I had heard about Isabella Rossellini’s new role as a "insect-sex (insex?) advocate" on Sundance’s educational Green Porno series, but it wasn’t until a friend sent me a link to the website — which has posted the short films for streaming — that I really got uncomfortable. (And of course had to watch them all, you know, so I could write this post with the journalistic integrity required of a PopWatch scribe.) Anyway, do check ‘em out if you think you’d enjoy watching Rossellini dressed in a variety of insect guises doing what the birds and the (you got it!) bees do. It’s sort of SFW, in the way that the Team America marionette-sex scene is SFW. (I’d link to it, but I can’t seem to find it online… curious, that.)
Here’s my question about the Green Porno films — who’s their intended audience? They can’t be for kids, despite the cutesy outfits and soft colors. The "Snail" film (pictured) has more in common with Secretary than with Sesame Street. Especially the part where she informs us, graphically so, about where the snail’s, er, anus, is unfortunately positioned. (I’m sure there’s a Love Guru joke in here somewhere.)
So! If you’ve watched Green Porno, do you feel any differently about the former Lancome model (who, granted, has starred in some pretty out-there films)? Besides Rossellini, are there any other stars that have played roles that make you similarly uncomfortable?
Um, Robert Downey Jr as a black man in Tropic Thunder. Yeah, I think that.
OH NO! She’s an inspiration!
I have to say it:
John Travolta as Edna Turnblatt. It’s too creepy.
Personally, I think they’re hilarious. I spent most of yesterday watching them again and again, and giggling. My favorite is in the fly sequence when she grins after humping the other fly. The woman has some sense of comic gravity.
When I saw the very overweight and disgusting-looking Marlon Brando in the 1996 version of THE ISLAND OF DR. MOREAU, I said to myself, “This man should never get in front of the camera again!”
The Comeback: Lisa Kudrow as Valerie Cherish. I still can’t make it through 10 minutes at a time, no matter how hilarious it is.
As uncomfortable as it makes you, I learned more from watching Green Porno than any science class. I can see that being an awesome teaching tool for high school students. It’s not very salacious, and it’s entertaining.
I found it vaguely unsettling when George “The Seven Words You Can’t Say on Television” Carlin played grandfatherly Mr. Conductor on Thomas the Tank Engine. I love GC, but it was just surreal. I felt like I was on a weak dose of acid every time the kids I baby-sat fior turned it on.
Willem Dafoe as Jesus makes me uncomfortable too, I guess because he’s most famous for playing villains. I can see him as Satan easily, but the Son of God? Come on! He was the frickin’ Green Goblin!
I saw the Green Porno shorts at the Tribeca Film Festival with Isabella Rossellini in the audience. I thought they were hilarious and the crowd agreed. After the screening, she asked if she would be making more and when she said she was thinking maybe of doing some with marine animals like clams, the crowd went wild with applause. I think the audience for the shorts are discerning people looking for something different and funny.
I found it disturbing to see Denise Richards play a nuclear scientist in The World Is Not Enough. The role was disturbing enough to make me question my James Bond fandom. Since then, all the posters got taken down, I sold my first edition copies of the Ian Fleming novels AND opted to give away my nearly impossible to find Auric Goldfinger action figure. Yeah, the role was THAT disturbing to me.
I’m pretty sure it wasn’t intended, but, during “The Happening”, I was uncomfortable the entire time watching Mark Wahlberg play a science teacher (as well as playing a guy named “Elliot”).
Still, I wasn’t as uncomfortable as Wahlberg looked. I felt pretty embarrassed for him.
Why wasn’t “green porno” must listed? I agree it’s disturbing, but like Ms Day, I had to see them all. This series could become very addicting if they made more of them…
Lily Tomlin and John Travolta as lovers in Moment by Moment.
Then again maybe that belongs in the same category as Denise Richards as a nuclear physicist – Movies that should have been rated FP (for Flying Pigs)
A ticket to Irkville could definitely be issued by the McPoyle brothers (Nate Mooney & Jimmi Simpson) on ‘It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia”, especially when they’re accompanied by their deaf-mute sister (Thesy Surface) for reasons I dare not say (Ah what the hell- They are down for some serious incest action). I don’t know if I could bare to watch them if they weren’t responsible for some of the most hilarious episodes on that show.
Rosie O’Donnel as a dominatrix in EXIT TO EDEN. Oh no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no!!!
On the other hand, Dana Delany as a dominatrix in EXIT TO EDEN. Oh yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes!