Factory Girl
Encyclopedia
Factory Girl is a 2006 American biographical film
based on the life of 1960s underground film
star, socialite, and Warhol Superstar
Edie Sedgwick
. The film premiered in Los Angeles
on December 29, 2006.
(Sienna Miller
) is a young heiress studying art in Cambridge, Massachusetts
. She moves to New York City
, where she is introduced to Pop Art
painter and film-maker Andy Warhol
(Guy Pearce
). Intrigued by the beautiful socialite
, he asks her to perform in one of his underground movies. Soon she is spending time with him at The Factory
, his studio and also the hangout of a group of eccentrics, some of them drug addicts. Her status as Warhol Superstar
and success as a fashion model gain her popularity and international attention.
Her Cambridge friend Sid introduces her to poet and singer Billy Quinn (Hayden Christensen
), a character based on Bob Dylan
. Andy becomes jealous, so Edie tries but fails to keep her love affair with Billy a secret. To reconcile them, she arranges a meeting. Although he agrees to be filmed by Andy, when Billy visits the studio he shows his contempt. As he is leaving, she tries once more to make peace, but Billy calls Andy a "bloodsucker" who will "kill" her. Seeing that she will stay, he kisses her forehead.
As addiction takes its toll, Edie's relationship with Andy deteriorates. One night while in a drug-induced stupor, she falls asleep while smoking a cigarette and nearly dies in the ensuing fire. Vogue
refuses to hire her; editor Diana Vreeland (Ileana Douglas) explaining that Edie is considered "vulgar". Interrupting a luncheon of Andy and his friends, she demands to be paid and accuses him of ruining her.
When Sid sees her again, she has become a prostitute. In a taxi, he shows Edie, who is very depressed, a photo of herself when they were art students. He says that he fell in love with her then, and tells her that she can still be an artist. She says that she cannot bear her loneliness but interrupts him, asking the driver, "Can we go?" When the driver says that they are stuck in a traffic jam, she leaves the cab and runs frantically down the street. The scene changes to a hospital, years in the future. She tells an interviewer that she is overcoming her addiction and is glad to be home in Santa Barbara. The closing caption explain the last few years, her struggle to control drug abuse and her marriage to another patient, which ended in less than four months when she died of an overdose
.
, singer/songwriter of the Velvet Underground
and one of the Factory people who knew Sedgwick, hated the film. He told the New York Daily News
, "I read that script. It's one of the most disgusting, foul things I've seen – by any illiterate retard – in a long time. There's no limit to how low some people will go to write something to make money... They're all a bunch of whores."
Bob Dylan
threatened to sue, saying through his lawyers that the script insinuated his responsibility in Sedgwick's drug abuse and death. Jonathan Sedgwick claimed that an affair his sister Edie had with Dylan resulted in a pregnancy that ended with an abortion
. To date no lawsuit has been filed.
The film was set back by numerous delays, including a lawsuit by Sony Pictures, as well as the schedules of Miller and Pearce, so additional shooting was delayed until mid November 2006. Consequently, producer Harvey Weinstein
had to postpone the release date. Director George Hickenlooper helmed the additional shoots and mixed the final cut of the film in New York City, where he worked in close collaboration with Weinstein. Weinstein released the picture on December 29, 2006, in Los Angeles
. The film was released nationwide on February 2, 2007.
At the time of release, there were rumors that at least one sex scene between Christensen and Miller was actual sexual intercourse
, and not a simulated scene.
is credited as a photojournalist of Edie.)
Whereas the similarity in titles might suggest that the film is based on the book, there are considerable differences. The film is about Sedgwick’s relationships with two people, Andy and Billy, a character who resembles Bob Dylan
. The book is about Sedgwick as part of the circle associated with Warhol known as the Warholites. Dylan is not described as her lover in the book, although he is said to be a significant figure in her story.
The film-makers did not develop characters based on her friends among the Warholites.
