by SARAH ROWLAND

“I call it art terrorism.”

That’s filmmaker John Roecker describing his debut feature-length Live Freaky! Die Freaky!, a pornographic stop-motion animation film about a futuristic nomad who re-interprets Vincent Bugliosi’s 1974 book Helter Skelter. This time ’round, the villain is Sharon Tate (renamed Sharon Hate and portrayed as a maniacal, shallow twat) and the murderous Manson is the Messiah he’s claimed to be all along.

The inspiration for this historical revision started out as a joke when the L.A. videographer was skimming through The Unabomber Manifesto to make a book-to-tape satire.

“I was like, ‘Wow, this actually makes sense,’” says Roecker, referring to Ted Kaczynski’s condemnation of the industrial revolution. “And look at Charles Manson’s writings on how we should be worrying about the environment. It’s like, ‘Yeah, we should.’ But should we kill people for it? No.”

This revelation illustrates Roecker’s main point in the film, which is anyone can twist an ideology to suit their purpose, especially the Pat Robertsons of the world. And for Roecker and his all-star, punk rock voice-over cast, including Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong as Manson, there’s never been a better time to take the piss out of Christian hypocrisy.

“It’s like we’re back in the 1950s in America,” he says, calling from his California home. “The religious right doesn’t mind if the world blows up, just as long as two men don’t get married. And all of a sudden everything that we fought for—women’s liberation, the right to choose, gay rights, African American rights—are out the window now and it’s really scary. Because you think, ‘No, that can’t happen.’ But it did. I remember when Billie was in Germany with Green Day when Bush got re-elected. And he just said, ‘That’s it. The gloves are off.’ We may be in the minority but it’s time to fight back.”

Roman and the Ramones

Despite the big names attached to the project, for some reason funding for a film that has Roman Polanski’s fully preggers trophy wife snorting copious amounts of blow and begging her dinner guests for head proved nearly impossible. So after getting shot down by various producers, Roecker decided to show the script to his friend, Rancid singer Tim Armstrong.

“He was like, ‘Make your movie already. God, here’s some money. Stop standing in the shadows. You’ve been doing that for too long. Now it’s your turn to step up.’”

Once Armstrong ponied up 20 grand, everyone from the Bay Area artist community and beyond volunteered their services—Joey Ramone even voiced a small part, though it was quickly erased because he croaked before signing a release form. Also on board was actress Asia Argento. The well-connected daughter of Italian horror legend Dario Argento served as a brief reminder to Roecker of just how terrifically offensive Live Freaky! Die Freaky is.

“When she was recording her voice-over in the studio, she said ‘Roman is going to hate me for doing this.’ That was like a reality slap in the face for me. Until then, I never really thought about what he might think of the film. But I dare that child molester to come to America and check it out.”

Wreaking havok

Though not afraid of facing the notorious filmmaker, Roecker was a little nervous about showing his film to AFI frontman Davey Havok, who plays Tate’s doomed horndog hairdresser.

“I kept watching his face during the screening to see how he’d react when his character sucks his own cock,” says Roecker. “But thankfully he loved it.”

It didn’t take Roecker long, however, to realize that getting cast-approval was the least of his worries.

“We’ve been banned from every film festival in America,” he says. “I was talking to John Waters about it and he was saying, ‘You’re having a harder time with this than I did with Pink Flamingos in 1973. And that had a 300-pound drag queen eating dog poo.’”

Not surprisingly, when Fantasia’s director of international programming, Mitch Davis, phoned him up to say that he was interested in screening LFDF at this year’s festival, Roecker didn’t take him seriously.

“I felt like the ugly girl being asked out on a date by the good looking guy,” he recalls. “I thought he was just making fun of me. But I sent him a copy anyway.”

Upon viewing, Davis broke the news to Roecker that he wanted to showcase the film.

“I was like, ‘Really?’ I’m moving to Canada.”

Masters of puppets

Bringing his first stop-motion feature to fruition has been Roecker’s dream ever since he was exposed to the work of the master of puppets himself, Ray Harryhausen.

“He’s meant everything to me,” says Roecker. “He’s just such an amazing artist. My hat goes off to that guy. I remember the first time I saw Jason and the Argonauts when I was a kid. I thought it the creepiest thought-provoking movie ever made. And just like that, I was hooked.

“So I went straight to the library to learn from the master. It was so exciting when I found a book about him and realized that it was possible to do what he does. Then I got an 8 mm camera and filmed a potato rolling around on the ground. And it felt like I was making a real film, but no, three weeks later, all I had was a potato rolling around on the ground.”

Don’t expect any starchy vegetables in Roecker’s latest project. While making Live Freaky in the day, he moonlighted to complete Heart Like A Hand Grenade, a rockumentary about the making of Green Day’s American Idiot album. It was during this time that Metallica: Some Kind of Monster was making the festival rounds.

“At first I was so jealous because I didn’t think I could make a movie as good as that,” he says. “But you know, I made a better one because I got three individuals that were so optimistic and so creative, that they made it look easy. At one point I was like, ‘Billie, you guys don’t fight.’ And he thought I didn’t want to make the documentary anymore. But of course I did. I mean, who wants to see their rock heroes cry? I don’t. I want to see them drink, have fun, make inappropriate jokes and fart, and that’s exactly what I got.”

John Roecker presents Live Freaky! Die Freaky! via satellite feed at the Hall Theatre Saturday, July 16, 11:55 p.m.

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