Harmony Korine wrote 1995's kids with director Larry Clark when he was 18 years old.
Since then he's made many films, ranging from nightmarish rural teen drams (Gummo) to beatific visual abstractions (Mister Lonely)
to movie we still can't believe are actual movies someone made and released (Trash Humpers).
In Spring Breakers, he applies his signature experimental technique to the neon sex-frenzy that is American spring break.
"You girls are different from the rest."
"I knew y'all special from the moment I saw you."
"It's in your eyes."
"It's written on your faces."
"I'm gonna make you happy."
"I want to sit on the floor right now."
"Let's cause some trouble now."
"Live life to the fullest."
"Spring break..."
"Spring break forever."
"We gonna take the world y'all."
"This is poetry, emotion, big booties, and money falling y'all."
[HARMONY KORINE, FILM DIRECTOR] Been wanting to make a movie
in this way for a while. Like I've been playing with this type of
structure, and this thing that's more like a liquid narrative where
time is more free; and jumping forwards and backwards.
The movies was more meant to mimic like a drug experience.
It was more like a ride, or a physical experience than anything.
Almost like micro scenes, things that were very quick but then extended,
and looped in some ways. Maybe the movie is more musical, or
experiencial than it is like traditionally narrative.
So, it's like a stew, or a chemical you know...
... reaction. You put all these things and look. You start to put locations,
and outfits, and characters in one place. And then you shake it up,
and you document the explosion. And things go here, and things go there.
And you just 'krshhhhhh!"
You know you set up a movie so that 27 films, or anything can happen.
Like I do the least. Like I don't go in like saying "this a right movie, this is a wrong movie."
"This is the thing." I go in, there's like big margin, and it's undefined.
And that's what's exciting to me. So, I wrote it
during spring break, like two years ago.
Just switching hotels in Panama City, Florida.
Just switching hotels and kids were just smashing my doors in,
and vomiting on my porch. Blasting Taylor Swift all night and shit.
It was really difficult to take.
"Hi mom."
"I'm good. Yeah it was amazing"
I loved the idea of working with those girls specifically,
because they also in real life are representative of that culture,
that dream. And so, I wanted the girls to be gangsters, you know
like different sides to a single being. And so,
like Selina's character is the more the morality.
Rich's character is more like bridge between the two.
And then yo have the two top girls that are just complete sociopaths,
really pure pop-sociopath. They're just four parts of the whole.
And so, I just started to break down their characters in that way.
Quiet all around and... Action!
"Look at this shit. Look at my shit!"
"I got fucking machine guns."
"Look at this. Look at this motherfucker here."
"Look at this motherfucker, huh!"
There's this intersection like, it's like gangster mysticism.
And somewhere is that world there's a collision,
and it becomes those girls and Franco's character.
You know, I was rewriting the script, and as we were going everyday
I was changing it because the characters were changing in front of me.
I start to imagine the way it looks and feels, and the pace, and the rhytms.
And so, that dictates the way it's written and structured.
So, like I think yeah, I think what this movie
was mostly... became... Well, with a lot of the films I do,
Gummo was the same things I remember. It just starts out with a series of images,
like me describing almost like photographs.
Just really simple. It was like trip, you know.
So, once you kind of establish that that's the mode, and the method of the
film, the way you're watching it, as though you could kind of go with it.
[SPRING BREAKERS]
[FIND OUT MORE SPRINBREAKERSMOVIES.COM]
[MARCH 15TH NYC & LA MARCH 22ND NATIONWIDE]