SKIN: NUDITY IN THE MOVIES
Q+A with Creator Jim McBride aka Mr.Skin
Jim McBride, creator and co-founder of Mr. Skin and the executive producer of a new documentary SKIN: A History of Nudity in the Movies, graciously spent some time with our Editor. The documentary had instant success as a VOD on Amazon Prime and other outlets. The film was quickly sold to Hulu and is performing incredibly well. You can see it for free on Hulu. SKIN: A HIstory of Nudity in the Movies is extremely entertaining, in fact it is a perfect combination of history and nudity in cinema. Here is Jim McBride’s exclusive interview with PROVOKR:
When did your fascination with Hollywood nudity begin?
Well I grew up as a child of the 70s and all I had to watch was ABC, NBC, and CBS – with NO NUDITY. Then my family got cable TV in the fall of 1980, and on top of that my dad bought us a betamax! That convergence of technologies was all I needed. I began taping every show in the cable guide with nudity. I was hooked.
How long did it take to put the documentary together once you were committed?
Approximately 18 months from pre-production to final cut. Paul Fishbein (former owner of AVN) and I were executive producers – meaning we put up the money, and Paul was able to put a great production team together led by Danny Wolf our director. I was able to help with the writing side by hiring my former head writer at Mr. Skin, Mike McPadden, who was a HUGE help in deciding which scenes to include in the documentary. Mike recently passed away and we will miss him a lot.
The history of nudity in the movies is so fascinating and at times political, what was your biggest take away from your research?
The pre-Hays code (1934) stuff was amazing and the fact that there was so much nudity and debauchery in Hollywood before that. Many people who have seen the documentary have said the same thing.
What was your sexiest discovery during your research?
The sexiest discovery was how many actors embraced their nudity and weren’t forced or coerced. They felt that as long as nudity was internal to the role they were playing and the script, they had no problems with it.
The movie posters for films precode are so sexy – do you have a favorite?
Birds of Paradise, 42nd Street and Bombshell.
Do you have a favorite movie nude scene?
I always tell people the greatest movie nude scene of all time is 57 minutes into FAST TIMES AT RIDGEMONT HIGH when Phoebe Cates opens her bikini top in Judge Reinhold’s fantasy. It had it all – classic movie, beautiful actress, great music, and it was even in slow motion!
