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At one point it almost got as far as pre-production in LA. It was a 'sure thing'. They 'loved it'. We had lunch to celebrate (this was about 5 years ago) and during the dessert the producers brought up a small point, something small they wished to change, something they were sure would not trouble me at all because it was so damn trivial. I was intrigued at what this tiny detail could be. They wanted Adam to be white and Eve to be black. What it boiled down to was the head of distribution was a white South African and he felt that the world was not ready to see a white woman being rogered by a black man. The script was more radical than the film turned out to be.
Over coffee I refused to change the script and they regretfully said that the issue was a deal breaker and that was the end of that.
Events in Hollywood turned me a little sour for a while and I began to really miss my days in Performance Art. As a result of which I went back to my roots and did LEAVING LAS VEGAS. The film was shot cheap and fast on 16mm and later blown up to 35mm. Amazingly it was a success, something that still blows my mind. More importantly, it established the possibility of working in a much more liberating way. Of retaining control of the film and the finished product. This is mainly an economic issue. At a time when budgets are rising and actors charge more for three months work than most people could earn in a lifetime. The world of cinema has gone mad.
I decided to make this film my next project. I was worried that if I put it off any longer it probably would not survive. Also, life is short and each film takes at least a year to make. After Leaving Las Vegas I had directed ONE NIGHT STAND for New Line. Although it is a film I am very proud of, I found the return to higher budget production quite a strain and it convinced me to go ahead with my little obsession.
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