(Self-portrait)
To begin at the beginning ...
“Cammell was born in the Camera Obscura (then known as Outlook Tower) on Castlehill, near the castle in Edinburgh, Scotland, the son of the poet and writer Charles Richard Cammell. The older Cammell wrote a biography of Aleister Crowley focusing principally on the occultist's poetry. Crowley, who lived near the Cammells for a time, knew the young Donald.”
(Aleister Crowley)
You can’t imagine how much this impressed Kenneth Anger. But we’ll get to him in a minute.
“A prodigy, he was a society portrait painter and thanks to family connections, a prominent fixture of the "swinging London" social scene of the 1960s, specifically of what became known as the ‘Chelsea Set.’"
(Cammell the portrait painter)
Indeed. But it was clear that being the next Graham Sutherland was not his thing
(Cammell as he looked most of the time)
Women were his thing. Consider his wife Maria Andipa.
(Maria Andipa and her son by Cammell -- Amadis)
The little boy is their son, Amadis
Here’s what Amadis Cammell is up to today
Then he met Deborah Dixon
(Deborah Dixon)
A “Supermodel” avant la lettre, very much in demand --
(Deborah Dixon and Fellini)
She and Cammell became a famous couple.
But after her came Myriam Gybril (See The Argument below)
-- making for an infamous couple. Finally there was China Kong
(China Kong)
But we’re getting ahead of ourselves.
“He wrote and co-directed Performance with Nicolas Roeg in 1968, though he didn't get another film produced until Demon Seed in 1977.
Cammell also made the eccentric horror thriller White Of The Eye in 1987. Between infrequent film and TV directing jobs, Cammell directed music videos for the likes of U2.
When Cammell's 1995 film Wild Side was cut by the producer, he committed suicide in Hollywood, California by shooting himself. His wife claimed the wound was not immediately fatal and that he asked for a mirror so that he could watch himself die; the claim would later be disputed in Cammell's published biography. A posthumous "director's cut," commissioned by FilmFour and edited by his widow and co-screenwriter China Kong and editor Frank Mazzola, was released in 2000 to critical acclaim.”
That’s the short version. A longer and more detailed one is provided by the documentary
Donald Cammell The Ultimate Performance
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7
No question that Performance is of tantamount importance -- his glory and his ruin. More than Orson Welles with Citizen Kane, this debut feature has become Cammell’s legacy. And why not.
Consider its head games
Bathtub antics
Magic Mushrooms
And that’s far from all
IOW it was a far cry from the tame stuff others had made of Cammell scripts like
The Touchables
You can imagine how much edgier this would have been had Cammell directed
Tilt
This too could have been something more than “innocent” fun.
And most important of all there was Duffy
-- which was if nothing else the film that introduced him to James Fox.
But while Hollywood ruined things for him post-Performance he sensed that’s where the action was, and so he moved to L.A. Marlon Brando, as usual, kept him hanging with the promise of all sorts of projects. Longing to get re-started he made Demon Seed. The script was not his own, but the subject -- a woman raped by a computer -- was right up his alley. Plus it was a chance to work with the great Julie Christie. Alas the project was taken away from him in the editing. But the results (as this trailer shows) still sport his touch
Keeping busy, he starred -- along with Marianne Faithfull and Myrian Gybril in Kenneth Anger’s Lucifer Rising
Lucifer Rising 1
Lucifer Rising 2
Lucifer Rising 3
Typecasting, needless to say.
Finally he got a chance to do something more to his liking. A thriller about a serial killer in a “bedroom community” in the Southwest. It was terrific, with a great performance by Cathy Moriarty. But making a good film is one thing. Marketing it is another. And White of the Eye never “found its audience.”
White of the Eye -- Murder scene
White of the Eye (scenes)
It was through White of the Eye I met Cammell my one and only time. There were press screenings being held in a tiny screening room in the Hollywood area -- and there was Cammell handing out the production notes.
Film directors never do this. But there he was, his own press rep. He was surprised that I knew who he was, and delighted too. A very nice man . With a long string of very bad luck.
He managed to make a very personal shot along Angerian lines, The Argument
But that was an avant-garde affair. He wanted the “Mainstream” and he got what looked like a good crack at it with Wild Side. A thriller about banking and sex it starred Christopher Walken, a pre-Ellen Anne Heche, Steven Bauer and Joan Chen. Lots of good pervy fun. Too much fun for the producers -- so they took it away from him.
For Cammell it was the last straw and so he killed himself. Ever-faithful Frank Mazzola got a chance to do a cut of the film along its creatoer’s lines and its available as a Region 2 DVD.
Cammell reverberations persist. A novel version of Fan-Tan, a script he co-wrote with Barando, came out a few years ago.
(Cover of Fan-Tan)
And plans are afoot to film a Cammell script Bones of the Earth
What was it that the Old Man of the Mountain said? “Nothing is True. Everything is permitted.”
