Despite the fact that the summer movie season is in full swing, only one new film opens in wide release on Friday: Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. Of course, if the idea of watching Johnny Depp do his Jack Sparrow thing for a fourth time in less than ten years doesn't exactly get your juices flowing, you can always open your laptop and watch Jackass 3.5.
Every Tuesday and Friday since April 1, new short films under the Jackass moniker have been released online via Joost. There are 35 currently available (for free, provided you're of age), with titles ranging from "rocket weenie" to "invisible wee" to "enema," which just posted on Tuesday. Why not simply release what has amounted to a feature length film's worth of content in theaters, especially since Jackass 3-D grossed $170 million worldwide last year? Director Jeff Tremaine rang up Movieline last week to discuss the advantages of this online distribution, the technical wizardry behind Jackass, and whether or not Jackass 3.5 will be the last time you ever see these filthy shenanigans.
What's the story behind Jackass 3.5?
Basically, we knew going in that making Jackass 3, that we were going to over-shoot dramatically -- which is what did happen -- but we also knew that every time we've made one of these movies, we've just really ended up at least a movie and a half of footage. And actually the success rate has gone up from the first movie to the second movie, almost every bit -- the bits were better that were left on the cutting room floor. And then when we made the third movie, we had a lot of bits that were totally movie-worthy. So, the idea was let's make something out of them other than DVD extras, because we felt they were movie quality bits.
Which begs the question, why not just release Jackass 3.5 theatrically?
Some of these bits, like for 3.5, they need a little context, so we go to a little documentary-style where we explain things. Then you see the bit, and why it failed or not, and by just explaining a little bit of backstory, it makes the bits really funny. It's a different thing than the movie, where everything needs to stand on its own. These are conceptualized a little differently. So, in a way, you get to use bits that wouldn't work in the movie, but work if you know what's going on.
Plus, if there's a film property that works best in three-minute online shorts, it's Jackass.
Oh, yeah. This works very well for my ADD. These short little bits. It merits standing on its own. It would just get buried on a DVD extra. Especially since our DVDs are so full of extra footage anyway. There's so many failures within our successful bits, and outtakes; there's so many things. The DVDs are a rich experience without all the bits that are freestanding. We did Jackass 2.5, and we were pretty excited about having a feature that is streaming. It's just sort of a new way to hit the audience.
Do you think that online distribution is a model that many films will follow in the future?
Well, it gets a lot of people talking. It becomes a press story because it's digital versus analog. But I just think Jackass works so well digitally. The fact that it can be broken into these little freestanding segments. That's how we did Jackass 3.5 with Joost -- we just put it out there as little, individual segments, because Jackass works like that. Not many films do.
It's interesting to me that you guys have been doing these lo-fi indie shorts for years, and now the rest of the film community is starting catch up somewhat.
We're the masters of that domain!
Exactly. You're basically one of the trailblazers for the DIY film movement.
We still have that mentality. I'm very much -- I like to wear every hat. We're very much into the DIY aspect -- we're very proud of it, and its DIYness adds to the aesthetic of Jackass. So, moving forward, I think that will always be a part of me. I always struggle to just wear one hat and just have this huge crew. One of the struggles of Jackass 3-D was having so many people to wrangle. The 3-D crew added a lot of people. But really everyone adapted to how we did things, and everyone was cool about it, and it worked. Our do-it-yourself, half-ass-ed-ness. (Laughs)
Has the technology growth over the last ten years made these films easier for you guys?
The technology has improved a lot, but I wouldn't say our skills have improved so much. It's still a bunch of amateur people holding on to all that nice expensive equipment. Shooting all this in 3D was definitely a challenge and exciting for us. It made it something totally new. Even Jackass 3-D; we weren't going to do it in 3-D if it wasn't going to play in 2-D. We didn't shoot anything -- all right, maybe a couple of things -- that were really dependent on 3-D being the joke. You don't even notice -- even if you watch the Jackass 3-D DVD, I don't think you feel it's shot in 3-D.
Was there one bit that really flourished in 3-D?
I had this idea: the rocky's, that are in Jackass 3-D. You sneak up behind somebody and throw a glass of water in their face and punch them simultaneously, and the water is supposed to look like sweat coming off their head. We shot that with the wrong camera a bunch of times. It just wasn't looking right. We kept shooting it at 120 frames on the [specially rigged] RED 3-D cameras, and it just wasn't looking right. I found out about the Phantom 3-D camera, and that changed everything. That was a bigger revolution to us than the 3-D. For Jackass, where all the impacts are real -- that makes sure you realize every bit of the violence. I had never seen any Phantom 3-D slow motion. 3-D works really well when it's slowed down like that. We had a lot of water and little elements that created a lot of volume in the space. (Learn more about the Phantom 3D camera by clicking here)
Have you found that editing is easier now that you have all this new technology at your fingertips?
Well, we edit even the duds. Everything gets cut. Sometimes I'll go back and think we failed on one, and then all of a sudden, you tweak it in the edit bay and it becomes funny. We cut everything. For Jackass 3-D, we started shooting in February; we started editing like seven days after we started shooting, and we edit simultaneously. All the way up to August. So, six months. Then for Jackass 3.5 we extended the edit another four months to get things finely tuned. With the 3-D, we were seeing our results instantaneously. We would do something and go look at it in 3-D to make sure we had it. The old school was was to film it and play it back in the camera to make sure you got it right; this is a much more advanced version of that. Editing instantaneously, it doesn't change much for me, because that's how we've always done it. It's faster now because it's digital, but beyond that it's the same process we've always done.
You've obviously made a new name for yourself with Jackass; do you hope to branch out into fiction films going forward?
My goal is to definitely take a crack at narrative film. I'm attached to a script now at Warner Bros. and I'm chasing a few others. We're trying to develop a few, too. So we've got a lot of hooks out for that. But we're still in the reality television game, and I'm not opposed to doing more movies similar to Jackass.
So does that mean you'd do another Jackass film?
If we want to do a Jackass 4, we can probably get everyone back together for it. Jackass 3-D was a great experience for everyone. But at the moment there is no plans for a fourth film. These movies definitely take a toll on you.
That sounds like being an ultimate fighter. They have to take, like, 6 months off between bouts.
It's like being an old ultimate fighter. A 40-year-old ultimate fighter. Your bounce back isn't quite the same as it was. It's more mental stress than physical, y'know? I think everyone has Post Traumatic Jackass Stress Disorder. It takes a little while for all that to settle down.
Spike Jonze has obviously played a large role in the growth of Jackass. Do you find yourself asking him for advice as a director hoping to direct more narrative films?
Definitely. I lean on him heavily for advice a lot. He's just so good at what he does. He's been a great source of information and inspiration to me. He's always been part of Jackass. [Pause] He's just as big a dick of anyone of us, by the way. Put that in print. (Laughs.)
Done. Last question: Does your background with Jackass make it harder for you to get non-Jackass directing jobs?
It definitely takes someone with a little bit of vision to hire me. I might as well be a first time filmmaker to some people. But in the same sense: Jackass isn't as spontaneous as it looks all the time. Sometimes it is -- I'm not going to deny that -- but sometimes it's crafted. It's more planned and crafted than it seems.
For a look at Spike Jonze in Jackass 3.5, click here.