Writer/Director Peter Berg talks about 'Very Bad Things'

I have not clicked on any of the links with Peter Berg but when I looked up "Very Bad Things" on Wikipedia it said this movie was based on a book... If that's true then Peter Berg didn't really come up with the idea for this movie. All this time I thought since he was credited as writer and director that this was something he conceived but was I wrong this whole time???

a couple of your links said Page Not Found when I clicked on them so don't know if it's just me or if it's a problem with the sites but just wanted to let you know

Why Peter Berg Feels Good About `Very Bad Things'

December 18, 1998|By John Petrakis. Special to the Tribune.

Peter Berg is most familiar to the public at large as the talented but belligerent surgeon, Dr. William Kronk, on television's "Chicago Hope." But regular moviegoers may remember him for a series of strong supporting roles over the years in such small but highly appreciated films as "A Midnight Clear," "Girl Six," "The Great White Hype," "Copland" and "The Last Seduction."

Now, like many a young artist looking to expand his horizons, Berg has turned to feature-filmmaking. His debut film, "Very Bad Things," which stars Christian Slater, Jon Favreau, Jeremy Piven and Daniel Stern, is a wild and sometimes out-of-control comic adventure about a Las Vegas bachelor party that gets seriously out of hand, leading to murder, dismemberment and, eventually, a long string of lies culminating in warped justice. This jaundiced male-bonding story is juxtaposed with a tale of female angst, personified by Cameron Diaz as a bride-to-be obsessed with having the perfect wedding.

I spoke to the spirited Berg recently, where he spent much of the interview pacing the room.

Would you call "Very Bad Things" a black comedy?

I prefer the advertising phrase they're using, which is "savage comedy." It was important for me to write a film that would evoke laughter and not be taken as a slice-of-life story. I didn't want realism. I wanted there to be a slightly skewed, surrealistic quality to the film, but with farcical elements.

How does a savage comedy differ from a black comedy?

It's a little more aggressive. For me, the concept of black comedy suggests certain subtleties that I wasn't interested in or necessarily capable of delivering. I knew that the film would not be particularly subtle or subliminal in its presentation. I wanted a sledgehammer to the head. That was my intention. Black comedies sort of sneak up on you. There's a craftiness, perhaps a softer cleverness, that I wasn't really interested in exploring. Everything I've ever written has got this kind of tone to it. If you asked me to go out and write a strict, conventional love story, I'm not sure I could do it.

Do you have a lot of writing experience?

I've co-written one other screenplay, called "Furious George," about a park ranger who discovers a plot to kill the president. I've also written two episodes of "Chicago Hope." Both were pretty aggressive, slightly deranged shows, one of which the network has sworn never again to air.

What was it about?

A very dysfunctional family. It starts with them in a big family therapy session, and leads to two of them being thrown out of windows. It was escalating madness. It was also a real love-hate experience for viewers. Some called it their favorite show. Others called in to say "What the hell's going on?"

Sounds like the same sort of mixed response you're getting on "Very Bad Things."

Absolutely. There hasn't been a lot of middle ground.

Let's talk about the mix of characters in the film. A bachelor party is a pretty familiar setup. Were there specific types you were looking for?

There wasn't a predetermined design, as in "This guy's gonna be the power-of-positive-thinking leader and this guy's gonna be the weird, quiet one." When I write, I don't have a plan, I don't have an agenda and I don't have a strategy. I sit there, and whatever comes up, I write. I learned how to write from journal entries, stream-of-consciousness, whatever I think, rambling, letting one thought lead to the next, discovering while I go.

Are you equally as comfortable letting your female characters evolve this way? Some male writers admit to having a difficult time writing female characters.

I find it equally hard to write all my characters . . . If you break down the male characters, all of them have aspects that are shadow-sides of most male personalities. I just tapped into things going on in my own head for that. I based the two main female characters very loosely on women I know, and then I just blew them out.

Does your movement away from acting and toward writing and directing reflect some sort of dissatisfaction with the way your acting career's developed?

Not really. This doesn't feel like me trying to get away from something else, the child born of frustration. This is something I've always wanted to do. People move at their own pace, and things happen in their own time. I think, at the end of the day, I prefer it to acting. I prefer the complexities and the challenges it presents. It's a much more satisfying experience.

