The complete saga of Harmony Korine on Letterman (and why he got banned for life)

[Music] [Applause] at the age of 19 our next guest wrote the screenplay for what has turned out to be the most talked about film of the year it's called kids ladies and gentlemen here he is Herman E chlorine Harvin hey come on out [Music] [Applause] [Music] I think maybe you take a 38 medium how you doing there yeah I'm sorry if I screwed up your name it's chlorine Harmony Korine that's an interesting name is there something unusual we should know about that well I don't know it my dad he used to be a tap dancer is that right yeah yeah he was pretty famous he he's standing out the Nicholas brothers and he called me harmony uh-huh and that's how you got the name yeah can you change it when you were younger you changed it to what um too harmful because I thought it would be you know tough forex I used to fight a lot when I was little you fought a lot yeah did you win were you a good fighter not very good yeah I mean you just enjoyed it yeah once once I took this kid sailing and his name was Bar funk and I said and I capsized the sailboat anything any almost drowned Wow tell us a little bit about the film harmony it's very controversial isn't it yeah is this drawn on personal experience tell the folks what it is and then tell me where it came from well it's funny because well it's strange because I guess it's controversial but I haven't I don't know I just wanted to make a sequel to Caddyshack and for some and then I used to live by this guy and he was a Hasidic Jewish and he played the basket and he always played with basketballs and he also his father was a dentist but once I was walking the street and he said you're a sinner like that so that do you yeah so I just wrote [Applause] okay with with that as background now if we could tell us about the about the movie it's about teenagers teenagers kids sure kids yeah and it's just about what happens in one day with these kids yeah there's New York City Street kids yeah and you wrote it when you were 19 years old and how do you get it turned in from a script how do you get it turned into a motion picture I'm not sure you know I could pretty much have this conversation with myself at the beginning of the program we we showed some new Atene trends did what can you get in psyche man I had this one I knew this one guy from Delaware I knew this one and he and he um he's pretty cool he um he's had one of those like big platforms on his foot you know like a four extra big shoe and he got a shish kabob skewer stuck through both his ass cheeks and they had their barbecuing his nap some trouble at the cookout or any God these special pants me too and yeah oh yeah you got another special pants I also wrote a cheer but Pierce do you go to be en expect the expensive special pants yeah comes with the territory I wrote a joke - you have a joke for us yeah all right well I read it in a book and it said that his the sky he said here's how his luck was so bad that aspirin gave him headaches yeah [Music] are you working on another screenplay yeah it's about this guy with one leg and he's the swimmer and he's in the Olympics it's a true story yeah yeah and it's um kind of he looks like um step and fetch it you know step and fetch it yeah but it's about that I'm also writing a book of jokes too well maybe another time but it was you know it was great fun to meet you and continued success and you must be oh sure we'll be right back [Music] you know if I should talk about that kind of thing well what what about it you find objection what do you think about it um okay it was um we you know James you know James Joyce Ulysses um I was just kind of inspired collation of Snoop Dog a long time ago and he was uh and it was a play that he was starring in the the he was starring in the theatrical version of that that story so I was that's where it basically got at the idea from yeah but now if we can go back to the question it's a very rich colorful group of cast members you have and and I'm a curious as to how you found these people where you found them and how you why you selected them to put them in the in the in the film gum oh okay um the main actors name is tumbler and he I saw him on the episode of Sally Jessy Raphael come call um it was called my child died from sniffing paint and but but [Applause] no I mean I mean think you think this is easy don't you just sitting here in your house eating Cheetos you think this is easy doctor yeah but but um he reminded me of Buster Keaton and and he was a paints knipfing survivor [Applause] well I I don't know if like the way I'm telling you this and it makes it sound like you'd want to see the my movie but you are selling tickets tonight buddy yeah I know it's it's Gump gum oh yeah it I'll say this for the film it's it's it's it's like nothing I have ever seen before yeah um yeah because where did you shoot the movie I grew up in Nashville in Tennessee and I wanted to make a different film I I want to make a different kind of movie because I don't see um cinema and the same on the same kind of terms or the same way that the narrative movies have been made for the past hundred years okay I mean we started with Griffiths and we ended up with I don't know what the hell's going on now but um straight yeah but basically nothing's changed so I want to see movie the images coming from all directions well that's what you have you been you've assembled a series of very striking vivid disturbia impressions yeah well that's basically my style yeah may I ask how much the movie cost to make 80 milk [Laughter] [Applause] eighty million dollars and every penny is up there on the screen yeah I stole some of it yeah 1.5 million is that about right that's about right I don't talk to finance yeah but no that's about right any and you know something I I applaud that I think that it's to me it's insane that movies most of them do cost 80 million bucks you know what I mean you can't even bust open the popcorn for less than 80 million yeah yeah I agree and all we're doing really is telling stories so why would it cost eighty million dollars to tell a story I know I don't understand that that's why I made gum oh right because because it's um what what story are you telling with gonna okay well it's not really it's not really one story because that's the whole thing I don't care about us that's right about in the linear sense it's more slices of life well like I think every movie there's needs to be a beginning middle and end but just not in that order and um and like um and at least when I watch movies only thing I really remember our characters and in specific scenes so I wanted to make a film that consisted entirely of that really random alright you would like the phone book better if it were not alphabetized right yeah I like the phone book it's good I like um Eddie Cantor yeah now are you like Al Jolson I want to do a minstrel with some Tom Cruise and I want him to play I want him to play it on his knees really like it Eddie Eddie Cadell yeah I'm gonna make a movie about Eddie Goodell use a midget baseball player because they didn't have um you know what's the Guinness Book of World Records like the strike zone yeah fourth grade pitcher there's nothing like this I want it I want it was a star you know are you working on a project right now do you have something else in the works well I have a novel coming out called a crack-up at the race right it's about a race war and it happens in Florida and the Jewish people sit in trees and and in the in the black people are run in the blacks run by M MC Hammer and the whites are run by our vanilla ice it takes place in the floor try to adjust your sets it won't make a damn bit of difference get in there screw with everything you got turn it up turn it down get it doing that get it going like that we'll still be here when you're done yeah I wanted to write I wanted to write the Great American choose your own adventure novel pretty good yeah now you uh you seem like a very prolific young man yeah I had my first art show oh really you could paint is that what it is you paint yeah okay now uh harmony will you will you come back now yeah because when you were here the last time we all said geez would be nice if harmony would come back and see us and then you you put in Arnold Schwarzenegger on us it's been two years so you're using