Quest:
What is your best remembrance of your
Meyer's period? Does acting in "the Double D"
reminds you of
this?
Answer Raven:
Well, first I was discovered in a
restaurant by Samantha Monsieur, who was casting for the
famous Eddie Foy Casting for 20th Century Fox. At the time I
was a Record Promoter under Steve Topley for LAX &Far Out
Productions home of WAR; Jimmy Witherspoon; Ronnie Laws;
Eloise Laws; Tanya Tucker; Lee Oscar; Lonny Jordan, Aalon,
etc. I had never heard of Russ Meyer but Steve Gold &Jerry
Goldstein of Far Out Productions (manager & producer of WAR
etc) LOVED his work and told me it was a comic book and that
I should take it.
I went to meet with Russ at his Hollywood Blvd office (at
the time) and later found out how extraordinary it was for
Russ NOT to have asked to see my body before filming. Not
being an exhibitionist ... it was normal for me that he
didn't as I wasn't aware of his style of films. I had never
viewed even one of any of his other films until three years
ago when I saw "Faster Pussycat Kill Kill!" ... at an Awards
Convention with Forrie Ackerman &William Shatner amongst
other film greats. (That classic film ... more popular today
than ever ... is where I learned the beginnings of what
later turned out to be my accurate perception of Russ's
psyche in his film making paralleling his own personal
concepts about women, romance and 'how it was for him or men
he knew (of)' in full cartoon clarity ... guts and all!) So
any one who knew Russ found the factor of no "visuals"
before filming ... almost unbelievable. YEARS later he told
me he didn't ask because after interviewing over 400 women
for the part ... and he liked me ... he figured if he came
up against something un-photographable he would work around
it but mainly he said he knew I was 'pure material' for film
and didn't want to blow it by possibly scaring me away by
'checking the goods'. So he trusted his instincts and
according to him ... he proved 'right'.
Bottom line ... Russ's Psyche underlines his films
differently women are dangerous, not to be trusted, they
take you and leave you dead or alive ... or the women are
brutalized and rise above and victims are left ...
The Double D Avenger is nothing like working with Russ. It's
a whole different ball game and Bill is a lot more flexible
and allows the artist to be themselves and doesn't have a
"scripted agenda with his players psyche" for revenge
{Giggle}. Bottom line ... Bill underlines the silly part of
the American psyche in regards to sex and women in spoof ...
more of a Benny Hill American style, instead of a bloody
horror and dead naked folk. These parts are more like a
comic book/soap where the character is eliminated but
without the visuals of garish deaths.