STACK NZ 80 December

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18 DECEMBER 2016
DVD
&
BD
DVD &BD FEATURE
eing tied down and tickled by a
professional tickler is pretty awful,”
admits David Farrier. He is talking about
one of the bonus features that will appear on
the DVD version of his acclaimed documentary
Tickled , in which he and the rest of the production
team submitted to the dubious delights of tickling.
But while it was an experience that he certainly
didn’t enjoy, it pales in comparison to the mental
torture Farrier and co-director Dylan Reeve
have endured in bringing the strange world of
‘competitive endurance ticking’ to the screen.
Legal threats began flying as soon as Farrier
began digging into the company behind what must
be one of the world’s oddest ‘sports’ – and he says
the lawsuits keep coming.
In fact, the on-going legal situation means
Farrier has to be careful what he says when
STACK calls him in Los Angeles. However,
he confirms that he has been told that he
is still facing a defamation suit in the US.
“It’s been an ongoing thing since the
film came out,” he explains. “I imagined
Journalist David Farrier stumbled into a strange,
surreal and occasionally scary world when he began
shooting Tickled, which details his and co-director
Dylan Reeve’s investigation into a shadowy company
behind the so-called sport of endurance tickling.
Words John Ferguson
once [the film] was
finally done and was
out, you are done
with that stuff, but
this one has taken on
a life of its own.”
Ironically, it was
the determination of
the company behind
endurance tickling to shut
the project down that gave
Farrier the idea to develop it
into a film. When the TV journalist
first stumbled upon the mysterious
online site – young men being offered the chance
to fly to LA where they would be tied down to a
bed while the others took turns tickling them – he
thought it would make a funny short news item.
However, his inquiries were met almost
immediately with legal threats and a
barrage of homophobic slurs on his
character. “This company we had
stumbled upon had already made it
pretty clear that they didn’t want the film made,”
Farrier says. “When they sent three people to
New Zealand from America essentially to threaten
us and tell us not to make the film, the incredible
push-back we got was a really big motivator.”
The more Farrier and Reeve investigated, the
stranger the story got and they realised that this
particular underground tickling network involved
people and companies from all over the world.
Given the sinister threats and the obsessive desire
for secrecy, did they ever fear that they could be in
physical danger?
“The legal stuff is more unsettling,” Farrier
replies. “No-one likes to be receiving legal threats.
But there were a few moments in the film where
we were approaching some people who had
made it pretty clear that they didn’t want to be on
camera and got pretty aggressive. I guess when
you are in America you are never too sure who is
carrying a gun or what’s in people’s heads.”
“They got very personal very early on,” he
continues. “It’s not in the film but there was a
private investigator outside of my house at one
point and I think they just wanted to make it very
clear that they knew where I lived. When you are
poking around something a little bit strange on the
internet, it often stays on the internet; it was
very strange and scary at times for
that to leap into day to day life all
the way over in New Zealand.”
However, Farrier and
Reeve’s perseverance
has paid off; as well
receiving acclaim on
the international festival
circuit, Tickled was
picked up by HBO in
the US and has been
long-listed for a Best
Documentary Oscar.
Farrier is naturally
delighted with the way the
film has been embraced around
the globe – although it seems
not everyone quite got it, thanks to his
appearance (as himself) in Rhys Darby’s spoof TV
series Short Poppies, which has also just been
released on DVD.
“I am friends with Rhys and he was always like
‘I’ve got this mockumentary and I want you to play
yourself’,” Farrier recalls. “I thought he was joking
but he was serious. It was great fun but some
people who have seen Short Poppies think that
Tickled is another mockumentary!”
• Tickled
is out on
DVD and Blu-ray
on Dec 1
When they sent
three people to New
Zealand from America
essentially to threaten us
and tell us not to make the
film, the incredible push-
back we got was a
really big motivator