Corey Feldman on why "The Birthday" is his favorite, even though it took 20 years to release

Corey Feldman claims that his performance in “The Birthday” is his favorite ever. And it is easy to see why. The actor carries this allegorical cult film as Norman Forrester, a young man who is nervous about meeting his girlfriend Alison’s (Erica Prior) parents at her father’s (Jack Taylor) birthday party. His anxiety increases after several awkward exchanges, leading him to admit, “I feel like the wrong corpse at the wrong funeral.”  Then things get really weird as Norman learns of something sinister and life-threatening. But as he tries to save folks, no one will listen to him. 

Feldman’s performance is very distinctive and intentional. He speaks in a nasally tone that sounds whiny even when he is sincere. His body language is coiled until he really gets scared by the situation he is trying to prevent. When Norman is given a gun, Feldman expresses his discomfort and empowerment with aplomb. 

The 2004 film has gone largely unseen since it was made. Jordan Peele screened “The Birthday” in Lincoln Center earlier this year. It will finally get an American theatrical release on October 11, after a screening at Fantastic Fest. 

Feldman’s performance deserves to be seen because it illustrates what he can do as an actor, and in a leading role. His early success came mostly in ensemble films in the 1980s — “The Goonies,” “Stand by Me” and “The Lost Boys.” The latter, of course, also featured Corey Haim, whom Feldman was paired up with for several films, including “License to Drive” and “Dream a Little Dream,” as well as a reality series. 

While Feldman worked frequently in TV, movies and music videos, his career was, at times, derailed by drug addiction issues, legal woes and sexual abuse scandals. Feldman even produced a 2020 documentary “(My) Truth” The Rape of Two Coreys."

It is frustrating that “The Birthday” went unseen for two decades but now that the film is available, folks can see why Feldman is justly proud of it. The actor spoke with Salon about “The Birthday” in advance of the film’s release.

The following interview has been edited for length and clarity.

How did you come to work on this film and find Norman’s character? He is very mannered and very distinctive. 

I always had this innate ability, since I was a child — and I guess this is part of being groomed to be a lifelong career actor — when you are young and you do this as a matter of habit, you become more engaged in the idea of the art of what you are doing and the aspect of trying to improve it. That gets your imagination going. When you read a script, you visualize what it will look like, how it will play out and how it will feel. I developed this ability very early, and I remember reading scripts for “Gremlins” or “Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter,” where I was able to really visualize the film. I would see how my character would act, behave, my mannerisms and physicality.  

When I was little, I would play act in a swimming pool, for example, creating fake scenes from fake movies. I would imagine doing a Rocky bout underwater and imagine myself as both Rocky and Apollo Creed and would go back and forth and play both roles. That’s how I see and interpret scripts. When I see a character, it comes to life and speaks to me in that way. With Norman, in particular, the moment I read the script that character immediately came to life exactly as you see it on the screen. There was a kinetic writing that went along with Norman’s personality.  I immediately associated that with the writer/director, Eugenio Mira, who has that kind of intense neurotic energy. I didn’t know him when I read it, but I realized that afterward. 

The Birthday (Courtesy of Drafthouse Films)When I first got there, Eugenio said, “Show me Norman.” I said, “No, we have to wait. When I become Norman, I want you to understand it when I fully engage.” We waited until the first day of rehearsals before he heard the voice. He was scared of it. That it was maybe too much. I said there will be highs and lows, as with any human. There are moments where people are insecure and neurotic and moments where they are much more self-assured and stronger, and that will be what his character is experiencing as we go on this adventure with him. There will be change and growth. Eugenio had to be patient and trust that I knew where this character goes. He gave me all that trust and let me run with it.

Why did the film not see a U.S. release for two decades? 

There’s the million-dollar question! [Laughs] I have my own theories. The official answer is that the Executive Producer said he didn’t want to accept any offer that was not a full refund of his expenses to make it theatrical. We wanted it theatrical, but most distributors wouldn’t give money upfront, or would only give a little upfront, saving most [payment] for the backend. DVDs were fading out then, and times were changing. He held strong. We played at some festivals and got tremendous reviews. It was getting the buzz it needed, but he said, “No.” It is what it is. 

