(Cover of Something You Should Know--The Duran Duran Fan Documentary)
M Douglas Silverstein is a producer, director, and recently released the Duran Duran Fan Documentary, Something You Should Know. He has interviewed hundreds of artists, many very famous, and has found joy and bliss in doing what he does best...film. Kirk from DDTTRH had the pleasure and honor to interview M (as he is also called) in a phone call between Cleveland and Los Angeles.
'Something You Should Know' about M, that Kirk learned in this interview, is that M is not just a talented film artist but is also guided as a a person by passion, a love for people, by ethics and moral principle. I hope you will enjoy this interview with M as much as I did. DDTTRH proudly presents...the 'Something You Should Know' about M interview....
It was Saturday morning...that the call came in from Los Angeles to Kirk (K) in Cleveland...
K: Hello? Is this M?
M: Yes it is, how are you?
K: Good...good...you having your coffee?
M: I'm trying.
K: Thank you for interviewing with us. I feel so honored. I watched your documentary and I just love it.
The First question is…did you make it out to a concert this year and what did you think of their new material?
M: I did not get to a concert this year, it was really sort of funny my schedule. Every time I thought I would be going to a certain location for example LA, for example New York among others…it just…with my production schedule, it was always a day before or a day after that I would be able to do it. And its not to say that I wouldn’t love to see them again. I’ve seen them probably 60-80 times or something based on all the travelling around the world for so many years with them. Now…what do I think of the new material? I think its pretty damn good.
K: Yeah—Mark Ronson’s great…
M: Yeah but I just I think a lot of people they look back retrospectively and sort of slam other stuff like of the more recent albums…I thought there were great tracks on Astronaut and I thought there were great tracks on Red Carpet Massacre….now it doesn’t mean that the public as a whole really embraced them and that’s why people have had negative feedback within the fan community.
I think it was valuable stuff…I think they still have a tremendous amount of energy, creativity and desire to consistently aspire to relevancy. I know that that’s individually really important to the members…that they don’t want to just be a play the hits band and maybe that’s what they’ll wind up doing when they feel satiated with it, but you know…you’ve got to give them a lot of credit. They’re still doing it they’re still going for it. I think they deserve a lot of credit not just from Duran Duran fans but from the music community in itself.
K: Right! They take great care…
M: They’re fighting for it….you know what I mean? They’re really fighting for it…to put their stamp in music history. I think it proves how much they love doing this. I’m sure their bank accounts are fluffy enough where they don’t need to go through the rigors of the road but its clear that they love it…they should be lauded for that.
K: Right….right…what I appreciate about them is that they take their time and do something really meaningful. This album has been a long time coming and just the fact that they took the time to do it right..to me they put it off a couple of times and they told their fans this but I think the end product is just fantastic.
Did you see the ‘Girl Panic’ video…did you like it?
M: I think its fantastic. I think its really well done. I think its interesting. I feel honestly that John is a little underserved visually. I feel like he’s like always the reporter or the limo driver but Simon, Nick, and Roger have charming cameos…as the hotel staff and so forth and you know John is more serious than people realize. And maybe that what they were more comfortable with when they were discussing it with Jonas the director but I mean its really cool…I’m curious if they’re going to do a short version for commercial applications as opposed to the extended version, but they have all the tools to make a phenomenal short form video of it as well.
K: Right…right…I’ve been thinking that too…that a short version would be really good. I probably told you this, I sent you a link about it…here at DDTTRH we are changing our direction and mission and we’re going to be less focused on just ‘getting Duran Duran to the Rock Hall’...we want to show the world that they’ve made music history…I mean you…you’ve listened to the band for a long time. How do you feel Duran Duran has made music history and are legendary?
M: I think that its absolutely clear that almost no other band was as instantly recognizable for their videos, their fashion, their flair and their looks. At some level there are people who keep them in that 80’s box. Or they dismiss them in the 80s as being too good looking and didn’t concentrate on the music. But when I listened to the first three albums in particular I think that stuff is still incredibly interesting…relevant…its so clear how much they’ve…I think almost in the way that they’ve influenced so many other artists and bands…they were early sponges to what was happening around them and their scene. They have created such…I mean god…so many bands whether they even realize it or not owe them a sliver of their career to the inspiration of Duran Duran. I mean you could say in Something You Should Know alone, in the documentary, you got people like Moby and Barenaked ladies talking about how they were sitting out in the snow and in the rain begging to get in…couldn’t get in…Moby bragged his way (I think he said he used the term ‘bragged’ his way in)…he actually forced his way in to getting a ticket. And so these are people who…Johnathon Davis of Korn, just like them…these are people who grew up to have very substantial music careers…chart toppers and trend setters in their own respective genres and they were HUGE fans of the band. And not just like ‘Yeah, they were good’…’ I like that Rio song’ or ‘I like the Hungry like the Wolf’ they were substantial fans who made investment like what we remember being so turned on to them as young music fans. And they still dig them so they’re just like you and I and all the people covered in the film.
