Roger Avary worked in the same video store as one Quentin Tarantino during the 80s. He co-wrote Tarantio's 1994 film "Pulp Fiction" and directed his own heist picture "Killing Zoe" the same year. After writing and producing various television and independent film projects, Avary returns as director with a provocative adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis' second 1987 novel, "The Rules of Attraction".
When did you first decide to make this Easton Ellis novel into a movie?
When it first came out I was in college. I'd be reading the book and I'd be laughing so hard. I'd look up from a chapter and someone from the book would walk by. I thought about it for years, how to turn what appears to be a stream of consciousness from multiple first person narratives into a film.
The book is set in the late 80s. Was it difficult adapting it to the present?
No, not really. I think its themes are universal, down through the college generations.
How did you film the spectacular "Victor's Trip To Europe" sequence?
I told Kip Pardue (who plays Victor), "I intend to follow you around Europe but I don't want Kip in Europe, I wanna go to Europe with Victor. You're in character from when we get on the plane until we return." I had a couple of cameras following him, shooting constantly, with the producer following us with release forms. Kip would go to a party as Victor, who is a complete ***! Yet, for some reason, girls were always gravitating towards him. Very briefly I'd explain what we were doing, I'd show them some mini DVD footage, we'd get releases, Kip would fall back into character and we'd continue. Invariably, we'd end up at the hotel room with these girls and I'd be shooting this stuff thinking,"This is insane... and ethically questionable."
Where you worried about what Bret Easton Ellis would think of the film?
I was terrified about what he'd think of both the screenplay and the film. He sneaked into an early screening of it. The lights came up, I saw him in the audience and the hairs on my neck stood on end. He came up to me and he said,"You've done it. You've made a movie that's better than the book." I would never presume to have achieved that, but he was intensely happy with it.
