LOS ANGELES—We probably needn't recount the porn bonafides of magician/comedian Penn Jillette and director Adam Rifkin... but we'll mention a few anyway. Jillette, the talking half of the team of Penn & Teller, is well-known for his coverage of adult industry subjects on the pair's cable TV show, Penn & Teller: Bullshit, while Rifkin made adult industry news last year by including several adult performers—most notably Ron Jeremy, Jesse Jane and Kyle Stone—in his Showtime series Reality Show. And now the two have teamed up for a new collaboration tentatively titled Director's Cut—if their crowdfunding solicitation can raise another $450,000 in the next 24 days.
"Director’s Cut is a crazy idea for a movie," Jillette and Rifkin write on the FundAnything.com website. "It’s different than anything you’ve seen before. It’s scary, funny, and very meta. I like movies that are scary, but I don’t want them to be dirt dumb. I want a movie that gets my blood racing, makes me laugh, but also gives me something to think about, with maybe a little sexy thrown in. Hollywood doesn’t make movies like that. They make torture porn and comedies but they don’t put them together. They make smart movies but . . . oh wait, no they don’t make smart movies, nevermind."
"I'm your mom's favorite atheist," Jillette says in the solicitation's main video. "I'm a big guy with a lot of crazy ideas but I've tried so hard to be nice... I don't play the hero in Director's Cut... In this movie, I play the bad guy. Your mother isn't gonna like me in Director's Cut... I want to do this movie because I'm so fucking sick of being a fucking nice fucking guy. I don't want to be the bad guy in this movie; I fucking need to be the bad guy in this movie."
The site goes into further description which lends credence to the claim that Director's Cut won't be talking down to its viewers. Yes, it's about a serial killer being tracked by a grizzled FBI agent and his beautiful young partner, but it's more than that. Not only will there be a "film within the film" that includes amateur hand-held video by the lead actress, viewers will be able to hear a "director's commentary" as the film is progressing... but not from the director; it'll be the voice of an obsessed fan who only thinks he's the director, but in reality is a "psycho who is stalking and terrorizing the lead actress."
And those are apparently only a few of the surprises writer Jillette will be delivering.
You know those rewards that contributors can receive depending on their level of promised cash for the film? Besides the usual .pdf of the screenplay, a copy of the DVD before it's officially released and a Penn & Teller t-shirt, some decently cool stuff is being offered. For instance, for $95, a musician or band can have their music featured in the movie's soundtrack; for $150, a walk down the red carpet with Jillette in any of the six major cities where the movie will premiere; a "VIP Penn & Teller Las Vegas Weekend" ($550); a full-day movie "boot camp" on how to make a movie, with Adam Rifkin ($1,700); acting roles in the movie ($2,400 to be a cop; $2,600 to be a corpse; and $5,250 for a speaking role in one of the scenes); and the mysterious $136 pledge which will get you "a grab bag of some of my [Penn's] favorite things and each package will be assembled with the business philosophy that’s gotten me this far: Always give more than they expect... This reward will contain a MAJOR surprise!!"
And guess who wants one of those speaking roles in the movie? Cute little Lexi Love, who's been an adult industry performer since 2005—and who, at this writing, only needs to raise about $5,000 more on her own FundAnything site to make that dream come true!
"Being in Director's Cut is important to me for a few reasons," Love writes in her solicitation. "For starters if you want to be the best you need to learn from the best. Penn Jillette and Adam Rifkin are great and known worldwide for their skills in film, so this would be a great learning opportunity for me. Another reason, I'm trying to reach my goal to become a SAG member. A role in Director's Cut will help me continue to qualify and obtain SAG membership :). Lastly, I really do want to help 'Make Penn Bad'."
Ah, the modern world, where actresses pay directors to be in their movies!
And what rewards will Lexi supporters receive? Well, for every $10 pledged, she'll post a photo of her feet on Instagram or send it to you via email. Ten bucks also gets you some of her "natural homemade popcorn," while $40 will get an autographed 8x10 of her, and for $75, she'll make a YouTube video of herself singing a "Happy Birthday" greeting—or a grab-bag of clothing she's worn in her XXX scenes. Of course, the biggies cost more, starting with a dinner date with her for $500, and for $2,500, you can hang out with her for a day in New York City.
In any case, it's likely that several adult performers will be cast in this horror extravaganza, so why not check it out? (And look for progress reports on AVN.com.)
