Factory Girl (George Hickenlooper, 2007)

[David Ehrenstein]

Not quite as bad as I was expecting -- which is not to say it's any good. Sienna Miller does a surprisingly credible Edie Sedgewick. She gets the vocal inflection and physical moves perfectly, though her voice is quite as deep as Edie's. The script is conventional as a an Afters chool Special scripted by Brett Easton Ellis. Andy is portrayed as a soulles vampire who destroyed poor innocent Edie. Complete crap! Edie was perfectly turned-out fag-hag when she met Andy. In fact she was a Boston legend -- which is why he wanted to meet her in the first place. (Though understanding the significance of Boston to the Silver Factory is quite beyond the ken of Hickenlooper and company.) Guy Pearce is very good at doing the presentational Andy (the one he presented to the public.) But he knows nothing of the entre nous Andy, capturing none of his wit. Andy played the idiot savant. He was a savant tout courte highly sophisticated one at that. Chuck Wein's pivotal role in Edie's life is reduced to one scene where he baits her during the shooting of Beauty #2. There's nothing in the film about Ciao! Manhattan! -- which was started by Chuck and Genevieve Charbon (in black and white) and finished by John Palmer and David Weissman (in color.) Instead we see a very odd scene where a group of creepy guys film a porno loop with a very drugged-out Edie. Haden Christiansen plays a character called "Quinn" who's supposed to be Bob Dylan. Obviously they were afraid Dylan would sue if his name were used. He should STILL sue. He's shown taking her up and then dropping her unceremoniously -- which is pretty close to the truth. But a scene where he gets a screen test at the Factory is pure fiction. Edie didn't bring him there. He came by with Allen Ginsberg and others before he was ever involved with her. Christiansen plays him as if it were the title role in The James Franco Story. A scene depicting the shooting of Vinyl is passably acurate, but the one depicting the shooting of Horse is all off. Andy's cowboys wore jockstraps. Go if you must but don't say you weren't warned.

[Cinesimilitude]

Official site

Trailer.

[Barmy]

It's good to see Hayden playing a straight character for a change.

[Cinesimilitude]

yeah, he was great in shattered glass, and hopefully the use of bowie music in the trailer will continue into the film. I changed the poster a bit, I had made the first one when I thought it was more about warhol than the girl.

[Antoine Doinel]

Guy Pearce looks like he nailed Andy Warhol (though who can top David Bowie's take in I Shot Andy Warhol?) but it will be interesting to see what this turns out to be like given it's gone under some reshoots.

[Cinesimilitude]

Guy Pearce looks like he nailed Andy Warhol (though who can top David Bowie's take in I Shot Andy Warhol?) but it will be interesting to see what this turns out to be like given it's gone under some reshoots.

[cough]Basquiat![/cough]

[mikeohhh]

I still wish they'd have gone with Paris Hilton for Edie

[Antoine Doinel]

Guy Pearce looks like he nailed Andy Warhol (though who can top David Bowie's take in I Shot Andy Warhol?) but it will be interesting to see what this turns out to be like given it's gone under some reshoots.

[cough]Basquiat![/cough]

[miless]

'ol Bobby D(ylan) is trying to stop the release of this film, as he says it defames him (and names him as the source for her heroin addiction/suicide)... but the character that is"him" is a "composite"... which makes it completely excusable...

and Lou Reed said the script was a piece of shit with no connection to reality (this is paraphrasing, of course)... I'll tend to trust a guy who was there.

[jt]

Can Sienna Miller act?

She's undoubtably (in my mind) one of the most beautiful women on earth but I've yet to see her stretched dramatically.

I hope she can pull this off but I'm not 100% convinced.

[domino harvey]

that's okay, Edie couldn't act either

[Cinesimilitude]

she might have been good in alfie, I couldn't tell what with my eyes aimed at her tits the entire time. This film will either show her dramatic talent... or be more of the same. either way it should be worth the price of admission.

[Fletch F. Fletch]

she might have been good in alfie, I couldn't tell what with my eyes aimed at her tits the entire time. This film will either show her dramatic talent... or be more of the same. either way it should be worth the price of admission.

She was pretty good in Layer Cake but, admittedly, she didn't have much to do in that one either. This movie should demonstrate whether she's got the goods or not.

On another note, Bowie was good as Warhol but I also thought Crispin Glover was an inspired choice in The Doors.

[Napoleon]

and Lou Reed said the script was a piece of shit with no connection to reality (this is paraphrasing, of course)... I'll tend to trust a guy who was there.

He goes a bit further than that, but then Reed has never been one to hold back on what he really thinks.

[David Ehrenstein]

My review will appear in next week's L.A. Weekly at which point I'll link it. Suffice to say this an almost complete disaster. The almost is due to the fact that Sienna Miller does her damndest. But in this instance you can't make chicken salad out of chicken shit. She gets much of Edie's physical disposition, but her voice isn't quite deep enough. (Edie sounded like Kathleen Turner.) Jared Harris nailed Andy in I Shot Andy Warhol. Guy Pearce does the surface Andy but not the real man. However the movie isn't interested in the real Andy or the real Edie (both of whom I knew back then.)

It's a shame Vinyl Beauty #2, Poor Little Rich Girl and Outer and Inner Space aren't available on home video. They show Edie in her prime. Ciao! Manhattan! does not.

As for Dylan, he has every right to be annoyed by this travesty.

[chaddoli]

for us lucky NYers:

from AMMI

The Films of Edie Sedgwick
To be announced (2007)

Underground superstar Sedgwick in nine feature-length films by Andy Warhol, including Beauty #2, Inner and Outer Space, and Vinyl.

[David Ehrenstein]

My Two Cents

[David Ehrenstein]

(Burnt) Sienna rearranges the deck chairs on the Titanic:

Miller denies Dylan 'defamation'

[TedW]

I understand the Sedgwick family isn't too happy, either, including Kyra. I'm hoping she'll say something snarky in the press just for our amusement.

[Barmy]

I knew I would regret going to this, and did. But what the hell, it's just 90 minutes long. The script is dire, Guy Pearce thinks being lispy and fey is all you have to do to nail Warhol, and Hayden gives one of the most embarrassingly laughable bad performances in Hollywood history (his speciality, it seems). The audience laughed at his "sex" scene.

That being said, Sienna does a decent Edie.

[ben d banana]

Worst movie I've seen lately (in AGES actually), and that includes Music & Lyrics. Utterly void of charisma, or anything else.

[domino harvey]

The acting of Christensen is so bad that my gf and I started laughing uncontrollably anytime he appeared on screen. That plus the soft core sex scene lifted from Cinemax made for a weird movie. Pearce was pretty good as Warhol but really, this was barely a movie.

[jon]

who plays Moe Tucker? (was wondering because I know Weezer plays VU)

[colinr0380]

The acting of Christensen is so bad that my gf and I started laughing uncontrollably anytime he appeared on screen.

Have you ever seen Life As A House?

[Antoine Doinel]

I don't think Hayden Christensen is a terrible actor so much as he chooses awful projects. Given a half decent script he can do the job - he was quite good in Shattered Glass.