b'DIRECTOR INTERVIEWS U.S.What was on the spec reel? might have done three takes of the song.Charlatans and Jesus & Mary Chain, a lotsaw. If you go back to Smells LikeSo all the stuff that we shot with thepeacekeeping efforts. But I followed I mean, its a fake news piece, a realTheres so much anger in that performanceof alternative. I did Ozzy Osborne, which isTeen Spirit, the tarps that are handsoldiers? I never asked permission.this soldier and he crouched down music video that sucked that I made fordirected at me that I think it made it like aa really bad video.painted in the background are basedI just stood outside a British fort andthese in Kevlar and an M16. And he a stockbroker who gave me like eightreally great performance. Even when youWhy do you think that?on the painter Julian Schnabels work.started following them when theyfinally starts talking, and asks What thousand dollars in New York, and somesee the video where hes not playing theThat was my second video or maybeIn Blind Melon, I was thinking aboutwent on patrol. I followed one soldier,are you doing? And I was supposed street footage I put to jazz music. It wasright chords and stuff like that, thats himmy third video. I just hate it. They recutdocumentary filmmaking and Theand this is IRA territory. I was not into tell a lie that I was involved in a just something I knew I could shoot. I shotmessing with me. Or when his face goesthe video. My problem with it is that I thinkWizard of Oz. So, its always a verya good, safe place. I followed onepeacekeeping efforts documentary, a jazz club in downtown New York. I thinkout of focus at the end, thats me tellingit ends up looking like a Matt [Mahurin]weird thing. You know, its not egosoldier and shot him, hes in theand I couldnt lie. I just said, Im you could see the way I lit stuff and thehim, dont put your face closer than a footvideo. And if Id cut it, I wouldnt have cutor arrogance. I didnt like a lot of thevideo. I shot him. And I was told todoing a music video. And he goes, way I shot it ended up looking a little bitaway from the camera cause I cant getit that way, with fades to black, using allmusic videos at that time. I wantedbe very careful. I was told to really"For who? "I said, The Cranberries. like Smells Like Teen Spirit. I think thefocus! the Vaseline type of colored lens. Ozzysmy stuff to be timeless, so whateverwatch my ass about what I was doingAnd he goes, Ah, Dolores truth with Nirvana is, you know, theres aHow many cameras did you havemanagement company recut the videotricks people were doing back then,and what I said and who I talked to.ORiordan. I think shes really cute. twenty-five thousand dollar job when therefilming at the same time?and really turned it into a Matt Mahurinif you like, early 90s, whether its theWe had come up with this story thatThen he picks up the gun and pointed were Guns N Roses and MC HammerThe time was just one. I had a secondvideo. It just wasnt what I was about, andxenon lights that you see in a lot ofI was doing a documentary aboutat me and says, Now get the fuck videos with a million dollars, it just wasntcamera, a little Bolex or a Scoopit I usedif you cant control your edit, and you cantvideos, that kind of blue lighting. I justout of here. That image is in the a hot ticket to get a hot director. I thinkfor a couple insert shots. And yeah, so hecontrol the footage thats used, it is what itthought a lot of stuff didnt look good,video, the image of the soldier lifting its more like they got someone that theydid the song, and then the famous storyis. It certainly will never be on my reel. Butit wasnt interesting, or I didnt like thethe gun. I love telling that story, and can afford. Does that make sense? Thegoes, and its true that I was done. I mean,Blind Melon was probably the next big stepway it was cut.I worked really hardthats how far I was willing to go, back woman that gave me the job was RobinI was done, exhausted, sick of them, sickin my evolution. I went outside the studio.to find interesting editors that didntin the day, to get my images. I was Sloane at Geffen Records. She knew meof everything when I got to the last take.Everything I had done up to that point wascut on the musical beat and tried towilling to do anything. Im not saying I from working for Matt. Shes the one thatI really want to get off the set. Somebodyindoors. You can really see the Wizard ofdo it a little differently. I ended uprisk my life, but that was not a pretty gave me the break. Youve got to knowcame up to me and said, the kids want toOz aesthetic in that video. And it was outworking with some of the best editorsplace to be. I think the video is very somebody, so that helped me.destroy the set. And Im like, what do I careof my comfort zone, and it was brightlyin the world. So, yes, Blind Melon wasCourtney was very powerful. What is your sharpest memory thatabout? Destroy the