us you only come back when you have something to promote is that safe to say yeah yeah what about just coming back because you kind of enjoyed the experience all right okay all right we mean I'll come back sometimes and hang out with you no I didn't say hang out I don't wait a minute.what listen to me hey sorry come back such a short attention span come come back sometime before the end of the year will you do that yeah so that gives you a couple of months oh yeah right because by then I've done something else yeah that'd be good oh we don't want to promote anything you know I know I've learned to swim the movie the movie is called gum oh it opened today and this is the the genius behind the fear it's permanently kind of movie I just wanted things need to change you can make films different you represent the avant-garde um I rip I'm a commercial filmmaker I'm a patriot I hide in trees all right we'll be right back with Smash Mouth [Applause] [Music] our next guest is a talented filmmaker behind the controversial motion pictures kids and Gummo and now he's written a novel entitled a crack up at the race riots here's the pleasantly odd harmony Corrine [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] thanks for being on the show thanks how you doing nice you you know you uh thanks for fixing yourself up for the show to the skateboard park closed what's going on is everything all right you look like something's happened are you okay I just I had to rent it here out of this little number yeah [Laughter] what's new what's new in your life everything well yeah hey out of that Gummo turnout by the way good it was miss a really amazing blockbuster and how much what was the budget on that I think we talked about herbivores like 1.3 million dollars something yeah what kind of daughter to make whatever make back I'm not I'm not really sure I never I never asked I think it made it um a lot is it still in theater so I got my outfit it's still playing there yeah it's been playing 18 months now that's interesting because they had on the one hand you had gum oh yeah 41.3 and then on the other hand on the other end of the spectrum yeah no no no you had had you Titanic uh yeah you say Titanic 200 million my friend right there 200 million now that's a movie yeah I know it's sank yeah have you seen the film oh I liked it yeah you're joining my life I I like what I saw of it and um it was pretty it was uh I don't really remember what would you would you I mean it I saw the previews I'll show the previous good enough [Applause] would youwould you one day like to direct a film on that scale yeah the second one yeah the the one that oh I did the sequel the sequel to Titanic yeah and how would that go I'd use a rowboat uh-huh I'm doing I don't know if it's sink tell the folks about your your book crack up at the race riot is this by the way is why they invented childproof caps it's my first novel I want to write up are you a novelist your filmmaker would I guess it doesn't make any difference you're just a creative entity I like I just work a lot and um I wanted to write the Great American Novel and or just or a novel I just well I just wanted it to be American did here's the here's the book how long did it take you to write this book um probably over a two-year span for three years here I turn to page 59 we got it clipped off here and all I see on the page 59 is the the word Hepburn oh yeah that was that was gonna be the first page um cuz I wanted to write the great book with just one word yeah and that ended up being a page like 67 yeah how much how much this thing go for or harmony what are we talking about um I think it's a regular book price I don't like I never even I don't I can't imagine why anyone would buy a book nowadays yeah would now would you buy this book would you recommend people go out and buy it or not I probably read an older book are you are you happy with this Booker and you're not happy oh I like it I just you couldn't recommend it though I'm the I'm the author so it's hard I couldn't I just don't really like to I wouldn't endorse it I would rather endorse someone else's book now we published this one this is double-o-double day Oh are they now are they pleased with the work yep they love it I mean I think yeah do you have a deal to write another book I got check what so now you've done you've done directing and you've done writing novels which are the two do you prefer I like I like I like writing or in directing no sir [Applause] I like to do I like to do both I think they're both nice um just some of the people you I come into contact with I have a girlfriend Oh sums of you going kind of you can't stand just don't lie you spoke you just don't think I rub you the wrong way up yeah yeah because you know you're you're like a Mouseketeer who have trouble with you I get a lot of it I don't know yeah yeah that's not good I can get sued no no no do you know Ruby Wax I never met him [Applause] Terminix I'm about to say something I've never said to a guest before in the 17 years we've been doing this you go back to the hotel immediately right and take a long hot shower the book is called a crack up at the race riots Harmony Korine wrote it although he can't really recommend it [Music] [Applause] [Music] but now the the other film Spring Breakers couldn't be more opposite exactly yes small a small film a dark dark story it is dark it kind of has a little bit of everything though you've seen it right and you had you had Selina on here Selena Gomez couldn't be lovelier nice very lovely yes yeah it's so surprising that she was a part of that movie wasn't it yeah how did you end up in the movie and she said well my mom read the script and liked it very well I think their mom likes and harmony currents yeah and that's a small group yeah no no it's doing really well well the movie sure yeah no harmony is an artist and you I mean what's his wheel you're a history now do you know the guy he's a friend he's a good friend of mine really I've watched he came on this show three times you remember his big film was the kids was what it's called well he was he was like 18 or 19 when he met that director Larry Clark in Washington Square Park and wrote the script at age 18 and so when he first came on your show he was like 19 years old and then the and it was you know went to can it was a you know big critical success kind of a revolutionary movie and then the first movie he directed was Gummo and he also came on your show to promote Gummo yeah do you remember any of that I thought he had he but he did not direct kids he wrote that that wrote he wrote kids directed Gummo and then he wrote a book called crack up at the race riots that he also came on here to promote then the legend is that he came back and it's I guess in the books he was he was here came back a fourth time and it says I guess in the books not interviewed well he was bounced well he if you don't remember any of it so legend oh no that part I remember oh you do you do yes a legend what what is the story that you understand legend is that he pushed Meryl Streep backstage and I mean if you push me all three bags need to get pushed off now get kicked off I guess not necessarily the truth of that G in the books we checked it in the book she was there that night yes so they were no I'll tell you what happened is that what he told you happy he did tell me that yeah well but he said he was a little out of it so maybe he did out of it now what does that mean when he says a little out of it harmony is a very sane guy now he's a great artist he's a great person to work with I think he had a period where he was going a little off the rails and so maybe he was on something that night what would your guess be that my guess is he was on something that night but we're talking you know about 10 years ago well the story was and it's it's absolutely true and and I don't know is he coming back on have you talked to him well I heard he was banned from the show for like she bring him back on I went upstairs to greet Meryl Streep and say well you know welcome to the show come in and she was not in there and I looked around and I found your friend harmony yeah going through her purse come on story whose story and so I said okay that's it put put her things back in her bag and then you get out of here Wow yeah so you kicked them off holy [Applause] [Music] [Music]

