Over 10 years in the making, Bright Red Rocket releases the documentary about alternative cartoonist and provocateur: Tony Millionaire.
Filmed over a decade, the movie aims to answer the question: Who is Tony Millionaire? It’s the story of a loud giant of a man, chasing people around with his false teeth, performing drunk on stage, and being the worst party guest; the guy who did that thing last weekend that everyone was talking about. He is also the artist behind Maakies, a weekly comic strip featuring a drunk bird (Drinky Crow) and a foul-mouthed sailor monkey (Uncle Gabby).
But he also makes beautifully rendered drawings in pen and ink (many of his portraits were seen in The Believer), colorful and sweet children’s books about a Sock Monkey in a Victorian house, and was a devoted father to his daughters.
Through contrasts and contradictions, the film is a story about a man, an artist, a boyfriend, a father, a performer, a searcher. It’s a story about telling stories, and the revelation that life is also a performance. The film may raise more questions than it answers. The documentary is a love song sung by a ribald chorus of drunk sailors at a cartoonists’ bar. It’s raunchy, lewd, profane and raw in its honesty, but also sweet, sensitive and touching. Fast paced with hundreds of edits, it’s captures the art and person of Tony Millionaire himself.
Featuring interviews with over 50 cartoonists, artists, editors, and musician, including Renee French, Johnny Ryan, James Urbaniak, Jon Sarkin, and Kaz. You can view the trailer here. Runtime: 99 minutes, 16:9, English with closed caption.
Excerpt from “The Comics Journal” interview with Tony Millionaire by John Kelly
Q: How weird is it watching a movie about yourself?
Tony: It’s super fucking weird. When Tim first started talking to me about it, I was like, no way! I’m not making a movie about myself! Who would want to see that?? And then I heard he was going around interviewing old girlfriends and stuff, old friends of mine…finally, I get a call from my mother, saying, “Oh, I just talked with your friend, the one making the movie about you…” I was like, “Jesus! You’re interviewing my mother!” So I called Tim up to read him the riot act and he was like, “Calm down…calm down. Just come over and see what I’ve got so far. I think you’ll like it.”
And so…you know. It’s like how everyone hates the sound of their own voice, like you’d hear on an answering machine or something. “Hey! I don’t sound like that! I don’t look like that!” At first I hated looking at myself and a lot of it’s embarrassing because a lot of the movie is people talking about me doing stupid shit and telling stories about what an idiot I was…but it’s a great movie. It really captures a time—a long time—in my life.
Q: The movie is filled with people telling stories about things you did when you were drunk. Now that you’re no longer drinking, are there plans for a Part Two—Tony’s Life Today?
Tony: Yeah. We’re starting on that right away. It’s going to be the most boring fucking movie ever made. [Laughs]
You can read the entire interview by John Kelly on “The Comics Journal” here: https://www.tcj.com/im-a-legendary-drunk-right-a-sober-interview-with-tony-millionaire/