
‘American Trash‘ emerges via the context of Los Angeles and portrays a soldier’s insatiable grief tempered by the strains of post-traumatic stress disorder. The soldier seeks to remain tethered to sanity and is unfazed by the unfeeling indifference of the world who give scant if any reasons for him to struggle. There’s also a girlfriend who was fighting for her life while the other was fighting for dominion over the earth.
It has been co-authored and starred in the movie and Robert LaSardo’s feature film directorial debut Adrian Milne. LaSardo, an actor since 1987, has appeared in over 200 films, including ‘The Mule,’ ‘Death Race’ with Clint Eastwood, and Jason Statham, and television series such as the controversial NETFLIX series. While he was associated with the Mahal Empire, LaSardo had several Weird movies like Bloodthirst and Night of the Tommy Knockers.
And I should also note here that American Trash features Lorelei Linklater and Gigi Gustin as the pillars of the movie while Tom Sizemore and Costas Mandylor are the other pillars of the film who appear in it. LaSardo plays an art tattoo who meets Melissa (Linklater) while fetching for a forest area around a cave that is deemed sacred. While Melissa is outside, she plays a tape of cult leader Charles Manson advocating for the environment during an interview. Their romance develops fast, only for a swift horror to happen when Melissa is killed.
Then follows a series of emotional struggles for Milles, a man with a fractured soul burdened with guilt, anger, self-loathing, and dark thoughts. Milles is in torment and endless compunction and despair accompanied by remorse for his sister Mandy (Gustin) and his therapist Tai (Rich R. Rendon) trying to fill him with paint. Still, he sees himself as a weak man, and the inertia of the police concerning the investigation of the murder of Melissa motivates him. The important grief that one cannot go on without how terribly Melissa was murdered and put into the bin is totally wrong.
In time, Milles’ anger against the killer of his wife is directed against the depression that Melissa idolizes the conservation of earth’s resources. He shot a couple for littering and almost killed a man for scratching a rock with a belt cutter. Milles and his environment spiral further with every regrettable action.
Milles’ existence in the movie allows him to give life to a segment of the population whose primary concern is the state of nature, and for them, the problems faced by the world have been only exacerbated by Melissa’s insistence. So the recommendation: do not throw garbage around, is better than tossing it in other places, but if you take it up close then it begs the question: Trampling society’s vices and degeneration, are the eco-warriors on the wrong quest?
American Trash is an audacious first-time director’s work because it is concerned with the terrifying aspect of indifference, that is, the aspect when society and its structures give in to indifference. Moreover, the most bizarre piece in the film must probably be an interview with Charles Manson, whose reasoned speech is totally ethical. Talking to Lionel Ray Green for MalevolentDark.com, LaSardo, a Brooklyn New York native and a previously served US Navy commander spoke about his movie exclusively. American Trash will be available for streaming on YouTube along with other platforms like Roku, Vubiquity, Plex, Tunes, Apple TV, and Amazon Prime.
LaSardo: Milles was basically constructed as an answer to me by many different people. Every character living in the film aims to bring in a particular rationale to confront Milles. In my entire life, I’ve been curious how mankind and the universe are so dissimilar and yet so interconnected. I used a random situation to try to figure out the purpose of existence and its significance at the point of conflict.
The explanation and background of Milles’s feeling of tragedy serve as the foundation of his character arcs. There are no flaws in his character that are overly detrimental to the reality of the character, which is what I wanted to get rid of the more negative the flaw, the more ridiculous the exaggeration. Understanding that I am a military man as well, it was my responsibility to try and get into his mind or more correctly get into his mind or soul for the PTSD part of the story.
In this film, you were able to get a good ensemble cast with actors like Sizemore and Mandylor from Saw as well as Linklater and Gustin. As a director and an actor, how was it for you to collaborate with this team? I have done many of the films with Tom, where we were doing complete scenes together so have met with him many times. So, I was fully privy to what his method and process was.
It was solely a question of directing Tom to a different area that was appropriate to the context and level of intensity required in order to best preserve him. I have always known he had a natural gift in a very outstanding way. So, I was just in the position to worry as a friend whether he was going to bother with the effort to try and perform at the peak of his capabilities.
