Crispin Glover is FINE

Art work for Glover’s It is Fine! EVERYTHING IS FINE!

Crispin Glover is best-known for a) being weird b) Back to the Future c) being really weird d) The River’s Edge e) directing.

If you answered all of the above except e, you’re on track. Of course Mr. Glover would probably prefer you to answer e, because it seems like in the end, what he really wants to do is direct.

Glover built his career on playing odd social outcast types and in real life made it seem like he hadn’t been doing much acting for those roles (okay, might as well deal with this thing: sure, he was tossed off Letterman for aiming a karate kick at Dave’s head, yes, it was a strange moment. Now you could argue that this WAS Crispin Glover, what did the Letterman staff expect? But also don’t forget that Dave had to deal with a stalker for a long time and so is maybe understandably jumpy. So let’s just say it was unfortunate for both). He tended to give, um, interesting interviews, and owns a castle in the Czech Republic, which isn’t a typical Hollywood hangout.

Glover isn’t completely out of the mainstream; he provides the voice for Grendel in Beowulf, opening this week. However, he is also out talking about his latest directorial effort, It Is Fine! EVERYTHING IS FINE. The last movie he directed, the non-narrative, What is it? featured actors with Down’s Syndrome, performing in sexual situations. No, this movie didn’t play at your mall’s multiplex.

FINE is a narrative feature, so therefore a bit more accessible for most people, though also dealing with subject matter that will undoubtedly also be challenging for audiences; a Gothamist interview with Glover describes it this way:

“It’s the fantasy of a man improperly institutionalized with cerebral palsy who first dreams that his heart is broken by unrequited love, then dreams that he goes on a noir sex-fueled killing spree, made all the more striking by the fact that he is almost entirely physically immobile.”

The movie stars and was written by Steven C. Stewart, who based the screenplay on his own life and experiences as a man with cerebral palsy who is locked up in a nursing home. Stewart died soon after filming ended. More details about this in the Gothamist interview with Glover.

For you Gotham types: It Is Fine! EVERYTHING IS FINE! will play for a week at the IFC Center, beginning on November 21. Glover will be on hand for a Q&A after each screening.