[Leica] Re: On rolling your own to Hollywood

[Mark Rabiner <mrabiner@concentric.net>]

There was a guy in 1984 named Steven Lustgarden who asked me if he could watch
some of my shoots as he was making a movie and needed some ideas.
So he tape recorded my chewing out my assistant for not rolling up enough film
for a shoot I was doing with models in my studio in downtown Portland Oregon.
He put it word for into the script. The film was released on video a year or two
ago. It is called "American Taboo."
You can find it in the internet movie database site. IMDB 	http://us.imdb.com/search

I had a featured role in it playing "Michael the photographer" so you can look
me up on the IMDB on that.
Cant get the tape at Blockbuster but the art houses seem to often have it.
I have several scenes with several lines. My big scene was shuffled to the
beginning scene of the whole film!
I'm on top of a tall ladder with my Hasselblad ELM shooting to models dressed in
leapord suits below me everyone making cat noises.
As the cinematographer seemed to have the lens on backwards there is a real
Fellini-like feel to the scene.

Years after they had melted my safelights and replaced them I was told the film
was finished and that it would be shown at the Portland Art Museum with the
Academy of Arts and Sciences their with their clipboards.
I was told it was entered as a student film as he cut it at Portland State using
their facilities so he signed up to use the cutters.
An embarrassing experience but Lustgarden has a full sized Academy Award on his
mantel place for having won "Best picture by a Student Director." We beat out
Spike Lee's first film which was that year. (Same year as the M6 and the
Macintosh I think).

So there was an article in Premiere about how that award is the kiss of death
and it's a good thing Spike didn't win or we would never have heard of him now.
So if you want to see me in action (tongue in cheek) go rent "American Taboo." I
was skinny then.
Mark Rabiner