September 11, 1996

SPECIAL BACK TO SCHOOL MEDITATION .....

Greetings from New York City!

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My first scene on camera was in Larry Cohen's "Special Effects" which he wrote and directed. A classic non-union B-movie, "Special Effects" was about a demented film director (myself) who murders a young actress (Zoe Tamerlis), gets footage of the murder and tries to insert it in a film. As usual, Larry's script was bizarre and wonderful. (By the way, this is in 1983 before the dawn of the "independent" film movement we know now. Low-budget movies were just low-budget movies. At least this one was.) My character kills Zoe's character just as he's trying to have sex with her. (you might know Zoe as Abel Ferrara's "Ms.45" or as the young woman shooting dope with Harvey Keitel in Abel's "The Bad Lieutenent.") (And yes, I'm spelling her name correctly. This is how she spelt it in my movie.) Needless to say, my first scene being a "bed scene", I had to be naked. I hadn't met Zoe before the big day, so I found her in make-up and asked her if she wanted to lay down some "ground rules" for our big naked sex scene. She threw me out of her dressing room. This was the beginning of the harmony we were to enjoy during this shoot. So we're in bed together, naked, except I'm wearing briefs. The cameraman keeps complaining that he can see my clothing. So I boldly whip off the briefs and suddenly everybody on the set has found this scene tremendously interesting. So does my dick. Needless to say, Zoe got offended by my natural reaction to her naked beauty. Things progressed from there until I got killed in my last scene.

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