I wish there was a clean answer. But after 20 years, he finally gave in and relinquished this hold over this film and let it go. Thank you to the man who allowed it. I’m not going to mention his name because I don’t want to badmouth. I’m glad he made the right choice, and it is out, and people will have the opportunity to see this beloved film. Although the payoff may not be what people expect, it has its reward. It’s a dark comedy in the Lynchian style. 

Without giving anything away, Norman learns something and tries to warn people, but they don’t seem to listen to or believe him. What about the film’s allegorical nature?

Isn’t it ironic how it parallels the last 20 years of my own experience on this earth? You can’t ignore the paradox or similarities or the timing of it all. It’s almost eerie. So many overlaps and overlays with Norman and the “Boy Who Cried Wolf” experience trying to get out and save the world with no one taking him seriously because he is the unexpected hero. 

No one sees Norman as the lead for a romance. He is not [the object] of a woman’s dreams when you first meet him. He is the opposite of that, a shaky, neurotic, small, insecure man who has little belief in himself. He is scared of his own girlfriend, and his own shadow and has many ailments. Everything in his life is about fear. But here he is, in the end, swinging into action. He finds this inner strength he didn’t know existed to do things that are so unbelievable to him as a character. If you told Norman at the beginning of the film, 'This is where your night will end up,' he would say, “You’re crazy. I would never do that!” and yet, there he is! 

Every moment in that film is based on intent. There is nothing accidental. We wanted to create an awe-inspiring, believable, and fantastical adventure. We want to make you believe that people can transform in a life-threatening situation. We wanted to expose that experience for the audience, taking them on that journey of one man’s mental gymnastics and what he was willing to do for the love of his girlfriend and the idea of love.

Norman has some very interesting exchanges with Vince (Dale Douma), who is attending a different party in the same hotel, and Theodore (Richard Felix) who enlists his assistance as things get weirder. What observations do you have about Norman’s different interactions? The way you recalibrate Norman’s reactions is interesting.

There’s a subconscious thing that people do, which Is when you are in a different environment, with different groups of people, you change your personality and your persona a bit. You craft your communication differently. You go with the flow to some extent. To some degree, you manifest a bit of a different personality that works better for each situation so you and everybody around you are comfortable. 

It's a form of codeswitching... 

That is what that experience is with Norman. He has his high school buddy [Vince] around and he remembers being a kid and talking about girls in the locker room. There was a time when Norman wasn’t so neurotic. But maybe he also felt he wasn’t the best athlete and didn’t fit in because he didn’t like taking a shower with all the guys. I put him back in his school days whenever he interacted with his friend Vince. Juxtaposing that with this Indiana Jones character, Theodore, who may be a kook or savior. Is Theodore out of his mind and wandering in here with this fantasy, or is he really there because there is something going on, and this is Norman’s calling? Is Norman going to warn everyone there’s a crazy person running around the hotel, or is he going to believe this guy and take his gun and go on this adventure too? There is a whole side Norman develops that he didn’t know existed.  

Part of the film’s fun is that many of the scenes feature Norman in the foreground with action often happening behind him. Can you talk about the style of “The Birthday”? 

That’s what makes it so unique. In keeping with the real-time idea of the film, you know Norman’s presence is there even if you don’t focus on him. If a shot starts on his shoe and pans up into the scene, maybe you hear voices before you see who is talking. You are focused on Norman, and this is all [told] through his eyes. The camera later winds back around and is at the center of the situation conveying his message to whoever he is talking to, but in the background, life goes on. 

In most films, the background actors are pantomiming. They walk by and look good, or they look weird, or they run from a crowd. They are not used as actors. They do basic crowd stuff. But this film choreographs every person in the room with their own agenda, personality and character. Every person has a developed character, except some of the guys at the bachelor party. We create a world within the world. So many films forget the people in the background are part of the story and they exist — especially in the ballroom scenes. We did these seven-minute-long takes with no cuts, so everyone in every corner of the room was working.

