Later that fall, I picked up theClerks: 10th Anniversary edition DVD and Criterion's edition of Slacker. Despite having seen the movies multiple times before, there was something particular about watching them at that moment in my life that changed something in my brain. I needed to come up with an idea that could be easily done by my friends and me.
One day not too long after that, I was jogging around my neighborhood and listening to music on my iPod. A Suicidal Tendencies song called "Su Casa Es Mi Casa" came on. At the end of the song there's a throw away line that just says "Cabeza de cacauate": Peanuthead. I thought that would be a great title for a movie or name for a character. That was the spark.
As originally conceived, Peanuthead was a quiet intellectual; nerdy but confident. I imagined him sitting in a coffee shop or diner quietly reading to himself. I thought my friend Mike could play the part. He wasn't an actor, but I didn't care. I didn't want to use actors; instead, I wanted to use friends who I believed had charisma that would overcome their lack of acting experience. I then thought of parts for my friends Jackie and Laura (the characters were named after my friends' real names). I imagined two girls that would be the bane of Peanuthead's existence. I saw the door of the diner busting open, a bright light shining through, and the silhouettes of Jackie and Laura standing defiantly in the doorway -- Jackie standing arms akimbo; Laura with her fist in the air. (I once heard Matt Groening say “I think that memorable characters are always identifiable in silhouette.”) This ended up being the first incarnation of The Fandango Sisters, but they were nowhere near the characters they are now.
First of all, they weren't sisters or musicians. Jackie was a Chicana militant who dressed in camo pants, steel-toed boots, Ché t-shirt, and red beret. Laura was still a punk, but spoke with a fake British accent and dressed in stereotypical, mall-bought garb: Union Jack t-shirt, black leather jacket, safety pins; the whole nine. Jackie and Laura were fakes, posers, cartoons; that was it. I had my main characters; so, I sat down to write my short script.
I didn't get very far before I realized that I didn't like the Jackie and Laura characters very much; they were just too broad. They were characters you've seen before a million times. I found Jackie especially hard to write for because I'm not very political. I couldn't writer anything for her to say that didn't sound cliched. Also, while I liked a few punk bands at the time, I didn't know that much about the culture; therefore, Laura's character was also limited. I decided to scrap those personae and start over.
I remember I wrote Laura an e-mail about my problem. (I wish I still had it so I could just include it here, but I've not been able to find it in years.) From my best recollection, I just started writing to her about the lack of depth the characters had and how I need to make them more unique; then it all just came spilling out. I don't know know... I like the punk thing, but it needs to be more specific... Maybe Jackie can be the British punk fan, and Laura can be the American punk fan... Maybe they're in a band together... something Sisters... Fandango Sisters or something like that (I don't know why that came to me. I can only assume that it's because of "Bohemian Rhapsody" by Queen. "Scaramouche, Scaramouche, will you do the Fandango?!")... I don't know if they're sisters or if that's just what the band's called... I don't know... I'll let you know what I come up with...
That was the beginning of the end for Peanuthead. All of a sudden I found these two girls far more interesting. I started to develop my short script around Jackie and Laura instead.
One of the first big changes that came was the decision that Laura needed a focus within her punk obsession. Once I made the choice she was going to be an American punk fan, I wanted her to have a band that she lived and died for. The Ramones was the first band that came to my mind when I thought of American punk. I really didn't know much about them at the time. I mean, I knew "Blitzkrieg Bop," their Simpsons' cameo, and more or less what they looked like; but beyond that, nothing. I started doing research on the band for the script. As it so happened, sadly, Johnny Ramone had just passed away; so, there were a lot of new articles about The Ramones popping up, and I just got hooked on their story. I never knew how long they'd been around, that they'd had multiple band members over the years, and that three of the original four were now gone. I immediately went on Amazon and bought their first three albums and and a book about them called On The Road With The Ramones by Monte Melnick. Once I got the CDs, I uploaded them on to my iPod and started listening to all three albums over and over. I devoured the book in a week. I started writing character descriptions.
Laura became Judy. Named for the Ramones' song "Judy is a Punk." (The song also references a girl named Jackie -- Who'da thunk it?) My friend Laura is a tall, thin, dark-haired woman; and thus, so was Judy. I threw a Ramones t-shirt on her, gave her some dark sunglasses, Chuck Taylor's, ripped jeans, and a black wrist cuff; the physical transformation was complete.
Jackie's character retained the named Jackie but everything else changed. I decided to drop the British aspect of the character. I made her closer to the real life Jackie, in certain aspects. She was into all things popular culture: art, music, fashion, movies, wrestling, etc. I wanted Jackie to have a childish spirit to contrast Judy's tough demeanor. I gave her pigtails and an unnatural love for the color pink.
Judy Fandango -- lead guitar and vocals.
Jackie Fandango -- drums and vocals.
The Fandango Sisters were born.
