In a wonderfully frank interview with Irish broadcaster Tom Dunne, flimmaker Penelope Spheeris, whose triumphant Decline Of Western Civilization documentary trilogy was FINALLY released on DVD this year after decades spent as a prohibitively costly VHS rarity, spoke edifyingly about the schizoid nature of her career, and its trajectory from documentaries about low-life music scenes to Wayne’s World:
I can’t regret doing a goofy movie about heavy metal - and I have to admit it is - but for the most part I have to thank the Lord that I was actually able to make a living after that. I was 45 years old and I was borrowing money from my sister trying to pay the rent. Then I got Wayne’s World and I was a millionaire overnight.
It was totally dramatic. I didn’t know how to handle it. I was some white chick from a trailer park and I was like uh I don’t know what to do with all this money, I still don’t ‘cause in my brain I’m still poor.
I didn’t want to do them, but they started offering me more and more money. They don’t do that now. They get some kid s out of school and pay them nothing. But they were offering me all this money to do The Beverly Hillbillies and The Little Rascals and I thought if I can’t do what I want to do, I might as well make some money. So I did. I sold out. Let’s face it.
It irks me pretty much bottomlessly anymore to see an artist have to be self-deprecating about taking a good gig—is there any other way to sell besides “out?” That tedious ‘90s bullshit Fugzai conversation about remaining indie at all costs seems to have cost a fair few great bands potential paydays, and frankly, I think the hip-hop GET PAID AT ALL COSTS ethos reflects the reality of the artist much more accurately than the whole commie puritan Maximum Rock ‘N’ Roll it’s-unethical-to-make-money-from-your-art trip. Look at Steven Soderbergh—with the fat cash he made from the Ocean’s series of high-budget caper flicks, he has the time, resources, and flexibility to make interesting and provocative work like The Girlfriend Experience and The Knick. Spheeris used her fame to complete her punk doc trilogy, and since nobody actually put a gun to my head and made me watch The Little Rascals, why should I care that someone who made work I respect got a payday for something to which I’m indifferent? Money doesn’t get thrown at an artist every day, and if you’re not hurting anybody, I say when it comes, TAKE IT.
Here’s that interview, via NewsTalk:
Here’s the indelible Black Flag segment from the first Decline doc.