Eric Ragan North America Canada Scumbag is a 2017 Canadian-American film by the filmmaker Mars Roberge about Phil, a young DJ who works at a telemarketing company where his co-workers are lunatics, former convicts and junkies.

[6] Scumbag was originally inspired by Roberge's thesis script, "Smog", for the undergraduate Film Production program at York University in 1995,[7] with research dating as early as 1989.

[10] "Doing extensive research on insanity, drugs and partying, Mars falls into a dark spiral where he almost doesn't come back, opting out of a film career to become an S & M dj for 20 years, which eventually leads him to NYC where he finds recovery.

[11] The first draft of "Scumbag" was finished in 2009 but registered with the WGA in 2014 because Mars was sidetracked with moving across the country, a failed marriage,[12] as well touring with an award-winning documentary he made called "The Little House That Could".

[13] The casting for Scumbag was done by the director, Mars Roberge, starting in 2013[14] with remaining role auditions being held in 2014 at Cazt Studios in Los Angeles after placing advertisements in Backstage, Breakdown Express and Craigslist.

[18] During casting, many celebrities were approached by Roberge such as Ringo Starr, Steven Tyler, Jerry Mathers, Pee Wee Herman[19] and even some such as Peter Murphy[20] ended up on the cutting room floor for the final version.

Originally, the entire film was going to be shot in Los Angeles but Michael Alig's parole officer informed him that he was not allowed to leave New York State in order to not violate his release so World Domination Pictures had to set up a cast and crew on both coasts.

[30] It then had its North American premiere in the Museum of the Moving Image on 18 March 2017 for Queens World Film Festival] with an introduction from the Emmy Award-winning Sex and the City stylist, Patricia Field.

Michael Alig stars in Scumbag but his personal life was portrayed by Macaulay Culkin in the 2003 cult film Party Monster, so the Best Ensemble Award is an example of reality beating Hollywood.

[43] Scumbag deals with very serious themes: drug addiction, death, domestic abuse, pedophilia, spirituality, racism, anti-semitism, transgender identification, respect for minorities in the police force, Quebec separatism, illegal immigration from Mexico, Canadian-American relations, autism, the existence of God, sadomasochism, Satanism, prostitution, bullying, cultural appropriation, feminism, homelessness, homophobia, the economy, crime and political correctness.

Most of the music in Scumbag was provided by actors from the film (Scott E Myers, Princess Frank, Debra Haden, Camille Waldorf, Spookey Ruben, Keith Morris' group Off!, Aaron Tyler Rosenberg, etc.)

Mars with the vocals of Jim Sclavunos (Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds) and Nomi (ex-Hercules and Love Affair),[45] as well as "Not Enough" written by Steve Strange (Visage) and Philip Anthony Gable featuring Alejandro GoCast.