Charlotte Kemp Muhl—Flaunt fave, GOASTT member, Jack White’s bassist, writer, director and model—has directed the bitching and bewitching "mini film" for Uni's new single "Predator's Ball."
The film, according to Kemp Muhl, contains “a pinch of _Rocky Horror, Thriller, Labyrinth_ and that 1960’s anti-drug propaganda film _Alice In Acid Land…_ But mostly, _Snakes On A Plane.”_ And why not?
“After weeks of running around the city (in platform boots) collecting props,” Jack James of Uni shares, “late nights with a hot glue gun cementing deer antlers to a fake horse head, or coming up with demonic dance moves in my apartment” the film is finally out today.
FLAUNT caught up with Jack James and fellow Uni member, David Strange, along with Kemp Muhl, to discuss the process and message of the film, Uni’s upcoming album, and the role of sex on the internet.
**What was the inspiration behind “Predator’s Ball”?**
**KEMP MUHL:** The Rothschild’s infamous party in the 1970s, which Dali and Brigette Bardot attended—there was blue bread and everyone wore elaborate masks and headdresses which we recreated by hand.
**What kind of message do you hope a viewer will get out of the viewing experience of “Predator’s Ball”?**
**DAVID:** I hope it makes a high school jock put on his sisters bra, smear black eyeliner and red lipstick over his face, dance at a goth club until dawn, have sex in the bathroom with someone who’s gender is unimportant and then go straight to the state championship without sleep and score 30 touchdowns.
**There’s a play with being scared and having fun, do those two correlate?**
**JACK:** Currently, I’m terrified and having the time of my life and it’s not even noon! As far as their correlation in the video: we start with Alice (Kemp) not “having fun”. She’s in the clutches of an awkward juvenile groping session which she doesn’t seem to enjoy too much; I guess Alice isn’t an athletic supporter, hehe. After busting out of his car, she winds up at The Lizard King’s Mysterious Manor. She’s frightened of the debaucherous affairs the Lizard King and his party guests like The Mad Hatter are partaking in, but something compels her to dive deeper in exploring this mystifying mansion and seductive overlord. Eventually, Alice submits to the gore and glamour of The Predator’s Ball and becomes the biggest blood sucker of them all.
Sometimes in exploring what scares you, you can be led to “having a ball”. Reclaim your power in an otherwise helpless situation—if that means becoming a blood sucking reptilian cheerleader, good for you!
**What was your favorite part about making the movie?**
**JACK:** My favorite part about making this (and for most other productions we do,) is the preparation before. Everything Uni does is 100% D.I.Y.; this means the concept, costumes, characters, production, etc. are created and executed by us and a very tight knit family of guerrilla warriors—Rich Ragsdale, Kendall Green, Ahbi Nishman, Darke Attoms, Dave Levine, Corrie Deeb and Cae Rale. It’s weeks of running around the city (in platform boots) collecting props, late nights with a hot glue gun cementing deer antlers to a fake horse head, or coming up with demonic dance moves in my apartment. It’s an extensive amount of work, but the chaos and drudgery is… thrilling.
**What was the process of creating the video like?**
**KEMP MUHL:** As Jack said, it’s a lot of sewing stuff and making calls to find iguanas and girls willing to get naked, ha...we basically never sleep leading up to a video, then the actual shooting day is a flurry of creative quantum instability; nipples, lizards, latex, fake blood everywhere, Jack running around in 8 inch heels, David flirting with girls in nun costumes and me in pigtails shouting at grown men. Jack came up with the choreography. David has engineering/woodwork skills. I do all the directing/editing/location scouting etc. I heard some girl whispering on set “I bet Sean pays for all of this”, which really pissed me off because he’s never given a penny to UNI, and we work our asses off to make scrappy productions look 10 times more expensive than they really are, and I fund all of it.
**How do you see the role of sex and sexual play changing in modern society especifically in movies/films?**
**DAVID:** The changing role of sex in modern society is way more influenced by the internet than Hollywood. Before the proliferation of easy access porn on the internet, sex was a discovery. You didn’t really know what to do or what to expect, you took a leap of faith, unzipped some jeans and let billions of years of evolution take the wheel. The role of sex in society is more like a virtual video game now. Of course this is pure conjecture because I’ve never actually had sex. I hear it’s great though and if anyone reading this is interested in showing me the ropes, DM me.
**When and how did you get into movie making?**
**KEMP MUHL:** Growing up I wasn’t allowed to watch TV, but my parents let me have a few movies on VHS which I watched till the magnetic strips wore out. _Fantasia_ was my favorite at 8. Then when I moved to NYC alone at 14 to model, Kim’s Video became one of my favorite hang outs—an underground movie rental for arcana like _Mondo Magic_, _Holy Mountain_, _Un Chien Andalou_, _Blue Velvet_, _Pink Flamingos_ and Tod Browning’s _Freaks_, etc. It closed down as internet streaming took over but those films have tattooed my psyche forever.
**Are you working on anything else right now?**
**KEMP MUHL:** Besides the cure for Covid? We have an album we’ve been advised to not release during the pandemic, since touring and other promo is off the table- so we’re going to release a new song every month with a video, and keep developing a feature film/rock opera/graphic novel. Maybe some life size sex dolls of us and a new political party.
**What are your goals for the future?**
**JACK:** I’d like to do the laundry at some point. Oh! I think after that, I'll get a sandwich from the deli. Yum, that sounds great. If I set my mind to it, I can accomplish anything.
**KEMP MUHL:** To compose a symphony, have an alpaca farm and bioengineer a new breed of cat that doesn’t poop.
**DAVID:** Be born into a rich family, open a worldwide empire of casinos, hotels and golf courses, become the star of a reality TV show, marry a foreign model, have sex with a porn star, tear the country apart.
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