INTERVIEW: SF Sketchfest pokes fun at Ed Wood’s ‘Plan 9’ at TCM Classic Film Festival
Photo: Plan 9 From Outer Space will screen as part of the TCM Classic Film Festival. Photo courtesy of TCM / Provided with permission.
Ed Wood, the legendary director of many B movies, created one of the most talked-about films in the history of Hollywood. The late 1950s flick Plan 9 From Outer Space finds residents of California’s San Fernando Valley under attack from battle-ready flying saucers. While watching, audience members will have to excuse the obvious strings holding up the saucers, the confusing plot, the strange characters who come out of nowhere, the so-not-Oscar-worthy performances and the overall feeling of “What am I watching right now?”
Of course, these many faults make watching Plan 9 a must for cinephiles. In its glorious badness, there’s a charm and deliriousness that is infectious and worthy of … praise. Wood’s intention may have been to create a sci-fi classic, but his result is something different: an 80-minute exercise in directorial passion, warts and all.
This weekend is the virtual TCM Classic Film Festival, and Plan 9 From Outer Space has a prominent spot Friday, May 7 at 9:30 p.m. on the network. In advance of the feature, which stars Bela Lugosi and Vampira, TCM will broadcast a table read of the movie’s script by SF Sketchfest (set for Friday, May 7 at 8 p.m.). The adaptation of the text is courtesy of Dana Gould, and the cast includes everyone from Maria Bamford to Bobcat Goldthwait to Oscar Nuñez to Laraine Newman to Bob Odenkirk to Gary Anthony Williams. Add in David Koechner, Janet Varney, Jonah Ray, Paul F. Tompkins, Baron Vaughn, Deborah Baker Jr. and Kat Aagesen, and it promises to be a rollicking good time.
Recently Hollywood Soapbox spoke with comedians Gould and Varney about their experiences of creating this night of comedy during a global pandemic. Here’s what they had to say …
VARNEY: For me, no one in the last year has felt great about talking about silver linings with a pandemic, although arguably that’s kind of all we’ve had for a year, so we also have to be able to talk about those silver linings I think to get through. But there are so many people who are going to have access to this that wouldn’t be able to see it at a film festival proper, including family members I have all over and friends, so, in that way, it’s a total gift. And also the fact that it’s going to be shown not on the internet exclusively means that members of my family who don’t know how to get on to the internet, they understand. They know what TCM is. [laughs] They are losing their minds with excitement, and so for us it’s a way of reaching more people. That’s a huge upside to be honest, at least from my perspective.
GOULD: My family is also losing its mind, but not with excitement, and they’re unaware of the show. [laughs] Yeah, the fact that it’s on TV, nothing beats the live performance. From an actor’s point of view, just to feel the audience. When we did decide to do this for Sketchfest as Zoom, we talked about, well, how do we take the limits of Zoom and turn them to our advantage, so, what we got with this production of it was wholly different than the live show. … What I love about it is it’s own thing. I don’t know how to describe what it is, but it works. aAd like Plan 9, it’s funny all the way through. The fact that it’s on TV and paired with the actual movie is actually for me it’s a big deal.
VARNEY: Being able to have this recording now and knowing that it’s being shown in this amazing context, I mean this is a very specific time in our history, and being able to see Gary Anthony Williams with his little earbuds in his house being a character, that’s not something that we really would have seen a couple years ago even. And so I think there’s something precious about having locked in this moment in time. This is how we all had to do it, and it was great. And it worked, and it’s still super-weird because you can fully tell that David Koechner is in his kitchen. There’s something folksy about that. I feel like Ed Wood would have been like, ‘Bravo. Do it whatever way you can.’
GOULD: I don’t know who it is, but I guarantee you at least one person is not wearing pants.
VARNEY: At least one person.
GOULD: Here’s the only silver lining that I have from the pandemic: Whenever you’re having an argument with your partner, your boyfriend, your girlfriend, husband, wife, and you’re sure you’re right … just remember how excited you were when you said Happy New Year, Dec. 31, 2019. … It’s just important to remember you don’t always have all the facts, and you can be wrong, flagrantly, flagrantly wrong.
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
SF Sketchfest Presents Plan 9 From Outer Space, adapted by Dana Gould, will air Friday, May 7 at 8 p.m. on TCM as part of the TCM Classic Film Festival. It’s followed at 9:30 p.m. by Ed Wood’s Plan 9 From Outer Space. Click here for more information.