set, its their drum setcolored. It was kind of the antithesis ofa huge leap. I dont know if Id have aAround that same time, you did you have of that day?and everything else. Destroy it. And theNirvana. So, yeah, Im proud of that job. Imusic video career without that video,tortured at the time, Doll Parts for Courtney Loves That Kurt wouldnt perform the song,kids came down, started destroying thethink that stands the test of time.because you can only look at Smellsband Hole, and by that point, Kurt because he hated me so much. Theset. And I looked and all this I realized thatDid you come up with the storyline?Like Teen Spirit so many times and rightfully so. had passed away. kids in the stands were fans that we hadmy lights are still up. And I lit this, it looksI did. I really miss those days wheredark and boringYeah. (sighs) So, (deep breath) recruited from the Whiskey, and theydbeautiful, and I looked through the lensI would just get an image or an idea andIn your videos for some of theDoll Parts. God. It was 94 right after never been on a music video set before.and it was absolutely amazing. I put therun with it. I looked at that cover and riffedother artists, you do like to focusMostly I just got out Kurt committed suicide. Courtney Maybe they thought I was corporate orcamera in slow motion, and just startedand, you know, lets tell a story about a littleon faces, like a documentarian.reached out and it was a very all Ill something. I think thats what they saidrolling, zoomed a couple times, and thats it.girl that gets laughed at. Lets take thatIm a photographer and a DP.of the way and let say about that job is that from my the cheerleaders were too pretty andSo, the whole riot at the end of the video iscover and bring it to life and tell a story.Ive been forced to use a director ofperspective, which was, you know, the set looked too nice, but the thing thatreal. Without that and without Kurts intenseAgain, I think that a lot of elements of whatphotography before, and I hated it.her do her thing. I got to work on my heroes. I got stands out in my head is that, you know,performance, theres not a Smells LikeI became as a filmmaker came out in thatWhen youre the one operating theto work with David Bowie and Mick this was all day of shooting and Kurt wouldTeen Spirit video.video, like all the stuff of her running aroundcamera, you get the good and theJagger and. You know, music, I liked not lip sync. And I went up to this guy [fromSoon after, you start booking a lotdowntown Los Angeles is unscripted. I wasbad. Maybe Id have trouble pullingMetallica. All this cool stuff, really the label], I just dont remember exactlyof gigs, and one that looks as far awayrunning around L.A. in a van with a camerafocus or theyre not the slickest shots who it was, this guy that became a big dealfrom Smells Like Teen Spirit as youand an eight year old girl in a costume. Shein the world, but theres an intimacy in the music business. I went up to him.can get is Blind Melons No Rain.goes up and talks to the homeless peoplewhen Im shooting a performance or I said, listen, if you would just get him to I got lucky on Smells like Teen Spiritand people on the street. Those arent castshooting subject matter, like in [Pat perform the song a couple times, well havethat it worked. I had to figure out how topeople, thats real stuff.Benatars] Somebodys Baby or a music video. If you dont, you dont have abe a director for the next year and a half.You know, I will say this. I didnt look at[the Cranberries\'] Zombie." And I fall video, and Ive got some amazing footage.And I did, you know, the Ramones andmusic videos. I never did. I didnt look atin love with those faces and theyre You should tell him to perform the song.Johnny Lydon and bands no one has heardmusic videos for my influences, certainly.uncomfortable. I dont want them to What did I have to lose? So, Kurt, I think heof now, but were really good. I did theI was seeing paintings, and maybe films Ismile. You dont want them to act. If I put a camera on you and I was shooting and I wasnt giving you any information, Im not telling you what to think about, theres moments of awkwardness and humanity that cant be faked by any actor. Its humanity. So in many respects, the more I look at it, I just think Zombie was the pinnacle of that raw 90s aesthetic that I was doing back in the day, where it was just stripped down and I wanted it to look like my work. What do you recall from shooting the Cranberries videos? The story with Zombie is, I didnt know Irish politics. It was 94, I think,Courtney Love during a video shootwhen Belfast was still a city under siege. I told Delores ORiordan Blind Melon No Rain then that I love the song, and that I would go to Belfast and get images. A long haired American director in blue jeans going to a war torn place like Belfast was kind of amazing. 38MVTMISSUE #1 ISSUE #1MVTM39'