Wednesday, October 14, 1998
Actors go nude for opportunity to make it in show business
FILM: Women’s roles in male-dominant industry observed in
documentary
By Sandy Yang
Daily Bruin Contributor
The first frame of Odette Springer’s documentary, "Some Nudity
Required," about sex in the B-movie industry, introduces those
familiar block letters that spell out "Hollywood" sitting atop that
hill. Bigger than life but discernible in the distance, it is the
sign that represents the tangible dream of stardom. It is also an
appropriate prelude to this documentary in which aspiring film
stars have a chance at experience. It’s not always the kind of
exposure that gets a young starlet on the cover of People, however,
but the stripping of clothes and sometimes of self-worth.
Springer, the co-director and co-producer of the film, is a
former B-movie music director. She makes herself one of the
subjects of the personal and professional turmoil that is linked to
working in an industry in which filming nude or barely-clad women –
engaging in anything from violent sex to toting big guns while
wearing a G-string – is commonplace. Focusing on people in front of
and behind the camera, "Some Nudity Required" tries to answer the
question why people are in this less-than-laudable business in an
objective light.
"Part of the balance was that we put a lot of intelligent people
in the film along with people who were questionable in their
ethics," co-director and co-producer Johanna Demetrakas says. "We
put in intelligent people because we wanted to show that this
industry isn’t run by pigs. They’re run by people like you and
me."
Springer, an educated musician who was involved in the industry
for years, poses the same question for herself throughout the film
and ponders in the film’s opening sequence, "How did I go from
Beethoven to B-movies?"
Intertwining her own story with numerous interviews with
actresses, directors, producers and other people involved in
B-movies, Springer reveals that the usual story for someone who
makes a pit-stop in B-movie-land is its potential to ascend to
working for big studio movies. But the film takes an extra step in
exploring the motivations and reasons an actress could stomach the
degrading working conditions.
Being involved in B-movies with the simple desire to "make it "
in Hollywood has indeed given some now-famous stars and directors
their start, including Jack Nicholson and director Jonathan Demme.
But Springer is also interested in exposing the flipside. For
prolific B-movie actress Maria Ford, one of the main subjects of
the film, "making it" is a struggle both literally and emotionally.
Refusing to do anything in the script – including being strangled
on film – is not an option.
"What Maria is objecting is not so much that she does sexual
roles, but that she does roles that don’t portray her as a human
being," Springer says.
Even the simple idea of keeping opportunities open is met with a
double standard. Though actresses can build up a resume and
continue to find work in B-movie films, the infiltration of these
films can ultimately result in a backlash for women in general.
B-movie director Catherine Cyran is also a victim of the
catch-22.
"I think they do damage, and what they portray are real and
there are a lot of real things that we don’t want to necessarily
encourage, and they do active damage," Cyran says. "I don’t think
it helps me when I walk into a room for a job, and the last thing a
guy saw behind the desk was a movie like this because I have to be
female, which makes me a second commodity. I’m not a director. I’m
a woman director."
"Some Nudity Required" also explores a darker yet just as
universal reason why this kind of industry would attract or keep
people like Springer there, especially women. The fascination of
these films or the appeal of controlling men in a "you can look,
but you can’t touch" way is revealed to link back to a history of
sexual abuse, a revelation Springer experiences herself throughout
the telling of her story.
"I think that what I did was I opened Pandora’s Box," Springer
says. "Because in this little box there are many tragedies that go
way beyond B-movies. I think in terms of whether these films have
an effect on people, they certainly had an effect on me, and it
wasn’t the effect I thought they were going to have. I was reeked
by all this stuff in the beginning. And as I talked about in the
movie, I started to get turned on by these images – later to
discover why I was getting turned on."
"It was these images," Demetrakas says. "These vulgar, stupid,
whatever you want to call these images awakened something in Odette
(Springer), and she had to go through the dark side to get into the
light. She had to actually reach into her pain. She had to eat the
poison. She had to fight fire with fire. She didn’t know that was
going on until they connected. That is a very pure experience."
Despite the deeply personal involvement Springer had with the
film’s subject, keeping balance and being objective was always a
goal. The film garnered the same sentiment from Los Angeles Times
film critic Kenneth Turan, who commented that the film was
nonjudgmental on a very complex subject. "Some Nudity Required"
received wide audience acclaim and was an official selection in the
1998 Sundance competition in the documentary competition.
"The only reason I stuck with it for so long (is because)
Hollywood is so powerful, and we have more power here than anywhere
else, more than what parents have," Springer says. "These films are
made for teenage boys, and one of the things that propelled me to
look into this was that I have a son and he was 7 or 8 when I began
this, and he was going to be a teenager and he would have to deal
with these issues and these images."
Springer also hopes audiences will watch the film and think
about their own relationships and talk about them.
So far, Springer has seen this vision come true.
Last Friday’s screening in Hollywood garnered an immense number
of accolades following the Q&A panel, from what Demetrakas
described as "a great cynical Hollywood audience."
Also, the documentary is proof that a labor of love is possible,
even in Hollywood.
"What I hope is that this film causes some kind of scraping
beyond where we are willing to go," Springer said. "Maybe we can
look at ourselves a little more differently, a little more
honestly. If I can do that, then I’ve accomplished something."
FILM: "Some Nudity Required" will be showing at the Santa Monica
Laemmele Theater on Oct. 16.(left to right) Kate Amend, Julie
Strain, Odette Springer, and Johanna Demetrakas star in "Some
Nudity Required".Photos courtesy of Seventh Art Releasing
The new documentary "Some Nudity Required" will be screening at
the Laemmele Theater in Santa Monica.
Comments, feedback, problems?
© 1998 ASUCLA Communications Board[Home]