Vulgar (film)
Encyclopedia
Vulgar is a 2000 film
, produced by View Askew Productions
and featuring a few actor
s from the View Askewniverse
of Kevin Smith
. The film is the tale of the mascot, featured in Clerks opening.
in order to pay the rent for his abusive mother's nursing home and the mortgage on his rundown house. Despite the difficulties of the job, clowning is Will's one escape from the realities of his miserable existence: Will genuinely likes kids, and takes great joy from making them happy on their birthdays.
Struggling to make ends meet, but not wanting to give up his dream job, Will comes up with the idea to be a "bachelor party clown." Will's idea is that men throwing bachelor parties
can hire him as well as a stripper
; Will enters the room prior to the "real" entertainment, wearing clown makeup and lingerie, tricking the bachelor into thinking that there was a mix-up and a gay
stripper has been sent in lieu of a female one. Will invents the persona of Vulgar the Clown (after his friend tells him that the entire idea is "vulgar") and solicits himself in the want-ads. Before long, he is hired to appear at a bachelor party being held at a nearby motel.
When Will arrives for the party — wearing stockings, garters, clown makeup, and a trench-coat — he is attacked and brutally beaten by a middle-aged man, Ed, and his sons Gino and Frankie. The three men then proceed to gang rape Will, taking turns videotaping the attack. The trio hold Will hostage in the motel room for an indeterminate amount of time, during which they subject him to a series of violent and humiliating sexual assault
s. Once it's over, the men let Will go, telling him that if he goes to the police, the authorities will question the attack, as Will believed he was attending a bachelor party while dressed in women's lingerie. A tearful Will goes home and spends the remainder of the night and part of the next morning crying while he washes himself clean in the bathtub.
Will spends a considerable amount of time after the attack in a crippling depression, which nearly costs him his home. Eventually, Will fulfills a promise to appear as a clown at one of his past-clients' children's party. When he gets to the party, Will discovers a hostage crisis
is occurring; the father of one of the children, in the middle of divorce proceedings, has kidnapped his own daughter and is threatening to kill her. Will sneaks past the police barricade, breaks into the house, and subdues the father. News reporters capture some of the event on film, and before long the story makes national headlines. Will becomes known as "the hero clown;" the attention and outpouring of support breaks him out of his depression, and he is eventually given his own syndicated children's television show.
The media coverage attracts the attention of Ed and his sons (who are still raping young men). They threaten Will with a copy of the tape of his being raped and begin to extort
him. When Will tries to pay the men off, they attack him in a bathroom stall. Will finally strikes an agreement with the men wherein he will come to a motel room and "perform" for them, allowing himself to be taken advantage of again, and they will give him all of the copies of the tape; secretly, Will plans to ambush and murder them with the help of one of his friends. When the time comes, Will finds himself unable to kill his tormentors. Just as Ed and his sons move in to rape and murder Will, Ed's son Frankie accidentally shoots himself in the face. Then, a shootout ensues with another (unnamed) lowlife at the hotel, who tries to rob them. Both the man and Ed's other son (Gino) are shot to death. Ed panics, and Will chases him through the motel parking lot to a nearby playground. As Will approaches him, Ed drops dead of a massive heart attack. His conscience
clear, Will retrieves the tape and goes on to live happily ever after, hosting his television show.
features an extended ending, wherein Will finds a note from Syd along with a clipped newspaper article on the Fanelli's death, Ed's heart failure from panic and overdose of crack cocaine
, as well as attributing Ed's sons' deaths' to a random incidence of criminal violence. A stunned Will determines that the men's deaths were all karmic
retribution.
, Chasing Amy
, and Dogma
, Kevin Smith
financed three films (Drawing Flies
, A Better Place
, and this one).
The film was written and directed by Smith's long time friend Bryan Johnson
. Vulgar the Clown was also the View Askew Productions
logo at one time.
The movie was written in 28 days, filmed in 26. The role of Will Carlson was written specifically for Brian O'Halloran.
The film was sound edited and mixed at Skywalker Sound
.
The music was composed by Ryan Shore
.
The role of Scotty, the daytime talk-show that interviews Will on his heroics was written specifically for Ben Affleck
, but after he had become a discovered star, he moved onto other things. Scott Mosier took the role.
The film was shot on an extremely tight budget.
Many of the grips, assistants and film crew took bit parts in the movie to save money. Brian O' Halloran actually had to have a real bottle broken over his head in one scene because View Askew couldn't afford a break-away bottle. O' Halloran really cut his own hand on a piece of broken glass in one scene of the movie.
