Audio transcription

For more interviews and talks, visit the Harvard Film Archive Visiting Artists Audio Collection page.

John Quackenbush  0:01 

March 2, 2014, the Harvard Film Archive screened Spring Breakers. This is the audio recording of the introduction and the Q&A that followed. Participating are Haden Guest, director of the Harvard Film Archive, and filmmaker Harmony Korine.

Haden Guest  0:21  

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. I'd like to begin first by asking everybody to turn off any cell phones, any electronic devices you have on you. Anything that makes noise or sheds light. We would greatly appreciate it. My name is Haden Guest. I'm Director of the Harvard Film Archive. And it's a great, great pleasure to be here tonight to welcome you to the screening of Spring Breakers by Harmony Korine. It's a real thrill that Mr. Korine is here with us tonight to present and discuss this film.

This is actually the third visit of Harmony Korine. He first came to the Harvard Film Archive back in 1997, with a film called Gummo, an extraordinary debut film, which was both celebrated as the work of a true visionary, the work of an artist working within an authentic mode of independent cinema. At the same time, it was decried by many who were confused and upset by the film. Harmony Korine came back two years later, with his second, equally strong, equally important film, julien donkey-boy. A film that also was proved to be divisive, upsetting to many. And at the same time, those who understood the film realized that this was an extension, an expansion of his visionary cinema. Seeing this film two nights ago here on the big screen after a number of years, I realized that this is really just a remarkable film that is a sort of reimagination of kitchen sink realism, expanded, reinvented through some of the most shimmeringly beautiful imagery, I think, created in video. And also really, really unusual and quite brilliant, radical editing techniques.

We're here tonight and tomorrow night to look at Harmony Korine’s fourth and fifth features. Tomorrow night we'll be seeing Trash Humpers. And these, I think, taken together, one way to–. Oh, I should point out that these two films, Spring Breakers and Trash Humpers, have been equally controversial. We even received something of hate mail about tonight's screening. Somebody very upset that we’re screening this film and, under the cloak of anonymity, said some quite rude words. [LAUGHTER] We're gonna post that letter outside for everybody to see [LAUGHTER] because it actually, it says some quite interesting things. But I think one way to think about Harmony’s Korine’s work and to really appreciate its importance is to understand Korine as a filmmaker really working within the tradition of an outsider artist. His abiding interest in the local and the sort of texture, the color, the vernacular of the South, of his hometown, homestate, in Nashville, Tennessee, I think is strong and quite clear in a number of the films. But it's also an ambition to work outside of any established traditions. To really think not just in terms of narrative traditions, but traditions even of what cinema is. I mean, Korine’s films challenge us to rethink all our assumptions about cinematic imagery and language. Now, that's important to keep in mind as we watch tonight's film, Spring Breakers, which may seem to be a film working within a recognizable, a sort of conventional mode of cinema. And yet, looking at it more closely, I think you realize how deeply subversive and sharp edged this film is. Like many of Korine's films, this is a film about performance, about role playing, and about the ways in which the fantasies and roles that we often assume, and often encourage and inspire us, oftentimes take on shapes and forces of their own. I'll say no more, because I'm really eager to welcome Harmony Korine here to the podium. So please join me in welcoming Harmony Korine.

[APPLAUSE]

Harmony Korine  5:17  

[LAUGHS] Pretty controversial dude. That was my mom, wrote that letter. For real.

[LAUGHTER]

She hates this shit. I tore you all away from the Oscars tonight?

[LAUGHTER]

It's crazy. It's weird being at Harvard. Like, I barely graduated high school. I think I've only ever read two books. That book The Outsiders, I read it twice.

[LAUGHTER]

Well, you're gonna watch Spring Breakers? I'll come back and answer questions. I mean, unless there's something someone wanted to ask before the thing. But it was the movie I did last year. And it's pretty awesome. [LAUGHS]

[LAUGHTER]

And it's about spring break.

[LAUGHTER]

I'll see you guys afterwards.

[APPLAUSE]

John Quackenbush  6:35  

And now, the discussion with Harmony Korine and Haden Guest.

[APPLAUSE]

Haden Guest  6:46  

Please join me in welcoming back Harmony Korine!

[APPLAUSE]

Well, Harmony, thank you so much for sharing this film with us, for being with us tonight. I’d like to start with a couple questions of my own, before we take questions or comments from our audience. And as I mentioned in my introductory comments, you know, there is a– You can't move that. [LAUGHS] We can think about your films, as actually, you know, dealing with ideas of different ideas of genre. I mean, you know, if we think about Mr. Lonely for instance, there’s the idea of a sort of backstage musical. You can think about julien donkey-boy as a kind of kitchen sink realist film, of sorts. And here we have a film that's clearly, you know, there's an interest in a popular genre here. That sort of exploitation, sexploitation film. I was wondering if you could talk about what propelled you into this genre territory that’s seemingly very distant from other films you've made?

Harmony Korine  7:58

Yeah, like, I never thought of it as like a sexploitation, or I don't really know what that is. But like, I wanted to make a movie that was like a pop poem, that had a kind of like a pop vernacular. I was sick of making movies that are just like, you know, not many people see. So, I really wanted to infiltrate, you know? And like, subvert that shit in a deep way. And so, I wanted to make a film where the surface of it was like candy or something. And it looks like it’s lit like Skittles. And then all the pathology and the meaning is like the residue of that, you know, it's just like, what drips off the surface... Anyway.

[LAUGHTER]

That’s what I did.

Haden Guest  8:58  

Well, you know, there's a moment in the film that really fascinates me, where two of the girls start reenacting the holdup of the chicken shack, the restaurant. And then they start, you know, and they start getting so into it, and it's going, it's like this repetition. They’re sort of in this groove of the act. And then the film goes back and we get this flashback, and we start seeing the scene again, but we start seeing it maybe differently. Like because before, we'd seen it from the outside, you know, and suddenly, it seems to be even more hyped up, even more violent. And it's a moment in which we start to wonder what's real and what's imagined. Again, we start thinking about the roles that these girls are playing and that everyone is playing. And I was wondering if we could talk about the sort of hinge moment, and the way in which the film plays with ideas of sort of fantasy and and the imaginary become real.

