Abel Ferrara is an eccentric director. Conan O’Brien once had Ferrara scheduled as a guest on his former Late Night show and the comedic host claimed that prior to his segment, Ferrara tried to skip out on the show and Conan’s people had to chase him down and convince him to stay. He complied, and the interview would be a funny but slightly awkward talk show moment. Ferrara certainly seems like someone in the business who does not indulge in the madcap fast lane of Hollywood life. However, the director has said to have experienced a lot of crazy things in his profession, which is what he intends to write about in his upcoming book.
Deadline recently sat down with Ferrara, and the director of Bad Lieutenant, Body Snatchers and King of New York said that his book isn’t going to be so much a memoir as it is a tell-all. His book would be called Scene and is due for release around the middle of next year, in Italy and the U.S. The amused director noted, “I can’t believe I actually got a book (deal).” He explains, “I’m trying to focus it more on the people that I’ve met and all the crazy sh*t in this business and around this business, than on myself. I got some crazy sh*t that’s happened to me for sure.”
Ferrara’s latest film that’s about to be released, Padre Pio, employs some controversial technology methods. As a seemingly traditional director, you’d think that Ferrara wouldn’t partake in certain advancements in filmmaking. However, his new film will feature nearly all of his cast speaking in Italian, except all the actors were originally speaking English and AI was used to switch the languages. Ferrara calls it “the perfect storm… the kids acted in English, they get to watch it in Venice, they get to see it with an audience, they get the movie, they understand what they have to do then they go into the studio and dub it in their own language so they bring a little extra.”
He notes, “It looks like I directed in Italian, it’s very cool.” Ferrara explains why he doesn’t shy away from this technology, “It’s progress… It’s like anything else, why are you gonna assume it’s going to be used to destroy you? What kind of paranoid attitude is that? It’s like the internet — if you use it in a positive way, it’s awesome. You’re gambling all night watching pornography, it’s a disaster.” He added, “I don’t know, maybe it’s the end of the world, but I ain’t that kind of guy, I gotta see it to believe it.”