Games People Play - James Ronald Whitney

Even though many people think it’s all satirical. I really had this idea for a one-hour primetime weekly game show. I knew that it wouldn’t be for a network because I like things to be too real. I knew it would be HBO, Showtime or Spike. If I explained it to those people they would tell me that no one is ever going to do these crazy antics you want them to do and if they do they won’t sign a release form. So I said, fuck it and I’ll shoot it in 72 hours to prove that people will engage in these antics. The genesis of this was letting it serve as a pilot pitch. I still want that series. But I had so much fun making the movie that I went ahead and made the sequel GAMES PEOPLE PLAY: Hollywood which will be out soon. The movies are very different from the idea for the television series. The TV show would have three challenges for per show.

The difference between a reality film and a documentary is that a documentary goes back historically and finds something that will originally go forward like The Real Cancun did with Spring Break. They would have happened without a film around them. A reality film is when you make something happen that would not have come about naturally and you end up making a film about it.

I’m an equal opportunist when it comes to sexual things, relationships or nudity on camera. I don’t know why we are able to put a big vagina onscreen and everyone is ok with it but you put a penis up there and people go into shock.

[laughs] I suppose it depends on the penis. When I cast I can take those parts into account. I don’t look at it as there being a queer aspect but as the melting pot aspect of New York City. There are straight, gay, lesbian, confused, closeted and whoever. In a cast of six in New York to have one gay guy is just the normal New York City percentage. I would have been disappointed if I hadn’t had at least one African-American, one gay person because I don’t think I would have been representing New York City well enough. We’re a pretty diversified territory.

I think they’ve commingled that question with a lot of things such as me being nervous about the untraditional things in the film. Gayness being one, full frontal nudity with men and women, making a game out of such horrific things such as eating disorders, Tourette Syndrome and molestation. I wasn’t nervous about any of those things because they are facts of life. As long as those facts of life continue they are eligible for entry into the game. I’m kind of glad that people are making a big deal out of the gay issue in the film because of all the recent controversy over gay marriage so when they see somebody they can identify with in the movie they will realize that he’s a regular guy. Not some queenie affected gay guy that will make you turn away. So it’s a positive that people are talking about this. I couldn’t ever imagine having a cast with someone that isn’t gay or lesbian.

My goal is not to make the audience feel comfortable. If they sit through any film I make and remain within their comfort zone then I have failed as a filmmaker. When actors go to auditions and have to shed a tear they typically tap into something that is very sad or difficult. Never do you hear or know what these actors are thinking in their head to evoke that tear. I wanted to know what that was. I was going to challenge them to be as emotionally inhibited as they can in front of hundreds of their peers to see how brave they were. I wanted the six most uninhibited performers I could find. That was the lack of inhibition emotionally then we went to lack of inhibition physically. Quite frankly the emotional part was the greater struggle for these actors. Even though this is a comedy there are some things everyone has that they don’t talk about. The more they remain hidden the more they remain taboo. If we talk about them then the taboo part goes away.

I was molested when I was five so my first movie, Just, Melvin: Just Evil, was about my grandfather that molested my whole family. Then the next movie, Telling Nicholas, was about a little boy who’s mom was killed in the World Trade Center attack and now his father must tell him his mom is dead. I’m used to tackling tough subjects and there is always a humorous relief in the films. But this was the opposite because it was fun and frolicking then peppered with some moments of seriousness. If you don’t have elements like that then the funny moments aren’t as funny.

by Daniel Robert Epstein

SG Username: AndersWolleck