Gummo (1997)
Trivia
Jump to:
Spoilers (1)
Other cast members were recruited during the film's lengthy pre-production period. Harmony Korine often approached people on the street, in bowling alleys and in fast food restaurants, and asked them to play a part in his movie.
Harmony Korine and his camera operator were frequently chased out of locations by angry fathers with shotguns, who suspected them of making child pornography.
In addition to being a co-star of the film, Chloë Sevigny designed the costumes. She found most of them in thrift stores around Nashville.
Instead of using standard movie lights, the production was lit with fluorescent lights to give the movie a haunting yellowish look.
The film takes its name from the fifth and lesser known Marx brother Gummo, who dropped out of their shows before the brothers became famous.
One of the actors involved in the chair-fighting scene had just gotten out of prison that day. One woman, Harmony Korine says, was also pregnant.
Harmony Korine was drunk during the scene with him and the dwarf.
In the scene where Solomon's eating spaghetti in the bath, there's a piece of bacon taped to the wall behind him. Says Werner Herzog: "When I saw a piece of fried bacon fixed to the bathroom wall in Gummo, it knocked me off my chair. [Korine's] a very clear voice of a generation of filmmakers that is taking a new position. It's not going to dominate world cinema, but so what?"
The film is populated with friends from Harmony Korine's own Nashville upbringing. Bryant L. Crenshaw, the dwarf, went to high school with him. The skinhead brothers are old friends as well.
For the script, Harmony Korine pieced together about seventy sketches he'd written about life in Xenia, Ohio - a locale he had never actually visited.
Jacob Reynolds (Solomon) was thirteen years old, Nick Sutton (Tummler) was seventeen, Jacob Sewell (Bunny Boy) was fourteen, and Darby Dougherty, who plays the youngest of the three sisters, was ten.
In the screenplay, Bunny Boy talks, but only during the scene in the swimming pool. He also explains why he has the word MAC tattooed on his fingers: "My parents like to call me that. Mac spelled backward is Cam. Cam is their favorite car... Camaro." He also claims he was born with one fully grown tooth, and his parents "wanted to name me Plak."
As seen in the end credits, the film was dedicated to David Sevigny, star Chloë Sevigny's father, who died of cancer a year prior to the film's release.
Footage scattered all over the film was shot by local residents and Harmony Korine, during preproduction and location scouting.
Dot and Helen are also the names of the lead guitarist and drummer in The Shaggs. The cat, as well, gets its name from their song "My Pal Foot Foot".
Despite the frequent scenes in this film of cruelty to non-humans, as far as the film-makers have revealed, none were actually harmed in the making of the film. The scenes of violence towards cats were done with puppets or stuffed animals.
Earlier cuts of the movie were described by U.S. censors as nihilistic in their intentions until Harmony Korine toned down a lot of the content.
Despite having top billing in the opening credits, Linda Manz's first appearance in the film occurs at approximately forty-three minutes in. Additionally, her total screen time accumulates to around four and a half minutes.
Pioneer Skateboard Legend Mark "Gonz" Gonzales was the gentlemen wrestling the chair. Harmony & Mark have been long-time friends.
Jean-Yves Escoffier, who ordinarily commands a high fee, took a significant pay cut to work with Harmony Korine.
Ewen Bremner came to the set of the film at the request of Harmony Korine, who was a big fan since seeing him in Mike Leigh's Naked (1993).