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1998-12-18/entertainment/9812180009_1_black-comedy-peter-berg-perfect-wedding

Peter Berg: The Prince of Darkness

By: Michael Atkinson|| November 1, 1998 11:49 PM EST

The first time I saw Peter Berg he was just the tall actor with the bad bleach job marooned with Ethan Hawke, Kevin Dillon and Gary Sinise in the low-budget World War II anti-epic A Midnight Clear. The only reason I noticed him was that he seemed to have no reason for being in the movie. "Yeah, there really wasn't anything there," Berg admits today. He can say that easily because he's recently demonstrated what may be his true reason for being in Hollywood. In addition to putting in solid performances as the hair-trigger Dr. Billy Kronk on Chicago Hope, Berg's done something else that seems more distinctive: he has written and directed a beyond-black comedy called Very Bad Things. More than a well-made indie that announces a talented young filmmaker, Very Bad Things is something of an outrage that heralds a gifted provocateur. And Berg traces it all back to that supposed waste of time, A Midnight Clear.

"Sitting around in the snow for eight hours waiting to be in the background of a scene in A Midnight Clear was worth it, because I got to know Gary Sinise and got a piece of advice that's always stuck with me," says Berg. "We were talking about scripts and plays, and Gary said, 'For me it all comes down to: is it a good yarn?' When I was writing my movie, all I thought was, could I sit around a camp-fire with my friends and say, 'You wanna hear a really cool story about something that happened to these five guys who went to Vegas?' Is this going to be compelling or is it going to be boring *beep* To me, death before boredom."

The blistering, balls-to-the-wall Very Bad Things is certainly not boring. It's like a Deliverance version of the worst Vegas bachelor party you could ever imagine. No wonder it became famous around town during its early screening phase for being the most walked-out-on movie since Pink Flamingos. "At one screening to try and get a distributor, they recruited about 400 people from UCLA and Westwood for the audience," says Berg. "I was in the back, very nervously watching the movie, when this couple got up and walked out. The woman looked sick, and the husband was chasing after her. It was the first walkout I'd seen. I felt traumatized. I wanted to talk to this woman. So I went out to the lobby, and she was bent over. I walked up and said, 'Ma'am, are you all right?' And she said, 'No, I'm not all right.' I just put up my hands, and said 'I'm sorry.'"

But Berg isn't really sorry. Very Bad Things is the deliberately outrageous career move of a 35-year-old actor who just wasn't happy with what the system was handing him. "I was becoming frustrated with how unprovocative movies are today. It was rare that I'd go to a film and feel anything. I remember going to see Rosemary's Baby for the first time, and feeling like I might be in some form of jeopardy sitting in that room. So I tried to make a film that made audiences feel legitimately threatened."

Berg's ability to write and direct an accomplished film may come as a surprise to many, but the incendiary quality of his product shouldn't. He's long been known as something of a runaway train--he even wrote a column for Details about how much he enjoys rage-demolishing inanimate objects.

"In my 20s I hadn't had much experience with anger management. I drank too much, would generally respond to conflict violently. I don't really do that anymore. I don't find much nobility in that behavior. On the set, I knew it was critical for me to keep control of myself. It can be very frustrating, but if you flip, everybody flips."

With another much-hyped script, Furious George, sold and "sort of sitting around waiting for a big star to say, 'C'mon, let's do it,'" Berg spent the summer dividing his time between bicoastal meetings and hanging out in a Manhattan firehouse, researching yet another script. This one's about firemen who set fire to a building in order to rob it and ends up torching a whole city block. It's a notion you can see Hollywood getting behind with a big budget, but Berg's adamantly independent--the gravitational field emitted by the studios has had no effect as yet. "I'm not particularly inspired by the studio system," he says. "After Very Bad Things I've been offered a few studio films to direct, so the pull is there-- the money, the comfort, the stability. It's all right there for the taking. It's just not the road I want to take. At least not now. Maybe when I'm in my 50s. Right now my overhead's pretty low and I want to keep writing and directing and have that be the primary focus of my career. If I could make 10 more movies like Very Bad Things, with that kind of creative control, that's a life, man."

