Ferrara has fled New York, but he still taps its energy
CANNES, France -- Abel Ferrara's new film, "Chelsea on the Rocks," represents a kind of homecoming for the Bronx-born director and longtime chronicler of the New York City underbelly. Ferrara, best known for urban tales of damnation such as "Bad Lieutenant" and "King of New York," moved to Italy several years ago, fleeing a city transformed by the Rudolph W. Giuliani regime and the Sept. 11 attacks, not to mention a cultural and economic climate that had grown more hostile to maverick filmmakers.
His last two movies, "Mary" (2005) and "Go Go Tales" (2007), were European productions. "Mary," the story of a Jesus-themed film project and a pointed riposte to Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ," was shot mostly in Rome. "Go Go Tales," a good-natured screwball comedy as well as a personal manifesto of artistic tenacity, is set within a Manhattan strip club, built from scratch on soundstages at Rome's Cinecittà Studios.
"Chelsea on the Rocks," which had its premiere as a special presentation at the Cannes Film Festival on Friday night, is a documentary about the 125-year-old Chelsea Hotel, the spiritual home of Manhattan bohemia, where Jack Kerouac wrote "On the Road," Andy Warhol filmed "Chelsea Girls" and the Sex Pistols' Sid Vicious stabbed his girlfriend, Nancy Spungen, to death. It's Ferrara's first proper New York movie since 2001's " 'R Xmas."
"It's a tough town, but it's home," he said by phone from New York on Thursday. He had been due to arrive in Cannes earlier in the week but at that point had already missed two flights. (He eventually arrived on Friday, in time for his news conference.) Ferrara said he was busy in the States trying to get a new fiction feature, which he described as "a Catholic western," off the ground. "It could be my version of 'The Searchers,' " he said.
The "Chelsea" project was initiated by producer Jen Gatien, who was hoping to make a movie to commemorate a turning point in the history of the Chelsea -- last June, the hotel's manager (and patron of its artist-residents), Stanley Bard, was forced out by new management. Gatien approached Ferrara as an interview subject; he offered to go further and serve as director. "I watched how these guys were shooting it," he recalled, "and I said, 'Listen, this is something you gotta do right,' so I brought my crew in."