K: Certainly the effect they’ve had on fans is big! I can’t believe how many fans just come in to our site from all over the world and I don’t know if you’ve read through the petition, but its pretty amazing what fans say about them.
M: Yeah I mean I know that while we document 800 fans being interviewed in the film…that’s how many we have signed clearances from….meaning that they give us a permission legally to put them on film (that they should make the cut)…but we posted many many more and there are still people just finding out about the film from…I forget the last count…but I think it was 84 or 87 countries…unique countries who said ‘Oh my god I just found out about this…is there any way I can be in it…is there going to be a second one…oh my god please…’
K: Actually that was one of my questions…because we’re actually excited to promote this documentary to our fans. I was really excited that Andy…I saw Andy (I’ve been talking to him) and also Salvo from Duranasty…we’ve interviewed them and they’re very strong supporters of us.
Do you plan on expanding this documentary? I was thinking you could make it something like ‘Something You Should Know Too’…like its ‘T-O-O’…some play like that.
M:
K:
M: I don’t have any current plans to do that. I would be interested to hear what fans would want from the next one. There are some subject matters…that ah man it was so difficult to make the cut… with over 250 hours spanning…of filming over 5 years and a couple years of post…it was really really difficult. There are things that I wanted to make it that couldn’t make it. There are fans I wanted to make it that couldn’t make it. It was arduous…it was emotionally devastating and painful to make the cuts in order to make it…you know, because my first earliest cut was 5 hours or so.
K: Oh really? Wow!
M: And no one can watch a 5 hour documentary. And I think that as long and as perfect as it is now…there are…because of timing there are some additions that we had clearance to interview…there were some super models we had cleared to interview that we didn’t have worked out…
K: Ah, that’s too bad….
M: So there are things like that I’d like to put into another one. I guess if I would do another one I would definitely like to follow up on how the band feels everything has gone since the reunion but I’d like it to be a more intimate ‘at their homes’ look as opposed to during their big promo period. I actually would like to film the band during a down period when they’re not promoting so it would be more intimate and I would like to catch up with the fans…I would like to do some sort of Duranie convention…these are things I’d like to cover in the second movie that…I went to great fan parties and that’s cool…I mean maybe there’s life at 40 if you know what I mean…Life begins at 40 as they say. So maybe we’ll do it like the 7up series so every seven years I create another 7 year project (laughs)…
K: Yeah…why not? You know I think there’s a convention coming up in the UK…someone was talking about it…
M: Yeah, I saw that…I know that there was some in the 80’s and early 90’s that had several hundred people and I think that these are limited to under 100 and it would be really amazing if there was a way to get…maybe do it on three continents…do one in the US with the band involved, one in the UK with the band involved, maybe one in Australia because I think they have a big fan base, Italy, Brazil, as far as big fan bases that respond to me a lot…
K: Right..Italy definitely…
M: Yeah! Salvo, so cool…
K: I know…he is…good guy…
M: (laughs) I hope I answered that…
K: You answered that perfectly!
Something you said in the Gimme a Wristband interview that I really liked that you said…and it says…and you’re speaking about the film, and I quote this…
“What some people would call an obsession or a wild fascination, or whatever, could be for anything — it could be for a church group, a sports team, or a family reunion. The film to me is all about people who are willing to do whatever it takes to be a part of something that is special and meaningful to them. They don’t care what people think or do around them because this innately brings them joy, happiness, meaning and purpose in their life.”
Would you call this a trademark of your work to try and discover people’s emotions, how they think and act…why is this meaningful to you?
M: What do you mean, in what context?
K: I mean for example have you done any other work in film where you’ve explored this kind of…people emotions…how they think and act…why is that meaningful to you…to explore that…as an artist…as a film artist?
M: You know…I can’t point to anything specifically, but in my work with 600 artists ranging from Madonna, Green Day, Taylor Swift, Jay-Z, Beyonce, Rihanna…I always try to…in fact…I think the reason I’ve been so successful or fortunate is because I always do more research…I think than anybody…I’m kind of famous for…with people who work with me who think I’m crazy…they think its crazy how much effort I put into it.
