Waters and Roger Corman – because they can tell such good stories so well without being huge budget films. And I love working low-budget and working out how to get stuff done effectively for the least amount of money.
“It’s all about being creative when you don’t have the money to throw at it,” he considers with a laugh.
The film recently had screenings in Perth and Melbourne. “And they both went very well,” Josh reports. “People roared with laughter and squealed in all the right places. And they cheered at the goodies and hissed at the baddies because it’s a very interactive film.
FAGS IN THE FASTLANE FAGS IN THE FASTLANE By Robert Dunstan Fags In The Fastlane is a new feature movie from UK-born filmmaker Josh Collins of Zombie Zoo Productions which, following successful screenings interstate, will soon premiere in Adelaide. We chatted to Josh, who is now based in Melbourne, over the telephone about the film which is a camp and crazy rock’n’roll movie boasting a narration by Tex Perkins and featuring international stars such as King Khan, El Vez and Russ Meyer starlet Kitten Natividad alongside Adelaide’s Chris Asimos who plays the lead role of Sir Beauregard (AKA Beau). Josh, who studied film in London and has since released several films including Pervirella featuring UK television presenter and personality Emily Booth, designed, wrote, directed and produced Fags In The Fastlane which he says took a couple of years.
“It began about two and a half years ago when I was running a bar in Fitzroy [Melbourne} called the LuWOW,” he says. “That was coming to a close but we wanted to make a film there before that happened and because I’d made a couple of films back in the UK, I thought I’d do another one. “And the LuWOW is such a fabulous spot – a bit like a bar I set up in Perth called Devilles Pad [now Badlands Bar] – that it would have been a shame not to use it for a film,” he says of the Tiki-themed live music venue at which Adelaide swing band Lucky Seven have often played in the past.
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Interestingly, Josh says it was easier enticing international stars to be involved in the film rather than locals. “I had quite a lot of international people jump at the chance which I put down to my reputation and the film events I’ve put on over the years,” Josh says. “But, because it’s quite a risqué movie, it was much, much harder to get locals involved. “So people like King Khan, El Vez and Kitten Natividad wanted to be involved straight away but trying to get Australians involved was a different matter,” he laughs. “They were all a bit wary you might say.”
“And what pleased me was that there was a real mixture of ages at both screenings,” he says. “Y’know, every variety of person came along and they all seemed to greatly enjoy it.
A trailer on YouTube for Fags In The Fastlane indicates it will be a lot “Trying of fun.
to get Australians involved was a different matter. They were all a bit wary you might say.”
Josh did, however, entice Tex Perkins to be the narrator.
“That was down to Raoul Sanchez [of Magic Dirt and Midnight Wolf] who plays with Tex in The Ape,” Josh says. “Raoul did the whole score for the movie and did a brilliant job. I could just call him up and say, ‘I need this kind of music for this scene or that kind of music for that scene’, and two hours later he would send something back to me. Just brilliant. “Anyway, I saw that The Ape were playing – at the Crown & Anchor in Adelaide as it happens – and I asked Raoul to have a word in Tex’s ear about being in the movie.
“It’s all that’s on that trailer and so much, much more,” Josh indicates. “It’s just a lot of fun. It’s almost like a live event because people will come along and participate. And it’s very colourful. And there may be some entertainment in the foyer beforehand. It may well be Dean and Nicolina from Lady Voodoo.”
Josh, who hopes that film will eventually come out on DVD but says it will definitely be streamed online early next year, concludes by saying that following the Adelaide screening he will fly straight to New York for its American premiere. “That’s on the Friday straight after Adelaide,” he says, “and that’s on at the East Village Queer Festival and then there’ll be two screenings at film festivals in Spain. And then there will be screenings in London, Amsterdam and Switzerland.”
Fags In The Fastlane will enjoy its Adelaide premiere from 7.30pm on Wednesday 23 August at Mercury Cinema, 13 Morphett St, Adelaide, SA, with tickets via https://www. “And he was great,” Josh, who says Adelaide’s fagsinthefastlane.com/ Dick Dale of Trasharama was instrumental in helping to get the film an Adelaide screening, says. “And Tex is a fun guy to work with.” Josh’s interest in trashy films came about at an early age.
“My original love was theatre but I’d always loved trashy B-grade movies – stuff like John