What’s in a name, right? Nancy Pansy Hairy Mary is very fun to say. It’s also a daring “queer German/Australian feature film in the making” from Fully Flared Films. Written by Bartholomew Sammut and Kelly West and directed by Sammut’s husband, Christoph Scheermann—who got his start in showbiz at age 12 in his native Germany’s version of Married With Children, which is fabulous—the film is “a love story about hate.” In the word of the filmmakers:
NANCY PANSY HAIRY MARY is the first feature film to be made by Fully Flared Films! After spending the last three years developing the script, we now believe this story is ready to get produced! The issue of Homophobia has always been an issue we have longed to address in a film and with NANCY PANSY HAIRY MARY, not only do we address it but we fuck it up royally!
NANCY PANSY HAIRY MARY is a love story about hate. The hate that brings two serial killers together from opposite sides of the world, the hate that drives them to kill as many homophobes as possible and the hate that brings them together to find something they were not aware of. Love. After the events of the past year, Sebastian and Felix finally meet and unleash a whole new type of hell for any homophobe standing in their way. When their lives begin to unravel, and innocent people are killed, they are forced to decide if their love for each other is stronger then their hate for others.
Nancy Pansy Hairy Mary co-writer Bartholomew Sammut as Sebastian
Co-writer and creator Bartholomew Sammut caught our interview with SciFi & Squeam on Australia’s Joy 94.9 and contacted us about his unique and controversial project. One of our topics had been the May 17 International Day Against Homophobia (or IDAHO, I know right?), so the film’s story of turning the tables on violent anti-gay hatred seemed provocative, exciting, and new. Geeks OUT was pleased to talk to Sammut about the film, its origins and messages, and their current Pozible (Aussie for “Kickstarter”) campaign—which you can support here!
What an exciting and creative endeavor!
Thank you and YES! What is most exciting is seeing the project slowly come to life.
Nancy Pansy Hairy Mary is a thriller, yes? A serial killer film featuring a gay couple who go on a murder spree attacking homophobes. That is a new way to look at the genre!
Yes, the film is a quirky thriller, and usually after people read the script, they also add the term “cult classic” to it. Smile.
Work! You’ve said that homophobia in terms of taunts and insults had never bothered you before you fell in love. What changed?
I grew up on a farm in a small town in Australia with about 3,000 people, so I had to develop a pretty thick skin to survive. When people tried to bully me, it always seemed kind of ridiculous, because their digs and homophobic insults would just make me laugh. Not that their insults were funny, it was more so the way they would try to put me down and fail. I guess it was their failure that I would then laugh about a lot, plus I had a very active imagination and could escape into that to ignore the reality around me. When Christoph [Scheermann, husband and director] came into my life, the reality around me changed and it was then that my imagination was not enough to escape to. It was then that I would really hear these taunts and really see those looks.
Annie Last as Australian news anchor
The title, Nancy Pansy Hairy Mary, plays with gay slang—both community slang, words we might use to describe ourselves when talking with other gays, and words sometimes used against us. What are you saying about masculinity or passivity? Were you just attracted to the rhyme?
The title used to be twice as long, because (co-writer) Kelly and me had a thing for long titles but eventually it got cut down over the years to just Nancy Pansy Hairy Mary, who are our main characters and have also taken these names, which have been often thrown at them as insults over the years, and re-purposed them, as many of us do with community slang. These terms may have at one point hurt our protagonists, but now they use them as a warning, in a kind of Don’t fuck with the fags!-sort of way. That was also one of our reasons for writing the film, we wanted to make something where you could break a stereotype and really make people think twice before they start harassing someone.
German actor Frank Christian Marx as Felix—what's German for "DANG!"?
You've got a great, emo look and Frank Christian Marx, who plays Felix, is a sexy, hairy dude. You two play lovers. Are you also addressing the way the gay community sometimes divides itself among types and identities?