Harmony Korine

What was that? [PAUSE] No, just kidding.

[LAUGHTER]

Haden Guest  10:03

You know what I'm talking about.

Harmony Korine  10:08  

What was the question? Mostly?

Haden Guest  10:10  

Yeah, again, let's talk about that scene where, you know, where the girls start reenacting, right? In the parking lot where they hold up the chicken shack, right? And they start like, going to one of them. Like telling, “Get down!” And they start to–, there’s like this desire to play out the role.

Harmony Korine  10:28

Uh huh. Right.

Haden Guest  10:29

To repeat it. Because there's this pleasure in performance and like, you know–.

Harmony Korine  10:31

Okay.

Haden Guest 10:32

And being somebody other than themselves, which has like brought them to, you know, where they are to begin with. The same way that we can think like the James Franco character seems to have this pleasure in performing. So I was wondering if we could talk about these performative selves. These characters as kind of like performers.

Harmony Korine  10:47  

Well, let's see. I was actually trying to make a movie that was like, you know, that had a liquid narrative, where it was mostly like–. I don't really care about like, a conventional, like linear narrative as much as something that's more transcendent. Or more about, like, an energy force. Or something that's like, less tangible, and more just, like falling out of the sky, you know? And so I started to think about films in a way that was closer to pop music or rap music, or even loop-based music. Things that would come back and almost have visual audio hooks. And so,I wanted to make a movie where there's hooks, where things would repeat. Repeat from different perspectives.

It’s like, you know, coming up with stories and characters is easy, but it's just as important for me to figure out the, like, the actual, like, the structure. I want the movies to–, you to feel the films, and be, like, immersive. And so, I want them to go through you. So more time is actually spent trying to think about how I can add a kind of physicality to the experience. A bombardment. And so a lot of that is looping. So you're talking about, it’s just something I started playing around with, this idea of like micro scenes. And things that were told and come back and loop and become even like mantras. Or something like audio visual loops that would get caught in your head. Stuck in your mind. That's kind of where that came from.

Haden Guest  12:23  

But it's repetition with difference, because sometimes when things repeat–.

Harmony Korine  12:28

Right, right.

Haden Guest  12:29

We start to wonder what we'd seen before.

Harmony Korine  12:31  

Yeah, it's different, because they start to take on different meanings. It's like with rap music now, like a lot of music I listen to, it's almost like just chant-based music. But as it builds, as it goes, certain lyrics or certain words, or certain things, they begin to take on meaning. It's like, it's about the kind of energy of the repetition. Or you look at something that's looped in a different way. Or it's the same image I'm showing you over and over again, but the music or the sound changes. And then meaning devolves or evolves and breaks away and deconstructs. And new meanings are found. And that's where it excites me. Like, that's the future of movies. Like, that shit is new.

Haden Guest  13:17  

Well, you know, there's something else, I think, a constant throughout your films is this interest in kind of a doubling, which I think ties to this. And here, often in characters, you have characters who are kind of twins. And we'll see this in Trash Humpers, tomorrow. And the way in which the girls are like, there's such a synchronicity between them. They seem somehow to be joined, you know, at the hip somehow. And then you have this figure of the actual twins themselves. These, you know, characters, these actual twins, who I was reading about online, they have this really fascinating life. And I was wondering if we could talk about this idea, which–. And even like James Franco and his childhood friend, there’s this sense that there’s somehow this tie. And there’s sort of this “other side of the mirror”-like image. There’s these kind of pairs where, throughout your films, like there’s this sort of energy between characters.

Harmony Korine  14:15

It's cool. Like when, like you’re talking about the ATL twins? And like, guys like that, who just go through life double-penetrating.

[LAUGHTER]

And like, it's cool when I hear you say that they have an interesting lifestyle.

[LAUGHTER]

It's amazing to me.

[LAUGHTER AND SCATTERED APPLAUSE]

I mean, they do, but it's just cool to hear you say it.

[LAUGHTER]

Honestly, I mean, I'm being completely honest, like, I don't really know. Like, I just don't know. And I don't really, I just don't know. Those types of things, it's weird, it's like, I don't know, I don't really know why I do it. It just feels right! Like, there's certain themes and things that happen, you know, over the course of your career. The movies and stuff. I try not to ask myself too many questions. I don't ever have any type of analysis, or self-analysis. Like, I really don't know why I do anything. So, when you say that, it's cool for me to hear. Because I’m just like, “Wow. I never knew that.”

Haden Guest  15:31 

Well, I mean, let's think about something else then. In the film there is this– You're talking about this, you know, the looping of the narrative. We've got these images, these sequences, that repeat with difference. We also have a kind of– I feel like your films, structurally, they're often based around the kind of vignettes. These sort of, like, stories within stories. These sort of acts that are kind of like musicals

Harmony Korine  15:57

Yeah.

Haden Guest  15:58

in a certain sense. Where people are performing. And I was wondering if you could talk about the sort of process by which these stories, these sequences, are invented. I mean, I just imagine you're not working with a traditional screenplay structure. How would you map these out? How do you choreograph this idea of, you know, the form of the films?

Harmony Korine  16:17

Well, I grew up watching movies, and I grew up living a life. And so, I kind of just know what I like. And so, again,with movies, ever since I was a kid, I always just wanted to get to the good parts. You know what I mean? Like, I always just like, I was like, “Why did they waste, fuck, like, why did they waste twenty minutes to get to that part?”

[LAUGHTER]

And then, I have to waste another twenty minutes to get to that part. I was like, “I just wanna watch that part and that part. Maybe I can just take those out and put them together.” I wanted to make movies that were like that. Where you could just, where every scene was significant on its own. That you could just blindfold yourself and put your hand in the movie, and pull out a scene and get something from that scene, without having to see what comes before it or after it. It was just the way that I always thought about–, you know, the way I thought I should make films. But like, yeah, so.

Haden Guest  17:17 

Well, no, thank you. That's a beautiful answer. I mean, cinematographically, I feel like this film is doing something very different. I mean, this is part of the work, you know, you're working with— I forget his name.

