We recently had the honor of interviewing film legend Lloyd Kaufman about the future of independent entertainment. We’ll be posting highlights from the interview here at thefold.tv very soon, but in the meantime here’s some flattering words from one of THE FOLD’s most venerable fans.

Be sure to watch Poultrygeist which you can buy in an amazing 3-disc set by visiting Troma. com where you can also buy lots of other Troma for the perfect Halloween!

And be sure to watch Lloyd’s important message about net neutrality, which is below in this blog. We love Troma!

Tomorrow evening, Oct. 2nd at 9:00pm EST, be sure to tune your web browser to Darker Side of the Moon radio to hear Polly, Ray, and Matt jawing ’bout sci-fi, horror, and the rapture and ruptures of no-budget filmmaking.

And if you simply can’t pull yourself away from the high-budget horror show that is the Vice Presidential debate, fret not, for our interview will be conveniently archived on the Darker Side website for your listening pleasure.

Hi, Polly Frost here — I’m thrilled to interview FOLD STAR, KAREN GRENKE.

I’ve been incredibly fortunate to work with KAREN GRENKE for several years now in a variety of projects. Karen was a regular cast member of SEX SCENES, a spoken-word/theater project that I co-wrote and produced with my husband, Ray Sawhill.

Karen was an inspiration for our writing: she’s a playwright’s dream because she can take the most extreme character you could possibly write and ground them. And believe me, we wrote some wild characters for her to play!

If you’re in NYC, be sure to see Karen in DANSCORES by Ofelia Loret de Mola September 8th - 15th in City Hall Park. Information can be found at http://www.danscores.com.

In THE FOLD, she plays CYNDI GARAWAY with fantastic wit and stunning comic timing — plus, well — Karen’s a hottie on top of being one of the most talented actors you could ever work with.

POLLY FROST: How do you see your character in THE FOLD?

KAREN GRENKE: I am so very fortunate to have worked with Polly & Ray for many years. They always write me the best (and craziest) characters. Cyndi is no exception. In fact, she’s probably the most well adjusted character of the lot. Cyndi could easily be seen as a cliched desperate housewife, but I think in Matt and Polly and Ray’s hands, she’s actually much more of an everywoman. She’s funny, angry, insecure, and looking for love and reassurance. Are love and reassurance the same thing for Cyndi? Maybe. Is it too much of a spoiler to say that I love love love that we get to see sassy, sexy future-Cyndi too? What a hoot.

POLLY: What was the experience of working on THE FOLD like?

KAREN: Matt runs a super set. I was so impressed with how confident and calm Matt is as a director. The whole team was great - especially Paul Busetti who is unflaggingly positive and supportive. I did a couple of nutty things in this film and I had such a good time doing them. Did that sound dirty?

POLLY: What are your current projects?

KAREN: My company Cagey Productions is in development on the theatre piece “The Curse of the Smart Kid”, the almost-true story of an overeducated underachiever. I also just finished Women’s Project’s last show (I got to hula hoop! In gold sequins!) and I’m working on a new show “Nancy Drew, Where Are You?”. Check out www.cageyproductions.com for the details.

Multi-talented writer/actress and blogger, ANGELA LOVELL, plays Gaming Babes reporter, RACHEL CAMPANIELLO. Gorgeous, smart and hilarious — we loved working with her on THE FOLD!

POLLY FROST caught up with ANGELA to ask her a few questions about working on THE FOLD:

POLLY FROST: How do you see your character in THE FOLD?

ANGELA LOVELL: The thing I really love about Rachel is that she’s a true “dame.” She’s not another soggy princess character wiling away over a mate. She makes things happen and she’s smart as hell. I get really sick of women being discouraged from being “too sexy” but Rachel wields her sexuality like it’s a semi-automatic! I don’t buy into the myth that we’re objectified based on how we talk and dress, and that we lose Smart Points for showing too much skin. It was a lot of fun to play a woman so completely upfront and raw, free to show all of herself and readily able to harness her power. The world needs more Rachels.

POLLY: What was the experience of working on THE FOLD like?

ANGELA: Working on The Fold was such a wonderful experience! I made a short film with Matt a few weeks prior to shooting The Fold and I love the way his mind works. I truly loved this cast and crew too. The night we shot the infamous hot tub scenes I thought I’d pass out from the cold (I wasn’t lucky enough to be IN the hot tub.) But that scene was so much fun to shoot, despite the arctic temperature. None of this project felt like “work” - just play time (even when my hands were frozen.) Sci-Fi and sex are two realms that know no boundaries - combining them with some warped humor made for a very good time

POLLY: What are your current projects?

