Deep Dive - Crispin Glover's "It" Trilogy
The Story of The "It" Trilogy
Glover’s directorial oeuvre currently consists of two films, both visions from the extreme fringes of society. What is it? centres on a young man who loses his house key, whose attempts to return home are repeatedly thwarted by “an hubristic, racist inner psyche”12 – Glover’s “auteur” character – and involve numerous snail deaths. The story’s action is divided into multiple, intersecting planes, according to the protagonist’s internal and external struggles. It is Fine! EVERYTHING IS FINE (2007, co-directed with David Brothers, hereafter It is Fine!) is a psychosexual murder mystery, penned by and starring the late Steven C. Stewart, a Salt Lake City disability rights advocate who had severe cerebral palsy. Like What is it?, It is Fine! also features fantastical worlds that function according to obscured rules – most notably, Stewart’s leading man Lothario speaks and is understood by his paramours, despite his dysarthria. A third film in the series, It is Mine, has been written but remains unproduced; when completed, it will round out the ‘It’ trilogy, wherein each film adopts “a perspective that is not necessarily an accepted point of view in mainstream society.”
The films in the trilogy – made and unmade – are thematically linked by a bold exploration of taboo, conducted on both a conceptual and visual level. Glover claims this approach was motivated by his experience of the renewal of corporate control in Hollywood that took place under Reagan’s presidency, stating, “The … films I’ve made have been reactive.” Thus, his staged dismissal of the “McFly” moniker in What is it? represents a rejection not only of a specific role and film, but of “Reaganite entertainment,” as both a historical category, denoted roughly by the years of Reagan’s presidency, and a mode of production that still prevails: the transformations set in motion during the 1980s (products of changing social attitudes and policies such as media deregulation) continue to underpin an oligopolistic industry heavily focused on the blockbuster and its myriad franchising possibilities. His own work, in turn, constitutes a ‘cinema of reaction’, borne of the desire to call attention to (if not ameliorate) what he considers to be the ethical failures of filmmakers like Zemeckis.
What is it Part 1 of Trilogy
http://www.crispinglover.com/whatisit.htm
It is Fine! Everything is Fine {art 2 of Trilogy
http://www.crispinglover.com/it_is_fine!.htm
Part Three does not exist at the time of this post, but I can't wait to hear more about it.
Articles
https://www.sensesofcinema.com/2016/american-extreme/crispin-glover-it-trilogy/
https://www.dallasobserver.com/arts/crispin-glover-talks-about-his-it-trilogy-big-slide-show-and-unique-method-of-film-distribution-7083882
https://www.austinchronicle.com/screens/2008-02-08/589043/
https://www.giantfreakinrobot.com/ent/crispin-glover-never-be-digitally-available.html
https://www.cinephiled.com/interview-crispin-glover-talks-bag-man-deeply-personal-movie-trilogy/
https://laist.com/news/what-is-it-qa-with-crispin-hellion-glover
https://www.salon.com/2017/06/02/what-exactly-is-it-crispin-glovers-surreal-cinematic-vision-of-the-big-bad-world/
https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2015/10/everything-is-fine-with-crispin-glover
https://offscreen.com/view/it-is-fine-everything-is-fine-crispin-glover
https://filmmakermagazine.com/1291-crispin-hellion-glover-it-is-fine-everything-is-fine/#.Y7Iccy-B0Q8
https://collider.com/crispin-glover-alamo-drafthouse-it-is-fine-everything-is-fine/
https://thepeoplesmovies.com/2014/05/fine-crispin-glover-interview/
Video Playlist
https://youtu.be/gONkhbkHTLc
Books
https://www.amazon.com/Rat-Catching-Crispin-H-Glover/dp/0962299707/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=Crispin+Glover&qid=1672618936&s=books&sr=1-1
https://www.amazon.com/What-Done-Crispin-Hellion-Glover/dp/B000OFRK7M/ref=sr_1_5?keywords=Crispin+Glover&qid=1672618936&s=books&sr=1-5
Websites
http://www.crispinglover.com
Glover’s directorial oeuvre currently consists of two films, both visions from the extreme fringes of society. What is it? centres on a young man who loses his house key, whose attempts to return home are repeatedly thwarted by “an hubristic, racist inner psyche”12 – Glover’s “auteur” character – and involve numerous snail deaths. The story’s action is divided into multiple, intersecting planes, according to the protagonist’s internal and external struggles. It is Fine! EVERYTHING IS FINE (2007, co-directed with David Brothers, hereafter It is Fine!) is a psychosexual murder mystery, penned by and starring the late Steven C. Stewart, a Salt Lake City disability rights advocate who had severe cerebral palsy. Like What is it?, It is Fine! also features fantastical worlds that function according to obscured rules – most notably, Stewart’s leading man Lothario speaks and is understood by his paramours, despite his dysarthria. A third film in the series, It is Mine, has been written but remains unproduced; when completed, it will round out the ‘It’ trilogy, wherein each film adopts “a perspective that is not necessarily an accepted point of view in mainstream society.”
