"With more movie deals in the works, including a life-story film on [Screamin' Jay] Hawkins to be directed by Jarmusch, the 60-year-old singer/songwriter/musician/actor is quite possibly hotter than ever -- and getting hotter. And man, can he ever still tell a tale...
As far as stories go, surely none could play better than the life of Screamin' Jay Hawkins. Any film on the topic obviously would have a fascinating plotline already working for it, and with the talented Jarmusch at the helm of just such a project (not to mention Hawkins himself around to star in it), the planned movie, set to begin shooting in November, sounds promising indeed.
'The name of the picture will be The Incredible Paradox,' revealed Hawkins. 'The reason for that is the three people -- I've got three personalities. There's 'Screamin' Jay Hawkins,' there's 'Jay Hawkins' and there's 'Jalacy Hawkins,' which is the name on my birth certificate, my driving license and Social Security card -- it's the name I use for business. 'Jay Hawkins' is the hoodlum but 'Jalacy Hawkins' is the intelligent one; he'll sit down and discuss things. 'Jay Hawkins' you don't want to hear nothin' from -- he's the one they put in the service, he was so bad ... I bring him out when things look like they're gonna get bad, when it looks like a group of gentlemen may want to go through my pockets with or without my permission. And 'Screamin' Jay Hawkins' is the workhorse, the one that gets out on stage and earns a living for the other two idiots; I call 'em idiots 'cause they all get me in trouble."
[David R. Stampone, March 1990] (thank you, Larry!)
Jarmusch appeared in Nicholas Triandafyllidis' documentary movie "Screamin' Jay Hawkins: I Put a Spell on Me", released in 2001.