Filmmaker Gregg Araki (“The Doom Generation”): “It’s The Brattiest Kid That Conquered The World”

Show Notes

Dennis is joined via Zoom by filmmaker Gregg Araki (The Living End, Nowhere, Mysterious Skin) to discuss the re-release and restoration of his mid-1990s cult classic The Doom Generation, which stars Rose McGowan, James Duval and Johnathan Schaech. Gregg talks about what it’s been like to revisit the film, what makes each of his three leads perfect for their roles, how the film got the subtitle “A Heterosexual Movie,” and how and why he cast people like Christopher Knight from The Brady Bunch, Lauren Tewes from The Love Boat and Hollywood madam Heidi Fleiss in cameo roles. Gregg also talks about the darker themes of the movie and how young people today seem ever more doomed than they did in the 90’s, how he approaches sex scenes, watching the movie again with an audience at this year’s Sundance Film Festival and whatever happened to the kick-ass belt buckle Jonathan Schaech wore in the movie. Other topics include: his recent forays into television with his series Now Apocalypse and short-term directing gigs on shows like American Gigolo and Dahmer, why he called his production company Desperate Pictures, the upside of film school, his punk rock roots and that time a fan told him that watching The Doom Generation actually made him gay. www.strandreleasing.com