Iggy Pop in 2010.Jeffrey M. Boan/The Associated Press
No stranger to creating a sense of menace with his musical work, punk-rock icon Iggy Pop is lending his talent to horror director Dario Argento's latest project, The Sandman. While both men are considered legends in their respective fields, their latest endeavour has a thoroughly modern twist: An Indiegogo campaign was created to fund the film's development.
"Action begets action," Pop says of the project, which launched on Oct. 8 and will close on Dec. 2. "If people want to help, and it raises a significant amount of money, that will make it easier for the producers to go to others to ask them to contribute." As of Nov. 28, the campaign had surpassed its $165,000 goal; not surprising, considering that the perks for contributors included cameos in the film, as well as the opportunity to dine with Argento and Pop (several of these items are still up for grabs).
"I learned that you could buy lunch with [me]," Pop says wth a laugh, admitting he was not entirely familiar with the extent to which crowdfunding could go. "It raised an eyebrow at first, but then I thought, that's kind of cool."
The plot of The Sandman has roots in German folklore, in a story where the sinister Sandman stole the eyes of children who wouldn't sleep. For Argento's version, writer David Tully crafted a story about a serial killer (to be played by Pop) who claims the eyes of his victims as trophies. "I felt lucky," Pop says about being approached for the part.
After seeing a draft of the script and showing interest in being involved – "I seem to remember signing something in blood," he jokes – Pop was told Argento was going to helm the production. A long-time fan of the Italian director's eerie, deeply stylized films, Pop's reaction to the news was one that belies his own undeniable influence on culture. In a recorded video for the campaign's webpage, Pop noted that to "play the Sandman for [Argento] would make my life complete. I hope I have not just written my own epitaph."
This reverence for Argento's work is why Pop, who says that his own online interactions are limited to only a few hours a week, was keen to make himself available for the Indiegogo campaign. "I wouldn't have done it in a million years if it wasn't Mr. Argento," he says. Much of the campaign's existence hinges on the fact that Argento believes it's a way for him to create an unadulterated production. "It's really creepy when you have to deal with the suits," Pop says. In a recent lecture given on BBC's Radio 6, Pop – dubbed the "godfather of punk" – said that when he began his career with genre-defining group the Stooges, "we were organized as a group of Utopian communists," a notion which seems to resonate with his feelings about crowdfunding today. He's unsure of what direction the practice will eventually land, but says that "the borders are melting in all media and art mediums between audience, performer [and] consumer."
When asked about the certain vulnerability that comes along with a public, social enterprise like a crowdfunding campaign, Pop was candid. "The sort of person I've been all my life is, you ask me a question or give me a dare, and I go 'Yeah!' And then I wake up the next morning, and go, 'Shit!'" However, he doesn't seem to have even a tinge of regret about embarking on this novel experience.
"I'm more secure than I've ever been in my life. And I knew that there were people who I respected, like Spike Lee, who have done it." Lee raised $168,000 over his projected goal in a Kickstarter campaign for his film Da Sweet Blood of Jesus. "It's no goofier, or stranger, than some of the other ways movies are funded anyway," Pop notes.
As for his impending date with John Q. Public, film contributor? "If someone's interested enough to have lunch with me or the director, why not? I might learn something."