‘Bizarro’ cult director tackles anti-Asian racism in a way that only he can

By Amelia Anthony

Rivas (IMDb)

Whether or not you’re ready for the first pandemic movie, Eric Spade Rivas is coming for you. The Brooklyn-based director is at work making an indie flick about our Covid year, and rewriting a bit of history as it happens. His next action film “Duke of New York” chronicles a villainous producer (played by columnist-gadfly Michael Musto), who tries to trick a movie director into killing an Asian actor (Brian Lau) in a backwards revenge plot for the coronavirus pandemic. Rivas’ campy-culty body of work to date includes the “Vamp Biker” trilogy and “Japanese Borscht,” which also stars Lau.

Brooklyn Magazine spoke with Rivas about “Duke of New York,” which he says will be ready some time in June, and shooting during lockdown.

Why make “Duke of New York?”
With the pandemic, I thought, there’s a lot of racism going against Asians right now. Trump was saying all these things, Kung Flu, these horrible things about Asians. And I said to myself, “What if there was some sick elite producer that just wanted to see an Asian killed on film, and he was able to come back, and demolish everybody that tried to kill him.” I thought it would be a cool action flick, like a lot of the kung fu flicks I watched when I was young.

So do you see your work as having a political bent usually?
I never thought of taking any sort of stance with politics. Even with this, I don’t feel like I’m saying so much politically, as I am about humanity.

When dealing with issues of race in the film, are you drawing on your own experiences as a Puerto Rican in Brooklyn?
I’m Puerto Rican-Argentinian. I grew up what they call Nuyorican, in New York. So, I think I have a lot of outsider in me and I identify with that.

How did you maneuver shooting like a film during the pandemic?
Well, it actually fits my style completely, because I just shoot. I don’t go and get location permission. I don’t go to the city for that. I shoot at friends’ houses, I go to Coney Island. Coney Island is like a home studio, especially when it’s cold. You can go there and shoot anywhere. It really fits for somebody like me. Someone that would be a stickler for these things like, you know, organizing shoots and times and getting permission, I think they would have a nightmare. So this is tailor-made for a crazy person like me. It’s perfect.

So Page Six calls you a “bizarro” movie director. How do you feel about that?
I don’t know where he got that word or why. But I mean, I did a trilogy of vampire films. And I had a crazy cast: Michael Musto and Chi-Chi from Scarface. I would say “bizarro,” maybe because I’m not the usual director. I’m definitely not the guy with the budget. We don’t have no budget. The budget is me and my fingertips editing. Everybody that comes out is for the love. So, in a way I feel like I am getting more for the dollar.

What do you look for in an actor?
First of all his ambition and desire to do it. That’s the most important thing to me. After that is, do they fit? Do they sell that character? Since I wasn’t given so many chances in acting, I love when someone wants to do something, they want to be involved. It’s hard for me to say no. It’s picking people that are willing to, you know, get dirty and get into it. I think Michael Alig said that to me once: with the lack of money the art is better, because once you get the money, then you don’t know what people are really doing.

How did growing up in Brooklyn inspire you and your work?
We grew up jumping turnstiles. We grew up fighting. We grew up doing graffiti on rooftops. Outside the lines of the law a little bit. When you’re outside filming, you’re willing to take a lot of risks. You have to be careful how much sometimes.

Do you have any favorite New York or Brooklyn movies?
I love “Do the Right Thing” by Spike Lee. That’s one of my favorite films. “Requiem for a Dream” I really liked. That was [filmed at] Coney Island a lot. Sometimes it’s tough, because you’re from Brooklyn, like you’re tough on the film. It has to be something you’ve really seen.

What about out of all your works—which one is your favorite?
I just might say this one, because it is combining all of my learning over the past 13 or 14 years of filmmaking in New York City. This is my tribute to New York, because it’s the place where I grew up, and I wanted New York to stand up during the pandemic. I wanted New York to make it through. Of course, we wear masks and we do what we have to do, but we try to continue living, you know?