[Movies] Stuck

Stuck starts with Mena Suvari washing feces off a senile old man at a senior citizens home. From that point on you know this isn’t going to be your typical moviegoing experience, but I knew this would be the case before the film even started because Stuck is directed by Stuart Gordon.

Stuart Gordon has made a career out of providing anything but typical film experiences. He’s made splatter classics like the Re-Animator series and From Beyond, he wrote Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, produced a movie called Death Bed and most recently directed Edmond, a play of his longtime colleague David Mamet that was adapted for the screen.

Based on the true story, Stuck is the tale of a woman who runs over a homeless man (Stephen Rea), which causes the man to get trapped in her windshield. She seems more concerned about the blood on her upholstery than the dying man begging for help. So rather than help him, she drives home, parks the car in her garage and leaves him there while she figures out what to do. Stephen Rea’s character isn’t too happy about this and does everything in his power to escape before he dies of blood loss.

It debuted at the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival and was one of many great films that were a part of the Midnight Madness Program. After TIFF I had a chance to chat with Stuart Gordon about my favourite things: his movies, gratuitous nudity and running over people with cars.

So Stuck is based on a true story. What about this story made you want to make a film out of it?
It was just such an incredible story. It was one of those things that if you made it up, no one would believe it. The question was: what would make a woman who normally works as a caregiver in a senior citizens home do something like this.

Mena Suvari’s character Brandi starts off nice enough. So it’s circumstance that makes her evil?
Well I think she’s a regular ordinary person. She is a nice person but nice people can do terrible things.

So would you say it’s nurture, not nature that determines personality?
No, I think what happens is that any of us in our society today do not want to take responsibility for their actions. I think that’s really widespread. Normally very caring people will turn and do horrific things to avoid being punished or called upon for their actions.

This movie is a very gritty urban tale. Even the soundtrack is. Were you involved with the soundtrack at all?
Oh sure.

So do you listen to a lot of hip-hop?
[laughs] I don’t listen to it that much but my daughter does. She was kind of a technical adviser on this one.

What was the biggest challenge with shooting Stephen Rea stuck in the windshield?
Well poor Stephen, he pointed out to me that in reality the guy was in the windshield for three days. But Stephen was in the windshield for three weeks. [laughs] I think he’s a great actor but physically he was really pushed to the limit. He’s a real trooper.

The gore in this film is pretty brutal and realistic as opposed to other films you’ve done where there’s an underlying humour to it.
If you’re going to show violence you really need to show it the way it is. It’s painful. That’s one of the things that’s very rarely shown in films. People can get shot and keep on going like they’re feeling no pain at all. I think you’ve gotta show that’s it’s messy and it hurts.

You’ve never shied away from including what some might call gratuitous nudity in your films.
I never think of it as gratuitous.

Why do you feel the need to include that? Does the audience demand it?
No. It depends what the scene is. There are times when people do not wear clothes. [laughs] It bothers me when I see these movies when people are in bed and they’re all dressed.

Or like have a sheet up to their neck.
Yeah, or they’re wearing little teddies. It’s like, what planet are you from?

I find it interesting that Mena Suvari has a producer credit and a rather graphic sex scene. Did she resist doing that scene at all?
No, Mena’s incredible. She really wanted this movie to push the boundaries. It had to go further. Right from the beginning, it lets you know this movie is not going to play by the rules.

You and David Mamet go back a long way, your theatre group performed one of his first plays correct?
Yeah we did. We did the first professional production of his work.

Did working with Mamet on Edmond affect this movie at all?
I think it did. There’s a line in Mamet’s Edmond that was sort of leading to this project. He says “How much of your life are you truly alive… when you’re in difficulties. When you’re in a car crash. ” That line sort of stayed with me with Stuck. It is true. When you’re in a car crash. Suddenly your life comes into focus for you.

You’ve been making horror movies for close to 25 years now. What do you think about the kids these days and their Torture Porn?
I don’t like that expression, porn. People are always trying to lump horror movies into some sort of pornography and I don’t think it is. Like every generation has to create their own monsters. Different things care different people at different times. I think it’s a result of what we’re seeing in our newspapers every day. There’s constantly stuff about throwing out the Geneva Convention. Torturing people in Iraq and Guantanamo. It’s hard to escape it. Movies reflect what our society is doing.

Are there any contemporary horror filmmakers out there that you really like what they’re doing?
Oh yeah, there’s a lot. It’s funny because a lot of them were at [The Toronto International Film Festival’s] Midnight Madness. I love [Takashi] Miike. I think he’s great. And Dario Argento is one of my heroes. I really liked Danny Boyle’s 28 Days Later. I thought that was a great film. There’s some wonderful work being done.

From Beyond was just released on DVD for the first time. Why did it take so long to get this amazing movie on DVD?
That’s a good question. I’ve been pestering them about it for years now. What was really extraordinary was that when they finally started getting into the idea of putting it out, they located some of the material that had been cut out by the MPAA. We were able to create a director’s cut that re-inserted all this material.

What was cut out by the MPAA?
A lot of it was violence or sexual material. It’s a very disturbing movie but this is not a realistic film. It’s a film about other dimensions. I think they were getting their revenge on me because Re-Animator had been released unrated. I really had to run the gauntlet.

Finally, you’re working on a new Re-Animator film.
Well, it’s in development.

And what’s it called?
House of Re-Animator. The house in question is the White House. It’s about the Vice-President of the United States dropping dead. Since he’s actually running the country, they need to bring him back. [Laughs]

Have you got anyone in mind to play the Vice President?
I’ve got George Wendt [Norm from Cheers] lined up to play him.