Viva

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Cleopatra situates itself in the same relationship to Hollywood as the Warhol/Morrisey films of the
period. It corresponds to Joseph Mankiewicz’s 1963 Cleopatra, starring Elizabeth Taylor and
Richard Burton which Auder’s cast watched and used as the starting point for scene by scene
improvisation Auder drew his cast from Warhol’s ensemble – including not only Viva and Louis
Waldon, but also Taylor Mead, Ondine, Andrea Feldman, Gerard Melanga and others.
The film revels in epic excess like Mankiewicz’s cinematic debacle which succumbed to vast length,
a bloated budget, multiple revisions and a scandal occasioned by the extramarital escapades of its
co-stars.Read More »

Quote:
Agnes Varda directed this drama which combines formal dramatic structures with the openness of improvisational cinema verite. Independent filmmaker Shirley Clarke plays an avant-garde film director attempting to work with a major studio to finance her next project, in which she hopes to collaborate with James Rado and Jerome Ragni, creators of the musical Hair (who play themselves). She also wants to use Andy Warhol superstar Viva (who also appears as herself) as her leading lady. However, after much give and take between herself and the moneymen, the director learns that the plug has been pulled on her project, pushing her to the brink of suicide.Read More »