Selling scripts, directing indies and telling the system to eat *beep* hasn't given Berg much time for acting, and that's fine by him. "I have very little desire to be a movie star. Robert Mitchum said it once--it's just not a man's job. There's something tremendously unsatisfying about it. You make a lot of money, you have a lot of opportunities, you get to sleep with a lot of very beautiful women, you get free food in restaurants. But you service other people's visions. Your privacy is stripped from you. People perceive you as something you're not. It's not half as interesting as going off and thinking up stories to tell."

http://movieline.com/1998/11/01/the-prince-of-darkness-peter-berg/

'Lone Survivor' Director Peter Berg Remembers When A Woman Threw Up During 'Very Bad Things'

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Posted: 12/20/2013 10:48 am EST

I've grown an appreciation for your first movie, "Very Bad Things," since I first saw it.

I get reactions a lot from people who just found it. Generally, what's consistent is there's a very, very strong reaction. It's very polarizing. People either got it and went with it, or they were just completely repulsed by it. It was my first film and I was very creatively reckless and was doing anything I wanted to do.

But creatively reckless can be a good thing.

Oh, I think so, too. I look at "The Hangover" and I look at us as the grandfather of 'The Hangover.'

When you first saw 'The Hangover', did you feel like you had already made that movie?

I mean, I think 'The Hangover' was really funny.

Bradley Cooper in 'The Hangover' is more likable than Christian Slater in 'Very Bad Things.'

A little bit, yeah. We pushed it. I knew 'Very Bad Things' was going to be an interesting ride when, at the first screening, people were laughing so hard. I've never heard people laugh that hard. Then, in the middle of it, this woman got up and kind of ran out of the theater and a guy was chasing after her. I walked out and there was this woman bent over a garbage can about to get sick. Her husband was standing next to her and I was kind of like, "Is she OK?" And the husband looked at me, "No. She's not OK. Please stay back."

Did they know that you were the director?

No. But I can hear laughter coming from inside the theater and this woman is getting sick in a garbage can. And I was like, "Gah. This is going to be a tricky one." Westwood. This was in Westwood.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/20/peter-berg-lone-survivor_n_4476027.html

Very Bad Things: Interview with Peter Berg

Monday, November 2, 1998

By Beth Accomando

Very Bad Things is a deliciously nasty morality tale that simply warns viewers that what goes around comes around. The film begins with a group of guys just wanting to have a wild bachelor party in Las Vegas and then spirals out of control as bodies quickly pile up. Stewart Copeland (formerly of The Police) drives the film with his energetic and upbeat score. The pulsing soundtrack undercuts the horror of events and gives the film a snappy pace as paranoia sets in and destroys this pack of suburban males. And each time you think that writer-director Berg can't possibly make the story any more extreme, he does and that has prompted some people to walk out. But the extreme absurdity of the ending is wickedly appropriate and altogether satisfying.

Berg, who's probably best known for his role in TV's Chicago Hope , has earned his indie stripes by starring in quirky, out of the mainstream films like Late for Dinner and sexy noir thrillers like The Last Seduction . In his feature film debut as director, Berg displays assurance, innovation and no fear. He endows the film with ferocious energy and dark humor. He inspires his cast-- Jon Faveau, Christian Slater, Cameron Diaz, Daniel Stern, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Jeremy Piven-- to do great work and play their roles to the hilt. In the case of Faveau as the ill-fated groom, that means playing down the panic to freeze dried perfection so that there's someone providing a contrast to all the chaos. As the bride who's locked and loaded for her wedding day and won't let death or a lack of cushions stop her, Diaz gives a hilariously steely edge to the sweetness we've seen displayed in her earlier films. And Slater, who's always been an edgy performer, returns to the kind of intense performance that made him famous in Heathers and Pump Up the Volume .

In speaking with Berg, who was doing a day long junket for the film in L.A., I was surprised by how interested he was in the audience's response to his film. He had absolutely no qualms about making the audience uncomfortable yet he was obsessive about trying to find out what exactly provoked some viewers to walk out. And Berg, like a scientist collecting data, has even pursued some viewers as they exited the theater after an early screening to question them. But maybe this research will lead to new explorations in Bergs next film. I just hope he keeps making them. Here's what the first time director had to say about making Very Bad Things .

BETH ACCOMANDO : Your film doesn't pull any punches, did you have any trouble making it the way you wanted to?

PETER BERG : Considering that every studio passed on the movie like three times, and said they felt it was way too intense and brutal for a film audience. It was pretty frustrating because no one would make it. Fortunately some actors came to us and Christian Slater read it and the actors loved it and said not only would they make it but they would make it for no money. So we then raised the money independently and shot the film and came back to all those studios that originally passed on it and a couple of them bid on it and they saw that it was funny and that it had a much broader appeal than they thought it would.