The book describes the Warholites as originally welcoming her into the fold, sympathetic about her problems and charmed by her beauty and personality. Those interviewed for the book generally remember her as likable when she first made friends at the Factory, amiable and fun at parties, if something of a scene stealer
.
The film’s Sedgwick seems carefree when she is about to leave for New York, whereas the book says that she was troubled at the time, impulsive and reckless, having seen a psychiatrist on a three visits per week basis while living in Massachusetts
.
Although the book rejects the idea that Warhol was to blame for her use of methamphetamine
, it is candid about an ugly side: his “morbid fascinations” and his tendency to observe the miseries of people he knew without showing emotion. Author and former Warhol screenwriter Robert Heide relates the widely-circulated story of Warhol reacting to the suicide of an acquaintance by saying, "Why didn’t he tell us? We could’ve filmed it." According to Heide, as the two of them stood on the sidewalk where the acquaintance had recently died, Warhol said to him, "I wonder when Edie will commit suicide. I hope she lets us know so we can film it.”
Like the film, the book tells of her being persuaded to leave Warhol by a singer/songwriter, but the book does not support the film’s love story. Rather, it says that she had a relationship with Dylan’s friend Bob Neuwirth
. Her story of a pregnancy aborted when she was injured in Dylan’s 1966 motorcycle accident was, the book says, one of the fantasies she conceived while mentally ill and delusional.
was set to star as Sedgwick, but it was reported Tom Cruise
convinced Holmes not to do it because it would be bad for her image. Regarding the rumors, Holmes said, "I declined the role in Factory Girl based on my own decisions about the movie." The role then went back to Miller. However, Holmes had also stated that even if she did take the part, she would have had to drop out because she was pregnant when the movie was set to begin filming.
Because the post production schedule was so delayed, Hickenlooper continued to sound edit the film after its initial release in Los Angeles on December 29, 2006.
According to Hickenlooper, the budget, once expected to be $8 million, was less than $7 million.
, Toronto
, Stamford, Connecticut
, and Shreveport, Louisiana
served as the filming locations.
n comedian Ed Kavalee
on his radio show Get This
in an ill-fated segment "Sienna Miller movie or prison tattoo?" The segment was birthed after Kavalee put forward the argument that Sienna Miller was famous for nothing and that nobody would know her movies. Factory Girl was the only movie or prison tattoo correctly labeled during the segment.
said "I think Sienna Miller does a really nice job of capturing Edie Sedgwick, who really was the fore-runner to Paris Hilton
and a lot of other people who are just famous for being famous." Mick LaSalle
from San Francisco Chronicle
said "Miller gets old and used up before our eyes, and we not only see it, we see what it means to experience it. This is a movie about power, and its spectacle is that of a woman losing all of it." However Stella Papamichael wrote for the BBC
"In all it's an unconvincing portrait, and as the Dylan clone says, "Empty, like one of those cans of soup..."
Trevor Johnston for Time Out
wrote "One wonders whether the documentary format would have better served the material than this ill-focused drama. Since real-life family and observers chime in over the end credits, perhaps the filmmakers were thinking the same thing."
Peter Bradshaw in the Guardian gave the film two out of five stars and said; "Edie Sedgwick's story is sad, but never appears important or interesting." The film currently holds 19% "rotten" rating at Rotten Tomatoes and a 6.1 from IMDb.
Biographical film
A biographical film, or biopic , is a film that dramatizes the life of an actual person or people. They differ from films “based on a true story” or “historical films” in that they attempt to comprehensively tell a person’s life story or at least the most historically important years of their...
based on the life of 1960s underground film
Underground film
An underground film is a film that is out of the mainstream either in its style, genre, or financing.-Definition and history:The first use of the term "underground film" occurs in a 1957 essay by American film critic Manny Farber, "Underground Films." Farber uses it to refer to the work of...
star, socialite, and Warhol Superstar
Warhol superstar
Warhol superstars were a clique of New York City personalities promoted by Andy Warhol during the 1960s and early 1970s. These personalities appeared in Warhol's artworks and accompanied him in his social life...
