The Massie Twins: What drew you to the
project of adapting Choke for the big screen?
Clark Gregg: I’d read Fight Club and I thought beyond being the
funniest and darkest writer I’d read in a while, Chuck Palahniuk
was on to something important culturally, really looking at the underbelly
of American society, and I was just fascinated . So when someone sent
me “Choke” before it had been published and I found out
it hadn’t already been optioned, I freaked out a little and did
everything legal and a little bit illegal to just get a hold of it and
make it.
MT: There’s been a gap of about
nine years between Chuck Palahniuk novel-based films. What gives?
CG: In Hollywood’s twisted logic, and at that time, Fight Club
was considered a little bit of a disappointment, because it had cost
a lot of money to make and didn’t make a lot back. You gotta figure
that it’s made that money back by now. Perhaps there are other
factors involved, but with Choke I think the fact that it’s about
a sex-addicted colonial theme park worker who may or may not have been
cloned from the foreskin of Jesus - that might not have been considered
too commercial.
MT: For the fans who have read the novel,
how similar is the movie to the book?
CG: They’re very similar and a lot of the changes are pretty subtle.
When everyone reads a novel, they see a movie in their head –
and this one’s pretty damn close to what I saw. At the end of
the day you just can’t keep everything that’s in a book
in a movie. It’s like moving from one city to another by plane
– if you try to take your house too, that plane’s not going
anywhere. You can basically take only the things you need and that’s
the new city called “Movie.” I just made that up. (laughs)
Mike Massie, Clark Gregg, Joel Massie
MT: That’s a great analogy.
CG: I’m pretty sure it doesn’t make any sense at all.
MT: When you were writing the script,
did you have actors in mind?
CG: I really don’t do that. I’m embarrassed to say this
- and I guess it’s not a big secret since I wrote, directed, and
acted in it - but there’s some narcissism in my personality. I
actually kind of picture myself as all of them. (laughs). I guess sometimes
I picture old movie stars.
MT: If you envision yourself in all these
roles, how did you decide upon playing Lord High Charlie?
CG: (laughs) It’s not because I really think I’m a jackass.
At least I hope not.
MT: But you win in the end with Bijou
Phillips!
CG: I’d like to think that in terms of a movie, you’re developing
an idea and telling a character’s story. And the ideas about the
ways that people deal with the damage that’s done to them in order
to be able to give and receive love you start to see manifest in all
of the characters. Lord High Charlie’s story is developed, not
because I knew that I was going to play him, but because of the crucial
scenes between him and Victor that is actually of paramount importance
to Victor’s journey. I wasn’t going to cast myself, but
I do play some jackasses like that and I enjoy it.
MT: Was it difficult to direct yourself
and then later on edit those scenes?
CG: Normally you’d watch stuff through monitors so you’d
know what’s being captured and not captured on film, and playback
to watch the scenes. We didn’t have that. Someone would say “I
think the microphone was in the shot,” and we’d say “I
don’t know, we’ll check the dailies,” but in a couple
days when it’s too late to do anything about it. Luckily I had
a couple producers who I trusted who would say “I’m not
saying you stunk in that one, but you might want to do one more take.”
MT: Was there anything in the novel so
outrageous you didn’t want to use it or anything filmed that might
have run into MPAA problems?
CG: No. I feel like I sound full of shit even as I say this, but it’s
really true. There was nothing in the book that I thought was too shocking
and if at any moment I thought there was something too shocking, another
voice inside me would say “you coward, you better put that in
the script.”
MT: What was it like watching the film
for the first time with Chuck Palahniuk and a full audience?
CG: I was sick to my stomach. I think I had to walk out. He saw it the
first night when it premiered at Sundance, which was three days after
it was finished. People had told me it wasn’t funny and it was
dark and sick, and there were publicists who didn’t want to work
on it. I thought it was going to be like one of those dirty jokes I
love, that are so dirty that people are offended and leave the room
while I’m howling by myself. And with Chuck there also, I thought
I was going to feint from the anxiety. And when he liked it and when
the audience laughed at the places I laughed, I realized either it wasn’t
that dark or people are just as sick as I am.
MT: That’s probably what it is (laughs).
People appreciate that sick kind of humor more these days.
- The Massie Twins
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Fantastic interview guys!!!
