Biografia

Declined the offer to direct This Is Spinal Tap (1984), because she thought you couldn't make fun of Heavy Metal music.

She was the oldest of four children. She often had to look after her siblings because her dad was killed when she was seven and her mom worked several jobs. She often chooses to interview musicians with troubled backgrounds because she feels her background was just as troubled.

She has directed one film that has been selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant: The Decline of Western Civilization (1981).

She admits that she has two distinct careers, one where she does mainstream Hollywood films like Fusi di testa (1992) and the other, where she does independent music themed documentaries like the "Decline of Western Civilization" films.

She studied psychobiology (studying how the brain reacts to external forces) and film in college, eventually attending the film program at UCLA. After college, she produced short and feature length films directed by comic Albert Brooks, some of which were shown during the first season of Il Saturday Night Live (1975).

The Decline of Western Civilization (1981) was financed by two businessmen from the Valley who wanted to finance films. They had no idea I was going in to pitch a punk rock movie.

I generally think about myself as someone who studies human behavior and is trying to figure out what the hell is going on in our current society. If I can leave any film that helps define a certain time after I'm dead then that's great.

[on why she does documentaries about metal and punk music] "I mean, look, you don't see me making documentaries on Britney Spears, you know what I mean? Sweetheart of a little girl, you know. Or Madonna. That's not my thing. I just like this harder edge stuff. That's just me."

["After Fusi di testa (1992), you directed a bunch of studio fodder including Piccole canaglie (1994) and Effetti collaterali (1998). What steered you in this direction?") When someone offers you $2.5 million to direct a film, you just fucking take it. I took the money and made a bunch of movies - Piccole canaglie (1994), A Beverly Hills... signori si diventa (1993), La pecora nera (1996) and Effetti collaterali (1998). After I did Fusi di testa (1992) - I tried like hell to direct movies I had written and books that I wanted to adapt for film. I tried so hard to do something beside television remakes but I couldn't get anything going. That is where the sexism in the film industry becomes all too apparent. If I was a guy, I swear to God I would have been able to get my own shit going after "Wayne's World".

My whole career up until Fusi di testa (1992) didn't produce any monetary funds. When I directed Wayne's World, I made close to $150,000 - the biggest payday I had to date. My percentage points from Wayne's World enabled me to pay off all of the debts from my previous works, but I only came up even in the end.