Christopher Lockett

WORLD of HURT is a film about dreams. One man's dreams to rise above it all even if it means walking straight through hell to ascend to new levels. If the hell he is walking through happens to also be his life, it could end up in a WORLD OF HURT!

World of Hurt is a film unique to its craft. THERE ARE NO BIG NAME SPONSORS, NO BIG NAME SUPERSTARS, No corporate sponsorships influencing the outcomes of this reality-based documentary! This is a real life depiction of a real life individual who did damn near anything to change his standard of living. He stood alone and alone he journeyed the beaten path of decadence in search of his ultimate providence.

Inlewd, WANTS YOU to read this interview! You owe it to yourself to read it, and check the movie out as well! What do you have to lose? You could be saving yourself a World of Hurt by watching it!

(The following is an in depth interview with independent film maker Christopher Lockett).

CJ: I understand your first success as a film maker was shooting "Waterfalls of the Southern Appalachians"? And that was thirteen years ago?

CL: In 1998, I had finished a documentary called "Waterfalls of the Southern Appalachians" that I wrote, directed, narrated, photographed and even recorded the music for. I wasn't getting any big career breaks in Atlanta, and I love hiking to waterfalls, so I figured I'd put the two together and maybe generate a bit of work for myself. Somehow, I wound up selling the film to regional PBS networks in five southeastern states.

CJ: Must have been a real exciting time for you, cause for celebration!

CL: I had a party to celebrate and my college buddy Michael Hayes was excited for me. I was definitely the first filmmaker in our circle of friends to actually get a film made. Getting onto TV was kind of motivating, for both of us.

CJ: Is that when you decided to make this documentary about Gary Mono's struggles on the road to becoming a famous pro wrestler?

CL: Michael and I watched a documentary about Jessco White "The Dancing Outlaw," on PBS one night and Michael said: "Shoot, we know enough characters like this guy and you already know how to shoot better than the guys who made that film..." And about a week later, Michael calls me and tells me that he's been hearing about this guy "who's really into comic books, wears a mohawk, is part Indian and is telling folks he's going to be a professional wrestler. Do you want to interview him and see if there's a story there?" So, we did. An audio interview at first.

CJ: His story was that good?

CL: We were hooked on the story and the guy himself from the first meeting.

CJ: Can you give us some idea of what this story involves?

CL: His mother left him at age 2. His father was in and out of jail. His grandfather raised him and he died a few months after his uncle died. His uncle was either "killed robbing a bar or murdered by a bar owner, depends on who you talk to," according to Gary, our subject. He definitely had a lot to say about his life and his dreams. We interviewed him before he ever even tried to be a pro wrestler.

CJ: That's interesting. So you were involved in this story before it took the pro-wrestling twist?

CL: We were excited because that's pretty rare for documentaries. Normally you catch something after it's started or make documentaries about something historical that has already happened. This was a rare chance to see this guy go forth with a plan to do something heroic and different in his life.

CJ: Was there any hopes on how the film would turn out in the end?

CL: We had hoped, initially, to have a very happy kind of film. We had hoped that Gary would have wrestled in the Southern Carolina Wrestling league and accomplished his dream. We realized pretty early on that that was not going to be the case. We actually started looking for another wrestler and though about comparing and contrasting the two - one a guy who tried and who didn't make one, the other someone who made it. And then we thought about it.

CJ: And you decided ultimately it was a film about Gary's life and not about becoming a pro wrestler?

CL: Why did we start making this film? We concluded that if we wanted to make a film about the "minor leagues" of independent wrestling promotions, we could have done that already. We were several months into shooting this thing and we decided that from the get-go, we had been following Gary and his family because that was really the drive and interest and meaning of the story.

CJ: Well since the focus of this story was and is Gary Mono. What can you tell us about Gary as a person?

CL: Gary is a chain smoker. He worked at a textile mill in Pendelton, South Carolina. He lived in a trailer with his wife, also a mill worker, and their two kids.