The moment we started auditioning actors in search of characters was a bit challenging because We had disagreements, with him over the material, the dialogue, the plot, and every other detail. But because he was ready to trust me, there was some space to have fun with it, and now in retrospect, I can go, right on, he got it perfect. I ensured that the world I envisioned for Tom reflected in the character he portrays gently and graciously. I miss him.
Melissa is a character that is wonderfully brought to life by Lorelei. This flower child, a hippy that I have always wanted to meet, must have been born in the 60s. A screenplay Usually a friend of mine tries to convince me that my friend is able to locate an actress who fits this description in her life. After spending two hours talking to Lorelei on the phone, this part of the project came together where I said wow this girl who wants to sell her painting is exactly who my friend said she was except for a few ideas about Charles Manson which I thought would make a good plot for the film.
Does that sound like a character she had adopted herself with the name ‘Melissa’ I will without hesitation add that it is fictional. However, she does not mangle the role of a delightfully eccentric environmentalist who admires the ecological views of Charles Manson. Lorelie has a particular sense of innocence and vulnerability which is a perfect combination for the cinema. It is her very presence that is so obscure, that is why the movie is built on the visual language of American Trash.
With Costas, for instance, there is a certain aggression available, so I did not have to maneuver him much. I just sat back and let him do his thing. It was basically, this is the circumstance, Costas, this is your character, and this is mine. Let’s go deep. This work was easier because he was always on standby. He did that for all of the scenes oriented to him. He, too, is rather easy-going and cheerful, but the moment the word ‘action’ was said, all of that was directed towards the universe that had been created.
What I needed to banish the sour temper of Milles was remarkably the performance of Gigi as Mandy which is simply terrific and just what I required. This is how Milles’ description goes: she could easily have carried a ‘casting screen test’ with such passion that the audience’s empathy for the plot was necessarily, was fulfilled. One of the few films I’ve had the pleasure of watching even raises a few questions I have. I still can’t wrap my head around why someone would decide to make a movie with a Manson interview as a film character’s key portrait. This tape recording is quite striking, don’t you agree?
Look, these thoughts are part of a person who has been placed in a very particular set of circumstances that was not in the least suggestive of a monster. His discourse on our environmental future paints a discouraging picture. If he fought to deter construction projects at the Cielo Drive site through the destruction of tractor machinery, he would have endeavored this by killing people. I mean, that doesn’t sound like a struggle to save the environment at all. Moreover, for someone who speaks so eloquently about being eco-friendly, it’s hard to imagine he can’t kill someone in cold blood. Unlike a typical listener who has a preconception in the back of his mind, I was able to clearly comprehend his message and, more importantly.
Thirdly, the American Trash film highlights issues such as the environment, availability of human connections, PTSD, social dissatisfaction, and areas of violence, in a sensible manner, unlike any pornography where it is politely omitted to save face. So being the motion picture’s Director, Writer, Tstar, and a veteran of the United States Navy, was there a personal drive for those messages?
I wanted to explore the social context and the historical context of social issues and environmental pollution in a more integrated manner. So instead of just showing the ugly side of Los Angeles, which I show for a very brief while, I wanted to highlight the very side that What is the blame on the people who go through this heaven and destroy it with their ignorance for example And the rubbish lying there is only part of the evil called a hybrid understanding of nature and man.
My theme suggests that we, Students, are responsible for how we treat fellow students. No matter the hardship that exists within a community, it tends to look deep for compassion within itself. Be it an economic depression, ecological disaster, or war. Human beings are required to put things in order by learning coexistence with respect for man and nature. Since 1987 you have been engrossed in the movie business undertaking major roles in films and series. From all your accomplishments within the entertainment industry what would you say is the experience of you directing the movie?
Yes, I must say I was privileged with having worked with quite a number of extremely talented people as well as participated in the making of many movies, significant in the film industry, which I genuinely appreciate. Trash is not for everybody. To me, it is more than the height or fame for which it was created, and for whom it was made and it was created out of the purpose to abandon these.
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