CONFESSIONS OF A SUPERHERO

I've always been intrigued by the people who dress as superheroes on Hollywood Boulevard. In case you've never come across them, these guys hang around outside the Mann's Chinese Theater posing with excited tourists who've never heard of fancy dress shops. I became even more interested a couple of years ago when I saw YouTube footage of Batman and Spider Man kicking the shit out of someone, while a panicked onlooker screamed, "The police are on their way, Batman." Director Matt Ogens was also curious, and a couple of years ago started on a documentary about four aspiring actors stuck on the Mann's doorstep in leotards. Three of them have had troubled lives. The guy who plays Superman had crystal meth problems, The Hulk used to be homeless, Batman has severe anger management issues ("He will choke a woman if she doesn't tip him," says his wife), and alludes to a history with the Mafia.

Confessions Of A Superhero

(which just came out on DVD) is odd, funny, and sad. I spoke to Matt Ogens.

VICE: What's great about the film is that it's a really unique take on people trying to break out of their lives.

Matt Ogens:

Yeah, when you really peel the onion it's about characters trying to make it, and yeah they're quirky, and maybe you and I would go about trying to make it and be successful in a different way, but they're still people trying to fulfill their dreams.

Especially the clichéd Los Angeles world where every waiter wants to be an actor.

It's funny, I live here and in some ways we have such bad customer service in restaurants and hotels because they're just temporary jobs people have until they make it. So you go to a nice restaurant and spend money and the waiter acts like he's doing you a favor. But it doesn't get much tougher than where these guys are. There's a naivety to what they do, it's not the best way of trying to make it in Hollywood. Tourists come and hang out on that block on Hollywood Boulevard. Actors, directors and producers don't.

It's horrible there.

It's horrible, it's just tourists. How do they expect to make it as actors there? No producers are going to come and discover them.

It's a really sterile and seedy place.

Well that's kind of how I came up with the idea. I was directing a commercial on that stretch and I kept seeing these characters, and when you first look at them if you're a kid or a tourist, you might think it's wonderful. But what interested me is that there's a seedy part to it. Look at that guy over there in the Superman outfit smoking a cigarette around the corner. Where does he live? What does he do when he goes home? If you open your eyes, beyond the surface it's a boulevard of broken dreams, a darker side.

What I find funny is that anyone can go and hire or buy a superhero outfit. But tourists assume it's an official licensed attraction.

Some studios have sent them cease and desist letters as they're infringing on their characters, but you can't sue them, they don't have money. Personally I think they're only helping, they're keeping the image alive. But they've gotten in trouble before. They don't work for anyone. You go up to them and get a picture and give them a tip, although technically they're not even allowed to ask for money. And sometimes they get pissed when someone doesn't pay them.

Well at least two or three of the four people in your film are clearly unstable.

Yeah. Even after the film, I got some calls from The Hulk that were not pleasant. He was this really nice guy, but all of a sudden he started freaking out on me because he wasn't on the cover of the DVD, Superman was. Jen (Wonder Woman) is the most normal, but there was a little bit of anger in the others. When I'm done on a documentary, I move on to another project. But for some of them, this was the biggest thing in their lives, and when it was done I think they expected to become rich and famous, or at least expected me to drag them along. But I can't get them roles in movies. And they just sat there and did nothing. The Hulk asked me, "Why can't you get me roles, why can't you get me an agent?" And a couple of them think I'm a millionaire from this documentary, which is obviously not the case.

There does seem to be a sense of entitlement with Superman and Batman.

Yeah. And those two got in major fights with each other throughout filming. They didn't speak because Batman would blame Superman for things. He blames George Clooney for why he hasn't made it. I don't see it, but he thinks he looks so similar to him and thinks nobody's going to hire someone who looks so similar to George Clooney. There's a lot of anger in him.

He's clearly not suited to interacting with the public.

No. The guy's been arrested more than once. And after he got arrested he was banned from even being in that zip-code for three years, so he went and got security work. And unless he gets his anger under control, I think he could hurt someone, or get hurt himself. I wish him success and happiness, but he's got to deal with his anger, it's unbelievable. I had threats from him.

Really?

Oh yeah, I almost got a restraining order against him after the film. The emails and phone calls were threatening.

Why was he threatening you?

He burned bridges with us, and when we started going to film festivals with the characters, we didn't bring him. I couldn't got to South By Southwest and have him representing my film then getting in a fight with someone. He was a liability. And then he started saying we made things up in the film, which isn't possible. We didn't dub his voice. And there were the things he revealed in the psychiatrist office.

He confesses to murder!

Right. And by the way I didn't know about that, although I don't necessarily believe it. But that was the first time I heard it, it was the first time he said it.

Whose idea was it for him to go to a psychiatrist in costume?

It was my idea for them all to have a therapy session, a different way of getting information. They thought it was a good idea. But we went in there with me thinking it would be light and comedic, talking about the idea of people leading a double life, trying to make it in Hollywood dressed up as characters. But I didn't know he was going to show up in his costume.

It's one of the most surreal scenes I've seen in a documentary. He's sitting there dressed as Batman then he says he murdered someone. The psychiatrist doesn't know what the hell's going on.

I didn't know what the hell was going on. ALEX GODFREY