Harmony Korine  17:29

Benoît Debie.

Haden Guest 17:31

Benoît Debie. I mean, I was wondering if you could talk about this film, in terms of how you guys work together? Because we have this, the camera is restless. Turning upside down. It's just, it's got a life of its own.

Harmony Korine 17:41  

Yeah, I wanted it to be like, [MAKES WHOOSHING SOUND TO MIMIC MOVEMENT] Just like coming, like never stop moving. Just like dipping and falling. I didn't want it to feel like there was any type of, like, it didn't have like, a pure direction. Like it was just always moving. It was always attacking. It was like energy. It was like floating. And then I wanted it, again, to seem like I was like, “Let's just make everything seem like it was lit with Skittles. Like, let's just make it like Skittles. Just like, everything just look like, you know, rainbow Skittles. And it made sense with Florida, and that kind of culture, and that specific kind of vernacular. And I love that, too. And I don't really care about like, again, about like, a truth in cinema. It's just nothing to me. I don't care about it. I don't think it's true. Like, I want something that's like, magical. Or some type of like magical realism. And it's like something that goes beyond vérité, and becomes something like, spectacular. And like with that film, I just wanted it to be like the real world just pushed into something hyper. You know, hyper... beautiful, like a dream or something. But also not a dream, you know?

Haden Guest  18:49  

How closely did you work together then?

Harmony Korine  18:51

Always, my closest relationships on movies is always with the cinematographer. Even more than my relationship with actors. On shooting. On production. Always, since I was a kid, I made movies, my most deepest relationships are with DP’s. They're just like, it's like everything to me. It's the way it looks, you know, and building it visually, it's the most important. Like even if I have a mediocre performance or a mediocre actor, I could still make them great. I could make it exciting, if I have the right visual component. It's the most important for me. For the types of movies I make.

So, someone like Benoît, he also works with Gaspar Noé. It's like, he's very inventive, and he's very kind of, you know, outside the box. So it's like, you know, we're hanging cameras from bungee cords and throwing shit in palm trees. And it's like, it's good. You need to have somebody like that.

Haden Guest  19:48  

Yeah, and I mean, well, that final sequence of, you know, where the two, we have the two girls in the masks. I mean we're in this total, you know, dream space and with the neon lights.

Harmony Korine  20:00

Yeah.

Haden Guest 20:02

It's really quite extraordinary. But at the same time, there's this–, despite the sort of the violence, just the sort of sinister mood, there's also this kind of playful, almost like musical quality. And the tension between the two is really extraordinary. And I was wondering, just in terms of mood, I mean, we were talking earlier about films that define a kind of mood. This is a film where the film sort of takes us by surprise, in terms of its mood. And, you know, in thinking about it in terms of mood, as a kind of musical, I was wondering if you could describe like, the different movements of this film. You know?

Harmony Korine  20:37

Yeah. I just wanted it to be like a racecar. You know, like, where it's just constantly shifting. Do you know what I mean? Like, you're just going like that, like [MAKES WHOOSHING SOUND TO EMPHASIZE PHYSICAL ACCELERATION]. It's just like it's always shifting. You're going from fast to slow. I never wanted you to get comfortable. I want it to work like pop music. Like the narrative, the flow, was all thought of– I wasn't thinking about movies, I was thinking about pop songs. I was thinking about some type of, like, violent pop song with like, courses and hooks, and just an attack, and then it just disappears into darkness. And, that was like the model of the film. And at the same time, with movies, again, most important for me, is tone, is ambience. And, mood and like, feeling like you're there. And so much of it has to do with the colors, the way things look. The, you know, the grain structure. I want you to feel like you're there. And so a lot of that is just an obsession that I try to bring to the films.

Haden Guest  21:43  

Well, before the girls rob the chicken shack, they say, you know, “Act like it's a video game. Act like you're in a movie.” But that comment, “the video game.” And I just think about how so much popular cinema today is sort of like, made as a kind of video game. And it seems to a certain extent, you're sort of saying, “Okay.” You're accepting that as a sort of challenge. Like, “Let's see what happens when we have these sort of candy colored superheroes. Let's make a film about this.” You know, “Let's make a film that has these sort of, you know, repetitions.”

Harmony Korine  22:14

Yeah, I mean–.

Haden Guest  22:16

You know, it’s like, sort of unreal at that level. Is that something you were thinking about?

Harmony Korine  22:18  

Well, not like, consciously. But I was thinking that, for them, it was just all the same thing. D’you know? Like, it's just the blurring. Because I feel that, with a lot of things. It's all just the same thing. Like even film, or cinema, or movies. I don't even know what it is anymore. Like, video games have just as much merit. Like, it's all just the motions. Clips. It's things that you watch. It's like everything and nothing, there's like no hierarchy. And there's nothing under it. There's no underground culture, there's no aboveground culture. It's all up for grabs. Like, there's as much merit in something that's two-minutes long… with power, as something that has like two hours long with power. Like, it's all now starting to kind of merge for better, for worse. And so that's what the film also implies, in some ways, is that life and watching things on screen and things that are actually lived doesn't even–, it's all the same now. It's all what's real and what's not real. Like, I don't know. [CHUCKLES]

Haden Guest  23:25  

Let's take some questions and comments.

Harmony Korine  23:29

I did a lot of acid, you know?

[LAUGHTER]

Haden Guest  23:31

From the audience.

Harmony Korine  23:32

I still do.

[LAUGHTER]

Haden Guest  23:34

Right here in the middle. And if you wait for a microphone. Amanda, right here, with the red hair, please.

Audience 1  23:46  

Okay, so this is one of the most nihilistic films I've ever seen. Extraordinarily so.

Haden Guest 23:51

Nihilistic.

Audience 1  23:42

Yes. But my question is, do you think you infiltrated? Did audiences that didn't know what they were in for, see this film?

Harmony Korine  24:01  

Oh, hell, yeah. I was all up in that shit.

[LAUGHTER AND SCATTERED APPLAUSE]

Haden Guest  24:13

Go ahead.

