There are some subjects that Paul Green just doesn't like to talk about — for example, last year's comedy hit "The School of Rock."
Jack Black starred in that film as a failed musician who impersonates a teacher at a private school and who winds up showing some young musical prodigies how to play rock music.
The character played by Black is also sometimes prone to outbursts, like Green, the founder of the real-life Paul Green School of Rock Music. (There are currently nine locations for the School of Rock, mostly on the East Coast, though there is also one in Salt Lake City, at 503 N. 400 West.)
But Green says of the movie, "Haven't seen it. Can't say anything about it. Don't really want to."
Speaking by phone from New York City, where he's been supervising the opening of another branch of his school Green said his objections to the film aren't really so much about Black's character. It's the entire film he has trouble with.
"The School of Rock" was spawned by a development deal with music TV network VH-1, which initially pitched Green on a reality television show. But when that deal soured, the producers sold the concept to Paramount Pictures, leaving him out in the cold. (According to some reports, Green was not paid for either the scrapped TV program or the movie.)
"That's done. I'm over it now," he said with a sigh.
He's more than willing to talk about his schools, which really do teach the ins and outs of rock 'n' roll to young musicians — as well as "Rock School," a new documentary film that profiles Green and his School of Rock in Philadelphia. (The film opens today in the Regency Trolley Square Cinemas.)
"I'm just glad that we could get our story out there, and that someone was interested in telling it right," Green said.
That person was director Don Argott, one of several filmmakers who approached Green after the scrapped VH-1 deal. "Argott didn't want to do something quick and dirty," Green recalled. "He was interested in following for a whole season, to get in there and see what the Paul Green School of Rock is really about."
Argott also wasn't afraid to show what Green is really like. "Rock School" is a warts-and-all portrait of the school's founder, whose teaching methods can sometimes be pretty extreme. (Portions of the film show him berating some of the students and using decidedly four-letter words to get his point across to them.)
"I really didn't have any problems with how I might come off in the film, though I worried about what my wife was going to say when she saw it," Green said. "But she was fine with it. She said, 'Yeah, that's really you, all right.' "
And for those who worry that Green might go too far with some of his instruction, he says his reputation has been exaggerated. "I'm really not that big of an ogre. I know when to stop and know that the kids have minds of their own. I never tell the kids what to listen to. I imagine they think what I like is pretty stupid and lame."
Besides, Green's results pretty much speak for themselves. He started the first School of Rock when his weekend music lessons led to dramatic improvements for his students. "The kids weren't getting any better and weren't practicing outside of class, so I insisted that they start coming over to my place for jam sessions on Saturdays.
"Eventually, they got good enough that we could start putting on a show. Our first was at a local coffee shop. I knew at that point that this idea could really work, that maybe I was doing some good."
Since then, members of Green's Philadelphia school have played with members of the late Frank Zappa's touring band at the two-day Zappanale festival in Germany, and with Alice Cooper at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival, where "Rock School" premiered in January. "They've helped me realize all my dreams about playing onstage with a lot of the greats. It's the greatest accomplishment in the world for a guy who failed spectacularly in his own musical career."
Green also continues to expand his School of Rock program, which includes the one that opened locally in February. Green and some of his more talented students played a concert at Sugarbeats to celebrate that opening. "That was fun. It was like the old days, when we were playing in small venues like coffee shops."
For more information on the Paul Green School of Rock Music, visit the official Web site, www.schoolofrock.com, or call 413-2894.
E-mail: jeff@desnews.com