's character in Blue Velvet. The Fanelli sons, Frankie and Gino, were inspired by the villains of Deliverance
.Vulgar the Clown was based on the clown cartoon in the intro of Kevin Smith's first movie, Clerks
.
got a copy of the film before it was released. His producer, Gary "Baba Booey" Dell'Abate
is a big fan of Kevin Smith, so Scott Mosier
sent a copy to him. After Dell'Abate saw some of the film, he gave it to Stern, who was repulsed by it and shared his opinion of it on The Howard Stern Show.
The film world premiered at the 2000 Toronto International Film Festival
.
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
, produced by View Askew Productions
View Askew Productions
View Askew Productions is an American film and television production company founded by Kevin Smith and Scott Mosier in 1994. Actors Ben Affleck, Jeff Anderson, Matt Damon, Walter Flanagan, Bryan Johnson, Jason Lee, Jason Mewes, Brian O'Halloran and Smith himself are just some of the stars that...
and featuring a few actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
s from the View Askewniverse
View Askewniverse
The View Askewniverse is a fictional universe created by writer/director Kevin Smith, featured in several films, comics and a television series; it is named for Smith's production company, View Askew Productions. The characters Jay and Silent Bob appear in almost all the View Askewniverse media,...
of Kevin Smith
Kevin Smith
Kevin Patrick Smith is an American screenwriter, actor, film producer, and director, as well as a popular comic book writer, author, comedian/raconteur, and internet radio personality best recognized by viewers as Silent Bob...
. The film is the tale of the mascot, featured in Clerks opening.
Plot
Will Carlson is a 20-something loser who lives in a rundown neighborhood, where he ekes out a living as a birthday party clownClown
Clowns are comic performers stereotypically characterized by the grotesque image of the circus clown's colored wigs, stylistic makeup, outlandish costumes, unusually large footwear, and red nose, which evolved to project their actions to large audiences. Other less grotesque styles have also...
in order to pay the rent for his abusive mother's nursing home and the mortgage on his rundown house. Despite the difficulties of the job, clowning is Will's one escape from the realities of his miserable existence: Will genuinely likes kids, and takes great joy from making them happy on their birthdays.
Struggling to make ends meet, but not wanting to give up his dream job, Will comes up with the idea to be a "bachelor party clown." Will's idea is that men throwing bachelor parties
Bachelor party
A bachelor party , also known as a stag party, stag night or stag do , a bull's party , or a buck's party or buck's night , is a party held for a man shortly before he enters marriage, to celebrate his "last night of freedom" or merely to spend...
can hire him as well as a stripper
Stripper
A stripper is a professional erotic dancer who performs a contemporary form of striptease at strip club establishments, public exhibitions, and private engagements. Unlike in burlesque, the performer in the modern Americanized form of stripping minimizes the interaction of customer and dancer,...
; Will enters the room prior to the "real" entertainment, wearing clown makeup and lingerie, tricking the bachelor into thinking that there was a mix-up and a gay
Gay
Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....
stripper has been sent in lieu of a female one. Will invents the persona of Vulgar the Clown (after his friend tells him that the entire idea is "vulgar") and solicits himself in the want-ads. Before long, he is hired to appear at a bachelor party being held at a nearby motel.
When Will arrives for the party — wearing stockings, garters, clown makeup, and a trench-coat — he is attacked and brutally beaten by a middle-aged man, Ed, and his sons Gino and Frankie. The three men then proceed to gang rape Will, taking turns videotaping the attack. The trio hold Will hostage in the motel room for an indeterminate amount of time, during which they subject him to a series of violent and humiliating sexual assault
Sexual assault
Sexual assault is an assault of a sexual nature on another person, or any sexual act committed without consent. Although sexual assaults most frequently are by a man on a woman, it may involve any combination of two or more men, women and children....
s. Once it's over, the men let Will go, telling him that if he goes to the police, the authorities will question the attack, as Will believed he was attending a bachelor party while dressed in women's lingerie. A tearful Will goes home and spends the remainder of the night and part of the next morning crying while he washes himself clean in the bathtub.
