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INTERVIEW
Dennis Hensley
A ‘Basic Instinct’ for celebrating
(and skewering) the movies
By
LOANN HALDEN Armed
with a tape recorder, a living room of "mouthy
friends," and a table of homemade snacks, journalist
Dennis Hensley sat down to watch "Jaws" for the
first time about two years ago. His editor at British Premiere
magazine wanted a piece on Spielberg’s classic shark flick
for the 25th anniversary of its release, and Hensley hooked
him with a pitch to document a group viewing session.
"My
idea was just to invite people over and watch it," says
Hensley via phone from his L.A. area home. "I
had a feeling it would be entertaining, but I didn’t
know,
and then as it unfolded and I started writing about
it, I thought, ‘This is really fun to write about,
and I’d
like to do more of these.’"
British
Premiere is now defunct, but that inaugural evening in
front of the TV has guaranteed playback
in Hensley’s
new book, "Screening Party" – along with 15 other
cinematic discussions of the good ("Taxi Driver"),
the bad ("Armageddon"), and the divas ("A
Star is Born," "The Bodyguard," "Glitter").
And let’s not forget the bewildering: "I wanted some
gay protesters with signs to sit me down and go, ‘Here’s
what happened,’ " Hensley says of "Basic Instinct."
" It’s funny because, I think I say this in the book, I go
into that party ready to gun for [Sharon Stone], but when
she’s on screen is when it’s fun. She’s the best thing
in it. She’s like a force of nature in that movie. You
gotta give it up for Sharon Stone in ‘Basic Instinct,’
even though the plot doesn’t make a lick of sense. What’s
amazing is, that’s really it from what she’s given us in
terms of memorable movies – ‘Casino,’ but nobody wants
to go back and watch that again. She didn’t have a string
of box office hits, she had one, and she’s coasted on that
and her own star power and her amfAR glamour and made a
career out of it."
Each "Screening Party" chapter captures viewing
responses as they are hurled at the small screen by: Hensley;
his catty roommate Tony; fitness instructor/stand-up comic
Lauren; Marcus, the Julia Child of thematic treats – penis-shaped
Rice Krispie treat to go with Al Pacino in "Cruising," anyone?;
video store clerk/film student, Ross; and Dr. Beaverman,
the shrink who provides psychological insight into the
characters’ actions, on screen and off.
"
It’s always sort of been a tradition in my circle of friends,
whether my house or sometimes other friends’ houses, [to
get together] for pageants, for the Oscars, for HBO concerts,
‘Sex and the City’ – especially pageants and award shows," Hensley
says.
" What was that awards show we just had? Oh, the Emmys –
with that Oprah award where it was like Tom Cruise and
Julia Roberts giving all those endorsements. It’s always
the same people. Like, how did Tom Cruise become the beacon
for integrity, because I don’t believe a word he says.
... It’s an interesting phenomenon. It’s nice to have people
around for those things."
Party mix
That’s not to say that Hensley didn’t take
a cue from the movies and employ some creative
editing when assembling
his commentaries. (SPOILER ALERT: The next two paragraphs
reveal information about how the author assembled such
consistent warmth and wit in "Screening Party." Skip
ahead if you’re the type who avoids "How They Did
That" sections on DVDs.)
"
There were certain people that were at almost every party
and then there were a few that would kind of pop up here
and there, and I just did my best to incorporate them into
different characters," Hensley says. "The parties
were a lot larger than six usually. I wanted to have a
diverse point of view so I sort of created the characters
that I did to combine people into. Some of the characters
are largely one or two people and then other little moments
would go into each character. Marcus is pretty much one
guy with a few other people thrown in with stories here
and there.
"
[The book] photos are of people that come to the parties.
My roomie is in the photo – he’s on the back [cover] –
and the two people on the front with me are party regulars," he
adds. "The only one in the photo who doesn’t come
to the parties all the time is Dr. Beaverman and that’s
because my Dr. Beaverman friend doesn’t live in L.A. She
watches the movies and listens to our tapes and then sends
me back a cassette with her rants on it from Pennsylvania.
I got an actress friend of mine to be Dr. Beaverman on
the cover."
Character
development was crucial, because "Screening
Party" is not just the snide asides of "Mystery
Science Theater 3000" in book form. Hensley, who incorporated
movie lover themes into his 1998 novel, "Misadventures
in the (213)," has genuine affection for films, regardless
of their critical merit.
"
Screening Party" is as much about the ways the movies
impact their audiences as the plots (or lack thereof) unfolding
on screen. Sure, there are plenty of exchanges like: "They
couldn’t have given her a black leotard?" (Lauren,
observing Karen Lynn Gorney as Stephanie, the object of
John Travolta’s affection in "Saturday Night Fever") "It’s
like, ‘Here Karen, here’s your sack of potatoes.’"
(Tony) "And just go ahead and wear the bra and panties
underneath. They won’t make you look lumpy."
There
are also moments when films trigger memories of first
crushes, coming out, and broken hearts.
It’s apparent that
these people have lives when the lights come
up.
"
That was the direction it seemed to be going in, which
I liked. I wanted it to be a mixture of movie-related stuff
and then character stuff, and then it got so long," says
Hensley, referring to it as "the book that ate Cleveland."
" It became more ambitious than what I had proposed when
I went in to the editor. ... Alyson is a smaller company
than my first book, and I went there with it because I
wanted to get something out there in the marketplace and
I wasn’t ready to write another novel yet, so I pitched
it as sort of this fun romp and, ‘Oh, I’ll knock it out
in a year or whatever.’