Sing us out Mick
----
*
p.s. RIP: 'Macho Man' Randy Savage. Consider a decent portion of your weekend booked into David Ehrenstein's recount of and paean to the works and wiles of the fascinating and often overlooked film making and writing auteur Donald Cammell. Please enjoy the heck out of this fine gift, and talk back to David as well as to yourselves and to me too, if you insist. Thank you very kindly, Mr. E. ** FreeFox, Hey. Oh, Rover, sure. Good one. If I'd thought of it, I might have tried to find a way to slip him/it in there. Ha ha, listen, I was just passing along the truth about your writing in the guise of praise, man. And you're due for a lot of it from a lot of quarters, so keep those smelling salts in your shirt pocket. ** David Ehrenstein, Thank you once again so very much for this weekend's source of enlightenment and entertainment, David. Oh, 3D 'Titanic', yes. I'm trying to think of a way to make some dignified variation on that old 'shit floats' joke, and I think that's the best I'm going to be able to do. ** JoeM, Some of those were queasy making for me too. I have a serious heights fear, and a serious 'falling overboard in the middle of the ocean' fear too. I'm definitely going to read that UK/US Uncut thing this weekend, today probably. I'll bookmark and keep an eye on the Johan Hari site as well. Thanks much for that. Everyone, d.l. emeritus JoeM highly recommends the writings of the commentator Johann Hari, and you can get involved in what he's thinking here. 'Rhoda' was a good one. I liked the other MTM spin off show 'Phyllis' even more. Yikes about those British sitcoms. The only one I think I might have seen Stateside was 'Are You Being Served'. I keep popping over to this live apocalypse news feed site as I'm typing this just for fun, and it's not looking good for that predictor unless God has decided to spare New Zealand, and why wouldn't He? ** Pilgarlic, Hey, man. Yeah, that sinking boat one kind of took the cake. Oh, another friend of mine is reading 'Knockemstiff' right now as well. And he also lives in Georgia. Interesting. He's loving it too. Is Donald Ray Pollock a Georgian, I don't remember. I've wanted to read his books for quite a while, and I think I'll follow your lead and order that book today. Awesome, apocalypse-free weekend to you, pal. ** Cesar Andres, Hey, Xet! Cool as hell to see you back. What's up, dude? Tell me. A bunch of love back at you. ** Schoolboyerrors, Thanks a lot about the post, man. And even more for putting your considerable brain power to work on the comedians post and question. Yeah, that makes a ton of sense and was beautifully put. Peter Sellers is always an ideal example for me, and a great example to study since he somehow muscles his genius even through severely dated vehicles, almost always seeming the movies' loosest cannon or tumor and nearly always seeming like he has somehow time traveled back from our day into those period films and is simultaneously doing what they require and sending signals through their code to us in the future. Or something. Anyway, yeah, thank you a lot, D. ** Bernard Welt, I've never watched a single episode of 'Golden Girls' for no good reason. Strange how those gaps happen. 'Three Tall Women', no, I don't know that play at all. I sure like the title. Would it be worth reading the text? ** Alan, Hey. Oh, no, I didn't think you seemed dismissive. I guess imagined some invisible qualifying emoticon. I'm not absolutely sure, but I don't think that pool was ever actually built or put in place. I think it was just a proposal or maybe an entry in some contest to win funding to build something useful and eco-friendly in NYC. Something like that. But those images were computer generated, I'm pretty sure. ** Sypha, Yeah, sure. Some people do try to write using McCarthy's influence, but you usually just feel his voice in the results too strongly in a derivative way. So, yeah, I understand. I think I'm going to try to use what amazed me about 'Tree of Life' in my fiction somehow, but it probably won't end up working. I saw your email while I was coffeeing up this morning. Thank you so much! I'll get it set up and then I'll get back to you with the launch date, Great, James! Very exciting! ** Empty Frame, Hey. That plopped silver thing on the French/British water border sounds kind of fun if nothing else. I'll see if google can find that. The subheading of the Simon Reynold's book is 'Pop Culture's Addiction to Its Own Past', which is basically what the book is about. Oh, Lisa at Serpents Tail! I loved her. She was great. She was kind of my biggest ally at ST, and when she left, it was kind of the beginning of end of the phase when ST was publishing me and other writers I felt really connected to: Stewart Home, Lynne Tillman, Gary Indiana, Robert Gluck, and so on. I do remember that Brighton reading, in a pub or club or something with Bertie Marshall. I think I remember feeling very self-conscious because Bertie did this whole theatrical reading with music and then I had to go up and read in this bare-boned way and I think I felt like I didn't read very well and was kind of in the dumps afterwards which is why I killed those teens later that night because I needed a self-confidence boost, ha ha. If you'd come up to say hi, you might have saved some innocent lives. Still, I hope you have a bright and carefree weekend too, buddy. ** Lynne Tillman, Lynne! Wow, how great to see you here and how amazingly great it was to see you live. Weirdly, my phone conked out on me the night of the day I saw you, and