Who is Tuukka?

[Tuukka]

Hi everyone!

Joblo e-mailed me about 10 days ago and asked me to be a moderator for this filmmaking/screenwriting board. I agreed to host this board at least for 4-5 months.

I guess I should tell you something about myself:

I'm 24 years old and I live in Finland. I do camerawork, editing and graphics on a finnish TV station. I also do occasional freelance gigs; music videos, commercials etc. I have never been in any film school, but I have made short films and stuff like that for seven years now.

Since english is not my native language, I will surely have writing errors in my posts every now and then. So forgive me that.

Despite my moderator status, I will take part in discussions just like all the other schmoes. If someone feels the need to type "fuck" 100 times in his post, I will naturally delete it. Otherwise, I don't mind if people sometimes discuss about things that have nothing to do with the topic. But you should remember that this is a screenwriting/filmmaking board and it's meant for those things. Please don't post here any new topics, that have nothing to do with those two subjects.

This board is meant equally for both professionals and amateurs. There are still relatively few people on this board, but we should remember that the message board of Joblo is only about three months old, and this section of the board has been up only for two weeks.

So keep posting those posts, dudes!

[Matias]

Hi Tuukka!
Sorry dudes, I´ll go with Finnish.
Mistä kaupungista olet kotoisin? Kiva nähdä muitakin suomalaisvärejä täällä! Itse olen vaasasta.

[Mr. Meat]

::acts like he understands that language:: Yes...uh...so how about it, Tuukka?

[Tuukka]

Well, hi Matias. An answer to your question; I live in Helsinki at the moment but I'm originally from Rovaniemi... /ubb/smile.gif

[yvonne]

Matias, I dont know what you said, but at least it looked beautiful! /ubb/smile.gif

[sono_lunna]

hey ! is so cool that you asked me about the sdipt, but i have a little problem, it is in spanish jeje! i am tranlating it, soon i will send it ok?
have you ever heared about Jorge SANJINEZ? he is bolivian like me, he is a grat Director, if you have the chance to see his work you'll like it,

[Brock Landers]

Where I live we drink shots of this really stong liquor called Tuukka. It is a native american name given to this firewater. I love the stuff...

[Brock Landers]

I have written several scripts and performed some music on a few adult films...I just keep having trouble breaking into the mainstream...any thoughts on why cheesy dialogue and bad acting is not solely reserved for porn...just look at Richard Gere's stuff...

[Tuukka]

...I have often thought that it would be interesting to do HC porn films. They have usually such a horrible script and lousy direction... It would be interesting to do something that would be fast paced, well shot and edited with interesting story. I mean those things don't really require money. Most porn is shot on video, so you don't have to spend money on anything but the actors.

The point is that I don't generally like HC porn. It's ugly, stupid and unarousing in my mind. I would love to make a HC film which would be fun and interesting, a kind of film that you could watch with your girlfriend and both could think that the film is really cool and arousing.

I think the biggest problem is to find attractive actors, who like their work. Most porn actors are doing it just for the money, and only very few of them can be considered attractive.

[Brock Landers]

The only Hardcore films I have ever seen that really border mainstream B-films would be the "Johnny Wadd" series of the seventies, starring none other then John Holmes. He plays a sort of adult Sam Spade and usually gets his clues from beautiful women. Paul Thomas Anderson ("Hard Eight", "Boogie Nights" & "Magnolia") and Mike Figgis ("Liebestraum","Leaving Las Vegas" & "Time Code") have both thought long and hard about creating an intelligent adult film along the lines of Paul Verhoeven ("The 4th Man", "Basic Instinct" & "Hollow Man") without the obvious lack of cinema subtlety that he usually employs.

I only work in Adult because I gotta eat, and I love to write. Sometimes you have to compromise to get your work out there. Besides, I really have a lot of fun with some of the storylines...

[Tuukka]

I've heard that Anderson has done HC porn before his "real" film career. I don't know if that's true.

There are interesting things happening, the line between HC porn and "real" movies is getting narrower. Many critically acclaimed arthouse movies actually have hardcore sex in them. For example Lars Von Trier's "Idiots" and "Romance" by Catherine Breillat. And those were talented, non-porn actors doing the HC scenes.

I think it will be only a question of time when HC porn will come to mainstream hollywood cinema.

[Tuukka]

Brock, have you ever toúght of directing adult films? Are you interested about directing in general?

[Brock Landers]

I guess I tend to lean more towards the screenwriting side of film. There are two reasons for this. I don't like people and I am a moderate recluse (think Howard Hughes [famous shut-in who was a playboy] meets Robert Bloch [author of "Psycho"]. I used to even appear in some of the films I worked on but I found that as more time passed I began looking forward to being by myself in a dark room. Depression? Anxiety? Cynicism? You make the call...Also I regret to inform that I am not technically inclined. That said, I am a rather brilliant photographer (if I do say so myself).

