New Velvet Underground documentary to be directed by Todd Haynes

The filmmaker has previously directed the Bob Dylan film I’m Not There, Velvet Goldmine and Carol

Independent filmmaker Todd Haynes will be directing a new as-yet-untitled documentary on The Velvet Underground. Haynes will be working with Christine Vachon of Killer Films, David Blackman and Universal Music Group. 2017 marks 50 years since the release of the band’s debut album The Velvet Underground & Nico.

According to Variety, the film is currently in development and will rely on “[Andy] Warhol films but also a rich culture of experimental film, a vernacular we have lost and we don’t have, [and that] we increasingly get further removed from”. Haynes has described the process as “challenging” as there’s little documentation on the band and he aims to interview the surviving members, as well as people from the artistic movement of the 60s. To create the film, Haynes will be “getting in deep to the resources and material and stock and archival footage and the actual cinema and experimental work.” The documentary, he says, “needs to be an intensely visual experience”.

Haynes is recognised as a key figure of the New Queer Cinema movement that had its breakthrough in the 90s. In the past, he’s directed the acclaimed films Far From Heaven and Carol. In 1998, he directed Velvet Goldmine – a film based on the glam rock era of the 70s with characters inspired by David Bowie and Iggy Pop. His film on the different stages of Bob Dylan’s life, entitled I’m Not There, was released in 2007.

Read Crack’s in-depth interview with the founding member of Velvet Underground, John Cale.

(via Variety)