3 Guys & a couple of Florida filmmakers: An interview with the makers of Slimed

[Editor's Note: The 3 Guys have a full review of Slimed available, including an exciting drink recipe. Check it out.]

It’s not easy being an independent filmmaker, especially with the economy in the dumps and the state of Florida not willing to cooperate. That’s why when the 3 guys watched Slimed for our Holy Fail column, we was amazed to see that two local filmmakers had actually bucked the trend and made something on a small budget that was not only watchable, but entertaining as well.

After the movie, we decided we had to talk to these guys and find out where the inspiration, the ability and maybe the drugs came from. Here is our interview with Jeff Nitzberg and Eric Manche, creators of the film Slimed.

3 Guys: We're calling to order pizza.

Jeff Nitzberg: Well, [Dominos] redesigned the pizza to not taste like ass, and the sauce tastes like children, with some Basil.

3 Guys: What about Clean-O?

Jeff: Oh, yeah, we can add that!

3 Guys: We loved your movie Slimed.

Jeff & Eric: Thanks, that's awesome.

3 Guys: The first question is what kind of drugs were you on while coming up with the concept of this movie (in a good way, of course)?

Eric: Imagine the worst, and then double!

3 Guys: Everyone wanted to be Pee Pee's evil twin brother in Slimed 2: Secret of the Ooze.

Eric: Nice! I loved that Turtles movie. Actually, we were talking about doing a second one based on Sally's story.

3 Guys: Everyone also wanted to know if the mouse being a super villain in Florida had anything to do with anything else (cough, Mickey), or where you got the idea?

Eric: Well, we wanted to do Mickey Mouse, but we knew we would get into copyright trouble, and he kinda looks like Mickey Mouse.

Jeff: Originally it was going to be Eric's father, with the mustache, but Eric thought it would be stupid, so he said, lets make it a mouse. I said "What the Fuck"? And he was right, it was a way better idea.

3 Guys: Did you film everything in Florida?

Eric: Except for the special effects, which were done in Austin, everything was in Clearwater and Dunedin.

3 Guys: What was it like trying to make a film on a ridiculously low budget?

Eric: The hardest thing is getting the time. We were fortunate it was my senior year, and Jeff just graduated and took some time off.

Jeff: Probably more often than not, the $5 budget showed up on screen, but we kinda reveled in it.

3 Guys: My favorite part was the Ranger collecting the animals.

Jeff & Eric: (Laughs) They were alive!

3 Guys: They looked so life-like!

Eric: The butterflies were the most expensive part, they were like $2,000.

3 Guys: Was Slimed your first movie?

Eric: It was the first feature film.

3 Guys: Did you go to school to become a filmmaker?

Eric: Well, we made movies together on and off for awhile. There was no question in our minds that we wanted to make films.

Jeff: We unleashed our weirdness at animation camp. We were doing paper cutouts way before South Park!

3 Guys: Do you have any advice for potential filmmakers?

Eric: Just do it! Make time on the weekends, whatever. Look at Peter Jackson, his first film took five years because he just filmed on the weekends.

3 Guys: So you guys went to BUFF (The Boston Underground Film Festival), right? What was that like?

Jeff: It was great. There were lots of filmmakers. Our film was one of the tamer movies.

Eric: There seemed to be a lot of violent horror movies with torture there, and there was one with an evil cat that may have trumped ours.

3 Guys: No killing kids?

Eric: No, and there wasn't really anyone that was offended by our movie.

Jeff: Maybe they haven't been honest with us.

3 Guys: Can people get the movie on DVD?

Eric: Go to Slimedthemovie.com, and it's only $10, and it has over an hour of bonus features and outtakes, and you can see what the crappy production was.

3 Guys: Where did you get the equipment?

Jeff: We borrowed from the Rhode Island School of Design, or purchased by the benevolence of our parents. The composer was the most expensive part.

Eric: We found him at Wal-Mart! He worked on it for a year and a half, and it was more than our entire budget.

3 Guys: So, what is next for you guys?

Eric: We're both doing some independent projects. I'm working on one called Landshark, or maybe Air Shark. It's a shark that flies, and it's like 800 feet long.

3 Guys: You've got to keep us posted on that one!

Eric: If I do that one, we'll be back in Florida to film at the beaches.

Jeff: I'm working on one, and one is a domestic Relationship drama. Have you seen They Live? It's gonna be a 90 minute extension of the ending.

3 Guys: I can't wait!

Jeff & Eric: Well, we are really excited to get this movie out there.

3 Guys: It's on IMDB and everything!

Jeff: Yeah, the submission process is terrible. It has to meet their criteria, it has to be released in a theater, or public interest, or someone famous in it, and they took it down the day before BUFF, and you have to fill out everything, and it was a long, long process. I think there needs to be porn in it, or something.

3 Guys: Well, congratulations on Slimed, and good luck with it, and thank you for your time!

Jeff & Eric: Thank you!

This article appears in Apr 28 – May 4, 2010.