BA : Now in an early scene where they kill a security guard. You chose to have him pleading from behind the door for help while the men do nothing. I thought that was interesting because it made it harder for the audience to dismiss the murder and distance themselves from the reality of what these men were doing. You could have made the audience more comfortable if the guard didnt plead like that, why did you decide to go that way?

PB : I was never thinking about making the audience more comfortable. It just seemed to me that if someone were dying in a room he might start pleading for help. The actor was in the room by himself. All I told him to do was try to get out. I thought it would be more chilling to not see what was going on inside the room but to play it all from outside with the guys holding the door. The actor improvised all that and started pleading for his life. It was pretty chilling but I decided to leave it in because it did feel pretty real to me. All through the film I was never concerned with pulling punches. I let it all out there. I wanted to make a film that hit pretty hard. Thats my sensibility and I felt that there could be comedy in this in some bizarre way if I stayed true to it and that I could create a morality tale that was pretty hard hitting if I didn't pull any punches and I didn't pull any punches.

BA : One thing that I thought was interesting was at the screening I was at, there were these women who were just outraged at the film and their big complaint was that there was no sense of morality in the film and I thought that was strange because that seemed to be the whole point.

PB : It kind of blows my mind. Well look, this is a film that's clearly not for everyone and it's put off people and people have pretty negative reactions to it. It's been a bizarre experience because I'll have a person come up to me and say it's the worst film he's ever seen in his life and then right next to him another person will say no, it's the best films he's ever seen in his life. The reactions have been that strong and people have used the words worst or best. And I find that to be pretty intense for me to deal with the intensity of the reaction but I mean it's clearly a morality tale. I mean these people mess up and they all pay the price for it. I don't know what more I could've done than have these people arrested and executed. Every one of them pays the price for their actions. And for people not to get that, I don't understand it. I mean certain people just won't get this.

BA : Right after I saw your film I saw Sam Raimi's A Simple Plan and I thought it was interesting that they both had a similar starting off point about average people confronted by a situation where they choose not to do the right thing and not to go to the cops, and the result is a rapid succession of deaths and an absurd spiraling out of control of events.

PB : I read A Simple Plan a long time ago and that definitely had an influence on me and I'm a huge fan of that kind of story.

BA : Do you think there is a reason for these films both being made now?

PB : It seems to me that if you look at films like Happiness, Friends and Neighbors, A Simple Plan , there's a slew of films made by filmmakers close to the same age and who probably grew up in a similar manner in terms of the sort of pop culture dynamics and I don't know, maybe there's a certain amount of anger and frustration in us as filmmakers and we want to push things a bit. We want to break a few plates.

BA : Could it be a reaction to the fact that people feel too comfortable about things right now?

PB : From my standpoint I think there's a certain amount of inherent suffering in life that affects all people at any time and any place and to ignore that, to try and pretend that doesn't happen is hypocritical and I think that maybe there's a certain desire on the part of a lot of filmmakers to just expose life for what it really is. That was part of my goal in Very Bad Things. I would go to Las Vegas and see packs of these normal guys-- veterinarians, stock brokers, insurance salesmen, guys who buy their khakis at the Gap and pay their credit cards on time who have 2.5 kids or whatever-- and they come to Vegas and it's like this key opens these gates and lets these monsters come out from within them. And it's not to say that these people are bad people but there are elements in their personalities that just wanna break stuff, that wanna get nuts, that wanna party hard and generally we keep these elements in check so much but they can misfire. So I think I wanted to explore that aspect of the culture. And I don't consider myself to be a dark or cynical person, I just thought in Very Bad Things it could be interesting to see what happens when bad things happen to supposedly good people. I'd see packs of white suburban males go absolutely nuts in Las Vegas, rolling around in the streets, fighting, drinking, chasing women and gambling all their money away. They just all looked like they were looking for trouble. And I wondered what might happen if a group of them found it and then tried to get out of it.

BA : Can you describe how you wanted the film to look.

PB : Im a big fan of the chaotic, I like pushing things pretty far. I like films that have different levels and I love movement in films where things start off kind of calm and easy and then gradually build to a frenzy of madness. I have a lot of scenes in Very Bad Things that start off like that, that start off down on an A note and end off on a Z note and I wanna have fun traumatizing an audience so a lot of the scenes start off very still and gentle and end up with five actors screaming at each other and the camera flying all over the place and that was kind of my visual goal, my tonal goal, I wanted it to play that way.

