Step right up, all you followers of superstellar cinema! The next Billy Inaction cast member to be interviewed is none other than The Ringmaster himself–director, editor, actor, and writer, Jimmy Humphrey! Jimmy is, quite literally, the ringmaster in his very own circus of a movie! Billy Inaction opens September 30th, but Jimmy is here now to reveal his candid (and not so candid) thoughts on directing, acting, making movies, and life in general. Enjoy! 

1. How did you get into directing?

I would imagine most people who make movies will probably have a similar answer to that question, especially the ones who are near my age. I grew up in the 80s, the VCR generation, so of course my parents had to buy a VHS camcorder. That’s usually how it starts, right? Those cameras were beasts but they weaved a bit of a siren’s song to us kids who grew up on Lucas and Spielberg. We were all burning to make our own little epics. And that’s basically where I started making my little movies. My VHS epics.

It wasn’t until years later that I would start doing pretty much the same thing but on a public access level via I eat poop (which I’ve been doing for almost 15 years in the Louisville area) I would film my friends blowing up ceramic rabbits or doing little skits and then I’d edit it together and throw it on TV. So really my background is in editing. But naturally having to be the one with all the answers most of the time, like who has to wear the gorilla suit or which house do we steal the flamingo from, I guess that sort of prepared me for taking on the actual role of “director” down the road. And that’s where we are now.

2. Who are some of your influences or role models?

First and foremost, the great animation directors of the 30s, 40s, and 50s. From Chuck Jones to Tex Avery to Bob Clampett. Those Warners cartoons had so much energy. The gags, the pun, the double takes, the eye blinks, the way the characters were posed. Everything but the kitchen sink were in those cartoons. That’s the kind of movies I make. They are truly kitchen sink films.

I like it when you can just look at a movie and instantly tell who made it. The director’s interests and fetishes are constantly on display. Some people criticize that type of thing, but if you can’t/don’t want to put your own personal stamp on a movie…. frankly there’s no reason for you to be making it.

Most of my films are mash-ups in some form of another.” Billy Inaction” is very much a combination of action movie and a Porky’s style 80’s sex comedy. “Happy Time Fun Show” was a mixture of a children’s movie and a 60/70s cheesecake film. I like different ends of the spectrum.

3. What was your experience like on Billy Inaction?

I think the companion piece that we made about the making of the movie, which is called Painwheel, will give you a pretty good idea of what it was like making Billy Inaction. It was a nightmare, but not exactly in the ways you would expect. I’ve always had a knack for finding wonderful people/actors/friends who for some inexplicable reason are totally game in playing along with me in doing these silly films and making these things work. So the actual making of the movie is not the hard part, it’s everything else. During the time we’ve been making this I’ve moved, I’ve went through 3 or 4 jobs, all the while trying to juggle friends and a very, very patient girlfriend. Making the movie was a breeze really. Living life at the same time…that’s another story altogether. I was made to make movies. I was not made to wait in line at Walgreens or be somewhere at exactly 7pm. Those things are TRULY challenging to me.

4. You also had an acting part in Billy Inaction. Tell us about your character.

Well I play a few characters. Most of us do in BIA. I’ve always felt like ieatpoop films has a Monty Python feel to them, so we can get away with playing multiple characters. It’s a comedy so that’s totally appropriate. Whenever I finish a movie, I always say that it’s the last time I’m acting in them. It’s just too hard to do everything else and memorize dialogue as well (even though I wrote it). That being said, there are some parts that I know there’s no way anyone I know could play (or that I could talk them into playing), so I have to step in. Thankfully, they usually end up being the fun ones to do.

My main character in BIA is The Ringmaster. A villainous, crippled, comical antagonist who, along with his circus sidekicks, kind of steal the second act of the movie away from our hero, almost literally. He’s a character I’ve had in numerous scripts that never got produced, and I’m glad I could finally find a place for him. Hopefully, he’ll appear again in my oeuvre down the road.

And yes, this is my last time I’m acting in one of my projects. 😀

5. What were your greatest challenges making Billy Inaction?

Well aside from just finding the time to make the movie and balancing out all the other aspects of being a guy in his 30s, I really wanted BIA to be a push forward for me in the technical sense. It is a much better looking movie than the previous things I’ve worked on, and that’s by design. You have to have a more polished look of the film itself to offset the less polished look of the main character. Again, different ends of the spectrum.

There are a lot of things going on in the film. We explore different genres. It’s in color. It’s in black and white. There’s silly explosions and car chases. Most people who do little movies in their backyard like this don’t do these types of things. They wouldn’t even attempt it. It’s usually small stories about people or some sort of zombie thing. I tend to think in big terms even in this very limited form, which is the no budget film.

This is my little epic. (Until the next one.)

6. What do you find most rewarding about being a director?

We’re about to premiere the movie and prep the DVD for next month. So…..yeah. I might find something rewarding in that. Might.

That sounds a bit glib of me to say, but directing/making movies is far from instant gratification. It’s constant compromise, and there’s always stuff you wish could’ve been better or closer to what you had in mind. But in the end, the movie’s funny…..

Laughter is just about the most rewarding thing I could ask for at this point.

7. Tell us about the Gunther Toody Show that we see at the end of the Billy Inaction trailer.

Well that’s a little mockumentary style piece we did as sort of a companion piece to BIA called “Painwheel”. We’ve gathered up some of our past characters and let them make their own movie based on the events of Billy Inaction. It’s really sort of a love letter and parody of what it’s like to make a movie when you have absolutely no real skills to do so, which is what independent films is all about. I love making fun of myself. If you can’t laugh at yourself you could be missing the joke of the century, so that’s what this is. A lot of the hurdles those characters have to overcome to get the movie done are based on things we had to do for BIA, so it’s very true to life, almost meta. By the end of the whole thing I’m not sure where reality begins or ends. It’s a lot of fun and a new part premieres every Tuesday in September on our youtube channel.

8. What else is on your resume?

I started doing the public access show in 1998, so we’ve racked up quite a few episodes over the years. I think at this point maybe 25% of those are on youtube, so my goal is to eventually get all of those online. Other than the two movies I directed, I’ve helped produced numerous other public access productions, local films and online web shorts like Superhero, The Shawn and Josh Show, Welcome Back, Sparkles n Spurs, Primate, and Sisyphus and The Rose.

9. What else is in the future for you? Are there any big plans or any special movies in the works?

My first foray into the horror genre for one. I’ve had something in mind for many years, and I think the time has come to tackle it. It’s kind of a rape revenge film but with some clever twists. I’m putting together a short film version of it that we’ll probably put online and do the festival thing to try and drum up some interest and hopefully get a feature made out of it.

Other than that we might do some quickie shorts featuring some of the supporting BIA characters if that goes over well, and a few other fun things that have been on the back burner. But first, it’s finishing and promoting the Billy Inaction DVD once it’s released. Hopefully in October. Just in time for a stocking stuffer.*

*I’ll probably use that joke too in the advertising.

10. Is there anything else you’d like to add?

I just hope I don’t come off as too much of an ___hole in this.

Check out Jimmy Humphrey’s Youtube channel, by clicking here!

For the latest list of Billy Inaction cast interviews on SJR, click here!

Watch all the episodes of the Shawn and Josh Show at www.funnyordie.com!

AND NOW FOR THE FINAL BILLY INACTION TRAILER! 😀

Also check out Gunther Toody’s Happy Time Fun Show, coming soon to DVD!

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