נייע פילם קומט ארויס וועגען א חסידישע בחור וואס איז אפגעפארען
| Converging on Vic Thrill
Thanks to an upcoming documentary, autobiography and possible Hollywood feature film, the world is about to get thoroughly reacquainted with the dynamic duo of Vic Thrill and Curly Oxide. Wednesday, April 23, 2008 at 9:25 AM By Richard Horgan |
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The tale of the unlikely musical partnership between punk rocker Vic Thrill (a.k.a. Billy Campion) and 6' 8'' Hasidic Jew Curly Oxide was famously chronicled in June of 2004 on the NPR radio show ''This American Life.'' Though the show identified Curly by his real first name, he has gone to great lengths to protect his identity, a desire that Cassidy honors in his upcoming documentary. It was in fact the NPR program that caught the ear of 30 Rock doyenne Tina Fey, who is currently developing a 2009 feature film about the musical friendship with producer pal Lorne Michaels. But Cassidy was there from the very beginning in 1999, when Vic, upon meeting Curly, invited him over to see the studio, hang out and make music. ''Into the salon walks this Hasidic kid,'' Cassidy recalls during a recent telephone interview with FilmStew. ''He was being pressured by his parents to get married and feeling kind of stressed, so Vic befriended him and then Curly started hanging out at the salon.''
Growing up, Curly had not been allowed - per strict Jewish Orthodox customs - to watch TV or listen to radio. He quickly started making up for lost time, soaking up MTV and all things pop culture. Later on, in 2004, he happened to catch a radio interview with Ali G star Sacha Baron Cohen on The Howard Stern Show. ''He just heard Cohen talk,'' Cassidy explains. ''He didn't know anything about him, but he told everyone, based only on Cohen's voice, that this guy would make a perfect Curly Oxide.'' Sure enough, the 6' 3'' Cohen is the man Fey and Michaels have chosen to attach as Curly to their 2009 project Vic Thrill and Curly Oxide. A representative from Broadway Video was unable to get back to FilmStew by press time to confirm the exact status of the film, and in fact, Cassidy is one of those eagerly waiting to hear if and how this Hollywood project is to be firmed up.
This will be Cassidy's third feature-length documentary, an art form that famously does not pay the bills. So, in addition to continuing to support himself as a music and boxing photographer, Cassidy has for the past couple of years also been working as a videographer for TurnHere Inc., an Internet video production service that relies on a stable of thousands of filmmakers just like Cassidy. The 40-year-old Long Island native has worked principally on short promotional videos for publishers Simon & Schuster and Random House, interviewing the likes of Stephen King and Mary Higgins Clark. It is work that he thoroughly enjoys. ''For these three-minute book author web videos, you get to spend a few hours with these brilliant writers and then try to tell their stories," Cassidy explains. "It's a fun challenge.'' Given the fact that Vic Thrill himself has an autobiography in the works that will be published by Random House, Cassidy jokes that it would seem somehow fitting if he were the one recruited to shoot Thrill's TurnHere promo. Curly meanwhile finally did get married in 2001 and is now living with three kids in upstate New York. Cassidy says he still catches up with him occasionally in person when he visits New York, most recently about six months ago.
''I've already interviewed Hasidic people in the community to strengthen that side of the documentary," Cassidy says. ''It really is a remarkable story, for a guy like Curly to have taken a rock 'n' roll breather before settling down into the life that was pre-ordained for him.'' http://www.filmstew.com/showArticle.aspx?ContentID=17187 |
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