Dear Sweet Darlings,

We are less than a week away from the event of the century: Todd Haynes and Sandy Powell are doing a Q&A after a screening of Velvet Goldmine as part of the David Bowie Is exhibition in Chicago. This brilliant show from the Victoria and Albert Museum is touring the world and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago is the ( Read more... )

Rocking the VG purple and orange (is he wearing nail polish?)


( Read more... )

A delightful darling just gifted me with a copy of the VG issue of American Cinematographer magazine! The fascinating, if a bit technical, article about the choices made by DP Maryse Alberti and Todd Haynes is available on-line and I have quoted it extensively. However, there are a few wonderful photos in the issue. There are some stills (all by ( Read more... )

Fittingly, we end with what Todd has been doing since he made Velvet Goldmine. Happily, he had a critical success with Far From Heaven. This February 2003 article from The Independent at the release of Far From Heaven explains what we have to look forward to:

At the start of 2000, he drove to Portland, Oregon, and wrote Far From Heaven in 10 days ( Read more... )

After thirty years one year of being immersed in trivia about Velvet Goldmine we've probably covered most aspects of the film but heaven knows that Todd's multilayered, well-read mind has included some reference or quote that has slipped by us. We'll continue to update any earth shattering discoveries. We'll also be working on corrections and hope ( Read more... )

The audience for the film did exactly what Todd had hoped - no it didn't turn every gay person straight and every straight person gay - we're not referring to that 'modest' goal, but this one:

I hoped it would be like those trippy movies you'd go to and then analyze with your friends; buy the record and play it over and over again and ponder its ( Read more... )

After the New York premiere, the film opened in major U.S. cities on October 26th and then went on to wider release to 85 screens by November 6th. It garnered some glowing reviews but mostly a mixed reception. Todd's quote was apt, "All my films have divided audiences intensely. The most interesting films that have ever been made have always done ( Read more... )

After all the work involved in dreaming up and creating Velvet Goldmine it must have been a bit of a blow to have so many critics 'not get it' and to even have some seem to enjoy bashing it. However, Todd seems remarkably philosophical about reviews. A BBC interviewer asked 'How seriously do you take reviews?'

They affect you, and I've been lucky ( Read more... )

Reviews can be wonderful little artworks of their own. Here are some of the most well written and descriptive lines from various sources.

Velvet Goldmine hasn’t been well-received by everyone, but film critic Mark Couzens thinks the movie will propel Todd Haynes into the A-league of Hollywood directors: "It was head and shoulders the best film at ( Read more... )

The film premiered in the United States at the New York Film Festival on Thursday October 1st 1998, (and, appropriately, was screened again that Saturday at midnight - on the Friday in between there was a party at the Killer Films offices.)

In Shooting to Kill, Christine Vachon says, "The New York Film Festival, which is the showcase for the Film ( Read more... )