November 9, 2002 -- Larry Clark stands up for U.S.
MAVERICK director Larry Clark beat up the distributor for his movie
"Ken Park" after the jerk declared that America deserved to get
attacked on 9/11.
Clark, who helmed "Kids" and "Bully," delivered a brutal beat-down to
Hamish McAlpine after the screwy Scotsman started spewing
anti-American and anti-Israeli sentiments during dinner at London's
posh Charlotte Street Hotel Thursday night.
An enraged Clark, 59, punched McAlpine several times in the face -
breaking his nose - choked him, then overturned the dinner table on
the bloodied big mouth.
Clark was arrested by London police - and now McAlpine is pulling "Ken
Park" from the London Film Festival, where it was supposed to unspool
tonight.
"He says he's not going to distribute the film now and he's pulling it
from the film festival," Clark told us from London yesterday. "He can
be mad at me for punching him in the nose, but don't take it out on
'Ken Park.' "
Clark said he lost it when McAlpine ranted that 9/11 "was the best
thing that ever happened to America" and declared that innocent
Israelis blown up by Palestnian suicide bombers "deserved to die."
"I was wrong," Clark said. "I shouldn't have punched him. I shouldn't
have lost it. But at the same time, I wouldn't have been able to look
myself in the mirror the next morning if I hadn't done anything. I'm
not gonna let this [bleeping] idiot talk about supporting terrorism
and the killing of innocent people. I am an American!"
Diners who witnessed the restaurant ruckus included "Ken Park" starlet
Tiffany Limos, Clark's co-director, Edward Lachman, and Mel B of the
Spice Girls, who was sitting at a nearby table. Clark said the police
who arrested him were sympathetic. "The cops were very nice and they
seemed to feel like they would have done the same thing," he told us.
"They let me go with a ticket."
But "Ken Park" is sure to suffer a harsher fate than its hot-tempered
helmer.
The controversial flick, which features lots of male and female
full-frontal nudity and an explicit three-way sex scene, has yet to
find a distributor in the U.S. Now, "Ken Park" may not be seen in the
U.K.
The buzz surrounding "Ken Park" is similar to the chatter that
accompanied the release of his debut "Kids," in 1995. The critically
acclaimed flick featured a gang of Manhattan skater kids who spend
their days brawling, doing drugs and having unprotected sex. It
launched the careers of Chloe Sevigny and Rosario Dawson.
Invitees to tonight's aborted screening in London included director
Steven Frears, designers Alexander McQueen and Stella McCartney,
Matthew Williamson and Bay Garnett.
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