Audience 2  24:14  

Alright. I've seen this movie more times in theaters, paid to see this movie more times in theaters than any other movie I've seen. So you definitely infiltrated, for me at least. And every time I see this movie, I feel like I'm having a different kind of experience. And as many times as I've seen it, I still have to explain to people why it is I like this movie so much.

Harmony Korine  24:32

Yeah.

Audience 2  24:33

And I still have kind of a hard time doing that.

Harmony Korine  24:35

Yeah.

Audience 2  24:36

Which I think is one of the good things about the movie. And I still, I see it sometimes and think that I'm seeing a different cut.

Harmony Korine  24:43

Yeah.

Audience 2  24:44

And I don't really know what my question is. I just feel like I had stuff that I had to say.

Harmony Korine  24:50

Yeah, but that's cool–

Audience 2 24:50

I want to know more about your process. And I guess, when did you feel most spontaneous on set? Like, you were exploring?

Harmony Korine  24:55

Oh, on set? I just always am. I’m just like, I'm always spontaneous. Like, I don't care. I just don't give a fuck. I’m just like, “Ahhh!  Ahhhh!” I'm always. I’m probably the most spontaneous person you've ever met.

[LAUGHTER]

[LAUGHS0 No, just kidding. I was very, I mean, you probably won't believe this, but the whole movie was storyboarded, from beginning to end. I mean, that's the truth. The entire film is boarded out. Now, I didn't stick to the boards.

[LAUGHTER]

But the movie’s boarded. And I have a process. Like, yeah, it's like a style. It's like a process. It’s like a way of working. It's both. It's slow. That’s like a longer– I'll talk to you after.

[LAUGHTER]

Haden Guest  24:45

Oh, come on!

Harmony Korine  25:46

It's a mixture. I used to say it was like mistake-ism. It's a mistake-ist art form. That it was like, it's chemicals. It's like, so, I go in knowing the way that I want things to look and feel, very specifically. And knowing kind of what needs to be said in a certain scene. But then, past that, I'm always hoping for something that’s more unexpected and more spontaneous, more magical. Or something going in a direction that I had never imagined. So it's a kind of game. It's like fifty-percent like, what I impose and fifty-percent where it takes itself. Do you know what I'm saying? And it's also, it's a dance. It's like a dance from like, on the day, between the locations, the camera, and the actors. And then me. And then also, I'm a greedy director, where I just want to shoot like, everything. Like, I'm never satisfied. I just never feel satisfied. Like, I always want to keep going. But it's just me. The great films and the great directors, they're a reflection of the person. Do you know what I mean? Like, they're a reflection of who you are as a human being. And if you or any of you are trying to make movies, or artwork, or something, that's what I'll say is, that it's not so much a technique. Or it's not so much a way that you do things. It's what you are. And it's like, what you're prepared to give. And how you're prepared to dominate the situation and what you're receptive to. And so someone like Cassavetes is great, not because of a technique, but he's great because, like, he's just great, as a person. And like, that's why, you know, I'm just great.

[LAUGHTER]

Haden Guest  27:44  

There's another. The gentleman in the hat. Yeah.

Audience 3  27:55  

Hello. I have a question that's actually not my question. But it's my friend's question. He and I were talking yesterday, we've been, you know, coming to all the shows so far. And he thinks that you're very obsessive about show business. And I kind of disagree, but I don't really know. So I guess, you know, what was show business like to you as a kid? And you know, like, what do you think about it now?

Harmony Korine  28:20  

It's cool, your voice and your physical appearance don't match!

[LAUGHTER]

Haden Guest  27:26

I was thinking the same thing!

Harmony Korine  28:28  

That's, like, that's fuckin’ trippy.

[LAUGHTER]

Audience 3  28:32  

I also did a lot of acid.

[LAUGHTER]

Harmony Korine  28:37  

Man, that's amazing! It's like ventriloquism or something.

[LAUGHTER]

Audience 3  28:53  

Show business?

Harmony Korine  28:54  

Oh, yeah. That voice is great.

Haden Guest  28:55

Show business.

Audience 3  28:56

Thank you.

Harmony Korine  29:01  

Show business. I’m obsessed with it? All right. You know, I don't know. Am I obsessed with show business? Probably not. I would be watching the Oscars right now.

[LAUGHTER]

Haden Guest  29:20

Oh, come on! But you’ve got–.

Harmony Korine  29:21

There’s like, themes of show business.  There’s like, themes.

Haden Guest  29:24

Putting on a show, right?

Harmony Korine  29:26  

Well, there’s two different–. I love performance. I love performance. I love people that are like, willing to like go out there. That’s why I used to love vaudeville. Or the idea of a vaudeville, or performance, or people that could go out there and entertain. And that would kill themselves to like, entertain. I'm interested in the mythology around certain performers. And watching that is interesting to me. But, yeah, I mean, it's probably a theme. It's something that's in there, somewhere. But definitely the performance element of things, I love. Tap dancers. That's great.

Audience 3  30:02  

Thank you. I like that answer. Performance.

Harmony Korine 30:05

Thank you.

Haden Guest  30:07 

Just to follow up for a second. Where does the interest in vaudeville come from? I mean, was this something that...?

Harmony Korine  30:14  

I don't know, you know? Again, Eddie Cantor movies. Al Jolson films. W.C. Fields. I used to just love like, the pure aspect, or idea, of performance, you know. Or just people that could just go out there and just do something, like entertain in that way. I also like the idea of a performer destroying themselves for people.
Audience 4 30:40

[SPEAKER ASKS QUESTION WITHOUT MICROPHONE] I’d love to ask you a question right now. I wasn’t going to but [INAUDIBLE] I feel I should ask it now? It’s very entertaining. It’s really entertaining. Can I ask it? Just takes a moment?

Haden Guest  30:56  

Go ahead.

Audience 4 30:58

[INAUDIBLE]

Haden Guest  30:59  

I mean, maybe if we could have–. You’re gonna act out?

Harmony Korine  31:02

You gonna try to shoot me?

[LAUGHTER]

This is like, where I get assassinated.