BA : What role did Stewart Copeland's music play?

PB : I knew if the movie were to work, it had to work as a comedy on some level, people had to laugh at this. So Stewart and I discussed creating a score that would generally undercut the horror, that was a bit laid back and funky and we decided to go with a Latin theme. There was a certain rhythm and peppiness to Latin music. I wanted people kind of tapping their feet as they watched these horrific events unfold. I used Stewart as a tool to help give the audience permission to laugh.

BA : Do you think that the fact that the audience does laugh ultimately makes the film more disturbing?

PB : Not really. I hope that the fact that they do laugh actually makes it less disturbing. They are able to see that the film is not meant to be taken literally, it is a bit farcical and it's okay to laugh because you don't believe it's really happening. You just can't believe it that you have to laugh at. I think if people weren't laugh it would really be disturbing like Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer , I remember seeing that movie and that was one of the more disturbing movies I have ever seen, and my fear was that I would make a movie that would hit like that. So I think on some level the laughter makes it much more accessible. It's like watching that cartoon where the dams leaking and the guys trying to fill every hole but it just keeps getting worse and worse and worse and eventually the dike gives. And that's kind of the metaphor of watching the film and it's kind of funny to watch these guys get deeper and deeper and deeper into the hole.

BA : So then what impact do you hope the film has on people?

PB : I think that I definitely want to entertain them. I want audiences to have a good time but I don't want to make a film that's easily dismissable. I want a film that maybe stays with them longer than it takes to get to the parking lot. I do think the film is a morality tale. I do think it's about karma it is about what happens if you think you can get away with stuff. That it's wrong to harm people and if you harm people and try to get away with it you're going to get it one way or the other. And that's why when people say there's no morality in this I don't understand it. I don't understand how people don't see that these people get what they deserve.

BA : Maybe they just need something more obvious. They need to see them arrested and punished in a more conventional manner.
PB : Yeah have them arrested and then have the film say, 'Oh what you did was bad. You are bad people.' I mean for god's sake look at the ending. What could be worse?

BA : It was a great ending. Did you always know that you would take it that far?

PB : No. I just remember that I kept having to one up myself while I was writing it. Where can we go from here? And the ending, I just knew that I wanted them all to pay a price for their sins.

BA : I read that you had pursued some people who walked out of the movie.

PB : Yeah I mean I don't like it when people freak out over the movie. I don't like when someone tells me they hate the film so when they tell me I try to figure out why. I wanna know what's causing people to not be able to handle it. It's not a movie for everyone. If you have trouble with dark stuff then maybe you should go see another film. If you can handle your bacon a little bit greasy than come and check it out.

BA : How did you work with the actors?

PB : Generally I encourage my actors to improvise whenever they wanted to. I wanted them to feel really confident and comfortable to do anything they wanted. As an actor that's something that Im aware of. When I'm restricted as an actor or bullied I generally dont do my best work. But when Im encouraged to really go for it and to make a role my own and to try anything, I do my best work. So I tried to create an atmosphere of freedom and experimentation on the set and then sort of guide them if I didnt think they were going down the right road.

BA : Did you have any surprises your first time out as a director?

PB : Everything was a surprise. The whole thing has been a wonderful growth experience for me. And a learning experience and I can't wait to do it again.

http://www.kpbs.org/news/1998/nov/02/very-bad-things-interview-with-peter-berg/

Critical Beatdown

By Keith Phipps
Nov 18, 1998 3:00 PM


In Critical Beatdown, entertainers are subjected to a series of statements that criticize them and their life's work. Subjects are then given an opportunity to show off their poise while defending themselves and their creative output. The first artist to endure the Critical Beatdown is Peter Berg, star of the long-running TV show Chicago Hope and writer-director of the new film Very Bad Things, a dark comedy about the hijinks that ensue following the accidental death of a stripper following a debauched bachelor party. The second Critical Beatdown subject is Jim Breuer, a stand-up comedian, former Saturday Night Live cast member, and star of the stoner comedy Half Baked. Note: The opinions expressed in Critical Beatdown do not necessarily reflect those of The A.V. Club or its writers.

The Onion: Very Bad Things' portrayal of Judaism borders on anti-Semitic.

