PGN: Given that you are a gay man, and the tickling sites are pretty homoerotic, can you talk about how you presented the “queer” content in “Tickled”?ĭF: From the beginning, when I got the homophobic response, I wanted to know who had said this to me. We called again and again, especially when we were doing research to connect dots on the historic aspect of the story. Some people think that if they don’t get information through Google or Facebook, they give up. We spent time on the phone chasing leads. Can you talk about how you approached the “mystery”?ĭF: I think Dylan and I brought different things to the table. PGN: You and your co-director Dylan were very shrewd investigators. People who grew up with the Internet think they have seen it all, but there are still ways to be tricked. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. I want people who see the film to think twice about things. There are countless examples of how money is used to gain control over other people. PGN: What was your sense of the people you interviewed, and how their lives were affected by Jane O’Brien Media?ĭF: A lot of the people were drawn into this world because they were offered money and they went for it. But there have been some defamation lawsuits, which is stressful. We wanted to shine a light on these things. The guys from the videos were getting harassed. How do you feel about how things turned out?ĭF: We made the film because we saw this online harassment was happening. PGN: Your investigation took some unusual directions. PGN: What appealed to you about the Jane O’Brien site?ĭF: It was more the competition - this idea that there is a tickling competition and really good money in it. It’s kind of like BDSM, but brought way down. PGN: What do you think the tickling fetish represents?ĭF: It’s a combination of things.
I wanted to see what being tickled by a professional tickler was like. When we set up the interview, Richard said I had to be tickled first. I didn’t know how ticklish I was before I met Richard. The filmmaker spoke with PGN about his amazing documentary.ĭF: I am.
As he ferrets out this tickling fetish subculture, “Tickled” becomes both a serious and funny-strange cautionary tale. And, as Farrier discovered, if you investigate or try to leave, you will be harassed.įarrier gets a homophobic response, as well as a legal notice from a tickling site, Jane O’Brien Media, which only arouses his curiosity. The scenes are filmed and uploaded to the Internet. The “sport” (if it can be called that) involves guys, ages 18-23, being strapped down on a bed or bench with their hands and feet bound and tickled by other guys for up to 18 minutes. “Tickled,” opening July 1 at the Ritz at the Bourse, is that fantastic - as in great, as in unreal - film. When gay New Zealand pop-culture reporter David Farrier finds a story on “competitive endurance tickling,” he discovers a wormhole so weird and wild, he and his colleague Dylan Reeve had to make a documentary about it.