How did you meet Daniel Clowes, who wrote the original comic book of "Ghost World"?
I met him right after I made my documentary "Crumb" in 1994. I was looking for another film to do and was sent a lot of screenplays because "Crumb" had made a lot of money in America. They were all terrible, I couldn't connect to any of them. They would consider me edgy, but their definition of edgy was completely contrived. My wife had read the comic and kept pushing me towards making it. Dan's stuff was the best in the comic "Eight Ball", though I found his other stuff funnier than "Ghost World", which is more poignant.
You both expanded upon the original story a great deal. What was your input?
Seymour, Steve Buscemi's character, was my biggest contribution. I am a collector of old 78s, like him, and have been for 32 years. I have about 1,500 records in my collection. The stuff in his room is from my house. I had to move my collection to the set in Hollywood. I made it very personal. It's very much based on my life. I exaggerated certain things, but I've had trouble with women during different parts of my life. Not quite to that extent, but I can relate to that. Seymour is also based on my cousin, too. When I showed him the script, he was very offended, very hurt. He said, "I thought you really liked me!" But I had Steve play against the nerd, so when my cousin saw the final cut, he was comfortable with the film.
Steve has played the loser a lot before...
As much as I like Steve in all his films, I always thought he was rather miscast. I called him up and said so and then I sent him the script. He got it, that's for sure. An Oscar calibre performance, I thought. I didn't have to tell him too much. He just turned up and we combed his hair differently.
Thora Birch talks about her role in the film.
"Ghost World" is released in UK cinemas on Friday 16th November 2001.
