SETH WAGERMAN ("CRIMES OF PASSION")

Seth Wagerman appeared as a young John Travolta in THE BOY IN THE PLASTIC BUBBLE and was one of my first interviews... Here he shares about his work on a much different kind of film: director Ken Russell's erotic thriller CRIMES OF PASSION, as the son of John Laughlin and Annie Potts...

What are some memories working on Ken Russell's controversial film CRIMES OF PASSION?

Ok, I was a little older for this one. But I had no idea what kind of film I was making. My scenes were completely separated from the rest of the movie. I remember a breakfast scene with Annie Potts, and that she was nice to me, and said she was allergic to MSG (random memory; we were talking about Chinese food). The crew guy was arranging my breakfast cereal in Elmer's glue so that every flake was placed the way they wanted it, which I thought was utterly crazy. I mean, it wasn't a cornflake commercial! I remember a scene where I was supposed to be watching TV with my sister, only it was just a cardboard box with a flickering bluish light in the middle, so it would reflect off our faces as we lay there, looking bored and zoned-out…

The interesting thing about probing these recollections is what a kid remembers. I don’t remember stuff about "how the shooting went." I remember craft tables full of food, how some of the sets looked, the other kids I played with, and having to be in "school" with the on-set teacher. I guess that was what was salient to me at the time…Oh, yeah – and I DO remember seeing it for the first time. I went to the special cast-only viewing, and it was X-rated. I don't remember what age I was, but I remember my Mom telling them all it was ok for me to watch (she was a huge hippie and always told me that sex was no big deal). I remember sitting next to her and watching stuff and getting a little turned on and being extremely uncomfortable. This is probably why I've never watched the movie since, come to think of it. Weird.

Thanks, Mom!