Because so many women are as f*cked up as Penelope Spheeris?
And so many women see this particular way of being “f*cked up” — a real or feigned allergy to work & healthy relationships, and the success that can come with them — as “normal”?
The Decline series remains her most important work, both creatively and in terms of how it has affected her life. While filming the third documentary, which chronicles the lives of LA’s homeless punks, she met the man who has been her boyfriend for the past 18 years. Today she’s packaging up a birthday card (he just turned 50) and some socks to send to him because he’s locked up in an institution in Florida, more than 2,000 miles away. (…)
With the films finally out on DVD, Spheeris says she has been genuinely surprised at how excited audiences are to see them again. “Put it this way,” Fox says: “Every screening that we’ve gone to, she’s like, ‘I don’t think anyone’s gonna show up,’ and then it’s sold out.” Spheeris has now set her sights on making a fourth Decline film, although she won’t disclose what it’s about. (…)
“I think the reason I never rereleased ’em is because it was gonna be so much work.” (…)
“The only movies I could get released were movies that I basically just sold out on and took the money,” she sighs.
