Don May: The Mr. Skin Interview

In a few sentences, please sum up the mission of Synapse Films.
My mission, if you choose to accept it, is to put out really great movies in the best way possible and to introduce people to lesser known films that we think are pretty cool.

What are your earliest memories of the movies?
Well, my earliest memory is I have an incredibly vague image in my head of watching The Sting in the theater. My first real cinema experience, however, was The Exorcist and it scared the shit out of me.

I was horrified by it. I cried. I was shaking in my seat. It gave me nightmares and I slept in my parent's bed for a few weeks after that. It didn't help that my sister had a tape-recorder in the car - we saw it at the drive-in - and recorded all the screaming and moaning sounds and then would play them in the house and scare me to death.

Before home video, did you frequent drive-ins and flea-pit theaters to catch the type of films you now put on DVD? Do you have any funny/frightening/amazing stories about those days?
We had a drive-in theater [nearby] and I remember seeing everything with my sister, who was 10 years older, and her friends. My sister had a friend with only one arm and I remember him asking me to help him pop the tabs on his smuggled beers when we went to the drive-in! This was, of course, in the days when cans had those removable tabs.

Ralph Bakshi's Wizards played one week and, halfway through it, over the car speaker, the projectionist chimed in and asked people to "honk their horns' if they were bored with it. Of course, the whole audience started blasting their horns, and he put on the next movie. I was pissed because, unlike everyone else, I thought Wizards kicked ass.

The ticket lady at our regular theater during my youth was this nasty old woman who wore more make-up than Tammy Faye Bakker. She never stopped us from seeing R-rated films. We always got in, even if we were obviously only about 13 years old. I saw everything. I'd have my father drop me off in front of the theatre on a Saturday afternoon and I'd see a movie, then I'd call and he'd pick me up after. It was great. I lived for those Saturday afternoons!

Switching gears a bit to "skinterview" mode, what's the first movie that made you feel all kinds of, you know, "funny" the way MrSkin.com gets people to feel "funny"?
Hmm… that's a tough one. When I saw Animal house (Picture: 1), which was my first real movie with nudity that I remember, I was too young to really know what the hell was going on, you know? I was eleven. I was like, hahaha … she's naked! Hell, I was a kid … puberty hadn't struck yet. A few years later, when my family got HBO for the first time, nudity was all over the TV! I would sneak out of my bed, late at night, and sit right next to the TV with the sound way down and watch all the late-night sex stuff. I think the first time I sort of got turned on by a movie was when I snuck into the living room to watch Dressed to Kill (Picture: 1 - 2 - 3) late one night on HBO. I remember the shower scene as really my first "erotic" scene that I ever watched. I was like… "BOOBS! SOAP! MY GOD! This is sooo great!"

Who was the first actress on whom you had a crush?
As a youngster, I can honestly admit to having this almost uncontrollable obsession with Kristy McNichol (Picture: 1). Oh, my God. I had photos, books, you name it. I even bought her album she made with her brother, which I still have to this day. I watched Family, her TV show, every week like clockwork. Damn, I wanted to know her.

What other actresses have you had crushes on since then? Have you ever done anything cute/goofy/borderline-unsavory like write fan letters or compile a scrapbook?
In college, I wrote a letter to Drew Barrymore (Picture: 1) once, but she never sent me anything back - that bitch! [laughs].

After Jaws 2, I secretly fantasized about Donna Wilkes (Picture: 1).

Growing up I went through the token Farrah Fawcett (Picture: 1) stage, just like every other non-gay kid in the neighborhood. Heck, I even had a rug of Farrah that I bought at K-Mart. It wasn't the swimsuit photo, but the one of her in the light top holding the flower. I actually had that on the floor of my room as a kid. Hah! I wish I still had that thing, it would look good in my office.

For about five minutes, I was infatuated with Brooke Shields (Picture: 1), but I read her biography and it turned me off to her because she sounded too goody-goody. She didn't sound like a fun girl to go to the playground with.

