I'll Be Your Mirror: The Selected Andy Warhol Interviews (19 page)
Read I'll Be Your Mirror: The Selected Andy Warhol Interviews Online
Authors: Kenneth Goldsmith
G: Your audience is forced to do the work themselves? W: It becomes fun.
G: Do you mean people who don’t like your films or are bored by them just aren’t working hard enough?
W: I don’t know. But it’s a lot of fun.
G: Most of your films have little or no editing. You keep the camera in one spot and keep shooting until the reels run out. Your characters enter and leave the frame. But there’s no cutting, just reels spliced together. Why?
W: The reason we did that was because whatever anybody did was always good. So you can’t say one was better than the other. You get more involved and time goes by quicker if you stay with one scene.
G: Have you changed your opinions about the need for editing?
W: Well, now we really believe in entertainment, and that’s a different scene.
G: You’ve said “I like boring things.” How can entertainment be boring? W: When you just sit and look out of a window, that’s enjoyable.
G: Why? Because you can’t figure out what’s going to happen, what’s going to be passing in front of you?
W: It takes up time. G: Are you serious?
W: Yeah. Really. You see people looking out of their windows all the time. I do.
G: Mostly it’s people who are stuck where they have to be, like an old person or a housewife waiting for the kid to get out of school or the husband to come home from work. And they’re usually bored.
W: No. I don’t think so. If you’re not looking out of a window, you’re sitting in a shop looking at the street.
G: Your films are just a way of taking up time?
W: Yeah.
1
Fuck
(also known as
Blue Movie
), 1968. Andy Warhol: "I‘d always wanted to do a movie that was pure fucking, nothing else, the way ‘Eat’ had been just eating and ‘Sleep’ had been just sleeping. So in October ‘681 shot a movie of Viva having sex with Louis Waldon. I called it just ‘Fuck’." (
POPism
, 294)
2
Faces
(1968), directed by John Cassavetes.
ROGER NETZER AND CURTIS ROBERTS
Fall 1969
The Gunnery News, December 6, 1969
In the fall of 1969, Roger Netzer and Curtis Roberts, both high school juniors at The Gunnery School for Boys, decided to interview Andy Warhol for the school newspaper as part of a series of interviews with prominent figures of the day. Other subjects included Harrison Salisbury, Paul Goodman, Arthur Miller, William Styron, and William Buckley.
Curtis Roberts recalls setting up the interview: “I remember looking up the phone number for Andy Warhol Films on Union Square in the New York City phone book. We just went ahead and called, armed with the confidence that teenagers can have. Anyway, we were treated politely, called back at the designated date and time, and the interview went off without a hitch.”
They found Warhol an unusual interviewee. “The other interviewees were so different than Warhol because they tended to be fairly long-winded and self-regarding; they werent giving the one-word answers that Andy gave,” recalls Roger Netzer. “In fact, I was a little exasperated because I wasnt accustomed to this. With Andy you had to stay on your toes because there were all these blanks that you had to fill.” One of these moments shows up in the following interview when Netzer asks Warhol, “Do you like chives?” out of frustration because Andy wasnt giving him the serious, pompous answers that Netzer had come to expect. “I happened to be in a kitchen looking at a bunch of chives, so I just sprung that question.” In doing so, Netzer found himself under the Warholian spell and suddenly, Andy’s responses didnt seem so odd.
Very little editing occurred, but after the interview was complete, Netzer and Roberts were shocked at how short the transcript was. Their solution was to typographically increase the spacing between the questions and responses just to fill a page. The terseness of the interview left Netzer with a feeling that, in fact, the interview could be improved upon. He called the Factory a year later requesting to redo the piece, but was told that Andy was satisfied with the interview as it stood. “I was unhappy with it in retrospect because, at the time, I didnt appreciate how great he was in the original piece,” says Netzer. “Over the course of the next year, I had really come to admire him and wanted to go back and do a proper interview, but in fact, the one we did was the proper interview.”
–KG
“I don’t like any of them yet,” Andy Warhol, underground filmmaker and Pop artist, said about his movies this week in a
News
exclusive telephone interview.
Mr. Warhol, whose latest film,
Blue Movie
, was recently seized by the New York Police as “pornography,” conversed with the
News
for nearly half an hour, ranging in his discussion from censors (“we believe in them”) to the critics’ panning of his novel
a
(“we think they’re right”).
In addition, Mr. Warhol disclosed his hitherto unannounced plans to marry a girl named Jane Ford, and his present writing project, a twenty-six-act play called B.
Blonde on a Bummer
and
New Girl in the Village
will be Mr. Warhol’s next films, the director announced, then went on to ask, “Do you know any people who want to be in the film?”
Mr. Warhol named flying as the next artistic medium in which he’d like to work. “It’s the only; way,” he explained.
He also revealed his admiration for “all the Hollywood people” and “the kind of movies I can’t really make.”
Asked about the price of one of his books, Mr. Warhol said he didn’t know, but added, “It has two prices. They always have two prices to everything.”
This is a recorded interview. Is that okay?
Oh, sure.
Oh,
great. What film are you working on?
We’re working on a couple of things. One of them’s called ah, “Blonde Bummer,” and ah, “New Girl in the Village.”
Where are you filming?
Huh?
Where are you filming?
Oh, we’re . . . we’re going to do it in, ah, California, and in the Village.
Are you going to have people who’ve appeared in your films before?
Yeah, but we’re going to try and use new people. Do you know any people who want to be in the film?
Yeah. There re lots of people here who’d like to he in your film
.
We need someone named John Modern.
John Modern!?
Yeah, Modern.
We can change our names or something. Could we change our names?
Oh, yeah.
Okay. What present films or film-makers do you admire?
