megnuge said:
does any one know when this movie is actually going to be in theaters?
New York Times: Factory Man By MICKEY RAPKIN Published: December 24, 2006
IF the director George Hickenlooper looks exhausted, weighed down by the matching set of luggage beneath his eyes, it’s with good reason. As late as last week, he was still shooting new scenes for his film “Factory Girl,” a biopic about Edie Sedgwick starring Sienna Miller.
Rahav Segev for The New York Times
DIRECTOR’S CUT George Hickenlooper at the Gramercy Park Hotel, before more finishing touches on “Factory Girl.”
Despite news media reports that Mr. Hickenlooper had been taken off the project (not true) and that Bob Dylan was upset with how he is portrayed (true), the only opinion that matters now belongs to the executive producer, Harvey Weinstein. He has decided to release “Factory Girl” in Los Angeles on Friday, in time, barely, for the Oscars. “He wants a nomination for Sienna,” Mr. Hickenlooper said Wednesday.
The director won’t be there for the first showing; he will be editing the final sound mix in New York, where the film will open in late January.
Mr. Hickenlooper, 41, had taken a break from editing to stop at the Rose Bar at the Gramercy Park Hotel. He was dressed in standard Los Angeles auteur gear (leather blazer, oversize plastic frames, goatee). “I really need a drink,” he said, looking around for assistance. “I wouldn’t want to confuse a pretty woman with a waitress.”
He ordered one cabernet and then another. He wound up in Los Angeles, he said, by way of St. Louis,
Yale and a late-night job at Kinko’s. Mr. Hickenlooper (great name) then made a string of celebrated documentaries, including “Mayor of the Sunset Strip,” about the legendary KROQ radio D.J. Rodney Bingenheimer (better name), whose self worth seemed derived from his proximity to celebrity. One could say the same of Ms. Sedgwick.
“We’re all starved for intimacy and we’re looking for something to fill that void,” Mr. Hickenlooper said. “You could take the names Edie and Andy off of this and it would still be compelling.”
There have been times when Mr. Hickenlooper may have liked to do just that. Instead, Mr. Hickenlooper addressed the bad press, starting with the character Billy Quinn, who walks and quacks like Bob Dylan no matter what he’s called. Does “Factory Girl” blame Mr. Dylan (whose relationship with Ms. Sedgwick was always mysterious) for her death? “The character is a hybrid of Dylan, Jim Morrison, Donovan — people Edie knew,” Mr. Hickenlooper said. “Dylan’s lawyers will not find what they’re looking for in this movie.”
As for the role of Ms. Sedgwick, Sienna Miller is inspired casting. Like Warhol’s muse, you knew her name before you knew why. (She has had small roles in “Alfie” and Us Weekly.) But her growing fame may be part of the film’s problems. She is photographed by the news media so often, it feels as if reshooting has taken months.
Mr. Hickenlooper explained: The film was over budget at the start, so scenes were cut. Shooting wrapped in February, but when the rough cut was first viewed in August, it was clear that there were holes. They had to wait for Ms. Miller’s calendar to open up. Three days of planned shoots in New York stretched to five. And when Mr. Weinstein suggested extra scenes to flesh out the friendship between Ms. Sedgwick and Warhol, two days in Connecticut were added.
In light of all this, why the rush to release? “I’d love another three months to edit,” Mr. Hickenlooper said, “but Harvey believes — and I agree — that the film has momentum.”
Momentum. It’s what’s carrying him through the night. Around 11, he finished the wine and headed back to the editing suite for more “finessing.” Afterward, he was hoping to hit Bungalow 8, describing the club as “like my living room.” But he never got there. Mr. Weinstein decided that Ms. Miller should record a newly tweaked voice-over, and Mr. Hickenlooper was due in the cutting room at 5 a.m.