Appearing on screen straight from the legendary Troma Entertainment headquarters in Long Island, New York, veteran producer and filmmaker Lloyd Kaufman has both hands occupied, one gripping a compact vape pen and the other holding a giant can of sugar-free energy drink. It’s a pretty standard sight for a busy producer, but it’s all the more impressive when you consider that Kaufman is 80 years old and spends his lunch breaks answering calls from various time zones and fielding young assistants who pop in and out of his busy office with questions about several parallel productions.
Kaufman co-founded the iconic Troma Entertainment with Michael Hertz in 1974, and today the duo still helms the longest-running independent film studio in history. Late last week, the producer was praised for his daughter’s work as she flew to London to accept the Raindance Icon Award on behalf of her father, who is too busy to travel. Upon receiving the Raindance Award, a humorous Kaufman reflected on his career with Variety magazine and joked, “Roger Corman is dead, Tobe Hooper is dead. Who else can I give the award to? I’m the last one left!”
Troma Entertainment specializes in low-budget independent films, with an emphasis on horror and comedy, emulating classic 1950s horror films with gore, farce, parody, and provocation. The company is best known for 1984’s “The Toxic Avenger,” and has been responsible for discovering major talent over the past half-century, including James Gunn, Oliver Stone, Billy Bob Thornton, Samuel L. Jackson and Kevin Costner.
“Troma is a fan-driven company,” Kaufman said. “Aside from Michael Hertz running the company, the only reason we’re still in business is because our fans from the beginning have always been very young and adapted quickly.”
“Tolomeo and Juliet” Provided by: Troma Entertainment
The head of the studio recalls how David Schulz, now Vitagraph’s CEO, encouraged Troma to produce DVDs “at a time when machines were not yet common in homes.” “We were always at the forefront. We had a good couple of years. We got into videocassettes before anyone else, at least in terms of the kind of movies we were making. ‘The Toxic Avenger’ was a seminal movie at the time.”
“About 20 years ago, one of my daughters told me that streaming was a pretty interesting area to travel to,” he continues. “We talked about it and launched Troma Now. It’s still very small, but it’s slowly growing and people aren’t leaving the platform. It’s something that happens once every 53 years, so it’s somewhat predictable six months down the line. We know we can meet payroll and continue to do what we do on the distribution side, but it’s very little.”
When asked if he was hopeful for the future of the industry, Kaufman said, “The mainstream is scared.” “From what I’ve seen in my experience, suits don’t last long. They’re all stuck around in cars they don’t own, in big empty houses, huffing and puffing in restaurants with no phone numbers.” But the producers believe this is a great time for anyone hungry to break into an industry that may be rough but is still more accessible than when Troma first started.
“You know, I think we’re in a late stage of democracy for capitalism and American life. It’s culminating with President Trump and what’s happening in Europe and everywhere, but I still believe that young people can get through it,” he says. “The bright side is you can make a movie for $2,000 and it can be great. Academy Award winner Sean Baker made a movie called ‘Take Out’ in 2004 about an undocumented Chinese deliveryman, but he’s much more… He was ahead of the curve. He injected comedy and pathos into this movie, and it’s a great movie. He then started using cell phones in ‘Tangerine.’
“The Toxic Avenger” presented by Troma Entertainment
Troma had pioneered the comic book-slash-superhero genre with its “Toxic Avenger” series, which began in 1984. One of Kaufman’s own mentors, “Tolomeo and Juliet” co-writer James Gunn, is a big name at the helm of DC Comics. So how does Kaufman view the genre’s legacy in the Marvel Cinematic Universe era?
“I went to Yale University and majored in Chinese studies,” he recalled when I asked him. “The only thing I got out of Yale, other than finding out that rich kids had drugs, was Marvel Comics. That’s when I discovered Marvel and Stan Lee. After we graduated, we wrote at least a few screenplays, but none were ever produced. He was a huge help to Troma, and he said in the foreword to one of my books that ‘The Toxic Avenger’ did that for the movies in the same way that Spider-Man gave a new face to superhero comics.
“I think the Troma Universe created the Marvel Cinematic Universe,” he points out.
Speaking of legacy, Kaufman is still working towards the future of Troma Entertainment, currently directing his latest film, The Power of Positive Murder. The film is a (very) loose adaptation of Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s classic Crime and Punishment, and is currently in the final stages of filming. “The idea for ‘The Power of Positive Murder’ is about a young, college-going American Gen
Kaufman ended the conversation with characteristic self-deprecation, saying he wasn’t sure if he had “real talent,” but seriously adding, “I don’t know if I have any real talent.” “What we have is the ability to recognize talent. That’s helped us, and it’s also helped us to listen to the young people and not the people we need to listen to. I think that’s good advice.”