Peter Berg: No, see, I don't think it's that way at all. The film shows a very holy, very religious burial ritual, and I think it's done in a way that is respectful. It can actually teach people things. Danny Stern's character has obviously done this really bad thing, but he's trying to seize, like, one ray of hope out of the situation.

O: Yeah, but isn't it sort of a moot point, since his character is covering up the murder and dismemberment of a prostitute?

PB: No, because his character is at heart very moral, so he's trying to make the best of a bad situation. He's trying to hold onto his faith and do the right thing.

O: Peter Berg stole the idea for Very Bad Things from a far superior film called Stag, which also concerned the tragic aftermath of an out-of-control bachelor party.

PB: See, the first time I'd ever heard about Stag was after I had finished writing the screenplay for Very Bad Things. When we were at the point of getting the film financed, we had a lawyer look over the script and the film to make sure there weren't too many similarities. I mean, there were things we had to change; for example, one of the characters in the movie was a baker, and there was also a baker in our script, so we had to change some very minor things. But as far as I understand it, the two films take very different approaches to the material. I will say this: I think it would be interesting to get, like, three different directors—say, Soderberg, Spielberg, and Coppola—and have them all tell the exact same story in a different way.

O: Very Bad Things is a profoundly sexist film.

PB: As far as people claiming that the film is sexist or racist, or that it's attacking Jews, the bottom line is, yeah, these characters do say things that are insulting to various different religions and various different races, and there is some violence toward women. But these characters pay a very high price for their actions. You know, if anything, how can you say that a film is racist when the person who is saying racist things is depicted as a buffoon? You know, there's not a real glorification of his behavior.

O: Very Bad Things relies almost exclusively on shock value for laughs.

PB: Well, you know, that could very well be the case, but it's a comedy, so things are always going to be exaggerated.

O: Very Bad Things is a very moralistic film.

PB: See, I don't understand why that would be any sort of a negative argument. It's like, is it possible to be too nice? Is it possible to be too kind? You know, since when are these bad things? Since when is being moralistic a bad thing?

O: Well, I guess the argument would be that moralistic films are also, in some respects, simplifying complex issues.

PB: Well, you see, I don't see that. I don't see how it's possible to make a film that's too moralistic.

O: There's no real reason for people to see Very Bad Things, since the commercials give away the ending.

PB: See, I don't think that is the case at all. Which commercial are you talking about?

O: I'm thinking about the one where Cameron Diaz tells Jon Favreau that he needs to kill the dog and his best friend.

PB: See, but that wasn't the ending of the film at all. [Editor's note: The aforementioned scene happens no more than 15 minutes before the end of the movie.] And I think it's a good thing that people will be familiar with what the film is about. I mean, everybody I've spoken to about Very Bad Things knows that it is about what happens when a bachelor party goes wrong and a hooker is killed, and I think people should know what the film is about so they can make up their mind about whether they want to see it. I wouldn't want people to see it if they didn't know what it was about.

O: Peter Berg is taking opportunities away from hungry young filmmakers.

PB: No, man. That's just not true. There is no opportunity apart from the opportunities you make for yourself. If I wasn't making it, this film wouldn't get made.

O: Peter Berg's career hit an apex with 1993's Aspen Extreme, and it has been all downhill since then.

PB: I would probably say that The Last Seduction is a better film than Aspen Extreme.

O: Yeah, but you have to admit that Aspen Extreme has had this weird sort of cultural shelf-life.

PB: Yeah, it's definitely a cult film. It definitely has a following.

O: It seems as if that would be a very pleasant film to make.

PB: Oh, yeah. I had a blast making that film. I got to go skiing every day. It was great.

O: Very Bad Things is a misanthropic film that will desensitize viewers with its glib depictions of violence and death.

PB: See, the only change I would make in that description is that I would say it is a cautionary tale, and a fable about karma, and that it encourages people to live lives of greater mindfulness. I don't think there is anything glib or anything particularly desensitizing about it.

O: Well, I guess the argument would be that when you have films that address violence in a comic way, or in a way that is not rendered realistically, that can have a desensitizing effect.

PB: Oh, yeah, well, absolutely. It's different. To me, violence in a film is Henry: Portrait Of A Serial Killer. Very Bad Things is a farce. It's meant to be looked at as a farce. It's clearly over-the-top. Someone I talked to once said that it reminded him of a Three Stooges cartoon with blood. The violence is excessive and shocking, and it gives audiences permission to laugh and go along with what is basically a morality tale.