ANNA BILLER (VIVA)

There was a time in the '70s when the suburbs were swinging and sexy and Playboy magazine actually served as a guide of sorts for the adventurous couples exploring boundaries. Now, Anna Biller has delivered a near note-perfect homage to those films by practically doing every job on the set. Biller has taken the multi-hyphenate to such an extreme that if she were a member of each union that applied, her dues would likely cost more than the film itself.

Of the many jobs you did on VIVA, what is the one job (after it was all said and done) that you would have happily given up? It's a real privilege to get to do so many jobs on a film yourself, as you have total creative freedom and get to make the film you want to make. But - as I can't imagine giving up costumes, sets, editing, writing, or directing on a film like this - that leaves only acting and producing.

The soft porn films of the early '70s have a special acting style (some might call it "bad") all their own. Was it a challenge to emulate that style for your film? The actors I cast all had elements of the characters they played inside of them, so although they can feel stylized, the performances always feel authentic and never like a joke. I would argue that it's not "bad" acting, it's just a style of acting we're no longer used to.

What was the biggest distraction for you as an actor - directing the other cast members or production design concerns? Directing the other cast members was no distraction at all. They were all wonderfully skilled and self-assured actors who had their characters completely down. The only problem was my own acting, because I was so distracted from thinking about the shot list, camera angles, lenses, and a million other things that I sometimes slipped out of character.

Any specific challenges to acting in the nude? Directing in the nude? Well, the first time I took off my clothes on the set I almost died. But the whole experience was quite liberating, as I've always had problems with nudity, and I was able to face my fears and get rid of them.

By the last day of shooting it had gotten quite easy. I was so exhausted from shooting the orgy scene all weekend in heels and a headdress, that it was quite nice to direct lying down naked on a fur bed!

How long did it take to make the film? Was it difficult to recapture the 'Viva' character whenever you would resume filming? The film took a year and a half to shoot. Actually, the performances - mine and everyone else's - got stronger the longer we shot. Sort of like actors who have done the same Broadway show for years, you just get better. It was a great advantage to the actors.

Since you pretty much have the '70s down, what will be the next time period on your filmmaking hitlist? I'm going to do a sexy witchcraft movie that is sort of like those vintage pulp novels from the '60s and '70s, so it will be the same time period again, as witchcraft is SO '60s and '70s. But it would be the folk-medieval-pagan-Donovan-unicorns-caftans-magic aspect of that time rather than the suburban aspect. And I would set it a few years earlier or later, for a slight shift.