1. Well Michael, Catherine has been released.
  Yes we started shipping the 12 of September [2005]. 
2. And how is it being received?
  I think the numbers are good, and most of the reviews have been positive, which isn’t always the case with my work.
3. Do the bad reviews bother you?
  Not when I think the reviewer is being fair. Believe me, I know when I failed as a director I see all the mistakes and know all of the compromising that goes along with making an adult film. When a reviewer attacks me personally, or writes a review that is bad just for the sake of trying to make a name for himself, I think that it’s not right but I’m not going to lose any sleep over what he had to say. Look, I don’t think everything I do is great. I am happy if I get it right 50% of the time. If you make a movie with any depth, you are going to touch your audience in different ways. Some will love what you’re trying to do; others will hate it. I think most people can see when a reviewer is really writing a review about my movie or just attacking me or my style.
4. Most major directors, even in Hollywood, don’t like to talk much about the meaning of their films. Why have you decided to answer some questions about Catherine?
  The main reason is because people seem to want more answers with this film, or maybe I’m just more attuned to the questions at this point in my career. I find it a little embarrassing sometimes to actually have the talent speak the things I'm trying to convey in the story, so I try to use a lot of metaphors that can be interpreted in many ways. My goal is never to confuse the viewer nor be pretentious, although I can see how a reviewer may think this sometimes. The idea of making a film for me starts with texture. What is this film going to look like? Then I move on to the questions of what it will say, who will it say it, and most importantly, how we will say it together. 
5. That’s an unusual approach to a story I would say. So let’s start with the obvious in our example here. What would you say Catherine “is about?” 
 

Well that’s the million dollar question ain’t it? What is Catherine about? I think it’s about different things to different people, like most things in life. I can only tell you what it’s about to me, but that doesn’t make it the truth. The viewer might interpret the film better than I could or call something to my attention that I did not consciously set out to do. Let me give you an example: Here is something one of the members of MichaelNinn.com wrote on the Message Board and it’s as close to my truth as anything I have read about Catherine to date. 

As I watched it, what I saw was a compilation of nasty, angry, but undeniably hot sex. After I saw the end, I had to restate my view of the whole thing.

Catherine-White has serious problems of which she is aware, at least
subconsciously, and to their sexual extent. To deal with them she visualizes Catherine-Black and projects her man into what she hoped her relationship could be. The scene follows the same lines of what I originally posted on the message board. She was raised with the Madonna/Whore dichotomy. She instills into Catherine-Black the characteristics of the opposite side of the ledger. The two of them are acting out her image of a sexual being.

Unfortunately Catherine-White lost control and Catherine-Black spins
progressively further from accepted norms. She uses sex as an item of
control. She orders the brunette [Valentina Velasques] tortured with arousal. (Oddly, I felt some guilt about being turned on by this.) Catherine-Black’s actions become progressively wilder. Eventually Catherine-White finds herself sucked into the other world.

My favorite scene has to be the blonde [Victoria Swinger] on the chair. Maybe part of that was my not hearing what they were saying. I had a problem with the dynamic audio range. If I turn it down so the screams of ecstasy do not bother the neighbors, I cannot hear the dialogue.

As the action progressed, Catherine-White found herself the unwilling
recipient of Catherine-Black's depravity. For her, Catherine-Black is real – and a threat. She responds with irrational violence and strikes down the first moving object that catches her eye, “her” man.

I also want to comment about the interview with Audrey and Otto. They sound like a fun couple. The sight of them together helped undo the negative images their roles engendered in this show. In addition, I want to mention that Audrey was more beautiful in the interview than in the film. That disappeared for me in the black and white sequences, though. I guess the difference was the green eye shadow.

As always you have my permission to do whatever you want with this. I doubt that it would have value in aiding sales. I would be curious as to whether this in any way resembles Michael's vision.

Lon

[And now you know, Lon.]