Did you ever have misgivings about the type of material you'd be willing to work with? And is there material today (besides the obviously illegal) that you'd back off from?
At first, I was a little hesitant to do some of the harder, sexier material. I don't know why because, heck, I was a porn-watching hetero guy! Maybe I didn't want my parents to see these were the films I was doing? I don't really know. I guess I figured I didn't want that "stigma" of being a porno label. We treated very lightly on the erotic stuff with Elite Entertainment but, with Synapse, one of my first titles was Vampyros Lesbos. People love movies with naked girls, so why not?

In the months ahead, you'll be releasing several amazing titles featuring Cheryl "Rainbeaux" Smith (Picture: 1). Have you always had a special feeling for Ms. Smith? Can you elaborate on what you think is the nature of her enduring, overpowering appeal?
It was just by dumb-luck really that we have three movies with her in it. We got Lemora first, then the opportunity to do Fantasm Comes Again came shortly after. I had completely forgotten that Cheryl was even in The Incredible Melting Man until I started compiling things on it. I knew of her from some of her previous films. I had seen her in Massacre at Central high (Picture: 1 - 2), Laserblast (one of my all time favorite cheesy movies), Lemoraand Caged Heat (Picture: 1 - 2 - 3), but that's it.

Sure, I'd seen her in other films, but these were how I knew of her. I had always thought she was cute and that's obviously part of her appeal. She's was an attractive, almost angelic girl with amazing charisma. On screen she just seemed to have a way of having the viewer always focusing their attention on her, even if others were in the scene. It's so terrible that she gone. I only wish I could've spoken to her, if only just once, for the Lemora DVD.

Beyond Rainbeaux Smith, who are your other favorite "Synapse-esque" actresses? What other starlets would you most like to release a series of DVDs featuring?
Well, I love Barbara Steele (Picture: 1) and there are plenty of films she's in that haven't been released yet. She and I spoke about the possibility of putting out some of her films, with her participation, but the rights to many of them are tangled up. Barbara is amazing. She stopped by the transfer facility when Roy Frumkes and I were doing Street Trash and she spent a few hours with us. It was an amazing time and I really admire her. I was flattered that she said I had an honest face.

The Synapse edition of The Image is especially impressive. When did you first see the movie? How were you able to put it out? How has the public responded? And please tell us about your reaction when Howard Stern gave it such a ringing endorsement.
I was first made aware of the film under its other title, The Punishment of Anne. I had never seen it but my business partner, who is about seven years older than me, had many years ago. An acquaintance at First Run Features introduced me to director Radley Metzger at the Chiller show in New Jersey. First Run had done a bunch of his films, as well as Image Entertainment, but neither company wanted to release The Imagebecause it was much more explicit in content. Synapse jumped at the chance to do it.

The Image (Picture: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5) has turned into one of our most popular titles because of the beautiful transfer and controversial content. It still sells steady to this day, over a year after its release, which is more than I can say for a number of our titles. I had sent Howard Stern some copies just because I knew he liked porn. I had no idea he was going to say anything about it at all.

When Howard did talk about it, I was in Los Angeles, in a rental car, on the 405 Freeway when I heard it on the radio. I had just switched the channel to Stern's show and he was on the radio talking about it! I almost wrecked my car! I knew the LA show was on tape delay, but it was around 6am LA time, so I got on my cell phone and tried to call him, but I couldn't get through.

I did find it funny that he mentioned he fast-forwarded past the oral sex parts because he didn't want his girlfriend to compare the size of his penis with the guy's dick in the movie! That made me laugh pretty hard and I was in a great mood for the rest of the day.

What are your "dream" titles that you hope to put it out someday?
Well, if I tell you about my secret wishes, then other companies may jump on them, so I'll stick to telling you about the films that major studios own that I wish they'd do. My dream project would be to do a complete restoration on William Friedkin's Cruising (Picture: 1). This movie is screaming to be done correctly. Warner needs to get on the ball, forget about their "policy" against releasing unrated films and just do it. Either that, or license me the damn thing and Synapse will do it.

Does being Mr. Synapse help you score film geek chicks?
Not recently, unfortunately. There was an 18-year-old redhead I was seeing for a while, but that's over. She was too hot for someone like me, so I can't imagine she was with me for anything other than to introduce her to Kevin Smith or something. Oh well, it was fun while it lasted. I am single and looking so….