After nearly fifty years of disrupting media, gleefully Rabelaisian uberindie filmmaker Lloyd Kaufman (b. 1945) has been maligned, mocked, and—worst of all—ignored throughout the general course of his wildly eclectic and impactful filmography. As the equally huckster-ish and self-denigrating cofounder and president of Troma Entertainment—responsible for the likes of such schlocky “midnight movie” fare as The Toxic Avenger, Sgt. Kabukiman N.Y.P.D., Surf Nazis Must Die, Class of Nuke ’Em High, Tromeo and Juliet, and, most recently, #ShakespearesShitstorm—Kaufman has indisputably left his slimily viscous fingerprints on moviemaking throughout the past half century.
Lloyd Kaufman: Interviews gathers together no-holds-barred commentaries, op-eds, Q&As, arguments, and retorts from the prodigious filmmaker. Considering the typical Troma film is known, if at all, for the brand’s signature egregious gore, unabashedly scandalous sexual fetishism, sophomoric scatology, and provocative contrarianism, it’s easy to understand why Kaufman and his (still metastasizing) oeuvre go without much notice in the mainstream trades or classroom discussions. Like a modern-day P. T. Barnum, if there’s one way that Kaufman finds a pragmatic hold on the cultural zeitgeist, it’s through his tsunamic deluge of often vivacious, often vulgar, often vicious, and often (most dangerous of all) presciently insightful speaking engagements and interviews provided at an almost manic pace across the globe. Complete with an exclusive interview conducted by volume editor Mathew Klickstein, Lloyd Kaufman: Interviews is an extensive deep-dive omnibus from one of cinema’s most indefatigably ardent auteurs who may make us all uproariously laugh but refuses to not be taken deadly seriously.