What do you think of Love? ^ I think she’s cool. She’s real. She’s herself. Sarcastic, condescending, bitchy but in a drugged-out way. It’s not that I mean she was on drugs when we talked, but I think she sees things from a certain perspective that’s uniquely born of her life experience. ^ She did take a genuine interest in what I was doing, and was quite excited when I told her I had a band. I really thought we hit it off quite well. I wished I had one of my CD’s on me to give her. In that respect I really blew it. ^ I fuckin’ love Love for her music and because she does have balls.
Has she seen the film and what does she think of it? ^ No. Courtney hasn’t seen the film as far as I know. I once e-mailed her website about it, but got no response. I’m actually worried she’d sue me and shut the project down, though I don’t know why she’d want to.
What is the philosophy of PUSHY? ^ Getting nowhere? Get PUSHY. We did. Sushi? No, PUSHY. Get PUSHY. Eat PUSHY. Give PUSHY a contract. PUSH your man around. PUSHY for president. PUSHY pushes buttons. GET PUSHY DOT COM. ^ That about covers the PUSHY philosophy in a nutshell. It’s very clean. Very straightforward. Very purely conceived. Me and my co-founder Olivia Herd (a brilliant conceptual artist as well as painter/writer/singer) came up with the whole concept and the whole philosophy one night while watching a Ween show. From that moment on, it’s been PUSHY, PUSHY and more PUSHY. It’s supposed to be a tent for all kinds of things: Sex, art and rock n’ roll.
Do people often confuse “Pushy” with “P***y”? And what the hell does that mean anyway? ^ Sometimes people take two GET PUSHY bumper stickers and cut out the letter ‘S’ from one sticker and paste it over the letter ‘H’ of the other sticker, so it says ‘GET P***Y’. Sometimes they do the same thing to the EAT PUSHY stickers. But no, I don’t think they get confused.
Do you eat “p***y”, er, I mean, “Pushy”? And what the hell does that mean anyway? ^ I don’t eat p***y but I do eat PUSHY.
What was the budget and how long did it take you to make it? ^ Not much because I’m about to discharge my credit card debt in bankruptcy court tomorrow. And my mom bought some of the tape stock even though she thinks the project is a waste of my talent and will go nowhere fast. ^ Also, I convinced this Jewish corporate finance type girl who used to work for a promising dot com venture to buy me a G-4 Mac and to finance a videocamera for me on her Circuit City card. So she did, and she became my producer and co-editor. But then she got laid-off from her company and her apartment burned down. Then her parents came form New York to help gut her apartment and she showed them the film. They hated it. Ever since then, she hasn’t had much to do with the project and she keeps nagging me to take over the Circuit City credit card payments. ^ I’d say it’s taken about five years so far to make the film. And the feature version is still in progress.
What are some of the scenes you had to cut? ^ A lot of my mom telling me I’m a failure, a loser and I’ll never amount to anything. It was repeat material, and unlike mainstream movies where there’s a character arc or change, there wasn’t ANY CHANGE AT ALL. By the end, she’s still just as convinced about what a deadbeat I really am.
How did you go about casting? ^ I was broke and my mother was pissed at my state of affairs and the fact that neither of her daughters are man enough to afford to fly to see her and help her out, since she has some fairly serious health problems. So she paid to fly me home to Michigan to train me to get a real estate license and take over her real estate business. That plan evaporated pretty quickly as soon as she saw how ineffectual and ‘helpless’ I was when she took me around with her to see clients. But it was cheap and I was getting free meals so I started filming her and myself, and our relationship became one of the central conflicts of the movie. ^ As far as the rest of the casting, I just push my way into different celebrities and that’s how they get cast. So far for the feature, I have Courtney Love, Michæl Stipe, Lucy Liu, Woody Allen and Howard Stern. It’s all a part of the larger to plan to eventually cast Madonna.
What are your plans for the film right now? Send to festivals, release on video? ^ Right now the short film’s playing in different cities throughout Europe as part of the Euro Underground Film Festival. Your article will help convince other film festivals to accept my film as well. I am presently looking for a hip, young whipper-snapper producer to have the chutzpah to ‘join the pushy party’ by helping me complete the feature film. My ultimate plan is to release the feature in theatres and at the same time release my album “Get Pushy” in stores, which is the soundtrack to the film.
How do people react to the film after seeing it? ^ Either they’re laughing so hard they’re crying, or they think the story has no clear point and a non-mainstream, alienating pathetic protagonist (me). It’s true. At different times my character is variously: ^ A pervert. ^ A pauper. ^ A narcissist. ^ A delayed adolescent. ^ An ingrate. ^ On Paxil. ^ The female Howard Stern. ^ Too PUSHY for her own good.
Is there anything you would not do for fame? ^ Sleep with somebody…unless they guaranteed me fame in exchange, and it was in writing. On the other hand, I’d sleep with Madonna even if it was in total anonymity and she made me sign something promising I wouldn’t tell her husband or the rest of the world.
What’s your next move? Tell me what you’re working on right now. ^ Well, like I said my main project is finding a producer to finish and release the feature film and the soundtrack. The other projects on the table: I’m writing this hilarious TV show for HBO. They don’t know about it yet, but I know they’re gonna love it.
For an even more revealing look at Noemi, visit her official web site at Get Pushy.
Check out FILMTHREAT.com’s INTERVIEW ARCHIVES and read hundreds of fascinating in-depth interviews with directors, filmmakers, actors and celebrities from the world of film!