6. Were you trying to tell a story about Catherine the Great?
  No! Catherine was never meant to be about Catherine the Great. Catherine – the title of the movie – comes from some pale-skinned redhead that I knew in my youth (who resembled Audrey) by the name Catherine . To be totally honest with you, the original idea to do this story was slated to be done with Jenna Jameson and her husband in the lead roles. When I realized that this cast was never going to happen, the story took a few twists and it became a vehicle for Audrey & Otto – who, as it turned out, brought elements to the story that only they could bring. I’m very happy with turn of events that lead Audrey to doing this film. I guess all things happen for a reason.
7. Sexually we can easily see why you chose Audrey Hollander for the lead role, but did you have any apprehension about her acting abilities?
  When I make a movie a lot of what happens in the process is intuitive. I can not always tell you why I am heading in the direction I am heading until I get there. I knew Audrey would be able to do anything I asked of her, including the acting. I just wasn’t sure exactly what I was going to ask.
8. What would you have done had she not been able to grasp this role to the depth she obviously did?
  There are many ways to tell a story, and I never doubted her depth. Although I must admit that there were times when I just held on and went for the ride she was taking us all on.
9. How much of the movie could you see in your mind before you ever began filming?
  I could see the texture of this film, as I stated earlier, the first time I sat down and talked to Audrey about it. I knew whether I made a small film or a big film, the key element was Audrey, and her ability to be who I believed Catherine is.
10. You did something very unusual in publicly releasing “trailers” or film clips, one of them 17 minutes long, before you finished editing the movie. Why did you do this?
  The footage we shot in LA was a big part of the story; I wanted to test the reaction to what people thought of just the story. It was like having a small focus group look at it and give me their input.
11. Did your vision of the show change after shooting the Los Angeles sequences?
  Yes, it actually did. I was happy with what we shot in LA, but I realized after working with Audrey that there was just so much more magic in her than I realized. I began to see what she would bring to the movie when we got to Budapest.
12. What was the biggest disappointment about the European part of the filming?
  I think the only disappointment was not having a few more production days.
13. Since we should be fair, what was the biggest positive, and what was the biggest pleasant surprise?
  For me shooting in Budapest is always a positive experience. It is personally one of my favorite cities in the world, just because there is so much magic there. I believe I must have spent time there in another life because when I leave, there is always an empty feeling in me. The most pleasant surprise was that we could pull off the snow scenes on such a limited budget.
14. We have to ask this. Did you actually show up in Europe looking for a really fat guy and a midget and what part did they play in the film?
  I knew I wanted a supporting cast that could enhance the film, and I knew that they would have to be very special. We had a casting call for people who had faces with lots of character. Their role in the film they would play would be two-fold: They would serve as more visual texture to film, but, more importantly, they are there to represent what you might find in a child’s fantasy room – toys that are alive.
15. How can you tell, particularly with the language barrier, if an actor will be able to pull off the level of despondence you needed in these characters?
  I have always tried to tell as much of the story though visuals as I can. With both the big person and the little person I knew that they have felt thing in their lives that most of us haven’t. I could see the pain in them. Their eyes told of a lot of life; you just have to be willing to listen.
16. Why did you take the amount of time it took to create the massive DVD-ROM section on the second disc? Do you think a significant number of people actually view these titles on home computers?
  Catherine did not start out to be what it was in the end. The DVD ROM section is there for the people who want it. I thought there was a lot of material that we could share with the viewers and it would also give them a better look at the film. I never really think about the numbers. I leave that to the accountants, it’s just something I wanted to do, whether it was profitable or not.
17. How do you write music? For example, did you find the harpsichord and then create your theme song, or was it the other way around?
  As I said earlier, Budapest is a very magical city for me and most of the music was written there. I actually wrote the theme for Catherine the first night I arrived in Budapest. I could not sleep, so around 4:00 a.m. I went for a walk along the river and the melody came to me. I went back to the hotel and my laptop and composed the theme for Catherine.
18. Is there going to be a sequel?
  Not right away. If we do a sequel it will not be until later next year.
19. What happens if you lose Audrey and Otto in their recurring roles?
  There is no Catherine without Audrey. She is very special.
20. How did the special effects in this show differ from your classic special effects shows like Latex and Shock?
  If you’re not looking for the effect you will not see many of them. I tried to use as few as possible. I guess you could say I’ve “been there; done that.”
21. Do you think you’ll ever be able to film another big feature without the extreme level of sexual activity that Audrey performs in Catherine?
  My take on the sex has always been to use whatever my lead performer is willing to give. I accept this as a part of what I do. Audrey brings her own brand of sex to a movie and so did Victoria Zdrok [in Temptation]. I won’t make a judgment on what I like better, because that changes from day to day. Both women are beautiful; both women have there own appeal.
22. How do you deal with the industry’s trend in general to require sex acts of a more and more outrageous nature?
  The longer I’m in this business the more I realize it is a carnival side show. I have always tried to make pictures I’m happy with first, and then hope the general viewing audience relates on some level. My main concern is at what point are we “crossing the line” (whatever that means), or has the line already been crossed? There are always legal issues in our business, and I’m sure I don’t want to spend time in a federal prison just because some accountant thinks I can sell more units by pushing the limits on a purely physical level. Sure the physical is a big part of what we do, but for those of us that care about or work, it’s really not the important part at all.