An interview with independent filmmaker Leslie Delano
By Amanda By Night
Leslie Delano is one of the unsung heroes in the world of indie films. A female director with a conscience, she's set out to change the popular perceptions of beauty as well as the lingering stereotypes women have had to endure since the inception of the genre movie. A self-proclaimed horror addict, Leslie's response to these off-putting characterizations was to put a feminist spin on the much recycled slasher subgenre in Deadly Lessons, a feature length movie she produced, wrote and directed...
"I'm working on changing the fashion industry's perception of size by using plus models in edgy spreads because working with size 2, 12 year-old models is its own version of horror."- Leslie Delano
But before Leslie found herself knee deep in T & A, blood and guts, and all things in between, she began her working life as a successful model, which was not her original intention. 'I did it because it was stupid and easy. Some people told me I might be able to go places if only I would behave, but I just wasn't interested.'
While enjoying the glamorous world of modeling Leslie was asked to be involved in the king of gross-out-mind-bending B movies, Class of Nuke 'em High. 'I was friends with this girl who knew I could do makeup and she asked me if I could help out on Class! She warned me that these were dreadful people, but everyone was pretty cool.' Leslie even had the distinct pleasure of (secretly) being paid a little extra by the notoriously cheap Lloyd Kaufman. But it was meeting the director of Class! Richard W. Haines that had her diving head first into the world of underground filmmaking.
Her first collaboration with Richard was the time-warp-action-horror-comedy-alien-cop-thriller Alien Space Avenger, which Leslie admits was not a difficult script to write. 'As a joke, I wrote a treatment for a movie. (Richard) is not big into dialogue. Just surround him with naked girls, and he's alright!' Space Avenger (the alternate title) not only had the distinct honor of starring Billy Ray McQuade, who also appeared in Mother's Day and L.A. Confidential (!) but Leslie and Richard trekked all the way to China to have their movie printed in the last Technicolor studio in the world. In fact, clips from Space Avenger were featured on Entertainment Tonight in a segment hosted by Leonard Maltin!
Encouraged by the modest success of Space Avenger, Leslie and Richard teamed up again for Head Games, a Troma-esque thriller about violent killers being experimented on and released back into society. Leslie found she had more to do on this project than just put paper to pen. 'Actors were coming to me in tears because they hadn't had one rehearsal. So I helped Richard direct them. The cast was really cool. J.J. North was even in it. She was sweet, but had some trouble with her three lines.'
Leslie remains good-natured about her experiences with Richard and she looks back on those days as a 'progression of control'. She also began to develop a knack for the camera and shot some outtake footage for a documentary she still plans on releasing called How Low Can You Go as well as completing another documentary about her friend who was a male prostitute.
It didn't take long after Head Games for Leslie to pull some resources together and helm her first feature! all while still in film school. Leslie decided to make a horror movie that was her answer to a genre that didn't cater to women. On the surface, Deadly Lessons looks just like another psycho-bitch-from-hell flick, but upon a closer look, the viewer will find a horror movie about the woes of acceptance, the sadness of being a Plain Jane surrounded by Bodacious Betties and a world where the women are savvy enough to live while the men die brutally. Another twist to the genre, Deadly Lessons also showcases full frontal male nudity. 'I got tired of seeing tits and dildos in every scene! One of the stars, Jason Moore, agreed that women were always getting exploited in these horror films so he was like 'exploit me'! I wanted to tongue in cheek switch things around. It's always women with these huge breasts in their underwear getting sliced-n-diced and the men were supposed to be so smart. But they get killed instead.'
Originally titled Dawn, Deadly Lessons sported a strong cast of Chicago locals and a crew featuring folks like Ron Forsythe, who later went on to become director of photography on Ivansxtc directed by Bernard Rose (Candyman). She also financed her project with a bank loan! 'I put together a really good package and presented it to this bank which is not in Hollywood. They gave me the money and a year to pay it back. So I had $150,000 to make an entire film, but I had to set aside some of the budget to make payments to the bank.'
But Leslie has no complaints about shooting her low-budget horror film. 'I couldn't have had a better experience. I must have had little Dawn angels around me. And even though I would have had better success had Scream come out just a little sooner, I've played all over the world. The only place I haven't been is American cable, but the thing that really meant the most to me about this film was that I got to finish it before my mother died. She was very proud of it. I'd like to mention that.'
Just as Leslie was searching for her next project, a series of dark dreams started haunting her in her sleep. These visions involved being tied down in a prison cell and slapped as men in orange coveralls are doing drugs around her. 'After that dream, I woke up and turned on my TV. Robert Downey Jr. was being sent to prison. It all made sense.' The connection was so strong Leslie surfed the net looking for others who were having similar dreams and stumbled across a Downey fan site called The Last Party. 'I posted a message asking if anyone else out there was having weird dreams. I got several replies from people who, like me, had never really thought about him but still felt drawn to him at this time. I had just got a DV camera and I was really interested in these people's stories. Some were addicts, some were politically motivated and some just wanted to help him. How many times has Charlie Sheen been arrested and I couldn't care less, but we just felt compelled to help Downey.'
What came out this project was the very sympathetic un-E!-True Hollywood Story about a rich boy drug addict actor as well as a portrait of an artist whose fan following is full of intelligent and warm people. 'With all his fame and money, he still has so many problems. And he was so public about it. It makes people feel less alone. He's just another person. And putting someone in prison is not going to help them. Downey symbolizes the dilemma of America's treatment of drug addicts.'
While waiting for her Downey doc to find a distributor, Leslie needed to earn some cash. To make ends meet she set down the DV camera and replaced it with a 35 millimeter. In the last few years Leslie has become a force in the photography industry. 'I fall into these things really easily. Sometimes I think its fate. God help me if I ever have to run a cash register or anything. I wouldn't know how! I'm shooting fashion photography in NY and LA, but I'm working on changing the fashion industry's perception of size by using plus models in edgy spreads because working with size 2, 12 year-old models is its own version of horror. Fashion is very degrading to women's self esteem so I'm trying to show the downside of the fashion industry. I want to show beauty in all sizes. I'm also interviewing some of the various models and I'm currently working on a behind the scenes look at the modeling industry.'
Things seem to be coming full circle for Leslie. Once in front of the camera, she now gladly steps behind it and hopes to manipulate our brains. 'All films are subjective, even if it's subtle. None of us have perfect lives and it's so safe to vent in a film. I'm recreating reality. All of my films are about the idea of acceptance. There's such a narrow scope of how we are supposed to be. We should accept people who aren't a size two, or not making $100,000 a year. I want to change that.'
But Leslie hasn't turned her back on the horror industry. 'I'm also working on integrating some horror movie elements into plus-size model spreads. (I plan on getting) back into film now that DV has made the market more accessible, I've got the camera and crew, I just need a killah script! And I want to act in a horror movie. I want a body of work behind me where I can say, 'I may not be rich, but I've done some cool, fun stuff!''
To see more of Leslie's work visit:
Delano Photo
More of Leslies Photography
Deadly Lesson's Official Website
