Wayne’s World director Penelope Spheeris on leaving Hollywood “They can blow me"

[msilenus]

This reads like a story off the "Epic Fuck You Money" stories thread.

Party on, Mrs. Spheeris.

AVC: Something that I’ve heard a lot of female directors say is that there’s no mercy. If you make a movie and it’s not a hit, that’s it.

PS: There’s no forgiveness. Oliver Stone could go wreck a car and get arrested for being on drugs and then do Alexander. But we can’t do that. Women can’t make mistakes. I’m not driving home tonight because I had a couple beers, you know? *Laughs.*

But yeah, you can’t screw up when you’re a woman. One little mistake, and you’re done. Like Senseless, they kept rewriting it and rewriting it. And I’m like, “Dude, you guys, this is not working. Don’t keep rewriting it. Let me just do the movie I signed up to do.” But they kept rewriting it, and it’s in my contract that I got to do what they say, you know? And at one point, I said to Bob Weinstein, “I don’t think this works,” and he goes, “This is my fucking money and I’m going to spend it any fucking way I want to.” And how are you going to argue with that?

So I had to do the movie, and it didn’t do very well. And as a woman, when you do a movie that doesn’t do well, then you’re done. You’re in director jail.

AVC: For forever.

PS: Forever. It’s not like they go, “Okay, Penelope, you’re out of jail now. Let’s make a movie.” At this point, I don’t want to make a movie. They can’t even fucking beg me to make a movie. I got to make a lot of money in the days when you could make a lot of money as a director, and I invested it right. I don’t need that anymore. It’s not like I’m bitter. I just feel like I went through too much pain. I really did enjoy my life, being in the movie business.

...

I did better than most people did. I got paid during the time where they were paying directors millions of dollars for doing movies. I think that’s why the Weinsteins tortured me so much, because they paid me 2.75 million or some shit like that for doing Senseless. It’s like, “Okay, we gave you all this money so we’re going to torture you this much.” It’s not worth it.

...

[Sin and I] just spent two years building a house together, and we have six houses, and we’ve got a lot of tenants and a lot of rent, and I don’t need the movie business, you know? So if they don’t hire me because I’m a woman—because I’m an older woman—if they don’t hire me, I don’t give a shit. I don’t know who fired who, but as far as I’m concerned, I fired them.

https://film.avclub.com/wayne-s-world-director-penelope-spheeris-on-leaving-hol-1833211775

[boy_bye]

I enjoyed the shit out of this. Someone in the comments quoted her saying that she was able to negotiate a good percentage on Wayne's World because no one thought it was gonna make any money ... and now she is "really, really rich." AMAZING.

[Cool Friend]

So awesome.  Good for her.

[thd7t]

I loved this article and loved her movies! 

[EngineeringFI]

 “Okay, we gave you all this money so we’re going to torture you this much.”

That line hit me pretty hard. I think a lot of employers treat people that way.

[Chranstronaut]

So if they don’t hire me because I’m a woman—because I’m an older woman—if they don’t hire me, I don’t give a shit. I don’t know who fired who, but as far as I’m concerned, I fired them.

Boom.

[markbike528CBX]

As someone who directed "The Decline of Western Civilization (1981), a punk rock documentary that she produced as well as directed"*, her comments sound pretty punk to me.

Also, she directed my favorite band, Mudhoney in "Black Sheep".

*via Wikipedia

[Freedom Invested]

“Okay, we gave you all this money so we’re going to torture you this much.”

That line hit me pretty hard. I think a lot of employers treat people that way.

Agreed. I actually enjoy my job and then my employer has to try to suck all the fun out of it due to various reason: politics, budget, etc.

No, fuck you, for as long as I'm on this project and working (until I've FIRE'd) I'm going to find a way to like this until I don't have to anymore.

I love her attitude, btw. Inspiring as Monday is almost here.