I’m really passionate about people in general and passionate to find out things that are different, unique to them…like when I worked with Rihanna I knew she grew up in Barbados. So I asked her things, you know, just as a starting off point…‘If I were in Barbados with you and we could go to your favorite place to eat…where would we go…what would we eat…who would pay the bill…and what would we do after that?’.
(Rihanna with M>)
K:
M: Oh gosh—I don’t remember at all now…
K: That’s fine…that’s fine…
M: But she certainly got a kick out of it…and I often have artists say ‘How do you know that about me?’ And its not because I’m…I think I’m sort of going around what you’re asking…let me try to be more direct which is…I’m really really…I love people…and I love…I’m a very passionate and creative person…and I admire people who are individually or collectively passionate and creative and I just think its really inspiring to watch people take any lengths that they’re willing to do to be happy. I think in the end this comes down to being happy and finding eternal bliss, and yeah…I hope that answers it…I mean I just love people.
K: No…that perfect…that’s great…
M: It is also a mark or a trademark (to use…to coin your term) of what I will and want to be doing in my future projects about in anything which is to find the essential heart and soul. There were many opportunities to have huge commercial and film festival success at the risk of…with this project I mean..huge success that I was guaranteed…that I turned down because it wasn’t who I was to make a film…to change my own personal ethos…I was not willing to change the core of my mission and to turn the characters on themselves or have any exposition that would make them look you know cuckoo or something…because its not who I am…I’m not an asshole and I don’t think its fair…and I wanted to…as I do in life…in my art…I want to be about integrity…always being honest and I want to be sort of a pure heart, even if that’s a little whatever…a little esoteric to say…you know I’m just a sweet guy and I’m not going to make asshole films…it would be counterintuitive to my entire being to be ‘quote on quote’ ‘that guy’…its just not me.
K: Yeah…I read in the Gimme a Wristband interview how you left out some things because they explored sort of that negative side of fans…and I just want to say kudos to you for doing that…for standing up to the industry in a way I suppose…because you know the industry likes dirt and that’s great…
M: You have no idea. I was in the Sundance Film Festival and they were like this is too not enough lets see some other footage, what else do you have…and I explained the types of things that I had and they were like ‘Yes’...I knew though that once it was out there, it was out there and I would have compromised my integrity…and I would have been ‘quote-on-quote’ ‘that guy’ and in my life an asshole…I just like….you know what man…I sleep great at night…
K: Yeah…its not worth it…
M: I mean that’s…I’m supremely proud of that…
K: Good for you…good for you…
You were mentioning that…and I did read this too…that you’ve interviewed 100’s of artists and legends in politics and music and you’ve probably been asked this before, but who has been your favorite person to interview and why?
(M with Willie Nelson)
M: Hmmm…good questions
K: And I’m going to ask about Paul McCartney next…I’m really interested in that…
M: I guess there’s a couple of moments where like..oh my god…where I can’t believe I’m like here…and one of them is…when I worked with Madonna within 3 minutes of her accepting her…she got on stage to accept the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame award…she walked off the stage and onto my set to interview for me to interview her with Justin Timberlake and Timbaland…so like to be with Madonna at that seminole moment in her career was kind of fuckin neat..I was like..’oh shit…like who gets to do this..thats cool’. That was pretty amazing…
I’ve had the good fortune to work with or meet all of the Beatles (except for John Lennon)…and you know some of them were like quick handshake things or whatever and that was just one of those things that you don’t really tell a lot of people…there’s no reason to bring it up…and also to me its so deeply personal…like the time when I shook Paul McCartney’s hand and I was like ‘Oh my god’…
And I have a very intimate story (about BB King) that I don’t really like to tell people, but he’s embraced me in a very loving way held me in his chest and told me I was a good person and doing things right..and I just…you know…and I have a tie tack of theirs that he gave me…there’s just some moments that you can’t even explain them…you know…"
K: Were you able to interview Paul or was it just a meeting?
M: I worked for him.
K: Oh—you worked for him.
