Todd Haynes  

US/UK 

There are a lot of similarities between the events surrounding glam rock and the persona of Oscar Wilde," says Todd Haynes of the milieu covered in his competition film, Velvet Goldmine. "I think of David Bowie, in particular, the pose and all of that... Glamrock utilised artifice and theatrical tropes." 

Glam rock, a product of the early 70s, was something of a reaction to the previous decade of flower power and to a certain machismo which, in retrospect, was associated with it. It was a largely British phenomenon that just barely reached the US. Nevertheless, it took an American director and his producer, Christine Vachon, to bring it to the screen. 

There are countless non-American directors who have gone to America and made films about historical events in the US. Haynes has gone in the opposite direction, detailing a story that transpires in England in a social milieu that is peculiarly English. Jumping outside of his own culture to direct a film was not a daunting experience for the director. 

"I never make films from knowledge I have of the subject," Haynes explained. "I need to have something that I don't understand. My first film, Poison, for example, was really an investigation. I could not recreate Genet, so I had to find a way to bring the writing to film." 
Velvet Goldmine is, in fact, something of an investigation of an era long past. Set mainly in London in the early 70s, when wild recklessness and self-absorption was in, Velvet Goldmine follows a reporter's investigation of the life and apparent death of glamrocker Brian Slade as he seeks to unravel the complicated relations of the star with his wife and others, and the reporter's own adulatory relationship with the singer. 

The film is an investigation of imagination, memory, nostalgia and sexual identity. "The early 70s were a time when lines were blurring," Haynes continued. "We all felt that we were touched by androgyny." 

Producer Christine Vachon agreed. "It was not just a time when the lines were blurring," she said, "it was a time when the lines virtually disappeared. The lines didn't matter." 
Vachon worked with Haynes on his previous features, Poison and the more recent Safe, and his short, Dottie Gets Spanked. Her book, Shooting To Kill, on the secrets of making films, is coming out in the fall. In it, she details Velvet Goldmine's six-month shoot on location in the UK. "It was kind of like having a baby," Vachon said of looking back on the experience. "You forget how hard it was until you remember it in detail. Then, you think 'I'll never do this, again'." 

Vachon has made a reputation for producing low-budget films, many of which have been gay-themed. In 1994, she was awarded the Frameline Award for Outstanding Achievement in Lesbian and Gay Media. But she rejects the pigeon-holing that comes with such an award. 
"I'm not going to refuse an award," she said with a smile, "but I don't choose material because it's gay or not gay. You know, I'd love to open up a newspaper and see the headline: 'Larry Gordon, Heterosexual Producer, to Make New Film.'" 

The story for Velvet Goldmine originated with Haynes' editor, James Lyons. Haynes wrote the script, having researched it during the lulls in financing -- "of which there were many," he said – for Safe. 

"It's really kind of a comment on the artifice of performance," Haynes told Moving Pictures. "It's also about the seductiveness of the music." 

For those who were a part of the glamrock scene, both in England and elsewhere, it is likely that the film's soundtrack will invoke strong waves of nostalgia. Songs ranging from Brian Eno's Needle in the Camel's Eye to Andy Pratt's Avenging Angel, to songs from Bryan Ferry, Lou Reed and others back the Citizen Kane-like investigation of the fictional, mythic Brian Slade.

Jeff Sipe