CJ: What is unique about this story? What pulled you in to wanting to shoot it?

CL: With all the movies that Michael and I had seen in our lives, we couldn't recall a single movie that had ever bothered to look inside one of these trailers and see how these folks lived, what they thought about the world and how they made their way in it.

CJ: So you decided to move forward without changing anything?

CL: So, wrestling became something of a backdrop to the story. The "real story" was Gary and his struggle. And that, I feel, is what we ultimately portrayed in the film.

CJ: So it was like filming a movie based around real life struggle's and simply using pro wrestling as a backdrop. It was actually insignificant Gary was attempting to become a wrestler. That simply tied neatly in to helping to market the film. What was it like to put this film together day to day?

CL: Well, Michael got to live a life-long dream of stepping through the ropes. One of the other wrestlers in the film, Scottie Wrenn, cracked one of Michael's ribs showing him how to take a hip toss.

CJ: And how did you do? Any broken bone's?

CL: I discovered that I could do a pretty good back bump and am pretty fast at running the ropes. If I had lived in Greer, SC, I probably would be wrestling today. I'm pretty stout. Michael said he would have been my manager. We were both English majors in college, so you've got to keep this whole wrestling idea in perspective for us.

CJ: Was it a hard sell to get financing for this film?

CL: The financing was a rotten issue. One early donor gave us just enough money to keep us going for six months, then the rest was up to us. We shot the film on digital video and did the post production work with our associate producers in Atlanta who agreed to let us edit for no change, but who get a percentage of the back end net profits.

CJ: Coming up with the rest of the funds on your own was difficult?

CL: Michael works as a roofer. I was freelancing in film and video in Atlanta, not the greatest filmmaking market on the planet, so scraping up the $7,000 we eventually spent to shoot the film wasn't always easy.

CJ: And you had a pretty hectic schedule working around filming this movie too I understand?

CL: I was road-tripping 120 miles one way every time we shot. We never expected the film to take as many twists and turns as it did.

CJ: Twists and turns? I like the sound of that, can you give us some examples.

CL: For example, nobody ever expected Gary to meet a woman on the Internet and fly to California to live with her, nor for Andrea, Gary's wife, to kick him out of the house and meet a man on the Internet herself. We never expected Scott, Gary's younger half-brother and hopeful tag team partner, to go to jail just two months into shooting. We never expected Gary's long distant mother to move to South Carolina and try to be a part of his life. We never expected rushing Gary to the hospital on the second night of his tryout. He thought he was having a heart attack because his elbows were numb (too many back bumps the day before) and his pulse was racing. (too many cigarettes, period.) We never thought Gary would get his Internet lover pregnant. We never thought we would wind up on a Greyhound bus shooting Gary and his son returning from California to go live with Scott, Gary's brother, only a quarter mile down the road from where the whole thing began. In short, it took damned near every twist and damned near every turn it could possibly take.

CJ: WOW. Incredible. I think we can expect a pretty unique film here. Did anything else happen which really came out of left field?

CL: What we never expected, however, was Gary crying his eyes out when we saw the film for the first time. His son and he were our guests at a fundraiser screening for the film. There were about 100 people there. His 10-year-old son stood up during the question and answer session after the film and said: "Y'all have been watching a film about my Dad. I just want to let you know that he's here tonight. I would like you to recognize him." It was a moment where Gary got the validation he had always wanted, 100 people turned around to face him and applauded him. I don't think many people had ever applauded Gary Mono in his life before that moment. It was, for everyone in the room, a deeply moving experience.

CJ: Not only a deeply moving vindication for Gary himself, but also for a film maker! How did you become a film maker?

