Complex: How does the process of making a film compare to the process of recording an album with a band?

Fred Durst: The movie industry is nothing like the music industry. They are completely different beasts. When you need to make an album, there’s a lot of pressure, but there’s an excitement and chemistry. For our band, we love being together and making music and it seems to flow. We’re like a jam band and we can jam for a long time and look back and see if there are any nuggets we’re able to evolve into songs. That’s how the process becomes semi-tedious, but we didn’t go in and try to make radio hits or make music to be successful. We sort of just made the music we made, like, “We’re going to go in [the studio] for two months and make a record and see what happens.” With a movie, business is a huge part of it. The creative is so put on the back burner. The creative part is the most minute part, and that’s the part I’m really drawn to. I’ve had to learn the political part of filmmaking. That films ever gets made and put in theaters is a miracle. I’ve never seen anything so insane in my life. It’s way different and way more difficult.

Complex: When it comes to creative decisions, how many people have input?

Fred Durst: If you or your best friend are financing the film, or you’ve done enough films that have been successful or landmark or quintessential experiences, you have 100% creative control. I’m nowhere near that position, and when you’re using someone else’s money, absolutely there are other chefs in the kitchen. Quite a few. It’s a very interesting process. The ideal situation is that everyone in your small creative group—your producers, your executive producers financing the film—is speaking the same language and wants to make the same film. Other people can have a say and sometimes it enhances the experience and the film and sometimes you feel you’ve jeopardized its integrity.

Complex: How have you had to adjust to go from brash frontman to director, being behind the scenes and responsible for everything?

Fred Durst: I was the business guy the whole time. I was the guy trying to get us gigs; I was the guy trying to get this started. I was the behind-the-scenes guy for the band and the guy in front of the camera, so it got a little difficult. The hat I had to put on in front of the band, it’s like I had to switch in to an alter ego, like a Tyler Durden. Being behind the camera now and not having to be a front man and entertain everybody is, to me, so much more rewarding right now. With Limp Bizkit, it was just such a wild, unexpected, crazy wave we were riding. With film, it’s a little more strategized and prepared, and the only thing that’s changing daily are the politics.

Complex: Have you enjoyed not being in the spotlight?

Fred Durst: Yeah, absolutely. I still love Limp Bizkit and we still have music we want to release, but it’s just my calling, being a filmmaker. It’s just right in front of my face and I’m embracing it.

Complex: People who know you from Limp Bizkit or saw your leaked sex tape probably figured you would be directing porn. Why did you make a family friendly sports flick?

Fred Durst: People like things in packaging, so once you get out there and people hear you, they write about you and that’s a package. Anything outside that package is confusing sometimes. I don’t see myself as a guy that has restrictions and guidelines to my taste. I feel like I’m really diverse, and I’ll never be directing a porn. I’m all about the heart. I have family. I have kids; I have a six-year-old and an 18-year-old. I’m a big kid myself.

Complex: What about this particular story spoke to you?

Fred Durst: I played Pee Wee football. We didn’t have Pop Warner where I lived, but I know what it would have felt like if a girl had joined the team. I know what it feels like to not have a role model around. I know what it feels like to be picked on. All my raging in music came from, ironically, [being] the kid who was pushed around all the time. Once I peaked with Limp Bizkit, looking in the crowd, there were a lot of people pushing, bullying other fans around; the music was speaking with a different message. I thought, “Wow, this music is fueling the people that I hated growing up, the people that ruined my life.” Home // CELEBRITIES // WEB EXCLUSIVE // Fred Durst