Larry Clark Q&A

David Jenkins talks to the controversial director about fights, gangbangers and his new film 'Wassup Rockers'.

Feb 28 2007

Continuing his preoccupation with the ruggedness of youth, Larry Clark's new film, 'Wassup Rockers', captures 24 hours in the lives of a group of Latino skaters growing up in South Central LA. It's filmed in his usual vérité style with trademark lingering shots of the human torso, but there's also a dark strain of humour running through it which, admittedly, doesn't sit particularly well with the naturalism of the performances. 'Wassup Rockers' is Clark's first UK release since 'Bully'. His last film, 'Ken Park', failed to reach our screens, a situation not helped when Clark punched the nose of distributor and Tartan Films boss Hamish McAlpine during a heated debate at the 2002 London Film Festival.

What grabbed your interest in this group of LA skaters?

To be honest, I met them by accident. I was doing a photoshoot on Venice Beach with Tiffany Limos from 'Ken Park' and I was supposed to photograph her with some of the other kids from the film. They didn't turn up, so I suggested we go find some skaters, and we saw Porky and Kiko who looked out of place and had a really individual style going on.

Did they take much convincing to be in a movie?

I started hanging out with them, we'd skate and I'd write at the same time. I would drive over to South Central, load them into my car and sometimes there would be so many kids that some would get in the trunk. So there'd be this old man driving around with a car packed full of kids. I'm lucky I never got busted. During the year we'd tell each other stories and we got to know each other and really began to trust each other.

You can almost see it in the naturalistic performances.

I just got to know them very well. I knew what I wanted them to do, and if they started acting in a different way, I could then say 'No, no, no, no, this is the way you walk and this is the way you talk.' I was amazed at how good they were.

Was the kid who is shot in the beginning of the film based on anyone you knew?

He was one of the kids who'd always be around in Kiko's parking lot. He was called Creeper. I knew him a little bit. He tried to sell me a stolen bicycle. He used to make homemade CDs that he'd sell at the local gas station to make a couple of bucks, then one day the gangbangers came by and…

What's a gangbanger?

They're members of a street gang. It doesn't mean nine guys fucking a girl in this case. Anyway, they shot him nine times. It's a serious business. The normal thing for me would have been to make the whole movie in South Central, but I knew what could potentially have happened.

Can you discuss the film's music?

The bands in the film are all unpublished neighbourhood Latino punk rock bands. There's a big resurgence in punk rock for Latino communities around the world, where kids go into the studio with their own hundred bucks and make some recordings for themselves and burn CDs for their friends.

Do the activities of the kids you capture in your films resonate at all with your own upbringing?

My films are about different ways of growing up. It is interesting to document the various ways that kids have to live and survive. In the case of this film, you have to start fighting when you're in kindergarten, you know? You have to stand up for yourself or else you'll get a reputation as a sissy and you're going to be fucked up. You don't have to win, but you have to fight.

Your last film, 'Ken Park', didn't receive a release in the UK after that fight with Hamish McAlpine.

It was mainly due to clearance issues that it didn't come out. People thought it was censorship, but we never got that far. Trying to clear the music is a real nightmare. So that's why 'Ken Park' didn't come out, but we're sorting out some stuff which may mean it comes out in the future.

'Wassup Rockers' is out now on DVD.

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