Larry Charles Unplugged

As the Traverse City Film Festival (TCFF) prepares to kick off its tenth anniversary, veteran festival guest, TCFF board vice president and legendary writer-director Larry Charles (Seinfeld, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Borat) caught up with The Ticker to reflect on the festival's first decade, his events at next week's festival (including a “surprise” debut of a Billy Crystal project and a rowdy Road House screening with Doug Benson), and plans to perhaps one day live and/or work in northern Michigan.

The Ticker: You're serving as vice-president of the TCFF board of directors. What does a festival board member actually do? How involved are you in the planning process?
Larry Charles: There's a few aspects to it. One is to be on the lookout for movies and filmmakers for the festival. In my unique position in LA, I get approached a lot, I see a lot of different things that might otherwise go unseen and I have this great vehicle in the festival to showcase these lesser known filmmakers and films.

The other part is decision-making in terms of how to operate the festival, how many days it goes, the economics of the festival. That's a huge part of it these days – figuring out how the festival will grow and how to keep it viable. We usually have a yearly board meeting during the festival where we go over all these various items and vote, so I'm involved in that kind of decision-making as well.

The Ticker: This is TCFF's tenth anniversary. What have been some of the highlights or stand-out moments for you looking back at the festival's first decade?
Larry Charles: There are some personal highlights. I remember when we previewed Borat at the State Theatre before it opened (nationally), and before anyone had seen it. I wasn't sure what the reaction would be. I was nervous. Getting that entire audience to rock the house and explode with nonstop, wall-to-wall laughter...that was one of the greatest experiences of my life. My relationship with Michael (Moore) is also a very important part of all this for me. We've become good friends, our families are friendly and he's an important person in our culture. I'm very honored to help him with this festival.

The Ticker: Have you experienced either the “I'm going to buy a house here someday” or “I'm going to make a movie here someday” moment many long-time guests seem to have had?
Larry Charles: Absolutely. I love Traverse City. Three of my four kids went to Interlochen, so I've been coming to TC a long time – even before the festival. I haven't done it recently, but for a long time I was looking at properties. I looked at Petoskey, I looked up and down Leelanau Pensinula, I was looking at the Upper Peninsula. I think TC is like my second home, I really feel that way. It's a small town, but it's intellectually curious and highly cultured. I haven't found anything to shoot there yet, but I'm open to it.

The Ticker: You'll be doing a Benson Movie Interruption event with Doug Benson at the festival next week. What are your thoughts on Road House? Great movie or greatest movie?
Larry Charles: (chuckles) I'll put it in the great movie category. There's too many choices for greatest movie. But I am a fan of Road House, and I'm a fan of Doug's. I'm looking forward to it.

The Ticker: You'll be showing a new short film I Can't Go On at the festival. Can you talk about the film and anything else you have in the pipeline? Anything planned with Sacha (Baron Cohen)?
Larry Charles: For I Can't Go On, I had a friend, we were in a comedy team together when we were teenagers, and he was this great mentor to me. He was my Fagin, in a way. But he slowly got involved in things that thwarted his progress...drugs, crime. I encouraged him to talk about it on stage, but he never would. So finally I hired a camera crew with my own money, and went to Las Vegas where he was holed up in a hotel and started recording. It wasn't supposed to have a commercial purpose, I just wanted a record (of him). This is the first cut of that experience – no one has seen it yet. 

I'm not doing anything with Sacha right now – he's shooting a scripted film in England, I think. But you never know. I do have something else I'm working on that I plan to show at the festival with Billy Crystal. That should be a fun surprise for people.

Larry Charles will host a film school master class and screening of his short film “I Can't Go On” on July 31 at NMC, participate in Doug Benson's Movie Interruption: Road House screening on August 1 at the State Theatre, and appear on the TCFF Comedy Panel August 2 at the City Opera House.