Pecker power

John Waters

John Waters is back with an infectious new flick that delights in pricking bloated egos. Here, the director grills his star, Edward Furlong, ideally cast as Pecker, the sweet Baltimore photographer who goes pomposity-piercing in big bad Manhattan

JOHN WATERS: OK, Mr. Eddie, now I get to ask you all the questions that I didn't have time to ask you when we were making a movie together. I've heard you were discovered in a very Land Turner-esque manner, but I don't know the whole story. Why don't you tell me?

EDWARD FURLONG: There's this place called Pasadena Boys Club, and I was hanging out there with some friends. Mall Finn, the casting director for Terminator 2, came up to me and asked me out - well, not asked me out -

JW: Asked you out? Didn't your parents tell you not to talk to strangers?

EF: [laughs] She asked me if I wanted to try out for this movie.

JW: How old were you?

EF: Thirteen.

JW: And did you believe her?

EF: Not really. I thought she was some weird kiddie porn lady.

JW: That's what I would think, too, if she was just lurking about a boy's club. So, you had never acted before, right?

EF: I carried a box out onstage in a school play, and that was about it.

JW: What kind of kid were you at the time?

EF: I would say pretty shy.

JW: You weren't a delinquent or anything?

EF: No.

JW: Right. And you weren't a herd. You weren't Pecker-esque at all?

EF: Maybe a little Pecker-esque.

JW: How did you first hear about my Pecker movie?

EF: Pretty much like any other one, through my agent.

JW: Did anybody warn you about me?

EF: Nope.

JW: Had you seen any of my more notorious movies?

EF: Not up until then.

JW: I always try to encourage young actors not to when they're deciding whether to make my movie. That's why I didn't hand you a cassette of Pink Flamingos at our first meeting.

EF: I know, but I watched it later. Female Trouble, too.

JW: Well, by then it was too late to escape me.

EF: Yeah. Oh, but I liked Female Trouble.

JW: Oh good, thank you - me too. Had you ever been to Baltimore before Pecker?

EF: Nope.

JW: What did you do when you were in Baltimore, besides the movie?

EF: I didn't really do anything, actually.

JW: What do you mean you didn't do anything? I took you to a biker bar.

EF: Oh yeah! Yeah, that was OK.

JW: Now, at some point you were maybe going to be in a David Lynch movie?

EF: Yeah. Lost Highway.

JW: Do you ever wonder why all the strange directors like you?

EF: Because I'm a strange guy.

JW: Strange in what way? Besides being a vegan and having tofu turkey for Thanksgiving?

EF: I don't know. I can't say how I'm strange. That would give me away.

JW: Well, that's true. You had two love scenes in Pecker, and one was in a voting booth. Have you ever had sex in a voting booth before?

EF: I can't say I have.

JW: Will voting make you horny now?

EF: Maybe. I don't know, man.

JW: In Pecker you had a Pecker haircut, but you also played a skinhead in American History X [opening in October]. So you were shaved bald in that?

EF: Yeah.

JW: Was that traumatic?

EF: Before I did it, it was super traumatic and then after I did it, it felt great. I was so happy that my head didn't have -

JW: . . . big moles all over it?

EF: Or little points on it.

JW: Do you ever rent porno tapes?

EF: No.

JW: OK. Do you read your own reviews?

EF: Yeah.

JW: I don't think I've ever read a mean review of you, but you're young, don't worry.

EF: [laughs] Yeah, right.

JW: I'm not asking you to name names, but have you ever made movies you just hated doing?

EF: Yeah, kinda. I've been lucky, working with pretty normal people, but there've been a few movies where there has been a lame actor or like a cheesy director who doesn't know what the hell he's doing.

JW: If there were any actors that hated each other on Pecker, I never knew it.

EF: I swear it was one of the easiest shoots I've done.

JW: It was? See, I can never tell because I've only been on my own sets.

EF: We always got a lot done. I hate working on things where no one knows what they're doing and there're a million rewrites.

JW: If you look at the script that you got the day we met and then look at the final movie, they're exactly the same. Almost nothing's cut out. After thirteen movies I've learned to really plan it out. Anyway, what have you been doing since Pecker? How do you relax these days, Eddie?

EF: Relax? I kick back with friends.

JW: Do you hang out in L.A.?

EF: I don't really do the L.A. scene. Plus I couldn't get in anywhere until now. I just turned twenty-one.

JW: I keep forgetting that. Are you going to school?

EF: Yeah. I'm taking astronomy and drawing.

JW: That's great. I had no idea you were doing that. How do the other kids react to having a famous actor in their class?

EF: They don't know who the hell I am yet.

JW: You mean they don't know you're Pecker?

COPYRIGHT 1998 Brant Publications, Inc.
COPYRIGHT 2008 Gale, Cengage Learning