[LAUGHTER]

Haden Guest  31:09  

Oh, we go down together, Harmony.

Audience 4

[INAUDIBLE]

Haden Guest

Oh, really? I mean, maybe we could just limit this to a question. Oh…

Audience 4  31:16  

This says, “A fan. Heart fan. Danny Cruz fan to Lady Gaga. Lady Gaga fan art. And it’s a packet I have from this lovely guy, Danny Cruz. Danny “Monster” Cruz. And he just really loves Lady Gaga a lot. He really loves Lady Gaga.

[INAUDIBLE SHOUTING FROM AUDIENCE]

Audience 4 31:39  

He does this beautiful job. He does all these fan drawings [INAUDIBLE]

Haden Guest  31:42  

You know, this is–.

Audience 4  31:44

So beautiful. They’re so beautiful. And he loves to dress in drag. He is–

Audience 5  31:50

She wrote the letter!

[LAUGHTER]

Audience 4  31:53

“She wrote the letter?”

Harmony Korine  31:55  

Does this happen when Scorsese comes?

[LAUGHTER]

What the fuck man?

[SCATTERED SHOUTING AND APPLAUSE FROM AUDIENCE]

Audience 4  32:09  

What was the question? One Question. One question. Will you donate...? It's come into to my head that Lady Gaga would really like a pubic hair vest. [INAUDIBLE]

Haden Guest  32:20  

Ok. Thank you very much. Let's take other questions from the audience! Other questions and comments! Right there at the very back!

Harmony Korine  32:37

That’s not even funny.

Audience 6  32:33  

We were talking a lot about repetition and looping. And I was just wondering if you were thinking, did you choose things to loop because you thought that they had significance? Or was there times where something looped and then that gave it significance? Was there any sort of parallel?

Harmony Korine  32:48

I feel like I'm in a loop! Right now.

[LAUGHTER]

What's the question? Did I loop?

Audience 6  32:58  

Did you choose things specifically to loop because you thought they had significance and warranted the looping? Or were there things that looped that gave the looping significance?

Harmony Korine  33:10  

Holy shit.

[LAUGHTER]

Haden Guest  33:12

Yeah, I had trouble following!

[LAUGHTER]

Harmony Korine  33:15

Oh man! I don't really know, dude.

[LAUGHTER]

Haden Guest  33:19 

Alright let's take another lucid, concise question. Right there, please.

Audience 7  33:26  

I was wondering if you could talk about the contrast between the different party scenes as we progress through the movie. Starting out with the scene at the college party, and then with the spring break scenes, which are even crazier and more debauched. And then the end, where it reaches a kind of a cartoonish level of violence. And at the beginning, it seems like it could be acceptable somewhat, and then by the end, it's not really anything that a reasonable person could ever find acceptable.

Haden Guest  33:52  

So thinking about the different party scenes as like sort of marking a kind of progression of the film or anything like that? I don't know, does that sound–?

Harmony Korine  33:57

I'll never tell you.

[LAUGHTER]

Haden Guest  34:02  

It’s the secret to the film. Amanda, why don't you take the gentleman right there with the hat? And then we'll come down to the front.

Audience 8  34:09

Yeah. I'm kind of nervous now asking these questions, because of the last few. So this one's kind of normal, I think maybe? You know, you mentioned that you wanted more people to see your films, and there are a lot of people here, but it doesn't seem like there's much diversity, especially in contrast to the–.

Harmony Korine  34:28

White people kill everything.

[LAUGHTER]

Audience 8  34:30  

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no! I don't mean in color. I'm talking about like, we look like a group of extras in a mumblecore film. Do you know what I mean? It’s like, it's in direct contrast to the people that are in your film. The guys that are–.

Harmony Korine  34:43

Oh, right.

Audience 8  34:44

–chugging beers and stuff like that. How do you get them to see those films, you know? I mean, some of those people, you know, I’m friends with them. They probably don't even know who you are. Like, with all due respect, you know? I’m just saying, how do you reach out to them?

Harmony Korine  34:55  

I mean, you know, I try to make a movie that's entertaining. And I actually don't care. All I want is as many people as possible to see the film. I've always, always wanted to do the work that I do, and then put it out there in as mainstream a way as possible. Because I just want the most people to be able to see it. I never wanted to, like, limit myself or limit the artwork. But past that, I can't really even think about that. Like, I just, I try to do the best I can do. I try to make films that are true to who I am. And then I put them out there and I hope people go to see them. But like, as far as like, the marketing and all that stuff, I leave that to other people.

Haden Guest  35:39  

How about the casting in this film, which is different? Because you have, you know, the girls are these recognized, you know, starlets of a sort, which is very different from your other films. I mean, which way was that like a deliberate, you know? Again, thinking about this idea of infiltrating a multiplex audience and actually getting people that this gentleman's referring to.

Harmony Korine  35:58  

I mean, it was interesting working with them, because they were also of the culture. So obviously, they needed, most importantly, they needed to work within the film, whether you knew who they are or not. But I also liked it, there was some type of an added kind of dynamic, a bonus, that goes with them being in the film, because they are, at least in this point in time, they are kind of representative of that culture, or connected to that, or the pop kind of mythology. And so that was exciting for me, that I had both those things. And I like the idea that, also, their fans would come in and see the film.

Haden Guest  36:37  

I think some other questions. Let’s do right here, in the front. This gentleman's been patient.

Audience 9  36:45  

Hey, man. I just wanted to say that I liked, like, how many smoking scenes are in the movie. And I'm just wondering–.

[LAUGHTER]

Haden Guest  36:52

You're not going to give those out?

[LAUGHTER]

Audience 9  36:57  

I'm just wondering, like, what you think about weed and hustlers, and just like, any kind of criminal activity like that. But like, maybe weed in general?

Harmony Korine  37:06  

Well, what I think of weed and hustlers?

Audience 9 37:08

Just like, no, no.

Harmony Korine  37: 09

That's the name of my next mixtape.

[LAUGHTER]

Audience 9 37:12  

Separately. Like, if you speak about either I don't care. Like, whichever one. Not together, then. Or together.