" It was actually the hardest thing creatively that I’ve
ever done. It wasn’t spread out over a long time because
I got the deal and I turned it around in like a year, but
by the end, I kind of went a little nutty. My fuse was
really short. I would go to a coffee house to write, because
I like to do that and get out of the house, and I would
get impatient in the car because I wasn’t there yet. I
felt such pressure to get it done, and it just took so
long, and I was kinda late on my deadline. Yeah, I went
crazy."
‘Xanadu,’ interrupted
Perhaps the best way to offer insight
into the "Screening
Party" vibe is to reveal one of
Hensley’s favorite film moments from
his younger days. (A little foreshadowing,
shall we say.) The scene not only includes
movie-themed
humor, but also puts his perspective
into a generational timeframe.
The
Party host grew up in Holbrook, Ariz., a town of about
5,000 people
located
90 miles east
of
Flagstaff. A single
movie theater – the Roxy (now closed)
– with one screen
provided him with access to semi-current
movies. It could take six months
for a major release
like "Star Wars" to
reach their neck of the woods, he
says.
Hensley
recalls seeing a lot of Disney
movies in those days, but he also
experienced something
a
little different.
"
I remember seeing ‘Grease II’ and ‘Xanadu’ in a double
feature," says the thirtysomething author. "Pretty
great, right?"
" At one point, the power went out in the building – maybe
in the whole town, I don’t know – and so we were in the
black. It was like 15 minutes into ‘Xanadu,’ the power
goes out, and then it becomes really fun to be there because
people are throwing things and yelling things and you can’t
see in front of your face.
"
We all had to leave, and they wouldn’t give us our money
back, because they said it was an act of God. And I thought,
‘Xanadu is bad, but it ain’t that bad.’ I don’t think God
would step in and say, ‘You know what, I can’t take the "Suddenly" scene.
I’m putting a stop to this right now. I can’t take Michael
Beck in those shorts. I’m going to come down from heaven
and save these poor kids.’ That’s one of my favorite Roxy
memories."
Despite
growing up in a family that had no interest in movies,
Hensley’s
fascination
only continued
to grow. He
majored in broadcasting at
Arizona State University
and
started
exploring the
art house theaters
in Phoenix. Movies
went from simple entertainment
to something more: He became "obsessed" with "Body
Heat" when he caught it on cable in 1983; he saw "Come
Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean" at
a mall theater "like, three nights in a row."
"
There was something about the way it was different than
most movies and the intimacy of the acting and I’m sure
there’s all kind of gay stuff in it – Cher, can’t go wrong
with that," he says of the Altman film. "I felt
like I was finding my sort of hip taste within myself."
"
Screening Party" reflects an eclectic taste, to say
the least. Where else would you find "St. Elmo’s Fire" receiving
the same loving attention
as Scorsese’s work?
Some
films were chosen
by the aforementioned
British Premiere
editor to go with
theme issues, but more
often than not,
Hensley made his own
selections and then
whittled the list
down from
20 or 25
titles as the chapters
got
longer.
"
I always wanted to do ‘Pretty Woman,’ because it was so
popular and so enduring and yet so nutty in that this romantic
comedy is about a hooker – there’s something phony at the
core, which is really funny," he says. "Other
movies like ‘Saturday Night Fever,’ I remember when that
came out and how sexy it all was, and I wanted to do a
Barbra Streisand movie because she was just asking for
it. It just came together.
"
I wasn’t in a hurry to do the big campy classics," he
adds. "Movies that have really been mined for camp
value already like ‘Valley of the Dolls’ – I have friends
in love with it, but I wasn’t in a hurry to do it. I’d
rather do something like ‘The Bodyguard’ that we all know
is a little cheesy but nobody’s really put it under the
microscope yet.
" Some movies that are really good you can’t really go near.
You wouldn’t do ‘Schindler’s List’ or anything like that.
But I would want to do ‘Forrest Gump,’ because I think
it’s good to do movies that were wildly popular when they
came out and really part of their time and tapped into
something in the consciousness, but then when you look
back at them, maybe don’t hold up as well."
Future assessments
may include Hensley’s
own
work. He’s
co-written two
screenplays with
David Moreton
("Edge
of Seventeen"), and one of them – "a sort of
dark, kind of funny, screwed-up thriller love story" called "CleanCut" about
a man who gets
dumped by his
boyfriend and
then chases him
to Argentina
– is already
in preproduction
in South
America with
Antonio Sabato
Jr. and Sonia
Braga attached.
Hensley
will head to Argentina
after
he
finishes a
multi-city book tour
for "Screening Party," which includes
a stop in Miami. (He attended the Miami Gay and Lesbian
Film Festival this year with a short film and had a great
time: "The boys were into me, amazingly enough. In
L.A., I can’t get arrested," he confesses.)
There may even
come a time
when he produces
a sequel
to "Screening
Party," assuming he receives a decent financial offer.
He’s still hoping another magazine will at least pick up
where British Premiere left off and commission more individual
pieces.
"
It was so work intensive. You have to have the party, you
have go to the grocery store and get stuff, and tape it
and transcribe it and then, it’s hours and hours and hours.
But I love the format of it, I love writing about how the
movies affect people, and the humor of it tickles me," Hensley
says.
" I was hoping that somehow people would relate to the characters,
and that the honest reactions to movies over the years
and how they’ve really changed people in meaningful ways
would come through – and the affection for the movies and
the affection for each other and the friendships. That’s
what I was hoping to get in the mix along with all the
cheap shots at people’s hair."
Dennis Hensley
will read
from "Screening Party" at
7 p.m., Oct. 6 at Books & Books, 265 Aragon Ave., Coral
Gables. For more information, call (305) 442-4408 or visit
www.dennishensley.com. |
