Eating Liam Regan
It was early April, 2022… I was spending some time down in South Tromaville with some buddies, doing a bit of late-night hunting... Well, that’s what we were supposed to be doing, but we all focused more on beers, babes, and bonerz. After an especially painful night, most of us headed over to the local watering hole for a bit of the hair of the deer that bit us...some of our friends must’ve camped somewhere else though, cuz we couldn’t find them in the morning. Anyway, it was cold, it was raining cats and dicks, and we were all beyond exhausted. I could think of nothing better than saddling up to the bar, opening a tab, and keeping the cold drinks flowing until I forgot about what I did with those dudes the night before…
Then the call came in. Our pal Liam Regan needed a ride in from the Nashville airport (in case your map doesn’t show it, Nashville is about an hour from South Tromaville). I put the drinking on hold and headed back out into the bitter cold. There was traffic, and I was already late anyway. My phone died. I didn’t know where I was going. Oh, and I had never met this Liam bloke before…but everyone swore “He’s one of the nicest dudes you’ll ever meet.” Of course, I’ve heard that said before, and it was a line so full of wind I’m surprised it didn’t make my ears pop right off my head. So, after passing through the ARRIVALS area of the airport twice without any luck, I spotted a smiling fellow with a Toxic Avenger shirt on, and I knew this must be the guy. We talked movies, music, 9/11, Video Nasties, everything, and I realized just how much I had missed my friend Liam. Sure, I’d never met him before, but he turned out to be pretty much one of the nicest dudes I’ve ever met…
Liam’s working on a new movie, as you will read below, so PLEASE consider donating to the cause over at http://eatingmisscampbell.com. He’s lined up so many amazing perks to thank you for your help. Even a couple bucks would help…or at least a nice share to your social media list of fake model profiles and angry uncles! Liam recently took some time to visit with Nervousmaker, talking about all things Liam, as if you needed another reason to help your new best friend out…
Nervousmaker: First off, Eating Miss Campbell... What's this movie about?
Liam Regan: Eating Miss Campbell is a movie that satires social issues, such as school massacres, veganism, and teenage suicide; the movie also serves as a spiritual sequel to my first movie, My Bloody Banjo, which was released in 2015.
Nervousmaker: Why the Indiegogo campaign? And just how hardcore does this film get, since it's obvious by the title that it’s a porno?
Liam Regan: We began shooting Eating Miss Campbell in early 2020, with plans to resume production a few months down the line. Unfortunately, this little thing called Corona happened, which then delayed the production by 18 months, and by that time, we had to pay for extensive reshoots and bring people back, and we ran out of our budget to pay for post-production. The movie is finished, we just need to get it over the finishing line.
Oh, and to answer the porno question, you could say that Covid really FUCKED us! And waiting 18 months SUCKED... and, potentially, swallowed too!
But please visit http://eatingmisscampbell.com and pick up some gnarly merch!
Nervousmaker: How is this new film related to My Bloody Banjo?
Liam Regan: I decided to bring back the antagonists in My Bloody Banjo, rather than the main two characters, and I had the film follow straight on. Eating Miss Campbell is set in the same universe, with many callbacks. I loved the characters so much that I feel inspired to tell more stories with them.
Nervousmaker: And speaking of your bloody banjo...one of the perks on the campaign is the new director's cut of My Bloody Banjo. Why is there a new version, what happened with the old version, and what the hell’s the difference between the two?
Liam Regan: I was never fan of the "festival cut" (as I now dub it). A 107 minute work in progress screened at Cannes in 2015, and it couldn't have gone any worse, the film just didn't play correctly to the market audience, and there were many walkouts, which caused me to have a panic attack, I had to leave the cinema.
So I Skyped with the editor that evening, and asked him to yank around 20 minutes out of the movie. We were on a deadline, due to wanting to submit Banjo to festivals that summer, and because of this, I felt that post-production was rushed, and a lot of the gnarly and gross material really hit the cutting room floor.
We filmed Banjo in 2014, and since then, the hard drives would corrupt and fail, and we kept transferring the video files from drive to drive so we could salvage the movie for this eventual director's cut.
It's a much more twisted, darker, gory, fucked up version of Banjo, so if you were a fan of the "festival cut" then you're gonna love this absolutely bonkers version of the movie.
Nervousmaker: Do you have any other projects in the works (or in the future works)?
Liam Regan: I would love to make a third Banjo movie, I just have no idea what that story is right now. I kinda launched everything to the wall in Eating Miss Campbell, and hopefully some of it will stick! I do have a desire to make a fucked up movie on a MiniDV camera, but, we'll see!
Nervousmaker: Why is it exciting for you to work with Troma?
Liam Regan: The only reason I'm making movies is because of the films Lloyd Kaufman and Michael Herz directed and produced in the 80s and 90s, those movies were my gateway to anarchist filmmaking, and the fact they're truly independent, with full creative control for almost 50 years, it's something to not only admire, but to aspire for. I would hate to be diluted by a studio or an investor, I want to continue making movies with zero censorship.
Nervousmaker: Where are you coming from as an artist?
Liam Regan: I feel like life, in itself, is truly absurd. So I tend to blend serious social issues, in a cartoon-like world, where there are no morals, there's no good guys or bad guys, just shades of grey. So, it's art imitating life, but through a Nickelodeon-like gaze.
Nervousmaker: What influenced and inspired you to become the you that you are?
Liam Regan: Troma movies have completely inspired my line of work, but also the movies of Frank Henenlotter and the British TV show Bottom, which starred Rik Mayall and Adrian Edmonson.
Nervousmaker: Whether it's movies or music or books or society or stand-up comedians, tell me how you became the sick-minded fella that everyone gushes over.
Liam Regan: Aww, I'm flattered with any gush or pre-cum I may garner! Well, it must be my catholic school upbringing that made me the person I am today!