Harmony Korine  37:21

Well, It’d have to be a specific hustler. Hustlers in general, I mean, I have love for anyone who hustles. Anyone who... in the trap game.

[LAUGHTER]

Audience 9  37:35

Yeah.

Harmony Korine  37:39

Weed, I mean, fuck. It’s like Chicken McNuggets or something.

[LAUGHTER]

Haden Guest  37:45  

Let's try this side of the room. Are there other questions? Any...? Yeah, right there, please.

Audience 10  37:59  

So given the kind of crystal cut images of, I guess, like Vanessa Hudgens, some of the other actresses in the film, how did you pitch this film to them? Or did they approach you?

Harmony Korine  38:09  

I just say, “I'm Harmony Korine. Like, you know the types of movies I make.” And, “Read the script.” And, “I want to do something great.” I don't really pitch, I don't really... Because a lot of it is like, pitching with certain directors is dishonesty. Or it's kind of like, I don't really try to like–. You know, I'm not like selling myself, because like, you know, you want everyone to know what they're in for. You know what I mean? And like, that it’s not going to be like a normal film. That you're going to try to do something–. And so I've made enough films now and enough people know who I am that they kind of know what I'm gunning for. So, you know, you just say, “You're going to be part of something, you know, great.” And if you respond to the script... Because, like otherwise, you try to convince somebody of something, I find when you're shooting with them, or you're working with them, if they don't really understand what they're in for it backfires. And you don't want to be in a place like that.

Haden Guest  39:07  

Let's take another question. Actually, the gentlemen there with the beard in the back.

Audience 11  39:17 

Hello, sir. So you have mentioned that you had this new narrative, and you said it is “some new shit.” Can you talk about like, this new narrative in combination with like this newer kind of storyline you have? That's not necessarily like a dysfunctional family. You kind of have these kids going off to spring break. Did you kind of design this story around this idea for a new narrative? Or did they kind of combine at the same time and it was like magic happening?

Harmony Korine  39:45

Yeah, it’s combining it. And then just feeling a certain way. A lot of it, in truth, also stylistically comes from advertising. So like, I started to shoot ads. And you know, doing ads or doing things, shorts or things that weren't feature based, and trying things out, like micro-scenes and telling stories very quickly. This is exciting for me. So I started to think about, in terms of feature filmmaking, if it was possible. And then a lot of the style of the film, and a lot of even the way I start thinking about movies, derived from my experiences with advertising. And I just collected for years and years, like, spring break imagery, and like, coed pornography. So it seemed like a perfect mix.

[LAUGHTER]

Haden Guest  40:33  

Alright, let's move down in front here. We'll take some questions down here, Amanda. Start with the gentleman in the black shirt.

Audience 12  40:46  

You mentioned Gaspar Noé. And there seems to be some kind of connection between the movies you're making now and the kind of contemporary French cinema he probably represents. But he seems to kind of lament this nihilism. Whereas a movie like Spring Breakers could be read to almost celebrate it. Do you ever wonder about the impact of your films? And do you agree that there's a connection between you and someone like Noé?

Harmony Korine  41:11  

Oh, sure! Gaspar’s one of my best friends! But, I mean, I think the connection is, it's maybe... also, again, Gaspar’s one of the, as a director, he’s also working for something that's more than just what's on screen. It's something that's like, he's trying to do “film as drug,” which is something like, that I've always wanted, or something that we both always kind of strove for, was kind of “film as drug,” was kind of hallucinatory or trancelike, or something that was like just more than just a simple viewing experience. It was something that had more of a physicality. And then, at same time, we're very different in a lot of ways subject-wise. But as far as the idea of like, what film could be and can be, like, you know, he's a soldier of cinema.

Audience 12 42:12

[INAUDIBLE. AUDIENCE SPEAKS WITHOUT MICROPHONE]

Haden Guest  42:16  

Okay, quick response.

Audience 12 42:17  

I think that's probably true with something like Enter the Void. But if you go back to something Irreversible, don't you think there is a bit more of a plotline that has a meaning?

Haden Guest  42:29  

More than cinema-as-drug...

Harmony Korine  42:31  

No, but I don't think one negates the other. At least I hope it doesn't. Because the movies all have meaning. They mean everything and like, nothing. Like it's just like life. Like, what's it mean? There is meaning to it, but it's up to you, you know?

Haden Guest  42:54  

Let's take this gentleman in the backwards baseball cap.

Audience 13  42:59  

This is a fairly general question, but what is your favorite part of the film?

Harmony Korine  43:04  

Favorite part of this film? Probably the Gucci sequence. Gucci Mane sequences. I love him. He's like, my favorite part of the– Anytime he's on the screen, that's my favorite. He's the best.

Haden Guest  43:15

Let’s just take a couple more questions

Harmony Korine  43:16

He’s like the Black Brando.

[LAUGHTER]

Haden Guest  43:22

Go ahead.

Audience 14  43:24  

I have three questions, if I'm allowed three questions. The first is: why have this sort of sequential change in narrative? Where you had one narrator and then, you know, a person left and you had a second narrator. So, you know, why that, instead of having a single narrator or like, no narrator at all? The second question is, why save the two girls at the end? The third is, how does it feel like to have a song named after you?

Haden Guest  43:48  

What was the last question?

Audience 14 43:49  

How does it feel like to have a song named after you?

Haden Guest  43:51  

How does it feel to have a song name after you?

Audience 14 43:54  

Well, the eponymous song by Porcupine Tree

Harmony Korine  43:59  

Um, shit. That’s a lot of questions!

Haden Guest  44:04

They’re fast too! It’s like, tick, tick, tick.

Harmony Korine  44:06

Yeah, so I was like, I did a lot of drugs when I was younger, so you have to excuse my–.

Haden Guest  44:11  

Alright, so how's it feel to have a song named after you?

Harmony Korine 44:14

My son named after me?

[LAUGHTER]

Haden Guest  44:16

Song? A song named? S-O-N-G?

Audience 14 44:18

[INAUDIBLE. SPEAKER TALKS WITHOUT MICROPHONE]

Harmony Korine  44:20  

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah! Yeah, that's great!

