Welcome to this page. Below are some questions that have been asked often enough that an answer page seemed worthwhile.
Where you really in Ferris Bueller's Day Off?
Yes. I’m one of the kids in the school hallway that’s talking to Mathew Broderick on the payphone. My line was basically “Shit I hope he doesn’t die, I can’t handle summer school.” My brother had this cool high school jacket he had borrowed from his friend so when filming started I wore it to set. John Hughes saw it and liked it and said just go on camera dressed as is. When the film came out my whole family went to the screening and when my scene came on my brother saw the jacket and punched me in the arm.
What is your affiliation with The Beastie Boys?
Besides ruining many Friday night basketball games, they would get me to do stuff for their zine Grand Royal. I did an article on Beat Boxing entitled Say It Don’t Spray It, one on pinball, and one on why white dudes have afros’ called The Link To The Kink. My only compensation was to be the Octopus monster in their music video Intergalactic.
Have you played other giant puppet roles?
Yes I was the chicken in the Cibo Matto music video Know Your Chicken and I played a giant baked potato on Conan O’Brian once.
Are you Michael Douglas?
No. But depending on my haircut I either look like a version of him from Romancing The Stone or Falling Down.
Who are The Barnstormers?
In 1999 a handful of artists from NYC and Tokyo drove to rural North Carolina to paint the old Tobacco Barns in the remote town of Cameron. This trip soon became a yearly Haj so to speak. It was a key time in the formative years of what is now known as “street art”. It helped propel the art careers of so many artists that continue to build and create seperately and together to this day. David Ellis, Kami and Sasu, Kenji Hirata, Mike Ming, Bluster One, Chejen, Miyooki, Espo, RoStarr, Maya Hayuk, Madsaki, Edik, Shai, Jose Parla, Plus One and more!
How did you find someone like The Sucklord?
I get asked this question often even more so when the exposure increased on Vimeo. People must think he lives under a rock but it's just Morgan. He is an artist and friend grinding it out in New York City. Yes he has his quirks but your friends will too once you make a film about them.
Was your short film Ex-Bully based on actual events?
The events depicted on screen happened to me when I was around six or seven years old by my older brothers.
Why are you credited as Director Of Special Forces in the film Beautiful Losers?
I was entrenched in the LES art world in the early Nineties on through and shot a ton of footage back then. I think Aaron Rose and I came up with that title for the many roles I had when that film was being made like research advisor, 8mm shooter, archival footage provider and etc. It’s a good film about a very unique time and space in New York City.
Who are the Bert Fershners?
The Bert Fershners was my sketch comedy group. We came up at the dawn of the alternative comedy scene in NYC in the Nineties and had a decade of laughs and successes and then we stopped. A documentary in the making.
Do you have a mentor?
Henry Chalfuant has been my mentor. He made the seminal documentary film Style Wars along with Tony Silver. It’s a must-see film that turned me on to making movies about things you love. After he saw Breath Control he asked me to make the film Style Wars Revisited with him. I got to meet and work with some of the greatest Grafitti legends of all time. The best summer job ever.
What happened to Breath Control: The History Of The Human Beat Box?
Music licensing is what happened to the film. I still get request to see it and screen it to this day but to put it out officially will cost so for now it remains an underground film.
What was your first job in film?
I started off as a boom operator. I feel it is one of the best jobs in the business if you want to learn hands on how films are made and get paid. You have a front row seat on a live set and get to watch the inner workings of the Director/Actor/DP relationship while also being a vital part of the team.
How did you break into the film business in NYC?
I walked into a production company called Hex Films because they made a music video for De La Soul that I liked and asked if I could be a Production Assistant. My advantage over the other PA’s back then was I hadn’t grown up in Manhattan and actually knew how to drive. Hired on the spot. It was during a crazy fun time in Hip Hop music videos. This was when House Of Pain, Cypress Hill, Brand Nubian, Gang Starr, The Fugees, Mariah Carey, and Wu Tang were all coming up. I worked for, under, and around Kevin Bray, Gina Harrell and David Shadi Perez. That was one of the few jobs I had that turned into an unpaid internship.
Where you ever in a band?
Yes kinda? I was in a Black Sabbath cover band called Hand Of Doom. It was an experiment that myself and friend Molly Stern started just to see where it could go. We wound up acquiring some amazing musicians including Pedro Yanowitz on drums, Guy Stevens on Guitar, and Melissa Auf Der Mar was our Ozzy. We wound up touring North America and recording a live tribute album. We played in front of thousands for Canada Day and in front of 5 people in Staten Island. Then we broke up. Perfect.
Were you really asked to sneak an explosive onto an airplane?
Yes. Once.