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Velvet Goldmine
...the glue behind the glam

[The following insider quotes are taken from the official Miramax Films press kit for Velvet Goldmine.]

Todd Haynes, director:

"Velvet Goldmine is a valentine to the sounds and images that erupted in and around London in the early 1970's: to Brian Ferry, David Bowie, Iggy Pop, Lou Reed - and the extraordinary inversions they imposed on our notions of the performance, sexuality and identity. Glam rock was the product of the last truly progressive decade we've seen in the West - a climate of great possibility and openness - that resulted in important social movements, amazing cinema, and some fantastic music. And because glam rock would challenge, with style and wit, any leaning toward 'the natural' in society, drawing heavily as it did from underground gay culture, the film commemorates Oscar Wilde as the original glam rocker, the one who knew to speak the truth only through the most exquisite of lies."

"Jim Lyons, my editor, and I started talking about this film in 1989 after we'd finished Poison. It seems excitingly timely as we seem to be returning to a more tuneful and ironic pop music, especially with the popularity of Britpop. The early '70's was just an extraordinary time and it seems a very overlooked period. I'm very interested in topics for my films that call notions of identity into question. To me this was a celebration of the Oscar Wilde tradition played out in pop culture. Glam rock seems a direct application of what Wilde was trying to do in literature - to kick the pants off the romantic tradition that preceded him."

"It's a musical in a big way. Music drives the film and is often the way the narrative gets progressed. It's also about the music and music history. It's inspired by films of the late '60's and early '70's that came out of youth culture like Performance or Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange which were exciting, trippy voyages into images and sounds and different worlds. I remember the thrill of going to the cinema when I was a kid. You had no idea what you were going to see. I hope this film has something of that feeling, of going on an unknown trip somewhere. It's also many different love stories rolled into one, not only between the characters but also between London and New York."

"Certain artists in the States inspired a lot of artists in the UK to make glitter rock happen. Bowie was very influenced by The Velvet Underground and by The Stooges. In many ways, the film is a valentine to Bowie and to Roxy Music, but it takes to heart the spirit of glam rock, which is not about telling the truth, but dressing it up."

"A lot of glam was very melodramatic and full of nostalgia. Hollywood of the '30's and the futuristic space age were two elements that were fused in the music and clothes and the images they created. I wanted to bury the past in the film so you feel that something very dangerous and exciting had closed up. Arthur is digging up his past as well as Brian's and right from the beginning of the movie, there is this enormous sense of loss and longing. I play it up because I feel it myself, but it's very much in the music too. In a way, glam rock killed itself off. There were various ceremonial farewells to the period; there was a 'death of glitter' concert and, of course, Bowie's public killing of Ziggy Stardust."

"I wanted to re-examine the period because I think the '70's was a unique era, not because it was kitsch, but for an extremely radical spirit we've not seen since. The dressing up and performing draws a direct relationship to sexuality and identity which was about the individual and non-conformity. It was a truly progressive period, but in a playful way, without the political dogma of the '60's. The music was intelligent and humorous and ultimately very moving. It was a true celebratory act in popular culture that innately dealt with questions of identity and performance and gave an affirmative, radical answer to those questions."

"I am so happy with my casting on this movie. The actors are all extraordinary. Ewan [McGregor] was wonderful. I think it filled a lot of the age-old desires to be a rock star that most of us have, but would be unable to execute with such power. He also sang live, did unbelievably strenuous, outrageous performances and gave 100 percent consistently in every take, while still allowing the performance to feel raw and spontaneous."

"Jonathan [Rhys Meyers] understood the role of Brian intuitively. He tried very hard to do something of his own and not simply to play a famous person. He is really just incredible. Being 19 is a full-time job as it is, and here he is, playing this role that demands so many different aspects: vulnerability as an actor, transforming completely from era to era in Brian's life, performance skill and singing ability."

"Mandy [Slade] is, in a way, the hardest role in the film and I looked the longest for her. The very affected mannerisms, fake British accent, and the Liza Minnelli quality a la Cabaret were really a part of that time and it's most important to believe that's what she's really like, it's not just affectation. Toni [Collette] is exquisite. I knew she was right for the part immediately and she just went the whole 10 yards."