P.T. Anderson, to this day, denies that he has ever "worked" on an adult set, but he talks about "being" on a few, in his day. Living in the Valley, he also relates that growing up around, and driving by quite a few abandoned suburban warehouses, complete with boarded up windows, that these were in fact used for just such "porn" purposes...these buildings were always surrounded by expensive cars and there would be beautiful women entering and exiting the buildings at strange times..."everybody's startin' rumours, can't take it no mo'".

It's funny you should mention the bad actors usually found in Adult and the films you mention. Just imagine if "Dangerous Liasons" had been adult...I can already picture John Malkovich and Michelle Pfeiffer/Uma Thurman. How utterly delicious...they could retitle it "Tales Of Ribaldry"...I wouldn't much want to see Glenn Close though...

note: I must disagree with your statement regarding "Romance" as having talented, non-porn actors. One of the most used european porn actor's, a certain Rocco Siffredi, and he of the giant johnson...I personally can't stand the guy, he is so obnoxious and full of self love.

I do remember from a few years back there being a pretty decent film, that gained a notorious NC-17, by the name of "Henry & June" with Fred Ward in the title role. It had some very adult themes yet was tastefully done. Another that pops to mind is "The Lover", a well made foreign film that is truly erotic.

Sometimes a film does not have to be overtly sexual though, and indeed my personal favorite is a foreign film by the name of "The Hairdresser's Husband". As Roger Ebert has said before, it is sexier than 100 "Basic Instinct"'s. (I think he said 100)

[Tuukka]

Yeah, but I was talking about HC films. Lover and Henry and June are softcore, but Romance and Idiots have HC sex in them. Rocco was the only "adult" actor in Romance. The leading woman had HC sex with him, but she is not an adult actress. She was a very good, "normal" actress. You don't really see that in hardcore films. Idiots had brilliant acting by non-porn actors, and they had HC sex with each other.

I don't like Romance much despite the critical acclaim it had, but Idiots is a very good film.

[Brock Landers]

I guess my question would be then, what makes a film nc-17 and what makes it xxx, obviously there is the penetration and cumshot to differ the two, but the sex is pretty much the same, just less flesh.

In reality, aren't HC actresses or even SC actresses just regular actresses who can't get a normal gig...that is what I see a lot of, especially in amateur HC. These are women who want to break into acting but are so oblivious to the fact that they are going about it the wrong way. There are of course those who are fine with being HC, but most have higher aspirations. I mean some, think it is completely legitimate filmmaking, having their own award ceremonies, best actor, the whole ball of wax, a sort of B-movie system revised from the 60's.

If you get a chance check out Russ Meyer's stuff from the 70's...

[Tuukka]

Yeah, I have seen some Meyer's films... They are fun, if you're getting drunk with your friends.

I think porn actors as the ones who do HC. I don't consider actor who has done softcore scenes as an "adult" actor... I you get what I mean. I agree that it's hard to draw a line between "real" actors and porn actors.

Let's think about the actors of Idiots: they are highly talented actors who have already reached recognition by acting in movies, plays and TV. Suddenly they star in an artfilm by one the most respected european film directors, and the film requires them to do HC scenes. I don't know if that kind of movies have been done before the end of 90's, but I doubt it.

So my point is, that harcore is getting more accepted in the mainstream. I think we will be seeing more and more mainstream HC film and mainstream actors / actresses performing HC acts in the future. It's going to take years, but it will happen someday, I think.

[Brock Landers]

"talented actors who have already reached recognition"

I took that out of what you said because my earlier point was that you are correct in saying that, but that many audiences had never seen the talented actress who was in "Romance" (even though I, too, thought the film was not that great) and their first impressions were of her in that film...and unfortunately reputations tend to follow people throughout their whole careers (think Traci Lords, who can't act anyways but is a good example nonetheless). There is still a stigma on HC and at least in America, I don't see that changing for some time...however, many other countries, for instance France where the film comes from, have more open policies and idealogies concerning human sexuality in film...

I don't mean to be a spokesperson for HC by any means, it is just that these are filmmaking issues I deal with constantly in my business. Perhaps someday I will progress from writing more "pulpy"/"seedy" material, but I have always been fond of the material generated by late 40's, 50's & 60's pulp fiction novelists. You know the type of stuff with the detective, the femme fatale and an assortment of low-class elements...of course, being an ex-military man I would lean toward the directing style of ...oh...let's say Howard Hawks. Although creatively I think Orson Welles was way ahead of his time with his version of "Othello", Kafka's "The Trial" and so many other great films...

[Brock Landers]

Tuukka, I really enjoyed your comments on filmmaking and certain films. I have been asked to leave but I just wanted you to know that I have a feeling you will really get somewhere in the film industry. Just keep pluggin' away and remember, life is too short to compromise, and don't take shit off of anyone...