore. "Escorting is the new temp job," Mr. Mitchell said. The story features a dominatrix who lives in a ministorage unit because she can't afford an apartment, a sex therapist who can't have an orgasm and a gay man who feels trapped in his relationship. They attend the salon "to find redemption," he said.

"They are desperate to connect," Mr. Mitchell said, "but their circuits blow." At the end, the city is shrouded in a blackout.

Like "Hedwig," which featured a highly praised rock score by Stephen Trask, "Shortbus" will have original music. Discussions are being held with Rufus Wainwright, Justin Bond of Kiki and Herb, and Yo La Tengo. Mr. Mitchell called it " a love letter to New York."

Sitting in a coffee shop in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, Mr. Mitchell, 41, looks the soul of innocence, with the smooth complexion of a choirboy. He played Dickon, the Yorkshire boy who communes with nature, in the 1991 Broadway adaptation of Frances Hodgson Burnett's Victorian children's book "The Secret Garden."

But this is a face that can turn demonic in a moment, as it did in "Hedwig," where Mr. Mitchell, in big blond wig, false eyelashes, glittering lipstick and tight-fitting dress, became the personification of rage, thwarted love and insinuating humor: Marlene Dietrich on steroids. And Mr. Mitchell, who is gay, had never even been a professional drag queen.

Although Mr. Mitchell has raised very little money for "Shortbus," his actors are already rehearsing.

Sook-Yin Lee, host of an arts show on the Canadian Broadcasting System, is playing the sex therapist. Lindsay Beamish, an actress and dancer, is the dominatrix. Paul Dawson, an actor and writer, plays the gay man.

When Mr. Mitchell sent out a casting call asking people to send in videos describing their sex lives, he got 500 submissions. Some people had sex on their videos. Only a "smattering" were porn stars, he said, adding, "They trusted I wasn't doing something sordid because of 'Hedwig.' " So far, only the men have had real sex in the film's long-running rehearsals, Mr. Mitchell said. "These gay men will have sex at the drop of a hat."

As for himself? "I'm totally not a public sex person," Mr. Mitchell said.

At the moment the script calls for Sofia, the sex therapist, to have an unsuccessful sexual encounter with her boyfriend, and to masturbate on camera. "It's rather moving," Mr. Mitchell said. "It's in Central Park in winter." Sian, the dominatrix, witnesses another character masturbating. The script is still evolving, he said.

One day recently, rehearsals were held in the bedroom of one of the producers - in Howard Gertler's, apartment in Williamsburg. Sian, the dominatrix and Sofia, the sex therapist, meet in a sensory deprivation tank to discuss Sofia's problems having an orgasm.

Sian: "So, you're a sex therapist?"

Sofia: "I prefer the term 'couples' counselor.' "

Sian: "But you've never had an orgasm?"

Sofia: "I'm an idiot savant.' "

Mr. Mitchell said: "Trying to get an orgasm for two hours every way she can, is farcical at times. But if you look at the underpinnings of the search, there is poignancy and pathos."

Ms. Lee said she was prepared to have sex on camera if necessary. Her boyfriend has no objection, " 'cause he trusts me," she said, adding: "John is a fantastic creator. This is a gift."

Ms. Beamish, however, said, "I have no desire to have sex on screen." The reason: "I think I'm an ugly cow." And her boyfriend also objects.

Still, she said, "acting-wise, aside from the sex, this is by far the best project I have ever had."

Mr. Mitchell is creating "Shortbus" in much the same way he made "Hedwig," with little money and through improvisations - in "Hedwig's" case, in downtown clubs and workshops.

Mr. Mitchell, whose father, Gen. John H. Mitchell, was United States military commander in West Berlin from 1984 to 1988, based the character of "Hedwig" on an East German baby sitter who also worked as a prostitute in her trailer. In "Hedwig," she became a rock singer who undergoes a sex change operation that goes awry, leaving the character with "an angry inch." Hedwig then falls tragically in love with a man who becomes a rock star using Hedwig's music.

Mr. Mitchell said he grew up hating himself for being gay and furtively read books about homosexuality in the library.