"[Glam rock] is music that I've loved. I was a little young at the time, or maybe a little square for it, because there was certainly a raging glitter scene in L.A. where I grew up, but it was mostly very precocious teenage girls who were into it who would hang out at Rodney Bingenheimer's Old English Pub on Sunset Boulevard and accost the Iggy's and the Ziggy's. I wasn't quite there. Elton John was probably the closest I came. I didn't really get into the music until college when I started listening to Lou Reed, Iggy and The Stooges, Roxy Music and Bowie, but I didn't realise until later that they were so consciously interactive. The sound and the content shared a great deal; it's very melodic, extremely ornate and very produced, but not in a slick way. The music was very dressed up. It was theatrical, mixed in with a raunchy, frank sexuality that produced the sort of high performance that you only see in certain periods. It disappeared very quickly and there are no films and few books about glam rock. People were frightened by its aggressive artificiality and rejection of the natural. It's easier to revitalise and reinvent moments in pop culture that are about something truthful and earnest. There is something more complex about glam rock and for a lot of people, of course, it's just far too naff! I enjoy Sweet, Gary Glitter, Suzi Quatro, Mud, The Rubettes and those kind of crazy bands. The humour in all of that is really infectious, but I am more drawn to the art school side of glam as in David Bowie and Roxy Music. Not having heard the music for several years, it's remarkably fresh. Some of the stuff they were doing was so radical and so creative, not just musically but also in terms of production. Slamming stuff together in the studio, trying lots of different ideas. Some of it was an abject failure, but a lot of it is really inspiring."

Ewan McGregor, 'Curt Wild':

"[Curt Wild is] a mad rock 'n' roller. He's completely up for it. He's excessive, he has some tender moments with Brian, but on stage he's an exhibitionist child. I loved Safe, I thought it was an amazing movie. This was just a birthday present of a part, it was an amazing piece of writing and I've always had a desperate desire to be a rock star and I thought if I played one I'd get over it, but it seems to have had the reverse effect."

"I couldn't conceive what it would be like on stage, but you just have to let yourself go and it's a bit of a shocker when they shout 'cut'! I foolishly asked if I could do my singing live, but it's worked out well and I find it exciting. Everyone sings with an American accent anyway so that's not hard and the vocals come from the thrashing around on stage, but it's definitely the most physical part I've done. I can now say I've played the Brixton Academy."

Jonathan Rhys Meyers, 'Brian Slade':

"I read the script and it stayed with me. It's a very exceptional movie. Brian is a lover. If love is a size 8 shoe, he's a size 9. He wanted anything but where he came from. It was all about newness and doing things loudly. It's been a little taste of being a rock star. Every night I was really tired, but I would have a smile on my face knowing I was coming back to work the next day."

Christian Bale, 'Arthur Stuart':

"After seeing Safe, I thought I'd love to work with that guy [Todd Haynes], because he's doing his own thing. My character is like the eyes of the audience. I see him as like someone with a hangover. In the morning he's saying 'Oh God, did I do that?' But in the evening, he's saying 'Yeah, I did have a good time didn't I?' It's a very multi-layered film. It's like a pop song that you can't quite explain, but the more you listen to it the more you hear. The more you delve into it, the more you learn."

Toni Collette, 'Mandy Slade':

"Mandy helps to invent Brian's persona. Both are young and willing to explore, both sexually and in the way they present themselves, in a time which provides the opportunity to do so. But Brian gets caught up in his own creation and loses himself. Mandy has a more objective viewpoint. In the '70's her life was all fake bubble and froth but in the '80's she's had time to reflect and she realises she was living a fantasy. I find it really moving and sad. They thought they could change the world and they create this amazing colourful thing, but nothing can last forever and it had to end."

"I read the script and thought, 'I love it, I have to do it, but I'm so wrong for it.' It was unlike anything else I'd ever read - so intelligent, so humourous and with such well-developed characters. It will affect people and wake something up. People who weren't there will fall in love with the period and people who were there will just be swimming in their own memories and loving it. The look, the music, the passion, the rawness, the humour. You can choose to sit in on different levels, either the darker levels below the surface or just the funny, frothy level. I just loved making it. Everyone was so involved and wanted it to be the best it could be."

Christine Vachon, producer:

"Back before the script of Safe was completed, Todd was talking about doing a film about glam rock. He had rediscovered the era and thought it would make great material. Although he didn't have a narrative, he started to do a tremendous amount of research. It's all about excess and as such is the complete opposite of Safe."

"I'll pretty much do anything Todd wants to do. A lot of the elements of this subject seemed really fascinating, especially seen through the eyes of the late 1990's. The glam era was very short-lived and it never had the impact in the States that it did in the UK. It's ripe for discovery."

"It was a very brief moment when gender bending was not only acceptable but encouraged. Even bands like The Kinks and The Stones wore mascara and feather boas. But it didn't last very long, and it's interesting that rock and popular culture took a step in that direction in the '70's and then immediately snapped back. It was all about invention and creating characters. It's a period film and people have certain memories that they hold very dear, so you want to remain true to them."

