It’s never easy to get your indie flick noticed. So how is Bob Ray planning to promote Total Badass, his documentary about Austin author/singer/actor/forger Chad Holt? Road trip!
Wednesday night saw the first screening since March of the down-and-dirty doc about the man that Alamo Drafthouse booker Lars Nilsen called “Austin’s holy beast.” It was, director Ray admitted to the crowd at the Alamo Ritz, a rough cut, with hold cards for credits and a watermark at the bottom of the screen. It’s also a rough film, and that’s a good thing: Holt comes across like a lost John Waters’ collaborator, or like a real-life version of Nicolas Cage in Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans.
Just like getting really alternative music out there, it’s tougher than it’s been in a whole for truly out-there films to find an audience. Admitting that the graphic scenes of sex and drug use might be a hard sell even on the festival circuit, Ray told the audience that his plan is to hit the road for a 26 date road trip, starting in July. Nicknamed the Down and Dirty Film Tour, Ray’s plan is to hit all the cities with a real underground scene in Texas, Canada, and right down through the Western states. He’ll be screening Total Badass, plus his narrative debut Rock Opera, some of his CrashToons and, of course, the definitive modern Roller Derby documentary Hell on Wheels.
What the Six Street Irregulars got to see on Wednesday was a working cut, and Ray’s still taking feedback with two upcoming pre-tour screenings. He’s shipping the film down to Houston tonight (Saturday, May 22) before bringing it back to the Ritz next Wednesday, May 26. If you can’t make it to either Texas date, don’t worry: Austin will see another screening as the last date on the tour, but it might be a very different film by then. Catch it before the lawyers and the hipsters get hold of it.
This article appears in May 21 • 2010.