I love this question! Because I always felt these divides, labels and identities were really weird and never really understood why someone that looked maybe like a bear would not like someone who may look a little emo. Or why there was places where just people who looked the same would go. How boring would that be, to be in a room with a bunch of people that looked like yourself? Love is love and by placing certain people in draws just by how they look, well you could potentially loose out on something or some kind of special experience with someone. So in a way yes, I have always wanted to show, that anyone could fall in love with anyone. Regardless. For example, that sexy superhero may not fall for the pretty red head, but perhaps the nerdy book nerd!
WORD. Is that idea part of the love story between Sebastian and Felix?
In a way yes, it is like love at first sight, but one of them does fight it, resists like most others do when something so right comes along, but does not fit into their world and or plan. And these boys have some plans.
When I spoke with SciFi & Squeam, we discussed May's International Day Against Homophobia. Clearly, NPHM takes a different tack in addressing hatred against our community. How would you respond to criticisms that the actions of the characters instead celebrate hatred, violence, and extremism?
I love this line so much, because I am a fan of oxymorons: “A Love Story about Hate” [it] makes you think twice, maybe gets you a little confused and then opens up discussion, which is what I like films to bring, not just an opened and closed book, but something that makes people think and question. Such as, why should a film against homophobia be full of so much hatred? Simple answer. Because homophobia IS hatred. Hatred tends to breed hatred and this is what we want to show actually. The very dangerous effects of homophobia, not only that it can be deadly, but it can severely screw peoples heads up, as it has with Felix and Sebastian. Turning the tables on these hate crimes, showing that feeling coming from one of us, is our way of addressing this hatred that is so prominent around the world. One thing I always find myself asking after seeing a news story about a gay hate crime, or by seeing these security footage videos, is why? Why are these people so full of hate? Then I thought, wouldn’t that be an interesting question from someone after watching this film? Why are those guys so full of hate?
Without spoiling the plot, can you tell us whether the rampage is directed at specific people who've harmed them or is it randomized? The trailer mentions church leaders and seems to suggest that the action takes place in Europe, Australia, and America.
We are just addressing reality and the reality in this film, and also in real life, is that there are people out there who are trying to take away our rights, people who are trying to deny our existence, people who are actively trying to hurt us. One of our characters is following one of these people, trying to get to him and put an end to his existence. That person is the Pope.
The film however starts when the Sebastian and Felix meet in a small-town corner store in Australia. They have, over the past year, been leaving little letters of encouragement for each other at their crimes scenes after the media made them aware of one another. It is through their actions on the day that they meet, that we see how they got there and where they will go. So up until this day that they meet, they had always just been killing alone.
Colin Comfort as UK news anchor
Not just a thriller, then, NPHM is also a love story. You’ve said that we see the characters before they’re a couple—so there’s a courtship? Are you using light moments and romantic scenes of love between Sebastian and Felix to balance the darker stuff?
In a way yes, through the darkness, you do see some light, the light that brings these two those moments of being young men, those moments where you receive some warm words that lift your heart a little, maybe make it skip a few beats. These moments are moments worth living for, and this is what we want to show the audience, that these moments can happen, even to the most fucked up of characters.
Are Sebastian and Felix crazy or do they just finally snap in the face of a crazy situation?
Well, Sebastian has suffered some severe mental problems after years of bullying. His Grandmother, Nana Nancy, whom he lives with, takes it upon herself to save him by showing him how to externalize his pain. Felix, however, witnesses the death of his very best friend, a victim of a gay hate crime, and not really snaps, but more looks for a way to avenge his friends death.
So, how has working on the film (and being in a good relationship) changed the way you respond if you encounter homophobia personally?
My response is much more delayed. I tend to take more of a step back, and observe what seems to be happening before responding. The first reaction is always to protect the husband.
Australian cinema—especially horror cinema—has a reputation for being especially (and joyfully) gory. Without giving away too many spoilers, any especially gruesome or over-the-top horror that fans can look forward to?
