Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The Chelsea Movie Palace
Numerous filmmakers have taken advantage of the Chelsea's shabby gothic
mise en scene.
The most famous, of course, is Alex Cox's
Sid and Nancy.
114
TIM SULLIVAN
When they made
Sid and Nancy
at the Chelsea, I remember watching the director,
Alex Cox, telling Gary Oldman and Chloe Webb what they should do, how they
should act. He was a real hands-on director—he also directed
Repo Man. Sid and
Nancy
wasthefirstfeaturefilmshotonadigitalcamera,anditcameoutineighty-
six. This was only seven years after the actual events.
JULIE EAKIN
For
Sid and Nancy,
the film crew had a huge electrical cord coming out of our
room, so our door wouldn't close entirely because they were using part of our
power.Itknockedthelightsoutacoupleoftimes,thatsortofthing.Wewereused
to people being there all the time. I don't know that it felt particularly glamorous,
but then to see it on film is always great.
PAUL VOLMER
Igotholdofthismovielampthathadbeenleftbehindfromthefilmingof
Sid and
Nancy.
It was the old-fashioned kind of movie light with a big cast metal housing
and flaps on the sides, and at least five feet tall. It needed a new plug and a new
bulb, so I fixed that stuff up. I painted it and put Marlowe's glitter on it, and then
I went to a theatrical lighting shop on 42nd Street and bought all these different
gels that you would smear on the glass housing over the bulb. At different times,
it would light up the room all red, or all green, or purple. Finally, when I ran out
of money, I sold it to the bellman Timur for a hundred bucks.
Whentheyweremaking
Sid and Nancy,
thefilmcrewnoticed Fuchsia thedomin-
atrix there. They wanted her to be in the movie. But they made a crucial mistake.
She had a room like mine, without a shower, so the shower was down the hall.
Onemorning they went byherroomfirst, andshewasn'tthere. Sothey heard that
someone was in the shower down the hall. They knocked on the shower door and
said, “Um, hello, we're with the
Sid and Nancy
movie? We'd like to know if you
would like to be in the movie?”
“Fuck you!” she yelled out at these movie guys. “I'm taking a shower! Who
are you fuckers to bother me when I'm in the shower?”
Search WWH ::
Custom Search