Fred Durst says he can help explain the violence plaguing America’s schools with his upcoming filmmaking debut, “Runts,” about a high school outcast.
“Crazy things are happening that don’t need to be happening, and people are retaliating in the wrong way,” the Limp Bizkit frontman said. “This movie needs to happen now.”
But the film is still far from hitting theaters. Durst said if a threatened actors strike hits Hollywood this summer, production will not begin until the strike is over. The project has been in development for more than a year.
“There are so many movie studios that are scared to touch subject matter like this, but I think it’s real. … I think it will help people understand the underdog.”
In the meantime, the singer has been busy directing videos for Staind and Cold and playing label exec while Limp Bizkit take a break from the road. Durst, who was named a senior vice president at Interscope in 1999, has been working with new signings to his Flawless imprint, including a singer from Virginia Beach, Virginia, named Kenna and a rock group called Puddle of Mudd.
Durst was turned on to Kenna by production duo the Neptunes, who produced Kenna’s New Sacred Cow album. The LP should be out in late summer.
Durst met the singer for Puddle of Mudd, Wesley Scantlin, when Scantlin sneaked backstage at a Limp Bizkit show in Kansas City, Missouri, and gave him a demo tape.
“I was like, ‘Holy sh-, who is this guy?” Durst recalled. “I checked him out in Kansas City – his band wasn’t that killer, but he was a great songwriter. We brought him out to work with us and set him up with some dudes I used to jam with in Jacksonville[, Florida]. We put them together and luckily the chemistry was right, and now Puddle of Mudd is a really good rock band.”
The group recently finished recording its debut, which is due in July.
Durst said his job as record mogul is simply giving artists a kick start – from there, it’s up to them.
“I think every artist that I’m working with has bigger dreams than me. I think that’s the key. They need to build their own empires. I’m just getting their foot in the door.”