There are some scenes where Sebastian and Felix really let it rip on their victims. But then there are also a lot of those suggested gore scenes, where you know, you sense, you hear something really wrong is happening, but it’s just not up there in your face. So we do have a nice mix for horror fans to look forward to. If you ever wandered how dangerous grocery items can be, then this is the film for you.
You recently sent me a link to the trailer for the Queer Film Festival you and your fine-lookin’ man Christoph run in Berlin (fabulous, I love the music)—Um, you run a Queer Film Festival in Berlin? Tell us about that, too!
XPOSED started when I realised how much I loved and missed Berlin, I also felt the push to xpose the queer Australian story to an international audience, and found a way to do that here during the pride week celebrations that seemed to lack a lot of great film programs. The festival slowly developed to focus on a different land or region every year, giving us a chance to experience and witness queer life from other places. This year is very exciting because we get to do a focus on Queer films from the Middle East, which has always been a big interest of mine. On our third year of XPOSED I met Christoph whilst giving out flyers for the festival.
Geeks OUT is a social organization dedicated in part to increasing queer visibility in the geek world. Are you a geek, too? Is there any special brand of geek that you'd identify with?
HA, yes, I am a total geek as is Christoph. He is a big Star Trek fan, whereas I tend to lean towards the TV series nerdy lifestyle such as Buffy and Battlestar Galactica. Anytime I talk about how GREAT Buffy was people call me a geek. But it makes me proud. Geeks rule this world. What is wrong with being part of that?
You and Christoph then are a bi-national (bi-continental, bi-hemispherical!) couple? What’s that like, moving between cultures as a pair of queer geeks in love?
Hard question. Easy answer, as long as we are laughing and making each other smile, it is a very interesting and fun ride! He sometimes does not understand our Australian humour, and I sometimes do not understand German humor. But we have our own humour, that is very nerdy and sweet.
Bartholomew, co-writer Kelly West, and Christoph—adorbs, right?
You turned to crowdfunding on Pozible to raise $10,000 for Nancy Pansy Hairy Mary. Pozible resembles Kickstarter, which is really changing the way outsider projects such as yours can find support. Any fabulous anecdotes or surprises in terms of how NPHM’s fundraising has been received?
What is interesting about the crowdfunding platform is that is has evolved with time. This kind of funding has always been out there, in the past, some filmmakers would go door to door and ask people directly for money, or go around to their family members and beg them to help out. It is just now, with how the Internet has evolved in our lives, it has progressed to an online art-form and has also opened the possibility to bring this kind of funding to a bigger audience, the world wide web audience! Kickstarter is much like Pozible, but has been around longer and has a bigger database, but Pozible is more aimed at Australian based projects, and after you calculate the fees involved in transferring currencies, it made sense to go with Pozible.
What is great, that has come out of this, is that we received a pre-sale from Peccadillo Pictures, a UK Distribution company! Plus we have a lot of people that just from seeing the trailer, have come on board, offering to help in one way or another, which is exactly what we wanted for this project, to get people on board who really want to be a part of it. There is the one main goal with the crowdfunding, that you reach your goal, otherwise you do not get any of the pledges. The other goal is, to begin your outreach to people. Low budget films have very small opportunities to build a fan base, and crowdfunding is changing that.
Congratulations on landing a distributor already! Thanks, Bartholomew—I think our readers will really respond to the trailer and I hope it inspires them to support Nancy Pansy Hairy Mary. We’d all be very curious to see the final results!
Ha, Jono, that was fun! The main point I want to get across in this film is the potential that love has to offer. That’s why I always call it a love story.
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There you have it, geeks. Nancy Pansy Hairy Mary is a love story about hate that goes well farther than most independent queer cinema to challenge our assumptions about the causes and ramifications of homophobia. It’s passionate and articulate filmmaking and I think it would definitely add something provocative and thrilling to the conversation. Please check out the trailer again on their Pozible page and support bold queer, geeky filmmakers! The Pozible campaign runs through July 5, 2012.