Will spends a considerable amount of time after the attack in a crippling depression, which nearly costs him his home. Eventually, Will fulfills a promise to appear as a clown at one of his past-clients' children's party. When he gets to the party, Will discovers a hostage crisis
Hostage crisis
A hostage crisis develops when one or more terrorists or criminals hold people against their will and try to hold off the authorities by force, threatening to kill the hostages if provoked or attacked....
is occurring; the father of one of the children, in the middle of divorce proceedings, has kidnapped his own daughter and is threatening to kill her. Will sneaks past the police barricade, breaks into the house, and subdues the father. News reporters capture some of the event on film, and before long the story makes national headlines. Will becomes known as "the hero clown;" the attention and outpouring of support breaks him out of his depression, and he is eventually given his own syndicated children's television show.
The media coverage attracts the attention of Ed and his sons (who are still raping young men). They threaten Will with a copy of the tape of his being raped and begin to extort
Extortion
Extortion is a criminal offence which occurs when a person unlawfully obtains either money, property or services from a person, entity, or institution, through coercion. Refraining from doing harm is sometimes euphemistically called protection. Extortion is commonly practiced by organized crime...
him. When Will tries to pay the men off, they attack him in a bathroom stall. Will finally strikes an agreement with the men wherein he will come to a motel room and "perform" for them, allowing himself to be taken advantage of again, and they will give him all of the copies of the tape; secretly, Will plans to ambush and murder them with the help of one of his friends. When the time comes, Will finds himself unable to kill his tormentors. Just as Ed and his sons move in to rape and murder Will, Ed's son Frankie accidentally shoots himself in the face. Then, a shootout ensues with another (unnamed) lowlife at the hotel, who tries to rob them. Both the man and Ed's other son (Gino) are shot to death. Ed panics, and Will chases him through the motel parking lot to a nearby playground. As Will approaches him, Ed drops dead of a massive heart attack. His conscience
Conscience
Conscience is an aptitude, faculty, intuition or judgment of the intellect that distinguishes right from wrong. Moral judgement may derive from values or norms...
clear, Will retrieves the tape and goes on to live happily ever after, hosting his television show.
Extended ending
The director's cut DVDDVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
features an extended ending, wherein Will finds a note from Syd along with a clipped newspaper article on the Fanelli's death, Ed's heart failure from panic and overdose of crack cocaine
Crack cocaine
Crack cocaine is the freebase form of cocaine that can be smoked. It may also be termed rock, hard, iron, cavvy, base, or just crack; it is the most addictive form of cocaine. Crack rocks offer a short but intense high to smokers...
, as well as attributing Ed's sons' deaths' to a random incidence of criminal violence. A stunned Will determines that the men's deaths were all karmic
Karma
Karma in Indian religions is the concept of "action" or "deed", understood as that which causes the entire cycle of cause and effect originating in ancient India and treated in Hindu, Jain, Buddhist and Sikh philosophies....
retribution.
Production
After the success of such films as ClerksClerks
Clerks is a 1994 independent comedy film written and directed by Kevin Smith, who also appears in the film as Silent Bob. Starring Brian O'Halloran as Dante Hicks and Jeff Anderson as Randal Graves, it presents a day in the lives of two store clerks and their acquaintances...
, Chasing Amy
Chasing Amy
Chasing Amy is a 1997 romantic comedy film written and directed by Kevin Smith. The central tension revolves around sexuality, sexual history, and evolving friendships. It is the third film in Smith's View Askewniverse series....
, and Dogma
Dogma (film)
Dogma is a 1999 American adventure fantasy comedy film written and directed by Kevin Smith, who also stars in the film along with an ensemble cast that includes Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Linda Fiorentino, Alan Rickman, Bud Cort, Salma Hayek, Chris Rock, Jason Lee, George Carlin, Janeane Garofalo,...
, Kevin Smith
Kevin Smith
Kevin Patrick Smith is an American screenwriter, actor, film producer, and director, as well as a popular comic book writer, author, comedian/raconteur, and internet radio personality best recognized by viewers as Silent Bob...
financed three films (Drawing Flies
Drawing Flies
For the Soundgarden song of the same name see Drawing Flies .Drawing Flies is a View Askew Production made by two Canadian filmmakers, Malcolm Ingram and Matt Gissing...
, A Better Place
A Better Place
A Better Place is a 1997 American independent film, written and directed by Vincent Pereira. It stars Robert DiPatri and Eion Bailey. It was produced in association with View Askew, Kevin Smith's production company, and released to DVD by Synapse Films...
, and this one).
The film was written and directed by Smith's long time friend Bryan Johnson
Bryan Johnson (filmmaker)
Bryan Lee Johnson is a writer, actor, podcaster and director associated with Kevin Smith and the View Askewniverse. He is best known by his local fame in New Jersey and appearances in Smith's New Jersey films as comic book fan Steve-Dave Pulasti. Because of his friendship with Smith, he was often...