CL: It's a roundabout answer, but it's been a long time in the making, so I'll start at the beginning. I'm Southern and so is my producing partner Michael Hayes. Storytelling is something that comes naturally to us, I believe. I come from a small town called Woodbridge, Virginia that was small enough to feel closed in as a curious and energetic teenager, but close enough to Washington DC to get to see great art films from Europe and American independent filmmakers in my late teens and early twenties. The films I saw changed my life - they were unlike the normal stuff you see on TV or at the local multiplex. They seemed to understand or at least try to communicate something about life other than how I was seeing it presented to me at the local chain theaters. After taking a course or two in college, I found that I had an understanding of the medium and, of course, wanted to take it farther. I went to college on a track and field scholarship and after injuries ended that part of my life, I used that energy to explore every artistic medium I could. I learned to play guitar. I studied photography. I started writing and had some poems, short stories and articles published. In 1991, I was a semi-finalist the in annual Rolling Stone Collegiate Journalist of the Year competition. I used that award to move into journalism and eventually wound up writing for the Atlanta Journal Constitution. I operated out of a suburban bureau of the AJC which let me shoot my own pictures for the articles I had written. The full time photographer broke his leg about two months into the job and I started shooting other stories in addition to continuing to write. And I found that I liked the photography better than the narrow confines of writing journalism. I could "say" anything I wanted with the camera, often much more than I could in a mere 12 column inches. So, the old film watching, studying, reading, etc. habits returned and soon I left journalism for the International Film and Television Workshops in Rockport, Maine in 1996. And I haven't looked back at journalism ever since.

CJ: What about your personal accomplishments? Can you give us some info on that?

CL: Aside from the stuff I've already mentioned, my clients have included: Coca Cola, PBS, CNN, BBC, CNBC, MSNBC, Fox, Georgia Pacific, Georgia Power, Children's National Medical Center, etc. I'm currently a Cinematography Fellow at the American Film Institute where I am pursuing a Master's Degree in Cinematography.

CJ: Turning back to professional wrestling. Did you learn anything about how tough life is for pro wrestlers daily?

CL: Absolutely! Like I said, I went to college on an athletic scholarship. At my best, I wonder if I could have been a serious pro wrestler. It is truly a different kind of endurance. Anybody can train to go out and run several miles, but try sprinting across a ring and having some 250 lb. guy kicking you in the gut and see how long you last. The ability that even an independent wrestler has to endure pain is amazing. You can't train for it except by doing it.

CJ: And there is no promise a well trained wrestler will become famous!

CL: As far as "getting famous" goes, well, that's a tough one to speculate on. There are so many "behind the scenes" deals and manipulations going on that it makes boxing look like a clean sport. The fact that wrestling is "sports entertainment" complicates the politics of the game enormously.

CJ: In who win's and loses you mean? Explain a little more.

CL: At what point is a wrestler's career being held back because a promoter simply doesn't like him? On the other hand, the guys who are doing it in the big leagues are amazing. I compare a good pro wrestling "performance" to that of a great acting job or a magician's act.

CJ: In which way?

CL: When you've seen Marlon Brando in "On The Waterfront," you get annoyed with all the second rate imitators. When you see an illusionist do his magic, you get depressed or angry at every lesser act where you see the "trick." We pay pro wrestlers to "sell" an act. You don't want to see the technique. You want to believe in the unbelievable. In real life, Bruce Willis can't fly a plane or blow stuff up any better than Jim Carey, probably. But if he "sells" it, we buy it. We go along for the ride. When a great pro wrestler sells his act, sells the move, puts the other guy over, get the crowd to pop, we're there on the ride, right where he wants us to be. That's the power and magic and greatness of it, isn't it?

CJ: Yeah, if you put it that way. I agree.

CL: So when you see it done right, you can hardly stomach it done poorly. On the independent level, you often see both.

CJ: Exactly. It is hard to stomach watching something done poorly if you are a fan of it, speaking of being fan of wrestling, which I am myself. Are you a fan?