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If this film had come out when it was made, do you think the trajectory of your career would have shifted? 

Absolutely! There’s no question. I don’t want to go down that conspiracy theory road. I feel the stop of this film was done intentionally and for that very reason. There were people in high places that didn’t want me to be a success. They wanted to portray the idea of a fallen hero, someone who lost their craft and ability and was no longer the talented kid they once were. That was the image that they tried to hang on me. When I say “They,” who knows who they are? All I know is that there is an obvious lineage and timeline to the great films I made during those years that somehow were not released or did not get seen, this being the cherry on top. The schlockiest films, the ones I had to take for money to survive are strewn about everywhere. You can always see life’s most embarrassing moments. This is the first time where I feel a bit of validation and redemption — Thank God, while I am still here to enjoy it — to watch a piece of art I cared so much about.

Can you talk about your career as a whole? You found early success as a child actor, but you later struggled with addiction issues, legal woes, sexual abuse and other scandals…

To put things in perspective, my drug addiction issues and legal issues consisted of a whole two years. I’ve been in the entertainment industry for 50 years this year. That says it all. Why would you hang on to a folklore story about someone who one time had a problem but ever since has tried to help others, and rebuild themselves, and be a consummate professional who tries to do great work? When you look at someone like that, who has done everything they can on their end, what is the problem? My manager and I would hear that repeatedly, “Oh, Corey, they don’t want to work with you, they are worried about this or that.” But there is no problem. We cleared that up. But no one would have an answer. There was this folklore idea that at one time I was a problem child. That definitely happened for a couple of years, but I was also a teenager who grew up on a set and I didn’t have parents giving me guidance. I was also given drugs by some of the people I was working with. I was a kid in an adult environment where people were partying, because it was the '80s, and this is what you do. Then those very same people started writing stories about me, saying I was a bad guy doing drugs. Once I got sober, I never looked back or showed up high on a set, or got arrested again. I never had any of those problems. So, you would have thought it would be forgiven and forgotten. There has to be a reason why this has continued on. There has to be more to the story, or a bigger picture, but whatever the case may be, I’m not mad at it. I don’t resent it. I had to take a step back and really do only the things that I love because there was a pitfall in doing work for financial purposes. If I want to be taken seriously as an artist, I need to put my foot down and not do any more films that I don’t believe in. If it is not challenging and I am not putting my teeth into my acting, then I don’t want to do it. I made that a policy.

I appreciate what you said, but I was trying to get at you taking control of your career. I know you wanted to do more work behind the camera, producing and directing. 

I have written a lot of the stuff I do, but people don’t realize that because I don’t take the credit. I have been a ghostwriter on a lot of my independent stuff. Even the mainstream stuff, I wrote funny lines in “The Lost Boys” and “The ‘Burbs.” There was always stuff that I added and improvised along the way. As I got better and sharper at it, I was asked to do it more and more, to the point with my independent films, I would rewrite the script or codirect, or give advice. You don’t want to be pushy, so I would do that stuff behind the scenes. 

I tried to direct a film for a low-budget company, but that was a disaster, so we don’t want to talk about that. I had to pull out and they edited the way they wanted to. I was trying to make a mockumentary-type fake B-movie comedy, but the company didn’t see the humor in it and turned it into schlock. I didn’t get away with my little experiment. [Laughs] I have produced 10-15 of my films, but I haven’t fully directed the way I would like to. I would like to dedicate a section of my life and career to that, but I don’t have to, either. It’s been a dream to have a production company, and edit, and write and star in films I direct, and maybe I will. But I didn’t expect to have this burgeoning music career and have arena shows and get Top 40 billboard hits, so that’s been a surprise in my later career, and I’ve enjoyed it very much. The world is my apple, I suppose at this point. We’ll see what happens next. But I am just grateful to still be alive, and to be here, and that people are getting a chance to appreciate some of the art I’ve worked so hard to create.

“The Birthday” will screen at Alamo Drafthouse Theaters nationwide on 10/1 as a one-night-only event, followed by a theatrical expansion throughout October.