From the "People" Archives:

by Aaron Krach

Not many people get the chance to make a feature film only two months after graduating from film school, at the age of 21, and with a budget of more than $1 million. But that's what happened to Manuel Toledano, a Spaniard transplanted to New York City. The resulting film, "Shampoo Horns" is a bizarre mix of fact and fiction about drugs, dreams, and club kids. Toledano tapped into Spanish resources to complete the film. The unconventional narrative defies the traditional, indie niche market, yet will open in New York City tomorrow

"Shampoo Horns" is a hard film to pin down; one part "Spinal Tap", another part Fellini, but ultimately Toledano's. indieWIRE caught up with the Toledano, during a "crazy week" before the opening.

indieWIRE: Some people slave over their scripts for years. Explain how "Shampoo Horns" got off the ground so quickly. And how did you meet Elias Querejeta?

Manuel Toledano: For me it was really fast. I just got out of school. I thought I was going to be making coffee for years. I graduated from NYU in June 1995 and got the contract to shoot the movie 2 months after. In Spain, he [Querejeta] is like this really big guy. He has made about 60 movies. He's got Palme d'Ors in Cannes and Academy Award nominations. He's been around forever. He had just opened an office here to try and sell his movies better in the states. Someone from his company saw the short film I made at NYU called "Soledad, Soledad."

I won a Mobil award at NYU, and after that they really help promote you. So I went out to L.A. to meet these producers. They always tell you to bring a script and so I brought this 60 page, mockumentary script. And everyone said, "Well maybe the next one." But Elias liked it, even though it's nothing like his movies. But he saw a human side to it.

iW: So he came in as the producer and found you the money?

Toledano: Right. The way it works in Spain, there is the government sponsors and the national T.V. station, Canal+. With some other investments we got into it right away.

iW: The premiere was at last year's Berlin Film Festival. Why has the distribution taken so long?

Toledano: The problem is that Elias's movies have never made it big in the States. So the people that were working for him were making mistake after mistake after mistake. They were showing it in private screenings for distributors which really freaks them out, 'cause they have never seen people like this. It was going to play at Sundance, but we didn't make it because there was a problem and the producer didn't want to rush it for a festival. But in Berlin it did really well. It was jam-packed, but they didn't have any distributors there. They didn't even think of it. We eventually found Mike Thomas, the original co-founder of Strand who is helping us out. It's coming out in May in Spain. It's already come out in Greece -- Because of Mykonos. They bought it right away and wanted it to play before everyone left at the end of summer. We played at the market in Cannes. It was really weird because the countries that usually buy your film first are England, Germany, Japan but for us it was Greece and Turkey.

iW: Alfredo Mayo, the D.P. is amazing. How did you find him?

Toledano: From Elias, the producer. He's probably the person I learned the most from. The way he works, the little things. He lit entire scenes with flashlights. He has done some Almodovar films, "Tie Me Up, Tie Me Down" and "Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown."

iW: Not many directors have had the experience of working with a cast of club kids. What was it like?

Toledano: The cast was great and hell. When I wrote the script there were three main stories and there were already main people attached to them. But some of the small parts there were changes 'cause I couldn't get a hold of them, or because they wouldn't show up. Some of them were great, but some of them when they read the script they thought, "this isn't me." Their egos. . . Then there was the whole drug thing. And back then was the good time for them in the clubs. I had two people hired on call, just to call and find people to make sure the cast was at a certain place at the right time. For a month and a half I was a Dad and they were my kids. For my next film I just want actors who want to act. And not just people who want to be in a movie.

iW: How do you have a costume and make-up person for all these club kids?

Toledano: Well the costume person was only doing 20% of the costumes. But the costume person had to go door to door and talk to the actors and pick out what they wanted to wear and bring it to me. Then they had to basically kidnap the clothes for a month and a half. But everyday they would bring a new accessory and I would say OK, you can wear that purse but in three weeks when we do the second part of this scene you have to wear that same purse. Then they would say they lost it and we would just have to go on. Make-up; at the beginning everyone wanted to do their own make-up. Of course when they saw the one's who were getting their make-up done and getting the princess treatment, they all wanted to have their make-up done for them.

iW: How do feel about the whole club kid murder/Peter Gatien drug supermarket trial controversies?

Toledano: I wanted to avoid the controversy for two years. But after a year and half of not being able to sell the movie... -- and there's things like the "Party Monster" documentary about Michael Alig at Sundance and Michael Alig events are selling out -- we decided to use it. And unfortunately that's the way to get people to go and see it.