Kurt Voss may be down, but he’s not out.
After two years of cinema limbo, Voss’ latest feature,
“Down and Out With the Dolls,” has found its way into
American theaters. The UCLA alumnus upholds his fierce independence
embodied within this punk rock film.
Voss’ independent film career began at UCLA Film School,
which he values as more than just a school of learning.
“It was a terrific experience,” he said. “One
of the big values of film school is not only learning your trade
and theory, but it’s also your first experience in
networking. I’m still working with a lot of people I met back
in the day.”
Two of those people are fellow UCLA graduates Alison Anders and
Dean Lent, who collaborated on their professional directing and
screenwriting debut, 1987s “Border Radio,” a low-budget
rock film starring real-life punk and rock musicians.
Voss and Anders returned to the rock movie genre with
“Sugar Town,” which depicted the Orange County rock
scene, and Voss uses the emerging rock scene in Portland, Ore. as
the backdrop for “Dolls.”
“I’ve loved rock since I was a kid,” said
Voss, who professes only rank amateurism on the bass.
“It’s the closest thing I have to religion. The
do-it-yourself aesthetic of “˜Dolls’ is influenced by
the punk rock bands.”
“Down and Out with the Dolls” documents the rise and
fall of fictional grrl band the Paper Dolls, set to original songs
and scored by musician and star Zoe Poledouris. Voss found the
majority of the cast locally by putting up flyers in record stores
all over the Pacific Northwest to find authentic musicians, a la
“Border Radio.”
“We wanted to have girls who could really play their
instruments, so it wouldn’t turn out like “˜Coyote
Ugly,'” he said. “They’re all cute and
lovely girls, but they have real bodies. It was a very conscious
choice.”
Voss shot “Down and Out with the Dolls” in only 26
days, which he describes as “relaxed” compared to his
usual 17-day shooting schedule. This project was his first
experience with digital video technology, which worried him at
first.
“I had never used digital video before, and when I looked
at the dailies, I thought, “˜How is this ever going to
translate to film?'” he said. “But I’m
happy with the end result, and I’m gonna use it
again.”
Production on the film ended almost two years ago, and while it
found audiences at film festivals in Munich, Germany and the Czech
Republic, it was difficult for “Dolls” to find a
distributor. Voss cites a few simple reasons for that.
“It was made independently,” he said. “And
part of it was a function of not having movie stars in it.
It’s a very, very competitive market, and it’s hard to
stand out.”
What really stands out is Hollywood’s overall
unfriendliness to Voss’ pictures. Not only did it take so
long for “Dolls” to be shown in America, but the DVDs
for “Border Radio” and “Sugar Town” were
shelved.
“It’s the corporatization,” he said.
“Everything’s becoming more and more monolithic, and
it’s a problem. I’m pissed off, with good reason. But
you’ve got to deal with the hand you’re
dealt.”
It appears that Voss’ hand is improving, with the limited
release of “Dolls” and a couple of projects in
development, including a TV series starring Don Cheadle. And Voss
continues to be light-hearted and optimistic about his independent
film career.
“(Director Robert) Altman said it’s like building
sandcastles: a couple of people say it’s pretty, then it
washes into the sea,” said Voss. “I just take it one
day at a time. I’m not drawing inspiration from any
free-standing well. I just want to stay engaged and interested and
upbeat.”