DVD COMMENTARY

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for joining me on this, the most illuminating DVD commentary you will surely hear. You are of course listening to the voice box and word noises of the creative force behind this magnum opus, Bikini Space Babes. One of the most personal projects an artist like myself could possibly conceive of undertaking and committing. While I can’t speak for everyone, I’m not that good a ventriloquist, I can safely say this film speaks to each and every individual in a very specific and visceral way, be it to the heart, head, eyes, ears, nose or throat. Perhaps I should start by explaining the root of the genesis of the seedling of the story. I was grocery shopping at the local consignment store, they have lots of vintage food there, which is my favorite, and it’s just a really gratifying place to meet people, you know. There’s just a special class of people there, who know the value of good, fine, aged produce.

And I met these women, and through the course of our conversation about space travel, and because I was already imagining them in bikinis, for the most part, the story just sort of gelled right then and there. I hugged them adieu and raced home to write the first and only draft of Bikini Space Babes.

I remember being concerned about rewrites but just decided to go with my gut. Your gut is like your conscience only more conveniently located.

Ah, so here we have the underlying visual motif first established, as we settle on a shot of two moons. Roundness and duality, words thrown around a lot on set. The roundness of time and the duality of… two things. I’ve always been influenced by, not just by art, but by those everyday occurrences that are encountered on a daily basis. Note the subtle shading here of the mise en scene in the shower scene. This was inspired not only by some of Fellini’s finest moments conquering color and light, but also of a wild dream I had about these three women essentially doing what you see here, although it was liquid body wash as opposed to bar soap. Art is on occasion about compromise, and I think the soap adds an edge to the overt roundness of the film. I find dreams to be incredibly potent and use them for inspiration in our films among other things.

And of course, here I am. Captain of the Spaceship Mom. A little shout-out to my mother there. I promised her I’d do that, though she kept insisting she really didn’t need to be associated with this. But being the son that I am, I felt that I owed it to her, since it was her name on all the checks. I should probably address the question on everyone’s mind, whom did I model my look after? It’s actually a composite of a few people, really, a bit Matt LeBlanc, a bit of the guy who tailors my suits, I don’t recall his name but he’s a great guy and an exceedingly adequate tailor. And that one President, from the 20-dollar bill? Joshua? I can never remember his name. Okay, but this was a real tough shot here, this is what they call a star swipe? It was all eventually done in post after hours of cutting little stars out and trying various swiping methods. It’s a shame we didn’t get it on set, but it really moves us to our next scene here.

So now we’re on Jupiter, which is our parking lot. I ad-libbed that throne line to cover up the handicapped parking sign. There was a lot of that kind of off-the-cuff idea engineering with little line ideas and costume alterations that occurred during shooting. I like to really go with the flow, which is what I call my heart sometimes, and not be bound by convention, which is what I call the girls’ outfits sometimes. And here we return again to our theme of roundness and duality in this close-up. I promised Ambria a close-up and was shocked when she didn’t appreciate this one. Sometimes artists have trouble grasping a true vision, there’s so much of their own vision they want to force upon you, like the fuzz or something, and you’ve gotta stay true to your own vision and not let anyone else’s vision supersede your vision. Particularly with this film.

What makes this such a personal film I think is the aspect of the journey. These women have traveled far, from Planet Hollywood to Jupiter and they’ve now experienced this irreplaceable loss, in the loss of their bikinis. It’s a coming-of-age tale, appropriate since all of these girls had just turned 18, they knew, at least they knew when I explained it, that this was really a story of hope and loss, and regaining that hope for a second and third time.

And the obligatory monster, made from old boxes and some newer boxes. That gun was given to me by my grandfather; at least he intended to give it to me.

And here, the destruction of the monster symbolizes the destruction of all monsters. And the gun is like an extension of myself which shoots. This celebration scene is of course, what I was working up to. This regaining of hope after so much loss. There are boundless examples of roundness and duality here, completing the endless chain of life, were it in chain form. And the classic fade-out on a literal high-five. And then a figurative high-five.

Well, I hope you enjoyed this commentary, I hope it illuminated some of the finer points of this cinematic experience. It’s certainly a film I revisit a lot, and I can’t help recalling the events surrounding it as I watch. And now I hope you won’t be able to help it either. Thank you for joining me, and thank me for joining you.