"We were originally planning to cast an American actor as Curt Wild, but Todd saw Trainspotting before it opened in the States and felt that Ewan [McGregor] would be perfect. I imagine it's every actor's dream to play a rock star. Our casting director introduced us to Jonathan [Rhys Meyers] and he just had this incredible look, sensual as well as cold and it turned out that he as a good actor as well, so he was just perfect."

"[Glam rock] is fantastic and it's ripe for rediscovery. Roxy Music haven't really been rediscoverd in the States and I hope a lot of kids will discover them. A lot of modern bands were eager to participate, as it was so much fun for them to try and write songs, or to perform songs in that style."

Michael Stipe, executive producer:

"Todd has all the qualities I admire in an artist - ambition, great intellect and humour, interest in potentially 'fringe' topics, and the ability to combine all this and take it to an audience in an entertaining way. Todd is my favourite American director, ever since Safe which was a near perfect film. He provokes and is defiant, while entertaining and challenging his audience. That is almost singular in today's film culture. He is truly renegade and unafraid, and driven. I stand behind him proudly."

"One thing I find really fascinating is that Todd's making a film in 1997 in which the future is 1984. The 1984 we experience is a fantastic idea of what 1984 would be like as imagined by people in the early '70's, and to look back and see an era that we lived through in a very different light makes you question your own take on that period of your life."

"I love how the gender and sexuality of the era were completely broken down and for a while it seemed to really blur and question the hetero/homo/bi thing. There was no 'is-you or is-you ain't' - everybody was, and was everything, or anything they wanted to be. It was almost required, was truly queer, in the original sense of the word - it was like high theatre."

"Andy [McKay of Roxy Music] came in and played sax on some of the songs. [Bryan] Ferry and [Brian] Eno gave us their approval and it was thrilling to sit down and talk to them about it and have them be interested and excited about Todd taking glam rock to a new level with this movie."

"The influence of glam is so prevalent in the music of the '90's, yet no feature film has ever covered the era. Leave it to Todd - what a cast he put together. And guess what? Ewan can actually sing - he and Jonathan just totally went for it. It was frankly kind of daunting."

Maryse Alberti, director of photography:

"Todd's films are extremely visual and when I first read the script, I thought 'what a feast for a cinematographer.' The film is a visual explosion and within that we find the story. It can be divided into the rock 'n' roll bits, the story-telling bits and the bit set in 1984. The '70's have incredible colour, while the '80's have very bleak, low tones, so we convey the idea that after glam the world became very bleak, very passionless. There are lots of different textures within the film, which is Todd's trademark. For example we use super 8 for memory. Todd has a very strong vision and Christopher has a great imagination, so it's an interesting collaboration."

Christopher Hobbs, production designer:

"The look of the film is from high baroque through low farce, with almost everything in between. It was a very interesting challenge as I had to take my imagination as far as it would go without it actually snapping. Nobody has yet put together definitive books about the period so it's not that easy to get photographic reminders. I was bouncing around nightclubs in the '70's, but it's perfectly true what they say about living through the period and not remembering any of it. But it's art, not archaeology, so it's about reinterpreting the past from the present. It doesn't need to be that precise, it's more to do with getting the atmosphere, sort of half dream, half memory and distinguishing the different periods and personae clearly."

Sandy Powell, costume designer:

"It's not like anything I've done before. It's not like doing a period film or like a contemporary film, it's a mixture of both. These clothes were really important when I was growing up, but I was too young to wear a lot of them so a lot of the costumes I've produced for the film is stuff I wanted to wear. In fact this job has really inspired me and it makes me want to try a few things."

"It's more than just putting the actors into lots of flares and sequins. Each character has a particular style and look. Toni has a very strong look, vampy and trashy, she's a show-off and the clothes reflect that. Ewan has the American glam look which is lots of tight trousers. He's sexy and a bit grubby looking. I think the actors all love their looks. Some took a bit longer to come round to it, but others loved it instantly."

Peter King, hair designer:

"The '70's were all about image and you have to be quite precise to recreate a period not long gone as everyone has an idea of what it looked like. You have to research the whole period rather than just the make-up so you know exactly what the influences were. It was much more complicated than doing a normal period film. I instructed [my team] to just chuck the make-up around and when they thought they'd put on enough, to put on more. We couldn't get enough on the actors. So much of it is about blanking out the face and re-inventing it. To be able to push the look that far was a dream, we just went for it."

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