'Rock Me Sexy Jesus' channels John Waters' outrageous spirit

If you haven't yet seen "Hamlet 2," the joyfully ridiculous comedy centered on Dana Marschz, a high-school drama teacher short on talent but overstocked with ambitions, the time is nigh. With the summer season officially over and "real life" back in full swing, we need a humbling reminder that our most precious of pursuits -- for Steve Coogan's Marschz, it's acting! in the most James Lipton sense of the word -- can often be undone by what we lack (talent, good sense) and elevated by the teamwork of several wastoid Tucson teens (or whatever strange details apply to your own life). The overarching life lesson is to enjoy it all, though life lessons are exactly the kind of earnest fluff that gets torn to pieces in "Hamlet 2," but in a giddy, sly John Waters way.

At the center of "Hamlet 2," the movie and the musical inside the movie, is "Rock Me Sexy Jesus," a middle finger of sorts to the high-school board that canceled drama. It involves Jesus in a tank top and jeans, strutting his "swimmer's bod" to the squealing admiration of a coterie of girls and bi-curious guys. You can watch a little bit of it above.

We talked with music supervisor Ralph Sall, who wrote the music for "Rock Me Sexy Jesus" and other songs from "Hamlet 2," such as the inimitable "You're as Gay as the Day Is Long." His background includes producing for Paul McCartney, Jane's Addiction and the Ramones; and writing tracks for musicians as diverse as Liz Phair and George Clinton.

So, writing "Rock Me Sexy Jesus" was just another day in the life -- almost. If you don't count that gospel choir that was hanging around...

How did you come up with the music for "Rock Me Sexy Jesus"?

The director, Andy Fleming, sent me the script and asked me to read it. The majority of the song lyrics were in the script, but written in a screenplay form. I happened to have been in the studio working on a gospel record at the time. A lot of those veterans were around. I was working up a song to go with the lyrics and I was getting some very strange looks. I asked them, 'Do you believe in a kind and forgiving God?' After that, it was like, 'OK, then!'

The song has a '50s feel to it. Why did you go with that genre?

It's what I thought about immediately; I didn't overthink it. It's reminiscent of anything from 'Godspell' to 'Rent' to 'Grease.' It shares some traits with those kinds of projects -- it's happy and fun, but the lyrics are subversive. That's the appeal, I think.

You wear a lot of different hats in the music and film biz. How do they all affect each other?

When you’re doing a project for anything, you’re serving to forward someone's vision. Certainly, Andy had a vision about how he wanted the songs to sound. I’ve worked with him a number of times, so he has trust in me. I run all these parallel careers, but it's always about serving the project, helping the collective vision. If I'm producing a record, I don’t impose a sound that’s more me than them. There are producers that have that going for them, but it’s not my perspective.

There's a bit of buzz that "Rock Me Sexy Jesus" might get nominated for an Oscar. What do you think of that?

Well, that would be fun. I would certainly show up! If the criteria for that kind of acknowledgment is the prominence to the movie, this one’s pretty significant to the film. It’s already a success for that reason, but that would be unreal to me, winning an Oscar.

What would you wear? A white tux like Elliott Smith?

Oh no, I haven't put on a tie since the late '80s. But I wouldn't wear a dress either, like Matt Stone and Trey Parker.

Have you won other awards?

I once won a Razzie for the worst song for 'Addams Family (Whoomp!)' from 'Addams Family Values." Hey, it seemed like a good idea at the time! But I didn’t know that had happened for years until I came across it on the Internet. I got in touch with the Razzie guy and asked, 'Where's the Razzie?' A few days later, an award came in the mail, made with pipe cleaners and Dixie cups and stuff. It was pretty hilarious... to me, the reward for all of these things is that I get to do it at all. I'm doing for a living what I did at age 17 for fun. I’m lucky I get to do that.

-- Margaret Wappler