J.B. Ghuman doesn't mind you telling him that his movie is weird-- in fact, he and his stars have hand signals to support their love for the giant dose of weirdness that is Spork, a little comedy about growing up weird and lonely in an era that is such a weird mix of the 80s and 90s that Ghuman calls it, simply, "19J.B."
Last weekend I caught up with Ghuman and the young actresses Savannah Stehlin (who plays the odd but endearing Spork) and Sydney Park (playing the ball of fire that is Spork's only friend Tootsie Roll), and it was kind of as if the three of them let me in on their weekly brunch date, for all the giggling and inside jokes that were going on. In the film Stehlin stars as the title character, a hermaphrodite with terrible fashion sense and social skills who musters up the courage to take on the school's bully, Betsy Byotch, with the help of her best friend Tootsie Roll. Check out snippets from my interview below, where we talk about the movie's 80s and 90s references, how Savannah's hair got that nappy for the movie, and how Savannah and Sydney relate to the movie's depiction of middle school, even though as child actresses neither has had what you would call normal childhoods. Spork is playing right now as part of the Tribeca Film Festival, which runs through this Sunday.