ANGELA: These days I’m working on my first novel and doing workshops of an all-gal play I wrote which is set in a mental institution. (Incidentally, the “Hot Nurse” played by Kelli Brisbane in The Fold is my producing partner in these early stages and I wrote a juicy role just for her.) I have Whorescopes syndicated across the globe and I just sold a screenplay that will begin shooting next summer. I’m also developing a bit of a pinup model/burlesque hobby when I’m not writing. I just played Bettie Page in a wonderful series of pinup girl shoots. (”Hot Nurse” Kelli played Donna Reed. I tied her up and force-fed her muffins in some shots. We really enjoy working together!) I’m writing/directing/performing for the Slipper Room’s Red Light Night next month which is always a grand ol’ time! You can read my stuff at: www.TickingBoxes.com

We Foldies love Helen Mirren for her talent and her beauty, but also for her aesthetic-erotic daring. So why not pause to enjoy her latest press coups too. First, appearing on a beach in a bikini and making it all look good at age 62:

And, more recently, giving an interview in which she asserted that she doesn’t think Mike Tyson was guilty of rape, that she used to enjoy cocaine, and that she thinks prostitution should be legalized.

Here’s a nice recent opening-night pic of Dame Helen:

FOLD co-writer and co-producer POLLY FROST talks to actor AMPORA MCLEAN, who plays STEPHANIE BLOMMAERT, gorgeous, driven and with powers that may either get her where she wants to be or take her down.

AMPORA MCLEAN AS STEPHANIE BLOMMAERT: RUTHLESS, BUT THE CAMERA LOVES HER

POLLY FROST: What about Stephanie Blommaert? What makes her tick?

AMPORA: I see Stephanie as a very secure woman who stops at nothing to get what she wants. She’s tough, demanding and fearless. I also believe she throw herself into her work among other things. Stephanie doesn’t just wants it all…she takes it. Even if it means hurting someone else in the process. A hungry woman with a drive to be on top at any cost. I enjoyed playing Stephanie and I think she’s very important in the future of the FOLD.

POLLY: I was so impressed by your energy and charming humor during the shoot. What was it like for you?

AMPORA: This has been my first sci fi film and I have to say its INSANE! I mean that in a positive way. The script is just amazing, creative, and down right crazy. Its very racy and provocative and I have never done anything like this before. I felt very comfortable working with Matt, he’s brilliant, cool and so easy to work with. He made me feel so comfortable when we were filming the bathroom scene.

I’ve never had a camera so tightly focused on my private parts before and I was a little uncomfortable about doing the scene but Matt reassured me that everything was tasteful and nothing would be exposed!!! We laughed about it later. He’s a really awesome individual.

AMPORA: You and Ray Sawhill were the other geniuses behind the FOLD.

POLLY: Thank you! But if there were geniuses around THE FOLD, they were Matt and Ray, not to mention you. The way you tortured Jack Fischer with your white panties — now that was genius!

AMPORA: I hope to work with you guys again!

POLLY: We’d certainly love that!

AMPORA ON THE SET WITH DIRECTOR MATT LAMBERT

POLLY: What are your current projects?

AMPORA: I am currently on assignment in Toronto, Canada working on a Documentary for Alternative Medicine. The series will be aired this fall on W-Network in Canada and it deals with different elements Health and Nutrition. I am the subject of one of the episodes. My story will feature dealing with stress and the cause and effects it has on your body.

I recently shot a commercial for Scotia Bank for Barbados. I am auditioning on a regular basis and looking for my next big break. Looking forward to returning to NY and working with more amazing, talented people.

POLLY: NYC needs you! Hurry back. In the meantime, we’ll all be watching you in THE FOLD here.

FOLD co-writer and co-producer POLLY FROST talks to actor JAKE THOMAS, who plays JEF GARAWAY, a New Jersey hot tub entrepreneur who begins to realize his ’70’s porn fantasies about what it was like to work on THE FOLD.

JAKE LOVED THE WEATHER DURING THE SHOOT

POLLY FROST: How do you see your character in THE FOLD?

JAKE THOMAS: He’s a well-meaning but confused guy. A lovable loser. What I really dig about a lot of the stuff Polly and Ray write is the satire of it, and I think Jef Garaway is the emblematic everyman of what Polly calls “These Ashcroft times.” He wants to be a good man, he loves his wife and wants to provide for her and take care of her, but he’s also got some sleazy, repressed macho cravings and he doesn’t know how to join those two sides of himself. He is the tubby, schlubby, doofy, gold lemme bethonged acme of post-post-modern sexual man. He’s also funny. I think he’s funny.