Haden Guest  44:26  

And why did the two girls survive at the end? I think that was the second question?

Harmony Korine  44:30  

Oh. Again, I probably won't tell you that one. I will say that like–. No, I won't say that. I won't talk about that.

Haden Guest  44:39  

Fallacy of too many questions. So let's just take two questions. Will, and then we'll do one more. Right there. Yeah, go ahead. If you’d take the mic, Will?

Audience 15  44:48  

Yeah, I was just gonna ask about the titles. How did you do them? And like, what was your inspiration?

Harmony Korine  44:53  

Titles? I worked with–. Yeah, that was hard. We tried a lot of stuff. Again, it was just like experimenting. It was just something. We tried like hundreds of different things. And that was the thing that felt the best.

Haden Guest  45:10  

Is that like tattoo art, or… ?

[INAUDIBLE. AUDIENCE MEMBER TALKS WITHOUT MICROPHONE]

Harmony Korine  45:14 

Man, that dude's pissed.

Haden Guest  45:15  

All right. George! Tell them! Explain it! I don't know!

[INAUDIBLE. AUDIENCE MEMBER TALKS WITHOUT MICROPHONE]

Haden Guest 45:23

Oh, okay.

[LAUGHTER]

Harmony Korine  45:25  

“Re-tard!”

[LAUGHTER]

Haden Guest  45:27  

Excuse me!

[LAUGHTER]

Harmony Korine 45:31  

“Damn, what the fuck? This is Harvard.”

[LAUGHTER]

“You don't know that shit?”

Haden Guest  45:37  

I gotta do my homework. All right, one more question. The gentleman at the edge with the gray sweater.

Audience 16  45:46  

Do you think you were successful with your mainstream infiltration with this movie?

Harmony Korine  45:51  

That's the same one that that lady had! I'm the most successful ever!

[LAUGHTER]

Haden Guest  45:55  

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Let's take one more. That one doesn't count.

Harmony Korine  45:58  

No, I'm cool! I'll take it! If you guys have some good ones I'll sit here, I’ll take it.

Haden Guest  46:02

All right. All right. We’ll take a–.

Harmony Korine 46:04

I mean, I flew to Boston. What the hell else am I gonna do?

[LAUGHTER]

Haden Guest  46:07  

Oh good, all right. God, I'm spilling [INAUDIBLE] all over the place!

Harmony Korine  46:09

Spaz!

[LAUGHTER]

Audience 17  46:19  

So I'm gonna–.

Harmony Korine  46:18

I make him nervous.

Haden Guest  46:21

It’s the caffeine.

Audience 17  46:22  

Can you hear me okay? So there was the threat of rape quite a bit in this film.

Harmony Korine  46:28

There was what?

Audience 17  46:30

The threat of rape, of the girls in the film. Quite a bit.

Harmony Korine  46:33

Huh?

Haden Guest  46:35  

A threat of rape.

Harmony Korine  46:37  

Oh! That was the alternative title.

[LAUGHTER]

Audience 17  46:39

The Threat of Rape?

Harmony Korine  46:41

It was like, Spring Breakers or: The Threat of Rape.

[LAUGHTER]

Audience 18  46:46  

I'm wondering–. So, as a woman, I'm very thankful that you didn't include a rape scene. But I'm just wondering, you know, what was your intention? [INAUDIBLE]

Harmony Korine  47:03  

What was my intention with not including a rape scene?

Haden Guest 47:05

Why didn’t you include a rape scene? Is that the question?

Harmony Korine  47:08

I guess it was just not to include a rape scene.

[LAUGHTER]

Harmony Korine  47:14

I mean, is that really the question?

Audience 18  47:16

Well, no! I’m actually serious about this. I thought that that was going to be [INAUDIBLE]

Harmony Korine  47:21

Yeah.

Haden Guest  47:22 

Talk into the mic.

Audience 18  47:23

You never actually–.

Harmony Korine  47:24 

Well, I wanted you to think that that was maybe going to be in there. Or that was something that I like you thinking could possibly happen. Yeah, that was on purpose. Yeah, it was...

Audience 18  47:35

All right.

Harmony Korine  47:37

But also, like not putting it in was on purpose, too. But it's a good title: Threat of Rape.

[LAUGHTER]

Haden Guest  47:44  

Alright, so are there more questions? All right, right here.

Audience 19  47:50  

So, maybe less so in this movie, but in a lot of your movies, I get the sense that you kind of hate your characters and you want to deprive them of dignity or make them feel, make them seem stupid or like assholes. And I didn't know if that was something that was intentional, or reflected the way that you actually felt about them, or humans in general?

Harmony Korine  48:11  

Are you being serious?

Audience 19  48:13

Yeah.

Harmony Korine  48:14

You think I hated my characters?

Audience 19  48:17  

Well, I'm asking. I mean, there's a lot of things that they do that you are depriving them of dignity. You don't seem to have like, that much sympathy for them. So...

Harmony Korine  48:28  

Is it like in, with most movies, like, you know, when people do bad things, the director doesn't like them?

Audience 19  48:39  

I don't know. I've never directed anything.

[LAUGHTER]

Harmony Korine  48:43  

Um…. No, I love them all.

Haden Guest  48:55  

Right here. Just wait for the mic so everybody can hear you.

Audience 20  48:59  

I'm sure that you have a lot of criticism levied against you. And I'm just wondering, what's your favorite one?

Harmony Korine  49:06

My favorite criticism?

Audience 20 49:07

Yeah, the thing you like the most [INAUDIBLE]

Harmony Korine  49:09

Oh, I don't know. I don't have any. It's all good.

[LAUGHTER]

Haden Guest  49:15

Go ahead.

Harmony Korine  49:16

Do I have like, a favorite criticism?

Audience 21  49:19  

Hey, I'm curious about your fascination in swimming pools.

Harmony Korine  49:25  

Man, it just gets weirder.

[LAUGHTER]

Haden Guest  49:28  

You're the one who wants to keep on going.