. Vulgar the Clown was also the View Askew Productions
View Askew Productions
View Askew Productions is an American film and television production company founded by Kevin Smith and Scott Mosier in 1994. Actors Ben Affleck, Jeff Anderson, Matt Damon, Walter Flanagan, Bryan Johnson, Jason Lee, Jason Mewes, Brian O'Halloran and Smith himself are just some of the stars that...
logo at one time.
The movie was written in 28 days, filmed in 26. The role of Will Carlson was written specifically for Brian O'Halloran.
The film was sound edited and mixed at Skywalker Sound
Skywalker Sound
Skywalker Sound is the sound effects, sound editing, sound design, sound mixing and music recording division of George Lucas' Lucas Digital motion picture group. Its main facilities are located in Lucas Valley, near Nicasio, California...
.
The music was composed by Ryan Shore
Ryan Shore
Ryan Shore is a Grammy Award nominated composer for film, television, records and games. He is a graduate of the Berklee College of Music and is the nephew of Academy Award winning composer Howard Shore.-Music career:...
.
The role of Scotty, the daytime talk-show that interviews Will on his heroics was written specifically for Ben Affleck
Ben Affleck
Benjamin Géza Affleck-Boldt , better known as Ben Affleck, is an American actor, film director, writer, and producer. He became known with his performances in Kevin Smith's films such as Mallrats and Chasing Amy...
, but after he had become a discovered star, he moved onto other things. Scott Mosier took the role.
The film was shot on an extremely tight budget.
Many of the grips, assistants and film crew took bit parts in the movie to save money. Brian O' Halloran actually had to have a real bottle broken over his head in one scene because View Askew couldn't afford a break-away bottle. O' Halloran really cut his own hand on a piece of broken glass in one scene of the movie.
Inspirations
The lead rapist, Ed Fanelli, was inspired by Frank Booth, Dennis HopperDennis Hopper
Dennis Lee Hopper was an American actor, filmmaker and artist. As a young man, Hopper became interested in acting and eventually became a student of the Actors' Studio. He made his first television appearance in 1954 and appeared in two films featuring James Dean, Rebel Without a Cause and Giant...
's character in Blue Velvet. The Fanelli sons, Frankie and Gino, were inspired by the villains of Deliverance
Deliverance
Deliverance is a 1972 American thriller film produced and directed by John Boorman. Principal cast members include Jon Voight, Burt Reynolds, Ronny Cox and Ned Beatty in his film debut. The film is based on a 1970 novel of the same name by American author James Dickey, who has a small role in the...
.Vulgar the Clown was based on the clown cartoon in the intro of Kevin Smith's first movie, Clerks
Clerks
Clerks is a 1994 independent comedy film written and directed by Kevin Smith, who also appears in the film as Silent Bob. Starring Brian O'Halloran as Dante Hicks and Jeff Anderson as Randal Graves, it presents a day in the lives of two store clerks and their acquaintances...
.
Release and reviews
Howard SternHoward Stern
Howard Allan Stern is an American radio personality, television host, author, and actor best known for his radio show, which was nationally syndicated from 1986 to 2005. He gained wide recognition in the 1990s where he was labeled a "shock jock" for his outspoken and sometimes controversial style...
got a copy of the film before it was released. His producer, Gary "Baba Booey" Dell'Abate
Gary Dell'Abate
Gary Patrick Angelo Dell'Abate , also known as "Baba Booey", is an American radio producer, known for being the executive producer of The Howard Stern Show. His autobiography, They Call Me Baba Booey, was released on November 2, 2010.-Early life and career:Dell'Abate was born in Uniondale, New...
is a big fan of Kevin Smith, so Scott Mosier
Scott Mosier
Scott A Mosier is an American-Canadian film producer, editor, podcaster and actor best known for his work with director Kevin Smith, with whom he co-hosts the weekly podcast, Smodcast.-Early life:...
sent a copy to him. After Dell'Abate saw some of the film, he gave it to Stern, who was repulsed by it and shared his opinion of it on The Howard Stern Show.
The film world premiered at the 2000 Toronto International Film Festival
2000 Toronto International Film Festival
The 2000 Toronto International Film Festival, the 25th annual festival, ran from September 7 to September 16, 2000. Along with special events to commemorate the anniversary, there were a total of 330 films screened. There was a special screening of Sergei Eisenstein's Alexander Nevsky featuring...
.