"I read this book 'Seduction of the Innocent,' by Fredric Wertham," Mr. Mitchell said. "He was talking about how debauched Batman and Robin were. I was like: "Wow! I got all the Batman comics.' "

At 20, he finally came out to his parents. He recalled: "There were tears from my mom: 'What have I done!' I said, 'It's not about you.' My dad had a stiff upper lip."

"It took them a few years to get up to speed," Mr. Mitchell continued. "My dad has been very supportive, and supportive of gays in the military. He's a very humane guy."

As far as "Hedwig" is concerned, Mr. Mitchell said, "Dad hasn't really discussed it, though he did wear a foam wig at the opening."

Mr. Mitchell's mother, Joan, however, "was scandalized" by the new project, Mr. Mitchell said. "She said: 'Why do you have to do that? Couldn't you just not?' To her, real sex was pornography. I told her: 'I have to say that you, as a Catholic, always told me the body is sacred. You believe sex should be kept in marriage. But I, as a gay man, don't have that option."'

"I believe sex is sacred, too," Mr. Mitchell continued. "But it's not being respected by the American cinema."

Correction: Aug. 21, 2004, Saturday

An article in The Arts on Thursday about the film "Shortbus,'' a comedy in which actors have sex on camera, referred incorrectly to the filmmakers' continuing attempts to get financing. They said they had been turned down by a few potential backers, not "about 25" or "several." The article also misstated the name of the network on which an actress in the film, Sook-Yin Lee, has an arts show. It is the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, not the Canadian Broadcasting System.

The article also misidentified the project that John Cameron Mitchell, the director of "Shortbus,'' said had scandalized his mother. It was the drag hit he created and starred in, "Hedwig and the Angry Inch,'' not "Shortbus.''

Because of an editing error, the article also referred incorrectly in some copies to the amount earned in 20 weeks by the film "Y Tu Mamá También,'' which Mr. Mitchell cited as an unrated sexually explicit movie that was successfully marketed to mainstream audiences. It was $13.6 million, not $136 million.

[Just Withnail]

Woohoo   Looking forward to it.

[Chest Rockwell]

My mom will never let me see this. If it gets made, that is.

But man, I had an idea for the longest time to shoot a movie with live sex. So this pretty much shoots that idea down.

[jasper_window]

Why?  There's a few films out there that have already shown real sex.

[Alethia]

theres more than a few, guys.....

[cine]

No, just a few. I counted.

[grand theft sparrow]

Can someone give me the names of them?  I've never seen a film like that.

[ono]

Ai no corrida for one.  But it's not that good.  Lies is another, but it's not too good either.  I'm not sure if it shows penetration, though, but I know corrida does.  These films take all the passion out of sex, and turn it into something disgusting, so it's nothing to get excited about.  The Piano Teacher also has some graphic sexual content (the only real sex is clips of porno the heroine - if you could call her that - is watching), but that movie sucks, too.  See a pattern here?  I do, unfortunately.  See also: http://www.xixax.com/viewtopic.php?t=3152&highlight=disturbing+films&start=90

[NEON MERCURY]

Can someone give me the names of them?  I've never seen a film like that.

spoilerssssssss{{{{{{{{{



.well if you watch irrevesible you will see a fantastic rape scene complete w/ a cgi penis....his "love" is real but his penis is not......

....if you rent or buy six feet under you will see the underrated homosexual steadicam anal sex .......season one.[vegas episode]

buy by brackhage criterion for "hot live real sex"

...if you are into freaky things....and by the fact that your username has 3 vowels...you fit right in....but i suggest you buy talk to her....even though the "love" scene is done offscreen the impact is very sensual and will make you feel alive...plus you will be able to see a gargantuan vagina about the size of a castle drawbridge during medevil times....

....you should also rent ...the unrated "the dreamers".......its got a little bit of everything...you can see michael pitts penis [which would put you in exsclusive company] and you can see breasts  , and asses and vaginas ......plus they bleed..... ...

[ono]

My (original) name had 8 vowels.  What does that make me?

*Adds Brakhage to the list*  It's for research.  Yes, research.  Nothing more.

[NEON MERCURY]

My (original) name had 8 vowels.  What does that make me?

[Thrindle]

.well if you watch irrevesible you will see a fantastic rape scene complete w/ a cgi penis....his "love" is real but his penis is not......

GT won't let me watch this.