You shall know my velocity

One of the last acting jobs I had in 1999, right after I deadpanned through Richard Maxwell’s Cowboys & Indians and about a year before I got the job at TONY, was in Robert Cucuzza’s Speed Freaks. This high-octane absurdist rush of manic slapstick and claustrophobic mise-en-scene played for four weeks at the Ontological, earned a nice notice from my future employer, and seemed to please the avant-garde grubbing masses.

I played Karl, the lumbering, oafish, stammering “chef” at what appeared to be a methamphetamine lab which smuggled its products out to the world in the form of canned peas. The lab was located in Pennsylvania somewhere near Amish country, hence Jacob, the Amish youth in the tale, who is enjoying his Rumspringa—that’s the official Amish period of sowing your oats. The ringleader of this drugged peas cabal is Ivan, played to bug-eyed, screeching perfection by Cucuzza, and Molly, played by Laura Kachergus with exasperated elan and action-star steeliness. When a “pure” version of the drug they manufacture starts seeping into the ventilation system, all hyper-meta-surreal hell breaks loose. The play, which Cucuzza wrote, designed and staged, was incredible fun to rehearse and perform, a 70-minute orgy of gags and non-sequiturs in the postmodern style of Ernie Kovacs and Hellzapoppin.

Anyway, in early 2000, Bob decided to transfer his insane vision to the screen. Digital video was all the rage, and it seemed (and perhaps still seems) that a theater artist might also dip a toe into the waters of film. We spent three (four?) weeks in early 2000 filming Speed Freaks in a meatpacking-district loft, inside an ingenious installation-cum-studio – a versatile reproduction of the ridiculously cramped office set, with hinged walls to allow greater range of motion for the cameras, lighting equipment, monitors, assistants, and a continuity person for Orson Welles' sake! As at the Ontological, I spent many hours in a yellow rubber suit sweating my nuts off, jumping around and jabbering like a loon, smashing into walls, getting slapped, slamming my hand repeatedly between door and jamb, and generally having the time of my life.

Well. In the last seven years, Bob has been busy with his acting work and other film projects, but finally he’s come up with the final final cut of Speed Freaks, with a soundtrack that he and ERS wizard John Collins have lovingly crafted, tweaking every slap, crack and pop. Check out the Speed Freaks trailer above, if you haven’t already. You’ll see some vintage late-'90s Cote shameless schmacting: Lots of eyes agog, jaw dropped, triple takes and screaming. It’s still basically how I comport myself at the theater. There will be screenings August 10 and 24 at Axis Theater in the West Village and then on November 7 at 9:45, the film will screen at Anthology Film Archives as part of the New Filmmakers series. And if you prefer me on video to not be rolling my eyes and running into walls, you can catch my TV review of the Civilians’ brilliant, funny, sad, brainy, soulful, tuneful Gone Missing on NY1 this weekend. For those of you in the area with Time Warner, On Stage broadcasts this Saturday and Sunday on channel 1 at both 9:30am and 7:30pm. Now I'm off to slam my head in the freezer for a few minutes.

Comments

[Ian Mackenzie]

"I played Karl, the lumbering, oafish, stammering 'chef' at what appeared to be a methamphetamine lab which smuggled its products out to the world in the form of canned peas."

A perfectly reasonable premise – for what appears to be a thoughtful and meditative study on the golden age of canned food production. Five stars!

Ian

[Satiriomastix]

After seeing the nudge with David's name on NY1 for so long, finally some video with the hot David I know and love.

You truly grasp the secret of great film acting--which is "Just be yourself."

[David Cote]

Thanks for the backhanded compliment, Satiriomastix (don't think I don't know who you are!) But honestly, if I acted on NY1 as I do here, do you think anyone would take my reviews seriously? Hmmm. Maybe they would.