''I Shot Andy Warhol'' is a 1996 biographical

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has b ...

film about the life of Valerie Solanas and her relationship with the artist

Andy Warhol Andy Warhol (; born Andrew Warhola Jr.; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American visual artist, film director, and producer who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art. His works explore the relationsh ...

. The film marked the feature film directorial debut of Canadian director Mary Harron. The film stars Lili Taylor as Valerie, Jared Harris as

, and

Martha Plimpton Martha Plimpton (born November 16, 1970) is an American actress. Her feature-film debut was in ''Rollover'' (1981); she subsequently rose to prominence in the Richard Donner film '' The Goonies'' (1985). She has also appeared in '' The Mosquito ...

as Valerie's friend Stevie. Stephen Dorff plays Warhol superstar Candy Darling.

John Cale John Davies Cale (born 9 March 1942) is a Welsh musician, composer, singer, songwriter and record producer who was a founding member of the American rock band the Velvet Underground. Over his six-decade career, Cale has worked in various sty ...

The Velvet Underground The Velvet Underground was an American rock band formed in New York City in 1964. The original line-up consisted of singer/guitarist Lou Reed, multi-instrumentalist John Cale, guitarist Sterling Morrison, and drummer Angus MacLise. MacLise ...

wrote the film's score despite protests from former band member

Lou Reed Lewis Allan Reed (March 2, 1942October 27, 2013) was an American musician, songwriter, and poet. He was the guitarist, singer, and principal songwriter for the rock band the Velvet Underground and had a solo career that spanned five decades ...

Yo La Tengo Yo La Tengo (YLT; Spanish for "I have her") is an American indie rock band formed in Hoboken, New Jersey, in 1984. Since 1992, the lineup has consisted of Ira Kaplan (guitars, piano, vocals), Georgia Hubley (drums, piano, vocals), and James M ...

plays an anonymous band that is somewhat reminiscent of the group. The film was screened in the ''

Un Certain Regard (, meaning 'a certain glance') is a section of the Cannes Film Festival's official selection. It is run at the Debussy, parallel to the competition for the . This section was introduced in 1978 by Gilles Jacob. The section presents 20 films w ...

'' section of the

1996 Cannes Film Festival The 49th Cannes Film Festival was held from 9 to 20 May 1996. The Palme d'Or went to '' Secrets & Lies'' by Mike Leigh. The festival opened with '' Ridicule'', directed by Patrice Leconte and closed with '' Flirting with Disaster'', directed by ...

. To celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Teddy Awards, the film was selected to be shown at the

66th Berlin International Film Festival The 66th Berlin International Film Festival was held from 11 to 21 February 2016, with American actress Meryl Streep as the President of the Jury. The Honorary Golden Bear for lifetime achievement was presented to German cinematographer Michael ...

in February 2016.

Plot

The film opens immediately after the shooting at

The Factory The Factory was Andy Warhol's studio in New York City, which had four locations between 1963 and 1987. The Factory became famed for its parties in the 1960s. It was the hip hangout spot for artists, musicians, celebrities and Warhol's superstar ...

in 1968, followed by Valerie Solanas being shown in custody for shooting

. The film then uses flashbacks to when Valerie was living in New York as a sex worker, then to her difficult childhood, then to her success in studying psychology at college. Here, Valerie discovers that she is a lesbian, that she can write, and that she has a distinctive view of the world. This leads her to New York City and its downtown

underworld The underworld, also known as the netherworld or hell, is the supernatural world of the dead in various religious traditions and myths, located below the world of the living. Chthonic is the technical adjective for things of the underwo ...

. Through her friend Stevie, she meets Candy Darling, who in turn introduces her to Warhol. Valerie also meets Maurice Girodias, the publisher of Olympia Press. While Valerie wants Warhol to produce her play, '' Up Your Ass'', Girodias wants her to write a pornographic novel for him. Once she signs a contract with Girodias, she comes to suspect his offer is not a generous one and may not be in her best interest. She comes to regret signing this contract. At this point, her increasing derangement leads her to believe that Warhol and Girodias are controlling her. The film concludes, where it began, with Solanas' attempted murder of Warhol. Warhol lives in fear that Valerie will strike again and never fully recovers from the shooting. The '' SCUM Manifesto'' becomes a feminist classic.

Cast

Background

Initially intended as a BBC documentary, the film was directed by Mary Harron who also co-wrote the screenplay with

Daniel Minahan Daniel Minahan (born 1962) is an American television and film director and writer. Minahan has directed several episodes of the HBO original series '' Six Feet Under'', '' Deadwood'', ''True Blood'', '' The Newsroom'' and '' Game of Thrones ...