The films in the trilogy – made and unmade – are thematically linked by a bold exploration of taboo, conducted on both a conceptual and visual level. Glover claims this approach was motivated by his experience of the renewal of corporate control in Hollywood that took place under Reagan’s presidency, stating, “The … films I’ve made have been reactive.” Thus, his staged dismissal of the “McFly” moniker in What is it? represents a rejection not only of a specific role and film, but of “Reaganite entertainment,” as both a historical category, denoted roughly by the years of Reagan’s presidency, and a mode of production that still prevails: the transformations set in motion during the 1980s (products of changing social attitudes and policies such as media deregulation) continue to underpin an oligopolistic industry heavily focused on the blockbuster and its myriad franchising possibilities. His own work, in turn, constitutes a ‘cinema of reaction’, borne of the desire to call attention to (if not ameliorate) what he considers to be the ethical failures of filmmakers like Zemeckis.
What is it Part 1 of Trilogy
http://www.crispinglover.com/whatisit.htm
It is Fine! Everything is Fine {art 2 of Trilogy
http://www.crispinglover.com/it_is_fine!.htm
Part Three does not exist at the time of this post, but I can't wait to hear more about it.
Articles
https://www.sensesofcinema.com/2016/american-extreme/crispin-glover-it-trilogy/
https://www.dallasobserver.com/arts/crispin-glover-talks-about-his-it-trilogy-big-slide-show-and-unique-method-of-film-distribution-7083882
https://www.austinchronicle.com/screens/2008-02-08/589043/
https://www.giantfreakinrobot.com/ent/crispin-glover-never-be-digitally-available.html
https://www.cinephiled.com/interview-crispin-glover-talks-bag-man-deeply-personal-movie-trilogy/
https://laist.com/news/what-is-it-qa-with-crispin-hellion-glover
https://www.salon.com/2017/06/02/what-exactly-is-it-crispin-glovers-surreal-cinematic-vision-of-the-big-bad-world/
https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2015/10/everything-is-fine-with-crispin-glover
https://offscreen.com/view/it-is-fine-everything-is-fine-crispin-glover
https://filmmakermagazine.com/1291-crispin-hellion-glover-it-is-fine-everything-is-fine/#.Y7Iccy-B0Q8
https://collider.com/crispin-glover-alamo-drafthouse-it-is-fine-everything-is-fine/
https://thepeoplesmovies.com/2014/05/fine-crispin-glover-interview/
Video Playlist
https://youtu.be/gONkhbkHTLc
Books
https://www.amazon.com/Rat-Catching-Crispin-H-Glover/dp/0962299707/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=Crispin+Glover&qid=1672618936&s=books&sr=1-1
https://www.amazon.com/What-Done-Crispin-Hellion-Glover/dp/B000OFRK7M/ref=sr_1_5?keywords=Crispin+Glover&qid=1672618936&s=books&sr=1-5
Websites
http://www.crispinglover.com