Mr. SkinMr. Skin

Is Paradoxia fiction or nonfiction?

One hundred percent fact, dear Mr. Skin... truth is so much ruder than fiction.

How close are you to the sexual predator you write about in the book?

She burrows like a hungry leech under my succulent flesh, rearing her carnivorous head when the blue moon hits at full tilt. She's not as hungry as she once was, having fed unto sickness.

Do you have any intention of writing a traditional biography?

Leave the boring practicalities to those who have the time to unearth the details. I create in real time. I document the insanity of the corporatocracy by writing speeches, articles, essays, and by performing spoken-word shows. I tackle my personal hysteria by writing books, songs, or creating autobiographical photo montages that relate to the here and now. A biography—I'm still inventing it.

Paradoxia is a very sexual book; what are some of the sexually explicit books that you've either admired or been influenced by?

Henry Miller, Tropic of Cancer (Picture: 1) and Tropic of Capricorn, Marquis de Sade's Justine and Juliette, all of [Jean] Genet, Bret Easton Ellis's American Psycho (Picture: 1), and the Bible—for those of us who think violence is "sexy."

What films would you like to look up on Mr. Skin?

I am enthralled by the Genki-Genki Crew: Daikichi Amano's Japanese porno art, where beautiful women are aroused by octopus, eels, leeches, etc. The aesthetic is amazing, it pushes the boundaries of both art and pornography, and it's edible. Don't be shy; sushi has never looked so... insane. [Editor's note: Don't believe Lydia? Check it out at Genki-Genki.com]

Who are some of the actresses you find skintillating?

Asia Argento (Picture: 1), of course, she's a demon, and not afraid to play ugly. Because she's so hot. Charlotte Rampling (Picture: 1) proves sex appeal has no age limit. Deborah Kara Unger (Picture: 1) from Cronenberg's Crash—there's something alien about her. Patricia Arquette (Picture: 1) is probably one of the hottest "stars"—her teeth, her beautiful body, how bold she was in Lost Highway (Picture: 1). Natasha Lyonne—because she's all too real.

But, hey, what about the guys—c'mon! Viggo Mortensen for nude fighting in Eastern Promises, Ewan McGregor for always getting naked, and Mark Wahlberg is so hot because he looks like the best liar on the planet. Let's be fair, my fine fucker.

One of the films we do have on the site is The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things (Picture: 1), which you appeared in, though not nude. What was it like working on that?

I was the still photographer on the film, uncredited—thanks a lot Asia, Marilyn, and JT, you fricking creeps—and had a very small cameo, which I was hoodwinked into doing. My interest in photography developed when I was living in New Orleans in 1990. Asia had seen some of my portrait work from that period—teenage boys in abandoned settings—and hired me on as the still photographer. It's a great opportunity to create under an unusual circumstance. Still photography for film is a thankless high-pressure gig—hours of waiting around to be allowed thirty seconds to try and pull a great shot out of a grumpy actor's ass. I loved it, though. I work really well with kids. I've been photographed a lot myself, so I have a pretty good understanding of the mechanics. Plus all that free time allows you the chance to engage with other misfits: the actors, the crew, the technicians.

The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things was directed by Asia Argento, one of the more popular talents on the site. Is there anything else to say about her?

A beautiful, driven, delirious monster—not for the timid—Asia took on an immense job with The Heart. I adore her and her beastliness. I felt like the good cop on the set, but whatever it takes to get the job done. Off the set is where she's really surprising: warm, funny, smart, sassy, and uninhibited. She's a gem.

Are there any directors you haven't worked with that you'd like to act for?

I've been asked why I don't do more films. I'd like to, but really I can't imagine any in the last ten years that I should have been in. Not a reflection on the films, but in having made so many independent films, or films I had an active part in developing, where the story itself was important to my own development—like the public psychotherapy that the Kern films where—it would have to be a role in which I was bringing something really unique to it, otherwise what the hell use does Hollywood have for me? No more than what I have for Hollywood. That said, if Gregory Dark, David Cronenberg, [Pedro] Almodóvar, Augustí Villaronga, or Sean Penn needed me, I'd run.