Well, I like all the Hollywood people.
Excuse me?
I like all the Hollywood people, the kind of movies I can’t really make. Like ah-h-h . . . Like ah-h-h. . . . What are some Hollywood movies?
Oh.
All sorts of things
. Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner. . .
All sorts of crap. Do you like any specific directors in Hollywood?
Um-m-m-m. . . .
Mr.
Warhol, could you speak a little louder? You II have to talk a little louder
.
Um-m-m-m. U-m-m-m-m.
I’m sorry, Mr. Warhol, could you speak a little louder?
Oh, we have a newspaper. Would you be interested in writing for our newspaper?
Yes. We’d really be interested
.
Really? It’s called
Interview
. Would you give me?–ah, what’s your address? Oh, you gave me the address already.
Yes
.
Oh, we’ll send you a copy. Maybe you could write for it.
Great
.
Ah, ah, what else did you want to find out?
Do you have any special theory of film?
Serious?
Theory
.
Huh?
Theory
.
Steery?
T-h-e-o-r-y
.
Oh, theory?!
Yes
.
No.
You dont? Do you have any opinion about who the most important underground film-maker in America would be?
Ah, oh, Hitchcock.
Okay. About critics. Whose critical opinion, if anyone’s, do you value?
Huh?
Do you value anyone’s critical opinion?
Ah
, the movie reviews.
Anyone particular?
No.
I’m sorry
, Mr.
Warhol, could you speak just a little louder?
. . .
About censors and things. What do you–
We believe in them.
You do? How did you feel when
Blue Movie
was seized?
What?
How did you feel when
Blue Movie
was seized?
Oh, we didn’t think about it at all.
Are you going to plan any legal action against the people who did it?
No.
Okay. Are you writing anything now?
Oh yes, uh-huh.
What are you writing?
Oh, we’re writing, er, a twenty-six-act play.
Oh, really
.
We’d like to perform it in New York.
Would you like to tell us anything about it?
Oh, it’s just er, it’s just called, ah, “B.”
Oh. I see. Do you have any reaction about the critics’ reaction to your novel? Because some people gave it some pretty horrendous reviews. Do you feel anything about that?
No. We think they’re right.
Okay. I’m sorry to ask again, Mr. Warhol, but can you speak just a little bit louder?
We think they’re right.
Okay, thank you. Do you have any sort of opinion about prep schools in general? Because this is a prep school
.
Oh no, I think they’re really. . . ah . . . terrific. All the kids are always so pretty.
Okay. Is there any sort of art form that you haven’t worked in yet that you’d sort of like to?
Flying.
Yeah. Why would you like to fly?
Oh it’s its the only way.
You haven’t done it before?
Huh?
You haven’t done it before?
Oh, no.
Er,
how do you feel about Les Levine?
1
Who?
Les Levine
.
Oh, Fve, Fve never heard of him.
Oh, you havent?
No.
I’ve forgotten where it was, but there was an article comparing you to Les Levine
.
Oh, really?
Yeah, it was in the
Times
or something
.
Oh.
Something Like “The Battle of Andy Warhol and Plastic Man
.”
Oh, no, I haven’t–I’ve never seen that article.
Okay. Is it true that Warhol is an anagram of Harlow?
Huh?
Is it true that Warhol is an anagram of Harlow? That’s what someone told us
.
What?
That Warhol is an anagram of Harlow. You know
.
No, I don’t-What? Huh?
You know
.
Is underground. . . .
Is anagram
.
Anagram.
Yeah
.
Of Harlow.
Yeah
.
Oh. Yes.
Okay. Um, let’s see. How do you feel about The Kinks?
The Kinks?
Yeah
.
Oh, they’re terrific.
Well, that’s really great. Thank you. Are there any painters in the Pop school that you admire?
No, I like them all.
What are you reading now?
Ah, just newspapers.
Do you have a favorite writer?
No, I like the ones that don’t use by-lines.
Oh. We don’t use by-lines in the
Gunnery News.
Oh, really?
No. Well, actually we do sometimes. But it doesn’t flatter really. Do you plan on marrying in the near future?
Oh, yes.
Ah, who are you planning to marry?
Ah, a girl named Jane Ford.
Oh, really. Well, that’s nice. Can we do a
Gunnery News
exclusive on it?
Oh, sure.
When will that be then?
Ah, soon. Hello?
What is your attitude toward amphetamines?
Well, I don’t know. I mean, you know. Most of the people we know don’t take that sort of thing.
Someone read somewhere that you hooked all your superstars on speed so you could dominate them
.
That’s not true. People on speed tend to dominate
you
.
So you could give them the speed and they’d be dependent on you. You see? What religion are you, Mr. Warhol?
Well, I believe in all religions. That’s the kind I am.
You used to be a commercial artist, didn’t you? I mean, you know
.
Oh, yes. Uh-huh. And I still am.
Yeah. But did anything, you know–?
Huh?
Any sudden thing make you change your style?
No.
Which of your movies did you like the most?
Ah-h-h.
Did you like any of them?
Ah, not yet.
When do you expect to?
Well, I don’t know.
Oh
.
We’re still all just experimenting.
Yeah. Do you like chives?
What?
Do you like chives?
Huh?
Do you like chives?
Chives?
Yes
.
Chives?
Yes
.
What are chives? You mean those things you put in–
Cream cheese
.
Huh?
Cream cheese?
Oh yes, I see.
Neat. Didnt you start the DOM?
Yes.
How’s that doing?
Well, they took it away from us a long time ago.
Oh, they did? It’s still running, though, isn’t it?
Oh yeah, it is.
How’s your novel doing?
Oh, it’s in paperback now.
Oh, is it?
Yeah.
Is it selling pretty well?