M: I did…I was in-between school…I had gone to music school in the early 90’s and had injured myself on a play and like five bands at once I injured myself so…I literally needed something to do…and a buddy of mine called and said..’hey dude, I’m working on the Paul McCartney tour…you want to come?’…and I’m like ‘uh huh’
K:
M: It was just…it wasn’t hard to say yes…and you know..I’ll tell you a really neat story…and just a fact about Paul that not everyone knows that I just think is super classy and really neat…Paul McCartney is incredibly aware of the effect he has on other people…so literally he can spot it like 10seconds before anyone else…he can see someone walking up towards him and they go
K:
M: ‘Its Paul McCartney!’ right? Like they can’t even speak…’oh…oh…oh…P-P-Paul’ or they scream..but because he’s like a mellow gentleman and he just doesn’t want to deal and that’s like when ‘from when you’re 20’ so before anyone can freak out…like before their internal software registers ‘Holy shit that’s Paul McCartney’ he says
K:
M: …That just freaked me out that Paul McCartney said hello to me’…you know what I mean…they don’t know what to do…it gives him that few seconds to be the good guy and walk away and not have to sign an autograph cause that really not what he wants to do. He’s trying to have a normal life…and its so fuckin funny…I have seen him do that so many times…and I’ve heard other people I know say the same thing (who hang outside with me or whatever you know)
K:
M: And I was like…when I worked with Paul I was the low guy on the totem pole…I I worked on the tour as a roadie…as a tech…so…anything else?
K: Yeah…I’ve probably got probably two more questions, is that ok?
M: Sure!
K: How have you been adapting your art to the new media spaces out there? I mean we have Twitter and Youtube and the ‘digital revolution’ with the internet…
M: I don’t know…I think I’m like many people…I think I’m adapting to it…and I don’t know…like I’m not like someone who…because…there are a lot of people who are new media ‘content generators’ who aren’t ‘quote’on-quote’ professional, and they’re trying to create buzz for advertising, but I get paid for my work so I don’t need to focus going out to shoot and generate ad sales…also for me I know a couple of friends who do it…there’s not enough money to be made in my opinion…even with many millions of hits…so its not the kind of money that would be interesting for me to do. Now…I do have a social media adviser who sits me down and asks what kind of contests do you want to run, what kind of fun facts…Duranie polls…all the Duranie polls come from me…
K: I saw those…I saw those…those are great…
M: I think it’s a good way to have a conversation with people and…again…how…let me again see if I answered you on…how does the new media…how is the new media affecting my own art work…mostly its just that my clients need me and I’m aware that I have to shoot in certain…and I’m technically aware of the types of framing, angles, even down to the types of films, lenses that will be better for something that could be broadcast on a a film, a filmscreen, to a TV screen, to a mobile screen…so its complex…it can be very complex…you have to put a little thought into it…and sometimes because there are shrinking budgets out there and people want to spend less…you know…and if you think about it from their angle…if I could pay one guy to createe cool content and cut it up into different stand-alone segments and put it across our platform you know like from our mobile division to our cable division to onsite promotions…why wouldn’t they? I don’t blame them…I don’t blame them because they’ve got…an executive has to be responsible for their budgets in the end and in the long run.
K: Ok—one last one and that’s the fun question of the whole interview and I’ll let you choose which one you want to do...here we go…one is I read you were trying to adapt a book to movie form…and the other is about your part in a Law and order episode…which one would you rather talk about?
M: What book I’m adapting?
K: Yeah! I mean you don’t need to tell me ‘what book’…just like
M: I can tell you…I can give you a little brief about my background in voiceover and TV film stuff. So I have been on Law and Order, I’ve been on Law and Order Special Victims Unit, and I’ve been on Saturday Night Live…
K: Yes, I’ve read about Saturday Night Live too…
M: I’ve done really big voice-overs for national and global campaigns for Canon video cameras, Toyota, Kelloggs Raisin Bran, a bunch of other stuff…I have a funny story to talk about that I…so…
K: Oh! I want to hear the funny story!
M: I don’t think it will translate into the written word so much but I tell you when I was doing this Kellogs Raisin Bran it was…I had to say this line and I got it within like 4 or 5 minutes and it was
K:
M: Right? And what I didn’t know going into it is was there was a producer who was a real asshole to me and he kept saying ‘oh no no’…he was british…and he was saying ’you’re saying da-licious…you’re not saying de-licious…you’re saying da-licious’ and like I kept doing it like over and over ‘MMMM…two scoops strong, all morning long…its de-licious’, Right? And what I didn’t know, and I was like in there an hour, an hour and a half is that he was the producer of the spot…he created a test spot with his voice and they said ‘We love it! But we don’t want a British accent’ so he couldn’t fill in the spot and he tried to be an American and they kept saying ‘You sound like a british guy trying to be an american’ so they asked me to be exactly like him…like the same kind of deep voice, whatever voice I have…and gravelly and like he hated me…
K: Because you were American
M: Oh no, not just that…he knew it was $100,000 or more for a big fucking campaign…
K: Yeah, Kelloggs, they’re big…
M: And you make a lot of money doing those kinds of spots…and he just put me through
K:
M: On law and order special victims unit…
K: Yeah—you were a judge or court clerk…
M: That was on Law and Order…but on Law and Order Special Victims unit I was a
K: Which is my favorite by the way of all of them…I love Law and Order special victims unit
M: Oh yeah? I was a head of the jury and like the whole angle was that I was the young guy and and I had all these great scenes and it was like my first real meaty role…boy…I called all my friends…and I had like you know…I had a star trailer…I got treated like a king…I’m a starring role on Special Victims unit…and I’m like ‘Holy Shit this is awesome!’…and everybody I knew, my family, my parents they’re a little older but they stayed up late to watch it and again…cut to watching it and all you see is like an exterior shot of the jury deliberation room and like me sticking my head out of the jury and like giving a ‘hmmm’ look…they cut the entire scene…
K: Are you kidding me?