Do you have any film projects in the works?

No films at the moment, but I'm creating video backdrops for my multimedia performances. I'm shooting abandoned ghosts towns, empty buildings, natural disasters, and montaging them into erotic self-portraits, which form the basis of my video projections.

What are the films that you most enjoy? Are you into exploitation, cult cinema, that sort of thing?

I grew up at the drive-ins—ha! So I love a good old-fashioned exploitation flick like Last House on the Left. That was truly horrific for its time—pity about the lousy music.

I really like the Saw (Picture: 1) series, much preferred over Hostel (Picture: 1)—boring characters. Saw has fantastic visuals, interesting subject.

Top of my list though must be The Sadist from 1963 by James Landis—twisted hillbillies based on Charlie Starkweather torturing a couple of straights who break down in the desert. A classic!

But I don't care what category a film falls into as long as it digs deep enough to spark something magical in my cerebral cortex.

Some of my favorite films: In a Glass Cage by Augustí Villaronga, a Nazi war criminal gets his comeuppance; Intacto (Picture: 1), games of chance and greed by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo; Santa Sangre, trauma, fanaticism, the circus, and the church from [Alejandro] Jodorowsky; Baise Moi (Picture: 1), the pornographic Thelma & Louise (Picture: 1) by Virginie Despentes; Stalker—too beautiful and weird to describe—by [Andrei] Tarkovsky; Cube, numerical conspiracy by [Vincenzo] Natali; [Roman] Polanski's The Tenant, Repulsion, Death and the Maiden—all obsessive; Wonderland, true crime and criminal sex by James Cox; The Machinist (Picture: 1), insomnia, insanity—I can relate!—by Brad Anderson; Pi, numerical conspiracy again; Requiem for a Dream (Picture: 1), the crushing of dreams, by [Darren] Aronofsky.

Big-budget films: Natural Born Killers, a mash-up of everything independent cinema had done for twenty years previous; and Brazil—the possibility of the worst-case scenario.

All films based on Tennessee Williams, especially Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? [Editor's note: Actually, based on Edward Albee's play], The Fugitive Kind. [Pier Paolo] Pasolini's Salo. Anything that delves into obsession and real horror, I'm game.

Do you recall the first time you saw a nude scene in a mainstream movie growing up?

No, I can't say I do. And more than thirty years later my memory may be tweaked, but I recall the scene in Last House on the Left where one of the girls is walking topless into the water, and how gruesome what came before was. I believe it's almost a moment of twilight calm, and the dread that moment had summoned up—wonderful, awful, unforgettable even. If I'm suffering from false memory syndrome, ha!

You lived in New York City back when Times Square was still the crossroads of sex and violence. Do you have any great stories about the Deuce to share?

Times Square was a giant poisoned candy store ripe with whatever contaminant you wanted to pollute yourself with: sex, drugs, or the insane. I remember scoring Placydils—a barbiturate with a twenty-minute high, quick trip, a functional drug—on 42nd Street for $1.50 a pop. I was a teenager, it was the mid '70s, and the devil played slumlord to Times Square. The neon, the marquees, the pimps, and the working girls and boys—it was heaven. Made me feel both really clean in comparison and filthy by proximity.

What are you working on now?

I have a photo book out in March, a retrospective of my work for the past fifteen years. I've finished an anthology of writing that will be out next year entitled Sick with Desire. I'm performing Real Pornography at European festivals. It's a multimedia piece with video projection and live music, which illustrates my "sermon" on war, god bullies, violence, sex, and nature as the connective tissue which binds them together.

I'm finishing up my next LP—The Ghosts of Spain—creating the music myself at my home studio. My CD collaboration with Omar Rodriguez-Lopez of Mars Volta is out now. I'm doing what I always do: trying to give voice to the obsessed, the dispossessed, and the depressed, offering up an alternative to the lame ass post-punk pop schlock that litters the airwaves.

Do you have any last words for the readers of MrSkin.com?

Get naked yourself, you damn voyeurs, you may be looking for hot celebrity nudes online, but I know what you all look like naked!

Images of Lydia Lunch by Marc Viaplana and are courtesy of Lydia-Lunch.org