I only got it up and working again last night and then saw that you'd called me. Yeah, I wish we'd had more time too, but the time was very precious. To be continued in NYC then, and asap. Lots to love to you, my great friend! ** Patrick deWitt, Hi, Patrick. Yeah, the news that Macho Man died made me quite sad. He was my big favorite of that era of the WWE. He was a really wonderful if very particular kind of comedian. Yeah, very sad. ** Bollo, You're too controversial? Hm, well, you do have a real edge, but come on. Maybe the bigwigs will surprise you and themselves. Not impossible. Okay, but I'll aim most of my crossed fingers at those other possible futures. Prints, printer, whoo-hoo! ** _Black_Acrylic, Hi, Ben. I'm glad you toughed it out for the degree show. I await your judgement call. Ha ha, that AGK trailer is a riot. Very nice. You look highly suave in it too, if I may say so. I think that's an embed if I ever saw one, so I'll lodge it down below. Everyone, the video embedded at the bottom of this p.s. comes courtesy of Yuck 'n' Yum co-maestro Ben Robinson, the man who wears black acrylic whenever he hangs out here, and this is the scoop on it: 'Just when you thought it was safe to sing Bonnie Tyler... it's the AGK 2! Yuck ’n Yum are delighted to announce the sequel to last year's hugely successful AGK. The 2010 Annual General Karaoke saw creative types from across Scotland make their very own karaoke videos, and the chosen songs were performed at the Chambers Suite in Dundee. This year’s AGK will take place on September 24th.We NEED you to set the agenda! We're hoping this year's event will continue to present unmissable art and thrilling karaoke, so once again we're asking for your Karaoke video submissions. Just like last year, £300 is up for grabs for best video! The Deadline for video submissions is the 15th of August. For full details on how to submit your video and for up to date AGK news visit : agk.yucknyum.com.' Okay, now go watch the video. It's super. Excellent work, sir. ** Steevee, Well, your doctor's new efficiency is certainly pleasing, yes. Interesting report on the Melanie Gilligan film. I've been holding off watching the youtube clips until I heard what you thought, so now I'm free to click. Thanks a lot for that, Steve. ** Chris Cochrane, Hey. Oh, that sucks. You don't have an Apple? That is asking for troubles galore. Yeah, let me think about that text and possible scribes. Let's trade thoughts by email, or I could call your normal phone number with my Skype thing if you want to pass the number along. I'm guessing those rapture signs will hitting the gutter any hour now. ** Mark Gluth, Hey. University Bookstore, okay, I'll jet a suggestion to the publicity folks. I imagine they know that bookstore, but maybe they need to know there's an 'in' there. Thanks a lot, Mark! ** Andrew, Hey. Oceans are spooky, at least when you get out past the reefs. Sorry to hear about the Existential Crisis. Yeah, I think therapy is geared to work on that kind of crisis if it comes to that. Maybe making art would help? Sometimes that works, and sometimes it's a bridge too far. Rebooted Flintstones? Why? That's stupid. Why won't people let the past take care of its own? Weird. ** Frank Jaffe, Hey, Frank! In every interview I've seen or read with Von Trier post- the so-called banning, he just goes on and on about how proud he is of being 'banned', so I think he is and will be just fine. It's sure looking like your Araki-centric celebration of the apocalypse is not going to be disturbed by an actual apocalypse unless the ongoing avalanche of news items about Schwarzenegger's love child counts, so have a blast. I did see Lynch's 'Dune' long ago, but I do remember that sexual tension you mentioned. Yeah, man, be its Paul Revere. Go for it. Either I'll see you in hell later today or I'll see you back here on Monday. As nice as it would be to lay eyes on you, I hope and trust it's the latter. ** Misanthrope, Korman is also great in the Mel Brooks movies, especially in the great 'Young Frankenstein'. As is Cloris Leachman aka 'Phyllis' actually. Lucky you to levitate in your dreams. In my dreams, I'm always crashing and screaming towards the earth from a great height. Great that your mom exiled that boyfriend. Good for her, for you, for humanity. That goes for the evil squirrel's exiling as well, but you get that credit. I was going to ask if Little Show is down about Macho Man's death, but I guess he's way too young to know the great man unless he has faint memories of those Slim Jim commercials. ** 'Stoopid Slapped Puppies', Nick! Nickster! Aw, you have done my heart very, very good by paying us a visit! Are you mist yet? I don't think I am. I feel like I would know if I were. And I guess I would definitely know if I was burning alive on a trampoline-like earth. As would you. I think we're in the clear, man, for better or worse. Any chance I could pry how you're doing out of you before your mistiness prevails? No pressure. You are a king among humans, 'SSP', and you have made what doesn't seem to be my last day on earth a very happy one. Love and respect of a most supreme nature to you, my dear friend. ** Okay, I just checked, and Tonga has survived the 6 pm deadline too, so I think we're all going to be able to spend an entire weekend with Mr. David Ehrenstein and Mr. Donald Cammell. Respond to it/them with your missive-like comments, please, and I will almost certainly see you back here on Monday.
Yuck 'n' Yum's AGK 2011 TEASER
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