[LAUGHTER]

Harmony Korine  49:30  

It’s cool. I kinda like to see where this goes. Super trippy. A fascination with swimming pools? Yeah. I don't know. I didn’t know I had one.

Haden Guest  49:43  

Where's the first swimming pool? I mean, I got to think about that one.

Let's go all the way in the back there if you will, please. You shut it off.

Audience 22  50:00

Hello? There we go. Cool. I just wanted to ask about sort of the composition of the soundtrack and the score? And like, how closely you actually worked with Cliff Martinez and Skrillex. And how you were inspired to work with them.

Harmony Korine  50:16  

I just, I love– Cliff’s like one of my favorite composers. And Sonny, I think was like, really again, he's like, very much of that... And at the same time, I liked the physical element. I like what Sonny does. And so it was like a feeling. I thought we could make something really awesome if you put them together. And yeah, that's kind of what happened.

Haden Guest  50:45  

Let's go down here in front.

Audience 23  50:55  

Hi, I was just wondering, when you’re like, shooting these party scenes, like, how do you decide like, yeah, that's the shot of like the juggling ass that you want. That's a shot of like–.

Harmony Korine  51:07  

How do I pick my ass shots?

[LAUGHTER]

Audience 23 51:09 

I guess like, my main question is like, I feel like this movie, like visually, like, does not have that many classical cinema references or what have you. And I'm just wondering how like, what you're–.

Harmony Korine  51:23  

Classic ass shots.

[LAUGHTER]

Harmony Korine  51:27

That's like my favorite shit. I can watch that forever. How do I pick it? Just when it looks good. Extra juicy.

[LAUGHTER]

Haden Guest  51:45

Yeah, right there. That’s fine.

Audience 24  51:48 

I'd like to just hear maybe, like a little bit more about working with Gucci. Like specifically, did you talk to him about this idea of like this pop structure, like, motivating the film? And like, do you think it means something similar to him—this movie—as what it does to you?

Harmony Korine  52:04  

Oh, that's impossible to know. If I said that to Gucci probably he’d just, “Pow!” If you start telling him about like, “pop structure,” he'd be like, “Ah, pop structure! Pop you!”

[LAUGHTER]

Yeah, when I first asked him that, he was in prison. I had my first conversation with him asking if he can—he's back in jail now—but I was like—this was years ago...I was like, “If you could–.” He auditioned for me over a payphone. And I was like, “If you could stay out of jail I have a part for you when you get out.” And he was like, “I'm a huge fan of yours, Brett Ratner.”

[LAUGHTER]

He thought I was Brett Ratner, but... [LAUGHTER] But yeah, I meant it. When he got out of jail he did it. Yeah, Gucci is the best. Amazing.

Haden Guest  53:06  

We’ve got another question?

Audience 25  53:07

[INAUDIBLE. SPEAKER ASKS QUESTION WITHOUT MICROPHONE]

Harmony Korine  53:09

Oh, yeah.

Haden Guest  53:10

Good Will Hunting? Okay, here. How did you get the roll in Good Will Hunting?

Harmony Korine  53:17  

The role of Good Will Hunting.  They were shooting in Toronto, I believe, and my cinematographer at the time, Jean-Yves Escoffier– I had told Gus to work with Escoffier, who had shot Gummo. And so they were shooting that and then, when I just finished editing Gummo, did the color timing, I was up there. And then they just asked me to make a cameo. So I was fucked up, put some whiteout on my eyebrows, and did it.

Haden Guest  53:50

Alright. Let’s do that one over there.

Audience 26  53:54  

I'm just wondering if you could talk about your relationship to the South, and thinking about your films and sort of what draws you to the South. Gummo?

Harmony Korine  54:07 

The South. I was just raised there. So like, pretty much that's it, like I was raised there. I still live there now. It was familiar to me. And I hadn't seen it like that. I hadn't seen it portrayed like that. A lot of it was like how I used to live and what was around at the time when I was a kid. It's different now. The world is changed, but that was very much like my childhood. A lot of that stuff comes from my childhood or my youth. Just growing up there. Alright, anything else? Curly-haired dude.

Haden Guest  54:55  

Mr. Know-It-All!

[LAUGHTER]

Audience 27  55:00

Yeah, I'm sorry, I am Mr. Know-It-All, I guess. So, because Linda Manz is in Gummo I assume you like Terrence Malick movies? But I don't know. But then I see this and I see Terrence Malick a lot. And so I don't feel like it's all new. And I was just wondering about that. About the floating, and the voiceover, and the repetition, and how you think about that relationship? If you do?

Harmony Korine  55:23  

Yeah, I wasn't really thinking– You know, man, I love his movies, especially the early ones, but, I mean, he's great. But I mostly just watched that movie Miami Vice. You know, the Michael Mann movie. That was pretty much the only thing I watched before.

Haden Guest  55:38  

Didn't you say you were editing next to Terrence Malick?

Harmony Korine  55:41  

Oh! Yeah, but I was just lying about that.

[LAUGHTER]

Haden Guest  55:45

Ok.

[LAUGHTER]

All right. Please join me in thanking Harmony Korine.

[APPLAUSE]

Harmony Korine  55:54

Thank you. Thanks Harvard!

Haden Guest  55:57

And we’ll see you tomorrow night for Trash Humpers!

© Harvard Film Archive

Korine's latest film is a subversive and exhilarating ride through the adjacent Florida underworlds of spring break saturnalias and drug smuggling gangsters, starring James Franco as Alien, a suave rapper bandit intent on corrupting four college women, runaways with a growing attraction to dangerous thrills. Poised as a teensploitation film, Spring Breakers tears to shreds the mainstream mantle of its "girls gone wild" theme by pushing to a bold extreme the film's sex and violence, brazenly highlighting its raciest moments in the bright neon of the girls' scanty bikinis and the flash of Franco's metal-clad teeth. The vertiginous cinematography by Gaspar Noé's regular DP, Benoît Debie, only accelerates the ambiguously spiraling course of the morally liberated Spring Breakers as they blaze a trail of gleeful destruction and set ablaze the candy colored fantasy kingdom constructed by Korine.