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In Reply to: RE: Lol, Nicholas Roeg is alive and working... posted by Harmonia on May 29, 2008 at 15:19:23
A very interesting film indeed.
I believe it was held u before release for some 2 years as the studio had been expecting an updated swinging London film.
Cammell had been a lynchpin or at least a major partaker of London in the mid 60s and was I believe responsible (alleged alleged) for the major part that LSD played in the making of Performance.
The test screening must have been something... with one person legendarily vomiting.
I find Jagger's involvement fascinating as he always found LSD troublesome as it reduced his ego, which is one of the key themes of the film.
Catharsis perhaps.
I seem to remember Fox was so... changed/disturbed/effected... by the experience he went to a christian retreat for some time afterwards claiming he would never make another film.
My memory of those times is likely to be influenced by fiction almost as much as fact, so some of these stories may be just that.
I know Cammell was largely sidelined by the industry afterwards and finally shot himself although even the circumstances of that are disputed.
Anita Pallenberg, at the time Keith Richards' girlfriend, caused major ructions, although even as I write that I realise the sexism of the statement, by having real sex with Jagger in the film (outtakes of which later won a porn film award). She was also involved with Brian Jones and was a key influence in the image/real changes within that group from say 66 to 71.
She has been on a retainer/pension from the Stones even, I think until now.
Follow Ups:
Performance is for sure a druggy film, and conveys that experience better than almost any other film I can think of.
It must have been a pretty chaotic shoot with those personalities, sex, drugs and rock & roll colliding in that Knightbridge mansion. I doubt it would ever have been completed except for Roeg being the craftsman that he was. BTW, Keith was quite upset with the Mick and Anita scene, refusing to play on Memo From Turner, which I cannot now imagine without Ry Cooder's slide guitar. Mick's persona in Performance seems to partake as much of Brian Jones as his own, with a little actorishness thrown in besides.
The film was shelved for two years and given a minimal release in USA in 1970 - it was x rated and had almost no distribution in the US. The General Cinemas of the time wouldn't touch it. It made a few art/rep houses and a few special runs in porn houses. That's where I saw it, in 1970 as a high school senior. The vomiting episode was in 1970 at an industry screening just prior to it's actual release. I can only imagine the horror at WB when they saw it in 1968. It was pretty strong stuff, and not just the sex. This is one of the few movies where most of thelegends and myths about it are probably true.
Edward Fox has never the same, although he seems to have recovered well wnough and has been highly successful in his career, though maybe not what he could have been. He apparently wasn't a drug taker before Performance, so the experience was life altering for him. Cammell never quite fulfilled his promise and could never get complete control over his movie projects. Someone is making a movie this year from his unproduced script The Cull.
There's a pretty good doc which covers from Cammell's career and has a lot about Performance - I presume you've seen it ("Donald Cammell, The Ultimate Performance"). It's included in the new DVD of the film and has been aired on cable several times.
Cammell is something of a sad tale as he never had a decent budget or artistic control over his projects except White Of The Eye. The studio totally mauled the US release of Wild Side, which no doubt contributed to Cammell's depression and ultimate demise. I haven't seen Demon Seed in years but White of The Eye and Wild Side (in the 111 minute R2 version restored by Cammell friend/collaborator Frank Mazolla) are still worth seeing. In addition to the "script", Cammell contributed a lot to the look of Performance and was always disappointed Roeg got most of the credit for directing,
I would love to see Roeg get another good project and some acclaim, he's not going to be around forever.
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