POLLY: What was the experience of working on THE FOLD like?

JAKE: I’ve worked with Polly and Ray for a while now, I love both of them and have said many a time that I would do anything they’d ask me to, and this shoot, I think, proved that. The pinnacle of the experience was shooting a whole days worth of shots on either the coldest or second coldest day of the year with a 102 degree temperature spending the whole time going in and out of a hot tub in a thong. Of course, I was also sharing that hot tub with a bevy of beautiful women, including Stephanie Sellars, who I’ve had a crush on since she was writing for the New York Press, so it wasn’t all grit and struggle.

A lot of credit also goes to Matt Lambert, who is one of the most dedicated yet approachable people I’ve ever worked with. Due to the nature of my role I felt exposed quite a bit, but I always felt totally taken care of and respected. Also, working on a sci-fi movie was awesome, as I’d done a fair amount of preliminary work by being a geek my entire life.

JAKE’S CO-STAR AMPORA MCLEAN COULDN’T KEEP HER HANDS OFF JAKE. CAN YOU BLAME HER?

POLLY: What are your current projects?

JAKE: About three months ago I completed my goal of writing a short story a week for a year (results can be found at blog.myspace.com/firstchurchofstorytelling and yeah, it’s a MySpace page, shut up), so now I’m going back and cleaning up some of the better stories and trying to figure out what to do with them. I also recently did some voice work on Polly and Ray’s audio series Sex Scenes. There are a few other writing projects I’m developing, including a proposed script with the inexhaustible and brilliant Matt Lambert. I’m also working on wedding plans with my fiancee, although I don’t know if I should say that as Polly might be banking on a lot of women tuning into The Fold wondering if that kinda greasy, pudgy hot tub guy is single. Sorry, ladies!

You’re right, you shouldn’t say that, Jake. I was planning on making some money selling the gold lame g-string you wore in THE FOLD. Fuckin’ actors!

But OK, check out Jake’s writing here and watch him play Jef Garaway here in THE FOLD.

FOLD co-writer and co-producer POLLY FROST talks to actor FRANCESCO PALADINO, who plays BRENT ASHWOOD, an ambitious, yet vulnerably kinky geek about what it was like to work on THE FOLD.

POLLY FROST writes: I’ve worked with Francesco for several years. He was a more than an important part of our SEX SCENES evenings in Manhattan. Let me put it this way: Francesco was the go-to guy whenever we wrote a really bizarre, completely insane character that we also needed an actor to make hot.

That’s Francesco’s specialty — the psycho-stud. I don’t know how he does it. I’d rather not inquire into his process, actually. It’d be too scary.

I asked Francesco what it was like to work with us on THE FOLD. It was … well, the term “low budget” doesn’t begin to apply to what the shoot was like.

POLLY FROST: How do you see your character, BRENT ASHWOOD, in THE FOLD?

FRANCESCO PALADINO: He is a fatter and less stylish version of me, but gets laid so much more. Actually, he is that guy that you stumble upon at the random “X-Files” convention, or in an adult theater in midtown buying midget porn. A mastermind nerd who wears polyester and has chair sex … What else can I say?!?

POLLY: What was the experience of working on THE FOLD like? I.e., filming in winter, working with Matt, working on a sci fi movie. Be kind, Francesco, be very kind.

FRANCESCO: Matt Lambert is the spawn of Matthew Barney and John Waters, with better facial hair and less Vaseline. He has such precision, and he keeps everyone honest. He has no time for divas unless they’re giving him head. My most memorable moment was filming on the coldest day in February outside in Poughkeepsie. I only do that for Matt, Ray, and of course Polly!

POLLY: Thanks for remembering me. What are your current projects?

FRANCESCO: I have been working on “The F Word,” a show that takes a look at America’s obsession with celebrities and how it cuts across cultural and socioeconomic lines. Future episodes include obsessions with plastic surgery and sex. (Ms. Polly Frost can expect a call.) It airs on my website twice a month and is presented in short segments with a music video flair. This has been a project I have been trying to inject into the planet somehow — and now that a production company is behind it nobody cares about America’s next top model!

Treat yourself to more of the uniqueness that is FRANCESCO PALADINO by visiting his website — and, of course, by returning here to watch Francesco as Brent Ashwood in THE FOLD.

FOLD creators MATT LAMBERT, RAY SAWHILL and POLLY FROST were interviewed by NICK GOODRICK for SCI-FI GENRE REVIEW. Matt talks about his Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle obsession here, Ray discusses the profound importance of gorgeous women and costumes in sci-fi movies, and Polly explains why she’d like to have lunch with Ed Wood here. Thank you, Nick Goodrick!!!