True History: X Equals X
Today on Boing Boing tv, TRUE HISTORY: X EQUALS X, a serial killer saga told in super 8 film and sock puppets. This early '90s classic short film from Syd Garon and Rodney Ascher, whose work individually and together we've featured on Boing Boing tv before, retells the tale of Henry Lee Lucas (1936-2001). Known as "America's most prolific serial killer," he murdered more than 600 people.
Previously on Boing Boing tv:
Update: Syd, Rodney, and others who collaborated on this film have shown up in the comments with some cool, historic details -- check it out!
the latest
the latest
I thought it would be fun to run the credit names through
The Internet Movie Database. Here are the results:
A FILM BY:
Michael Garon
Rodney Ascher
STARRING:
Mark Holt
WITH:
Lazaro Amaral
LIGHTING DESIGN:
David Jean Schweitzer
SET DESIGN:
Louisa Van Leer (Not Listed)
THANKS TO:
Tony Hiller (Not Listed)
Paul Griswold
Yagiro Lara
Bill Orcutt
Jill Burnham (Not Listed)
Mark Holt
Veronica Ladjili (Not Listed)
George Goodridge
Patti Getker (Not Listed)
Avalon Pictures
Thanks to:
Syd Garon
Rodney Ascher
I have no way of checking if these are the same people but the majority are in related art and animation departments. I suspect that the others may be in IMDB under different names. Were these talented people all in a film school together?
David, we'll have to ask Syd and Rodney! Stay tuned, I'll post (or maybe they will!) an answer here.
Wow! That's pretty hilarious, wasn't expecting to see a still from X=X when I checked BB today!
And yeah, Syd and I went to school together (University of Miami - Go 'Canes!) but the rest of those folks were part of a loose scene of filmmakers, artists, etc involved with the Alliance, a Miami Beach-based independent cinema and film co-op.
Thanks for being interested years later!
You are correct. Paul Griswold went to film school with us and he is currently helping me with some new animations I that will be releasing soon. Bill Orcutt was in noise rock champions Harry Pussy. Louisa is an architect who ended up married to Rodney. David Schweitzer was the DP and is related to the peace prize Schweitzer. Mark, Lazaro and George and Jill are all artists. Michael Garon is my real name, Syd Garon is just a nickname, FYI.
We all lived near each other in Miami Beach and it was a real artist collective back then. Relatively simple to get a bunch of talented people together to do fun stuff.
Wow - blast from the past. Yeah, Syd & I did all our student films together at the U. of Miami.
I had actually never seen the finished film until today.
Syd's a superbly talented director/animator. Wavetwisters was/is an amazing film and I'm glad to have done some animation on it.
Stay on the lookout for his next project.
Paul Griswold
Thanks guys!
I was looking to IMDB to see if anyone from Bad Dog Ltd. was connected with Puppets Who Kill. If you like this BBTV segment, smart mouth puppets, funny killers, dysfunctional halfway houses or passive aggressive writer, performer and puppeteer Dan Redican then you will like this.
P.S. Don't let your kids watch this unless they are over 25. Less if they have already been to jail.
Cool film.
Though "600 people" is almost certainly grossly overinflated. See wiki for details: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Lee_Lucas
Hey, how'd the theme from from The Venture Brothers end up in the prison riot scene?
I'm suddenly nostalgic for Sifl n' Olly. MTV needs to put those out on DVD, like, yesterday.