Philadelphia Weekly

The idea of pop-art behemoth Roy Lichtenstein's son becoming an actor--i.e., interpreting other people's work rather than creating his own--always seemed a bit off. Yet for two decades, that's just what Mitchell Lichtenstein did--albeit for such filmmaking titans as Robert Altman (Streamers), Louis Malle (Crackers) and Ang Lee (The Wedding Banquet). With his 2004 short Resurrection, Lichtenstein finally crossed over to full-on creation mode, and his debut feature Teeth confirms him as a full-fledged writer/director to watch.

And it's not as though his father's love for subverting pop culture has skipped a generation. After all, Teeth takes a horror premise (chick with a toothed vagina that chomps off male members) and plays it just as much for satire as it does for genre thrills.

PW met with Lichtenstein and Teeth producer Joyce Pierpoline, a Penn alum and film festival veteran who's worked for everyone from Cannes to Venice. She wound up switching occupations and serving as associate producer on the not-too-dissimilar In the Company of Men.

Were you surprised no one had made a movie that featured the vagina dentata myth?

Mitchell Lichtenstein: "I kind of was. The idea is so prevalent, you think it would've already happened. I know there's a Japanese horror movie that has it. The subject is changed and I think she's a real monster and it's really gory. I mean, more so than Teeth. But the idea comes up a lot. It just hasn't been dealt with directly."

How did you discover the myth?

ML: "In college in connection to late-19th-century literature taught by Camille Paglia. She talked about the origins and meanings of the myth. It just stayed with me and made me think it'd be fertile territory to deal with more directly."

Has Paglia seen the film?

ML: "Yes. She said she loved it."

How did you originally envision the film?

ML: "Well, I always knew I wanted to turn the myth around, because in the myth it's a man who has conquered the woman and it's the man who's the hero. But I wanted to have the woman be the hero and for her not to be conquered. The script went through many changes over a number of years, but the beats always remained the same: her discovery and her learning to deal with it."

Joyce, how did you get involved?

Joyce Pierpoline: "I'd known Mitchell and he told me about it and gave me the script to read. Very simple."

Was it hard to sell?

JP: "Well, we did it all privately, and I think that's the only way to do such a film."

Did the script change at all as you tried to sell it?

JP: "Not through the funding process. As is always when you're working, the film goes through stages."

ML: "But not because we'd gone too far or it might be offensive for financiers and distributors. Only for aesthetic purposes."

Were you trying to play with the horror genre? One nice twist in the film is that the men are more naked than the women, which is the opposite of what usually happens in the genre.