CL: I am a fan. Michael is a bigger fan. Honestly, I wish wrestling had kept some of its innocence. I have an appreciation for flames and costumes and guys flying through the air, that's exciting as hell, but it gets old after a while. Then again, if all that we ever saw were submission holds, I'd probably get bored with that, too. I hate to sound like a complete geek here, but sometimes I do question how appropriate some of the stuff is for the little kids. Any decently adjusted early teen I think would have no problem with it. But a kid who lacks the maturing to understand the showmanship might run into some issues with reality and wrasslin'. Then again, when I was a little kid, my heroes were Muhammad Ali, Bruce Lee and Evel Knievel. We all played Kung Fu on each other and we all jumped our bicycles over the biggest ramps we could build out of spare plywood. We skateboarded empty pools and did all that stuff without helmet laws, and most of us made it to adulthood in pretty good condition, so I'm probably just getting soft in my early thirties here. Still, pro wrasslin' is a hell of a show, no doubt. I consider it a "blue collar opera." You ever study the story lines of an opera?

CJ: No, I can't say that I have. I am fond of Beethoven however.

CL: They're just as convoluted - who slept with who's woman, who hates who, who wants to kill who, etc. as any pro wrestling match. And like the singer who can sing better than the people watching, so can the wrestler flip, turn, pose, jump, slam, bleed and win better than the folks watching. Is it the same thing I used to watch on a black and white TV with my grandmother and my cousin when I was a kid? Nope. That's got its good points and its bad, like anything I suppose.

CJ: But isn't it just an extension of our culture? Pro wrestling didn't evolve in to being violent, American culture evolved in to being violent and the WWF simply followed the evolution. Do you think pro wrestling is too 'violent' these days and or uses too much 'sex' as a backdrop?

CL: Too some degree. I think it's something an adult can assimilate into their ideas about the world much more easily and productively than a child can. The reaction to sex and violence, I think, depends on the person watching it. The Greeks had their theories of "catharsis," whereby if you saw a murder story acted out on stage, it allowed you as an audience member to get those feelings out of your system. Not that I'm advocated drug use, but drugs are the same issue - one guy smokes marijuana and finds a peaceful meditation aid and the other guy smokes it and says "dude, I'm so fuckin' stoned" while vandalizing somebody's car.

CJ: I understand you recently debuted the film in Atlanta was it?

CL: The film just played the Atlanta Film and Video Festival on June 10th. It was well-received there and we're hoping to get it into more festivals.

CJ: And I hear it good very good reviews?

CL: Creative Loafing, an Atlanta news weekly, called the film "a cautionary tale about what happens when dreams don't work out. Refreshing, something you almost never see on film."

CJ: Are there any plans to expand the marketing approach of this film?

CL: Eventually, we will approach HBO and The Independent Film Channel for acquisition. We're trying to build the press kit up a bit more, though.

CJ: The film itself isn't a wrestling movie, but more of a movie about the life of Gary Mono. Do you think this will attract to wrestling fans?

CL: As far as the film itself goes, hardcore wrestling fans will want to see more wrestling and probably more known wrestlers. But that's what they're used to seeing in films like "Beyond The Mat." What we have is a film about a man who nobody outside his circle of family and friends has ever paid much attention to. It's a film about a man with dreams. Gary is a man who carries around a lot of emotional baggage from his childhood. He has the same dreams as a lot of people who watch pro wrestling. He also has a lot of bad habits and ultimately, the difference between "wanting to" do something and being in a position to actually do it become too great. Something eventually gives. That's what the film documents. In that, we feel that it is unique among wrestling documentaries.

CJ: No superstars, gimmicks, or catch phrases include right? (Laughs)

CL: No stars. No big money behind it. Just big dreams and one man who carries them around while his life is falling apart.

CJ: Have you run in to many problems marketing this film yet?

CL: As we've tried to publicize the film, we've been surprised how many people, successful or not, identify with Gary, his family situation, his hopes and dreams and ultimately, his sadness. It's been an eye opening experience for us, not only about filmmaking, storytelling and the like, but in how people live their lives, how much they're willing to open their lives to you even though they're hurting, and how real all the lives are outside the squared circle.