“Hell, I love everything we do”: Richard Elfman explores a lifelong creative odyssey
With a career that stretches back over 50 years and has covered theatre, music, film, and literature and extended to performing, recording, writing, directing, producing, composing, performance art, journalism, and authoring novels, Richard Elfman has been in a constant state of perpetual motion for his entire career.
A multi-hyphenate with irons constantly in the fire, the obvious question is where he gets the boundless energy to channel his energies into so many creative pursuits. “I’m not sure,” comes the self-deprecating answer. “We take our lumps in life, of course, but I like to have fun; my greatest passion is spreading that fun around. I suppose having fun energises one.”
All work and no play would make Elfman a dull boy, then, but maintaining a work/life balance is key. “My film budgets may not allow as much pay as I would like, but I include a fiery grill at the end of every week: lamb, steak, whole salmons and, of course, wine, whisky, cigars (and Ubers home). On the final day of filming, I top the grill with a wild, live show.”
“And I’m blessed with a wonderful wife; a lot of synergy on our collaborations as well,” Elfman explained of the secret to his productivity. “We did over 25 film fests with live pre-shows last year. She does a dark, bloody burlesque; I enlist local musicians – from Canada to Brazil – and anywhere in between. Sometimes, three cities: Friday, Saturday, and Sunday on a weekend. But fucking fun! Crazy, I guess!”
With Elfman being a whisky aficionado (but not an expert by his own summation), the weight of an entire country was placed upon this writer’s shoulders when he sought a recommendation for a fresh tipple from a real live Scotsman, especially when “scotch and a good cigar” are two of his favourite writing tools. Fortunately, national stereotypes exist for a reason, even if it wasn’t a deliberate choice to sing the praises of one that’s borderline unpronounceable to the uninitiated.
“Whereas I’m not an expert, the Bunnahabhain we recently tried was bloody excellent,” he confirmed, with an entirely acceptable caveat. “Although I can’t pronounce the name (banana-havin’?), I found it delightfully rich and mouth-filling, not peaty but redolent of flavours: vanilla, hazelnut and delicate fruit essences. Quite wonderful, actually. If my lottery ticket pays off, I shall certainly try the 40-year-old!”
Elfman initially dropped out of college to perform and record as an Afro-Latin percussionist and has maintained that love ever since, so if anything, it makes sense that he’s always marched to the beat of his own drum. “You might say that,” he mused. “I do my own thing artistically, for better or worse.”
“A challenge,” he admitted. “As Hollywood is a business first, and the bean counters can’t always discern the difference between Ed Wood junk and the sublimely nuanced absurdism that my offbeat yet tightly written narratives offer. Hey, better stop, Elfo; we’re beating our own drum here!”
Elfman founded the surrealist street theatre troupe The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo in 1972 and led the group for four years. Comparatively speaking, this was a relatively short period of his career, but based on what its various members have accomplished in the years since, both individually and collectively, the legacy they left behind has seeped into countless forms of art and entertainment.
“The MKOB were a commedia dell’arte troupe inspired by time in an avant-garde French theatre company,” Elfman explained. “My rule was ‘nothing contemporary’. We faithfully nailed musical classics from the past that people couldn’t only find live, but most didn’t know about.”
That covered names including Duke Ellington, Django Rheinhardt, and Josephine Baker, as well as “totally original, avant-garde pieces” by his younger brother, four-time Academy Award-nominated composer and regular Tim Burton collaborator Danny. “This was our pre-rock period. As practicality, whatever, morphed us from a 12-piece ensemble to an eight-piece rock band (Oingo Boingo), I wished to preserve on film what we were doing on stage.”
That led Elfman to filmmaking and Forbidden Zone, which he described as “essentially the essence of our stage show.” A certified cult classic that maintains an avid following more than four decades after its release, could its writer, director, and producer have imagined the longevity it went on to enjoy?
“It played midnight shows for a summer in 1980,” he recalled. “It was banned on the worst of PC-censoring college campuses. I was at a screening at the New Beverly Cinema in LA (pre-Tarantino ownership) that had to be cleared for an arson threat. Then, poof, after the summer, it was gone.”
Because “some music rights hadn’t been cleared correctly,” Forbidden Zone remained “off the market for the next 30 years.” However, when Elfman “eventually put up my first website, I got thousands of hits from all over the world.” The movie had become a bootleg favourite in colleges across the country, and after smoothing over the rights issues, “Now Forbidden Zone can fill a theatre all around the world. Yes, life is strange!”
“I’m beyond surprised (and very grateful) that the film has garnered such a large and loyal worldwide fanbase,” Elfman reflected on Forbidden Zone‘s continued popularity. “There’s been a play and a novelization. A company wants to do an animated series, a comic book and a video game. Anastasia [Elfman] and I have created a full music and burlesque pre-show that we tour with at screenings (bookings available, by the way).”
“With Danny and Ego [Plum], we’re working on a new album that will incorporate everything and the kitchen sink, so to speak, even Danny’s original music from the archives that didn’t make it into the soundtrack.” Forbidden Zone lives on, to put it lightly, but Elfman is always broadening his horizons.
