b'DIRECTOR INTERVIEWS U.S. I think II really wasnt making money painting and I spent more time on the sets, I really thought always lovedYou know, my journey to go to theI could do it myself. And then certainly when School of Visual Arts is a little bit crazy andI got out into the world doing it. The good not something I want to get into now. Butand bad of this is that its easy to think you the surreallets just say, perhaps I learned some lifewant to do something, but then when you lessons at the school of hard knocks, andactually do it, you end up making a lot of and worldwent a little bit left of center. I think the onemistakes. So I got very lucky that the first thing I can talk about is, look, I left highjob I got was Smells like Teen Spirit. And school and worked in a factory for threethe lesson I learned from that job was to be building. years before I went to college, soinstinctual about stuff. Certainly my work for discovering art again was an interestinga long time was about emotion, and that process. Even though I got into the Schoolwas a very emotional day and its been of Visual Arts for that, I had to createwritten about in tons of books, and Ive a portfolio I was on a bad road andtalked about it, but I learned a lot. I learned somehow it all got put back together, anda lot from that. And then the one thing Matt certainly going to art school in New Yorkdidnt didnt do was crowd scenes. He didnt City started to have a profound effectdo big crowds, he didnt do explosions, he on my influences. Its where I saw moredidnt do violence. I saw things bigger than movies, I studied painting. There was a filmmaybe Matt did. And so I did Smells like appreciation class at the school, and again,Teen Spirit.some movies that just had a profound effectI had a crowd and that was just bigger in on me. Fritz Langs Metropolis really, reallyscale, even though it was a low budget blew me away. I think I always loved themusic video. And whats been written about surreal and world building. Another movie Iit, which is true, is like look, you know, saw was Stanley Kubricks Paths of GloryKurt and I did not get along. Kurt didnt like that I thought was really amazing. Thatsthe set, didnt like the cheerleaders, didnt really where my film education came in a bitlike anything, and Id called every favor school and stuff I saw when I was a kid.I had. That job was done for twenty five When you are about to get out ofthousand dollars, I think, and it had pyro school, and you have a portfolio ofand cheerleaders and all that stuff. He just mixed media?didnt like what I was doing, and I was (Laugh) They were illustrations and Iangry and young enough that I was really was in New York in the early 80s. It like,insulted. John Michael Basquiat and Keith HaringRight, because at this moment, were contemporaries of mine. Basquiatstheyre no more popular than say, ex-girlfriend was a friend of mine, and I wasMudhoney. very aware of the incredible art scene. AndWell, I saw them play at the Whiskey-A-then I hustled my stuff on Madison AvenueGo-Go before I did the video, which really and got book covers and album covers. Itsinspired me. I wanted the video to look like all kind of like jazz stuff. To make money,something smokey and dark and moody. I I started assisting a teacher of mine fromthought they were amazing. Certainly I had school, this guy, Matt Mahurin. I worked forno idea that it was gonna change music Matt in the late 80s, and I was the worsthistory, not my music video, but their music. production assistant in the history ofKurt and I did not get along. Just to get that production assistants. In fact, the first jobjob done was really, really difficult. But I can he brought me on, too, I think was a Stingtell you this. I can still remember, and I was What in your background sent you intovideo. And the whole crew was like, whatslike 28 or 29, that after having one of the the arts? this artsy guy doing here? He doesnt havehardest shoots where I didnt know was Well, my mother was a painter. And, youa lifted sandbag or do anything. Matt cut hisgoing to be a big video, I knew that I got know, its one of those things that if your motherhand on a bottle on set. And the producersomething special. I remember looking at or father is an athlete or a musician, that stuffcame up to me and said, you know, Matt,the stack of 16 millimeter film that I had rubs off on you, so Im sure that that had a lot togoing to the hospital and we need someoneshot on a table and thinking like what I just do with my upbringing. I think I could draw beforeto stay here and and Im like, nah, Imdid today just may change my life. It was a I could spell and that had a big impact on me. Igoing to go home, Im not going to sayvery strange thing. Look, not every video I always had a soft spot in my heart for movies. Ihere, I thought we were going to shootdid is great, but the lessons that I learned was telling someone, you know, that the first timetoday. And the look on their face was like, Ifrom it is trust your instincts, trust your gut. I I saw The Wizard of Oz, which in many respectscant believe this guys friends with Mattfelt my strength was my strength is in is a music video. Its got music and trippy imagesand we hate him. So I was a really bad P.A.,storytelling, in music videosand kind of nonsensical, I think that had abutYou said once that you thought profound effect on me. If I had to really go backI got to give Matt credit, I saw him doingNirvana picked your reel because it was A s the director for Nirvanas Smell Likein time, I think The Wizard of Oz maybe affectedsome really interesting stuff. I think while Iso shitty. me more than any other movie. worked for him wedid Peter Gabriel, Sting,I had a spec reel that I put together that What were you doing in high schoolTracy Chapmans Fast Car, fast car. Fromwas the best I could do. I think its okay. I Teen Spirit, Blind Melons No Rain,creatively that gave you the impetus to go to1987 to about 1990, I was there for allthink you can see the hallmarks of my work. the Cranberries Zombie, Smashingthe School of Visual Arts?those jobs. I think I got excited, you know,I dont know where that line came from that Pumpkins Bullet with Butterfly Wingsseeing Matt. His stuff is very low tech. And Ihe picked me because my reel was so bad. think he would certainly tell you that. ThereI think I just started saying it why would and more, Samuel Bayer used the music videowere no lights or simple lights, and with thethey pick a director that had never directed as canvas, painting indelible masterpieces thatAbove: Polaroid photo by Bayer of Kurt Cobain camera, he just made it very accessible. As a real music video before, but just had a dominated the genre for an entire decade. during Nirvana\'s "Smells Like Teen Spirit" shoot spec reel? Right: photos by Bayer from his videos for David 36MVTMISSUE #1 Bowie and the Rolling Stones (starring Angelia Jolie)ISSUE #1MVTM37'