Fall Films
By Marjorie Baumgarten, Fri., Nov. 10, 2006
Bobcat Goldthwait on 'Sleeping Dogs Lie'
Nearly 15 years after breaking into film direction with Shakes the Clown – a comedy about a clown whose red nose is the result of booze, not laughter – Bobcat Goldthwait is back behind the camera with Sleeping Dogs Lie. In Austin last month to present his new film at the Austin Film Festival, the director worried about how his small, shot-on-tape project would look when projected later that day on the giant IMAX screen. Part of him embraced the Austin audience. After all, Shakes experienced a longer and more fruitful theatrical run in Austin than any other city in 1992. Goldthwait knows he's among admirers here. But there's also the little matter of a central plot point. You see, it's enough to make some people gag.
Sleeping Dogs Lie is the story of a woman who is deeply in love for the first time, and after accepting her boyfriend's marriage proposal, she also succumbs to his suggestion that they share their most private secrets. Bad idea – especially if your innermost secret is that you once blew your pet dog. It's even worse if your straitlaced family overhears your disclosure. So much for love conquering all.
In typical Goldthwait fashion, the scandalous sequence is the film's opening volley, although it must be said that the action occurs offscreen. Not only does Goldthwait handle the interspecies sex taboo – ahem – tastefully, but he also uses this potentially offensive sequence as the basis for a sweet and smart modern love story.
"In some ways, it was kind of like my stand-up act," the comedian notes. "I used to always say something that would alienate a crowd and then spend the next five minutes or hour trying to win them back. That's kind of what the idea of the movie was ... to see if I could win 'em back."
Goldthwait has steadily honed his chops as a director in the past 15 years. He directed Jimmy Kimmel Live for a year and a half ("my favorite job I ever had") and also Chappelle's Show for a while. There's also the TV movie Windy City Heat ("an evil movie" for which "I am going to hell") that has just been released on DVD.
"Comedians tend to like to work with me because I don't make them do stuff over and over," he says. "After all these years of being a stand-up comedian, I kind of know when something works. And I think that helped a little bit in making this movie. That's how we did it so quickly [in 16 days]. Visually, it's not an overdesigned movie, but I decided we could either try to get all the material done, or we could try to impress people with spectacular, amazing shots. I obviously just wanted to get the whole thing done."
Joking that his budget for Sleeping Dogs Lie was "less than what a midlife sports car would have cost," he brags about finding half his crew on Craigslist. "For Los Angeles, it was certainly about as guerrilla as it gets." Couches and other props were borrowed from Jimmy Kimmel's green room and elsewhere. Still, this "attempt to do a grownup movie" was "nerve-racking" for him.
"I honestly hope I can just keep making movies that are really small," he says, "so I can make them about the things I want. I would just rather get a bunch of friends together and make these little movies – like pirates. I can't promise that next one is going to get projected, either, but I just want to keep trucking along."
Sleeping Dogs Lie is scheduled to open in Austin on Dec. 15.
