Penelope Spheeris Has No Plans To Make Another Film: ‘I Went Through Too Much Pain’

By Aynslee Darmon. Published: 13 Mar 2019 6:16 PM

Photo by Valerie Macon/Getty Images

Penelope Spheeris is happy after stepping away from Hollywood.

The iconic director behind “The Little Rascals,” “Senseless” and “Wayne’s World” chatted with the A.V. Club about her decision to leave the spotlight after the 2011 comedy “Balls to the Walls”.

“Hollywood changed into something that I didn’t want to be a part of,” Spheeris said. “It was too — it’s ugly.”

That ugliness, she explained, is amplified for women. “You have no friends in Hollywood. Hollywood is a lonely, lonely desert, especially as a woman,” she explained.

“You can’t screw up when you’re a woman,” Spherris, 73, added. “One little mistake, and you’re done.”

It was during the years after she directed “Senseless” in 1998, she divulged, that made her realize Hollywood was not the place for her.

“It’s not like they go, ‘Okay, Penelope, you’re out of jail now. Let’s make a movie,’” she said. “At this point, I don’t want to make a movie. They can’t even f**king beg me to make a movie. I got to make a lot of money in the days when you could make a lot of money as a director, and I invested it right. I don’t need that anymore. It’s not like I’m bitter. I just feel like I went through too much pain.”

According to Spheeris, she has no plans to return to Hollywood. “I don’t need them. I really don’t. Especially now, what am I going to do? Work for a year on a movie and make $50,000? They can blow me! That’s a quote. You can print that.”