. Dr. Dana Heller, Dean of Arts and Sciences at Eastern Michigan University, argues that the film stages the conflict between Solanas and Warhol as less the result of gender politics – particularly because Solanas intended no connection between her writing and the shooting – than of the decline of print culture as represented by Solanas and the rise of new non-writing media as embodied by Warhol and the pop art movement. In the screenplay, Harron and Minahan describe Solanas as "banging at an ancient typewriter" and the film frequently shows her typing, for which she is mocked by Warhol and other

Factory A factory, manufacturing plant or a production plant is an industrial facility, often a complex consisting of several buildings filled with machinery, where workers manufacture items or operate machines which process each item into another. ...

regulars. Solanas' writing is set against the new technologies of reproduction championed by Warhol. Many people who knew Solanas and Warhol tried to rationalize the shooting. Stephen Koch, who in 1973 wrote a study of Warhol's film, stated: "Valerie lives in terror of dependence: That is what the '' SCUM Manifesto'' is about, an absolute terror before the experience of need. Like Warhol, Solanas is obsessed with an image of

autonomy In developmental psychology and moral, political, and bioethical philosophy, autonomy, from , ''autonomos'', from αὐτο- ''auto-'' "self" and νόμος ''nomos'', "law", hence when combined understood to mean "one who gives oneself one' ...

, except that... she has played the obsession desperately, rather than with Warhol's famous cool."

Reception

Film review aggregator

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...

reported that 77% of critics gave the film positive reviews. On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

it has a weighted score of 75/100, based on 20 critics, denoting "generally favorable reviews".

Awards and nominations

Wins

* Gijón International Film Festival Best Art Direction – Thérèse DePrez *

Seattle International Film Festival The Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF), held annually in Seattle, Washington since 1976, is among the top film festivals in North America. Audiences have grown steadily; the 2006 festival had 160,000 attendees. The SIFF runs for more th ...

Golden Space Needle Award for Best Actress – Lili Taylor * Stockholm Film Festival Award for Best Actress – Lili Taylor *

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,6 ...

Special Recognition for Outstanding Performance – Lili Taylor

Nominations

Independent Spirit Awards The Independent Spirit Awards (abbreviated Spirit Awards and originally known as the FINDIE or Friends of Independents Awards), founded in 1984, are awards dedicated to independent filmmakers. Winners were typically presented with acrylic gla ...

Best First Feature – Mary Harron, Tom Kalin, and Christine Vachon12th annual Spirit Awards ceremony - FULL SHOW , 1997 , Film Independent on YouTube
/ref> * Stockholm Film Festival Bronze Horse *

Grand Jury Prize – Dramatic

Home media

''I Shot Andy Warhol'' was released on Region 1 DVD on January 23, 2001.

Soundtrack

Additional songs from the film

* " Walk On By" –

Dionne Warwick Marie Dionne Warwick (; born December 12, 1940) is an American singer, actress, and television host. Warwick ranks among the 40 biggest U.S. hit makers between 1955 and 1999, based on her chart history on ''Billboards Hot 100 pop singles ch ...

* " One Note Samba" –

Antônio Carlos Jobim Antônio Carlos Brasileiro de Almeida Jobim (25 January 1927 – 8 December 1994), also known as Tom Jobim (), was a Brazilian composer, pianist, guitarist, songwriter, arranger, and singer. Considered one of the great exponents of Brazilian mu ...

* " The More I See You" –

Chris Montez Chris Montez (born Ezekiel Christopher Montañez on January 17, 1943) is an American guitarist and vocalist, whose stylistic approach has ranged from rock & roll to pop standards and Latin music. His rock sound is exemplified in songs such as hi ...

* " Caro Nome (Gilda's Aria) from Rigoletto" – Daniela Lojarro * " Grazing in the Grass" –

Hugh Masekela Hugh Ramapolo Masekela (4 April 1939 – 23 January 2018) was a South African trumpeter, flugelhornist, cornetist, singer and composer who was described as "the father of South African jazz". Masekela was known for his jazz compositions and for ...

* " The Red Telephone" –

Love Love encompasses a range of strong and positive emotional and mental states, from the most sublime virtue or good habit, the deepest Interpersonal relationship, interpersonal affection, to the simplest pleasure. An example of this range of ...

* "

Summertime Blues "Summertime Blues" is a song co-written and recorded by American rock artist Eddie Cochran. It was written by Cochran and his manager Jerry Capehart. Originally a single B-side, it was released in August 1958 and peaked at number 8 on the ''Bi ...

" –

Blue Cheer Blue Cheer was an American rock band that initially performed and recorded in the late 1960s and early 1970s and was sporadically active until 2009. Based in San Francisco, Blue Cheer played in a psychedelic blues rock or acid rock style, and ...

* " Ain't Gonna Bump No More (With No Big Fat Woman)" –

Joe Tex Yusuf Hazziez (born Joseph Arrington Jr.; August 8, 1935 – August 13, 1982), known professionally as Joe Tex, was an American singer and musician who gained success in the 1960s and 1970s with his brand of Southern soul, which mixed the styl ...

References

Bibliography

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:I Shot Andy Warhol 1996 films 1996 crime drama films 1996 directorial debut films 1996 independent films 1996 LGBT-related films 1990s biographical drama films 1990s feminist films American biographical drama films American crime drama films American feminist films American independent films American LGBT-related films British biographical drama films British crime drama films British feminist films British independent films British LGBT-related films Crime films based on actual events Cultural depictions of Andy Warhol Cultural depictions of Valerie Solanas 1990s English-language films Films about drugs Films about writers Films directed by Mary Harron Films produced by Christine Vachon Films scored by John Cale Films set in the 1960s British films set in New York City Killer Films films Lesbian-related films LGBT-related drama films LGBT-related films based on actual events The Samuel Goldwyn Company films Sundance Film Festival award winners Transgender-related films 1990s American films 1990s British films