Having taken on so many roles in so many different avenues, it’s worth wondering if there’s one creative outlet Elfman holds closer to his heart than the rest. As it turns out, he’s a man for all seasons. “I’ve been hired to write and develop animated series this past year,” he offered. “Fun, but challenging time-wise. We got our vampire novel [The Schlimazel of Sebreim] out and the band has been cooking, as have I on my grill. Hell, I love everything that we do creatively.”
Yet another one of those avenues is Mambo Diabolico, a group that was initially born from a play Elfman wrote and directed before evolving into a huge part of his life on screen and stage. “This was so wild,” he acknowledged. “Kind of a life imitates art thing.”
Adding, “I wrote a one-act for Anastasia’s theatre company that included a ‘band’. Buddy Ego Plum (aka Ernesto Guerrero) got some players together, and another friend, Darren Lynn Bouseman (Saw film series), saw the show, then wanted to hire the ‘band’ for his Theatre Macabre immersive. ‘What band? Oh, the players on stage.’ We’ve been together six years now and featured in my last two films. But again, fun!”
The aforementioned novel The Schlimazel of Sebreim, and recent feature-length outing Bloody Bridget – which follows a Haitian voodoo deity who transforms a burlesque dancer into a vampire – arrived in quick succession between late 2023 and early 2024, while Elfman also has new novels and animated projects in the works. With that in mind, is it a conscious decision to alternate between mediums, or is the driving force always whatever sparks that initial creativity?
“Writing and developing animated series this past year has been a gig I was hired to do. Totally fun and something I seem adept at,” he outlined. “But it also offers a wide creative swath – if I can’t hire 1000 extras for a film battle, we can certainly draw them. But music, film, novels, even cooking and hosting dinners and events, it’s all creative; I love it all. And yes, more films are on the way, and two more novels are under contract.”
For Elfman, every project is a passion project, and in his own words, “All or nothing is putting it mildly,” especially when challenges frequently present themselves. “Our film Aliens, Clowns & Geeks spent over a year dicking around with potential investors,” he shared. “Then we had a distributor offer financing that we borrowed against, only to have the distributor go out of business, and we had to deal with the lenders. We somehow got the film done, but it took a few years and had a mess to deal with. Then, with Covid, no festival run (but it’s now finding an audience).”
Continuing, “For Bloody Bridget, I just said, ‘Fuck it! No more meetings. No more convoluted deals. Fuck it!’ Anastasia and I maxed out our credit cards, upped the mortgage and just shot the damn thing. Thank god no one got Covid, which would have sunk us. The result was a total crowd-pleaser; we’ve won 20 film festivals so far, with more to come. We’re presently talking with distributors.”
Working closely with friends and family is another hallmark of Elfman’s work, with those lifelong personal relationships presenting their professional benefits. “It is said, by me, ‘To be born a male redhead is to be born into a clown suit,'” he remarked. “Well, in the friend and family department, I was born lucky.”
“My younger brother Danny, who had no musical training or interest as a kid, turned out to be Mozart Jr,” he continued. “My best friend and bandmate Ego Plum, no musical training either, is now Hollywood’s most sought-after cartoon composer. He and Danny have our soundtracks covered.”
“My son Bodhi Elfman starred in Aliens, Clowns & Geeks and was off-the-charts fun to work with,” he revealed. “By the way, must add, no nepotism here. He may not be as famous as his wife, Jenna Elfman, but Bodhi has like a hundred acting credits; serious chops. I was lucky to have him.” Last but not least, naturally, is his better half.
“And my wife, of course. Finding Anastasia was striking gold. Acting. Ballet. Classical cello. ‘Avant Burlesque’. And a wacky, offbeat sense of humour,” he celebrated. “Yow!! Besides the critical acclaim and festival awards she’s received as Bloody Bridget, we’ve been touring and collaborating for over a dozen years. And believe it or not, we somehow don’t argue or fight. You might say we’re the other’s muse.”
Even at home, Elfman indulges his creative side, hosting ‘Barbecue Bacchanals’ that brings everybody to his door for food, wine, art, music, and burlesque: “We host dinner parties all the time for creatives on our Hollywood Hills rooftop deck (under the iconic Hollywood sign).”
“A few times a year, we host a larger event, the Barbecue Bacchanals. (Totally underground, hottest invite in town). We can hold, shoulder-to-shoulder, maybe a hundred. I grill up a storm, and Anastasia performs multimedia dark burlesque with incredible music collaborators,” he elaborated. “We also host grand dinners (plus a show) for the Etheria Film Festival, a group devoted to lady horror directors. I’m usually the only male at the lady director events. I can’t watch when they disrobe and levitate, or I’ll turn to salt.”
Having covered so many different forms of media during his career, if there’s such a thing as a dream project for Elfman that he could make in whatever way he wanted, he knows exactly what it would be: “First on my ‘bucket list’ is Forbidden Zone 2.”
“It’s written, ready to go, even the musical numbers and much of the artwork. It’s been a journey; we’ve come close a few times, but that’s how Hollywood works,” he acquiesced. “I want to do it right, a ton of older music that now costs a fortune. But we’ll get there. Then Bloody Bridget 2. And 20 more sitting on the shelf, screaming and yearning to go. Who did you say was writing that check?”