M: It happens all the time…and someone would be like…I just saw you on the show and I saw you for a half second and I would be like ‘Fuck…fuck’
K:
M: And not long after I was on Saturday night live and what happens with Saturday night live is that they shoot a pre-show…they shoot two shows back to back, one that’s like the rehearsal show and they determine whats going to make it to air and what isn’t. And then they shoot the live show…and for time…they’ll cut in…if theres a scene that does really well in the warm-up show…the first showing…then they just cut it in, or they’ll use it for the west coast feed, they’ll cut it in afterwards as well. So what happens…I had like a tiny one line…it was a scene on a Halloween special with Will Farrell and Drew Barrymore…
K: Oh..I love Drew Barrymore…
M: Yeah—shes a Duranie…
K: I’ve been trying to reach her but she won’t contact us, so…I know she’s really busy, but…
M: I don’t know her, otherwise I’d hook you up.
K: Can you hook us up? That would be awesome.
M: I don’t know her, I don’t know her.
K: Oh you don’t know her, oh darn…
M: No, but if I did I would. So yeah…it was the same kind of thing…which is…it made it to the rehearsel which they filmed and then it never made it to air and so I called all these people…and after that I just stopped calling people so when the Law and order came on that was just basically a couple of lines ..’oh the defendant…bla bla bla…de de da de de da…and the court case….bla bla bla…your honor’, you know it wasn’t really a big role but I’m still getting paid for it.
K: You’re getting paid for it, that’s what matters, huh? I mean when you’re doing something you love.
M: Not as much as you think. I’ve been very fortunate to do whatever I wanted…whatever I’ve wanted to do creatively and make a living doing it. And when I see other people and they ask me ‘How the fuck do you do it?’ And I have friends who…one of my best friends is fireman, another friends works in finance…and those are like real jobs…and I just tell them ‘I do it’…and that what I tell everyone else…’If you want to have a career…a creative career…work your ass off be honest about your talent and what you’re good at, what you’re not and just keep doing it. Keep doing it.
K: Yeah.
M: And do it because you love it, don’t do it because you expect to make money. I’ve been very very lucky and there are a lot of really talented people who can’t pay their bills doing what they love doing…and that’s really unfortunate, but that’s just sort of the odds game.
K: Please tell us a little about Extrovert and I understand you have locations in New York City, Los Angeles, and Nashville, and we’d like to know what type of projects you typically work on…
M: Extrovert is my company and its really the production wing of what I do and sometime…so I have crews people that work for me on a regular basis, and sometimes on a semi-regular basis, and sometimes on a once in a while basis…but I have people that I know and trust…very good shooters and producers, sound people, writing people…in many cities including, as you mentioned, New York, LA, Nashville, London, Miami…I don’t keep fully staffed offices…that’s only New York and LA and we’re not a huge company, we’re you know…we keep the lights on
K: Yeah…we’re not huge either
M: …and we do everything from 15 camera HD concerts for television or film, documentaries to commercials to behind the scenes to…and its stuff from our earlier conversation, it’s a wide range of content, mostly in the Rock and Roll pop star world that gets distributed to…we also do a lot of stuff with really big brands, and again projects in and around the music space…we have Samsung, LG, Blackberry, Verizon, Google…so you’ve heard of some of those references
K: Right…of course…who hasn’t?
M: I don’t know? So Extrovert is really an extension of me and its named that not because I’m shy
K: Right, right Extrovert…it’s a great name!
M: Thanks, I appreciate it.
K: I like the big ‘M’ that’s next to your name on the front page…that’s very cool.
M: Yes, I’m very shy.
K: Well thanks so much for interviewing with us (and having your morning coffee with us) and I definitely look forward to promoting Something You Should Know on our site and we wish you luck and happiness on your future endeavors!
