John Roecker

John Roecker (born 30 January 1966) is an American film director. Roecker's works include Live Freaky! Die Freaky!, Heart Like a Grenade, Disease Is Punishment, and The Fear (Morty's Theme). Roecker resides in California where he focuses on independent film directing and production.

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I just don't think religion should be a money making organization. There is never a need to send churches or cults money for any reason. If you want to feel good about yourself or make your God happy, give your money directly to a charity or a homeless person. But once again this is my opinion, and I don't want to be in a position of also dictating.
- Terrell, Kristopher (August 23, 2003). "An Epic Interview with John Roecker". FilmJerk (www.filmjerk.com).

Everything that is good in the arts is done by some sort of diversion.
- Terrell, Kristopher (August 23, 2003). "An Epic Interview with John Roecker". FilmJerk (www.filmjerk.com).

When I saw The Passion of the Christ it made me feel better about what I was doing. And I thought, No way is that fucker going to outdo me! I demanded more blood.
- Reighley, Kurt B. (February 14, 2006). "Freaky deaky: gay music video director John Roecker takes stop-motion animation to bizarre places in his debut feature Live Freaky! Die Freaky!". The Advocate.
It is hard to explain to people now how hard it was being a punk back then [the 1970s]. If you had short hair, didn't wear bell bottoms and walked down the street, chances are some asshole in an El Camino was going to kick your ass.
- Wolf, Mary Montgomery (2007). "We accept you, one of us?": Punk rock, community, and individualism in an uncertain era, 1974--1985. ProQuest. p. 226. ISBN 9780549325819.
I wanted to push the envelope, and I wanted to go so far as to actually offend both the liberals and the right. I think I have succeeded.
- Lecaro, Lina (February 28, 2006). "Punk Puppet Apocalypse: Starring members of Green Day, Rancid, X and more, Live Freaky! Die Freaky! is guaranteed to offend". LA Weekly (LA Weekly LP).

A lot of the times with porn, it's instant fame. The only thing I can compare it to is being a child actor. You get it fast, then there's a shelf-life for it. With mainstream films, you've got to go to acting classes, you've really got to hustle, there's so much competition, but with these [porn] guys, if you're good-looking with a great body, you're in like Flynn.
- Lamble, David (December 4, 2008). "Erotic superstars, up-close & personal: here!TV's 'Everything You Wanted to Know About Gay Porn Stars'". The Bay Area Reporter (Benro Enterprises, Inc.).

I wanted to look at how people deal with death … Why is Henry Kissinger not in jail and Charles Manson is?
- Talcott, Christina (January 27, 2006). "Film Notes: John Roecker's 'Freaky' Puppet Show". The Washington Post (The Washington Post Company).

Manson's the man who's responsible for "killing the Sixties." He really knew how to play up the whole "most dangerous man alive" thing when at the time, the most dangerous man alive was Richard Nixon.
- Savlov, Marc (January 27, 2006). "Punk, Puppets, and Manson as Messiah: John Roecker on 'Live Freaky! Die Freaky!'". Austin Chronicle (Austin Chronicle Corp.).

When they told me they were gonna call the record American Idiot, I was the one who was saying, 'Oh no, you can't.' I was the one who was worried about it. Because when you think about it, we know the song now, but then it was a really fucking bold thing to do.
- Commenting on his friendship with members of the musical band Green Day — quoted in Egerdahl, Kjersti (2009). Green Day: A Musical Biography. Greenwood. p. 113. ISBN 0313365970.

Live Freaky! Die Freaky! will be, without a shadow of a doubt, the single greatest film of all time about Charles Manson being the savior to all humanity in the year 3069.
- Terrell, Kristopher (August 23, 2003). "An Epic Interview with John Roecker". FilmJerk (www.filmjerk.com).

Writer-director John Roecker's debut, Live Freaky! Die Freaky! will have you convulsing on the floor … with nausea, laughter, or both.
- Reighley, Kurt B. (February 14, 2006). "Freaky deaky: gay music video director John Roecker takes stop-motion animation to bizarre places in his debut feature Live Freaky! Die Freaky!". The Advocate.

It's the most obscene film I've ever seen.
- Roddy Bottum, commenting on Roecker's work directing Live Freaky! Die Freaky! — quoted in Reighley, Kurt B. (February 14, 2006). "Freaky deaky: gay music video director John Roecker takes stop-motion animation to bizarre places in his debut feature Live Freaky! Die Freaky!". The Advocate.

Roecker sure is a romantic about certain things, like art and music, though you might not know it from watching Live Freaky! Die Freaky!, his claymation musical retelling of the Helter Skelter Charlie Manson saga.
- Lecaro, Lina (February 28, 2006). "Punk Puppet Apocalypse: Starring members of Green Day, Rancid, X and more, Live Freaky! Die Freaky! is guaranteed to offend". LA Weekly (LA Weekly LP).

John Roecker's Everything You Wanted to Know About Gay Porn Stars *but were afraid to ask, is an intimate, brave and frequently witty exploration inside the heads of 16 male erotic video performers, many with well-known nom de porns: Johnny Hazzard, Brad Benton, Nick Capra and Jason Ridge.
- Lamble, David (December 4, 2008). "Erotic superstars, up-close & personal: here!TV's 'Everything You Wanted to Know About Gay Porn Stars'". The Bay Area Reporter (Benro Enterprises, Inc.).

Any movie about cult figure Charles Manson needs lots of sex, drugs and blood. But as John Roecker discovered while filming his first feature -- screening Friday and Saturday only at the Avalon -- the key to amping up the gore is an old standby: puppets.
- Talcott, Christina (January 27, 2006). "Film Notes: John Roecker's 'Freaky' Puppet Show". The Washington Post (The Washington Post Company).

Roecker seems to have been as inspired by Todd Haynes's legendary underground film "Superstar" -- in which he told Karen Carpenter's life story with surprising tenderness using Barbie dolls and a bootlegged soundtrack -- as by the stop-motion animation of Ray Harryhausen and the "Frosty the Snowman" cartoon.
- Ann Hornaday — quoted in Hornaday, Ann (January 27, 2006). "One Forgettable 'Freak' Show". The Washington Post (The Washington Post Company).

Wal-Mart has made it known that it will decline to stock Roecker's film, an honor despite itself and one that speaks volumes about Roecker's talents.
- Savlov, Marc (January 27, 2006). "Punk, Puppets, and Manson as Messiah: John Roecker on 'Live Freaky! Die Freaky!'". Austin Chronicle (Austin Chronicle Corp.).