Michael Ochs Archives/Getty ImagesTodd Haynes, the acclaimed indie-film director whose credits include the David Bowie-inspired 1998 flick Velvet Goldmine, has revealed that he’s planning to make a documentary about the late Lou Reed‘s influential early band The Velvet Underground.
Haynes revealed details of the as-yet-untitled project to Variety on Monday, noting that the flick will “rely certainly on [Andy] Warhol films but also a rich culture of experimental film.”
The director told Variety that he expects making the movie will be “challenging” because so little footage of The Velvet Underground exists. He added that he looks forward to “the thrill of the research and visual assemblage” and “getting in deep to the resources and material and stock and archival footage and the actual cinema and experimental work.”
Haynes also said he’s hoping to include interviews with surviving members of The Velvet Underground, as well as people associated with the band and the New York City arts scene from which the group emerged.
The Velvet Underground, whose classic lineup also featured singer/guitarist Reed, bassist/violist John Cale, drummer Maureen Tucker and guitarist Sterling Morrison, came to fame as the house band at Warhol’s psychedelic multimedia show The Exploding Plastic Inevitable. The group’s songs explored dark themes such as drugs, kinky sex and domestic violence in the midst of the “Flower Power” era.
Although the band experienced little commercial success, they were a huge influence on many artists, including Bowie, as well as on the punk and new wave movements. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996.
Copyright © 2017, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