Channel: Metaflix

Views: 2,326,052

Rating: 4.8354044 out of 5

Keywords: Harmony Korine, Letterman, David Letterman, Late Night, Late Show, Kids, Writer, Director, Gummo, Spring Breakers, The Beach Bum, Metaflix, Short Take, Film Review, Spot the Movie Detail, Movie, Film, Art, Cinema, Criticism, Arthouse, Drama, Action, Documentary, Youtube, Video Essay, Film Essay, Movie Essay, Movie Trivia

Id: KRO6jZgQ6i4

Length: 25min 10sec (1510 seconds)

Published: Thu Mar 14 2019

Reddit Comments

[u/[deleted]]

This post is part of the marketing campaign for Beach Bum

[u/dildokTheUnpleasant]

Those first two interviews are 2 of the most entertaining letterman interviews I've ever seen

[u/unitool]

That was a lot more entertaining than I was expecting.

[u/Clevelandhitch]

Story regarding his banning starts at 20:45.

[u/spider_milk]

I grew up with Harmony Korine and have always held these interviews in a special place. It's great to hear what happened. I heard he had punched her.

When I was 19 I showed one of the interviews to a friend and pointed out how much of a dick Letterman was being but he responded it was all in good fun. I'm still not sure where I stand on this.

From having asked everyone I've met that know about Korine it seems I'm alone in having a vast emotional connection to Julian Donkeyboy.

Also let's not forget his awesome AMA. Had anyone else done it Reddit would've been upset.

[u/cokevanillazero]

The sequel to Caddyshack joke is fucking great if you've seen KIDS. Letterman hasn't seen it, the audience hasn't seen it, so the punchline is lost.

Edit: I guess if you haven't seen it you might not get it either. The whole movie is about a bunch of misanthropic city kids hurting people, doing drugs, raping each other, and getting AIDS.

[u/CSimsAlltheway]

Ah, just in the time for his new movie!

[u/dratthecookies]

Dave seems like kind of a dick. I forgot about that. Why invite someone on the show to mock them? Korine has a good sense of humor about it but I would have been so uncomfortable. He obviously is very socially awkward and maybe with ADHD or something but damn.

(Obviously not including the last story)

[u/somanyroads]

The title made me think he gradually drove Letterman crazy, but it really was that 4th visit (unaired) that really blew the lid off it all 😆 if there's one person on this planet that shouldn't be chemically altered, it's Harmony...the dude has more than enough going on in his brain, sober!