Edie Sedgwick
Edie Sedgwick
Edith Minturn "Edie" Sedgwick was an American actress, socialite, model and heiress. She is best known for being one of Andy Warhol's superstars. Sedgwick became known as "The Girl of the Year" in 1965 after starring in several of Warhol's short films in the 1960s...
. The film premiered in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
on December 29, 2006.
Plot
Edie SedgwickEdie Sedgwick
Edith Minturn "Edie" Sedgwick was an American actress, socialite, model and heiress. She is best known for being one of Andy Warhol's superstars. Sedgwick became known as "The Girl of the Year" in 1965 after starring in several of Warhol's short films in the 1960s...
(Sienna Miller
Sienna Miller
Sienna Rose Diana Miller is a British-American actress, model, and fashion designer, best known for her roles in Layer Cake, Alfie, Factory Girl, The Edge of Love and G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra. In 2007, the London Film Criticsnamed her British Actress of the Year for Interview...
) is a young heiress studying art in Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Greater Boston area. It was named in honor of the University of Cambridge in England, an important center of the Puritan theology embraced by the town's founders. Cambridge is home to two of the world's most prominent...
. She moves to New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, where she is introduced to Pop Art
Pop art
Pop art is an art movement that emerged in the mid 1950s in Britain and in the late 1950s in the United States. Pop art challenged tradition by asserting that an artist's use of the mass-produced visual commodities of popular culture is contiguous with the perspective of fine art...
painter and film-maker Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol
Andrew Warhola , known as Andy Warhol, was an American painter, printmaker, and filmmaker who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art...
(Guy Pearce
Guy Pearce
Guy Edward Pearce is an English-born Australian actor and musician, known for his roles as Leonard Shelby in Christopher Nolan's Memento, Lieutenant Ed Exley in L.A...
). Intrigued by the beautiful socialite
Socialite
A socialite is a person who participates in social activities and spends a significant amount of time entertaining and being entertained at fashionable upper-class events....
, he asks her to perform in one of his underground movies. Soon she is spending time with him at The Factory
The Factory
The Factory was Andy Warhol's original New York City studio from 1962 to 1968, although his later studios were known as The Factory as well. The Factory was located on the fifth floor at 231 East 47th Street, in Midtown Manhattan. The rent was "only about one hundred dollars a year"...
, his studio and also the hangout of a group of eccentrics, some of them drug addicts. Her status as Warhol Superstar
Warhol superstar
Warhol superstars were a clique of New York City personalities promoted by Andy Warhol during the 1960s and early 1970s. These personalities appeared in Warhol's artworks and accompanied him in his social life...
and success as a fashion model gain her popularity and international attention.
Her Cambridge friend Sid introduces her to poet and singer Billy Quinn (Hayden Christensen
Hayden Christensen
Hayden Christensen is a Canadian actor. He appeared in Canadian television programs when he was young, then diversified into American television in the late 1990s. He moved on to minor acting roles before being praised for his role of Sam in Life as a House, for which he was nominated for a Golden...
), a character based on Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
. Andy becomes jealous, so Edie tries but fails to keep her love affair with Billy a secret. To reconcile them, she arranges a meeting. Although he agrees to be filmed by Andy, when Billy visits the studio he shows his contempt. As he is leaving, she tries once more to make peace, but Billy calls Andy a "bloodsucker" who will "kill" her. Seeing that she will stay, he kisses her forehead.
As addiction takes its toll, Edie's relationship with Andy deteriorates. One night while in a drug-induced stupor, she falls asleep while smoking a cigarette and nearly dies in the ensuing fire. Vogue
Vogue (magazine)
Vogue is a fashion and lifestyle magazine that is published monthly in 18 national and one regional edition by Condé Nast.-History:In 1892 Arthur Turnure founded Vogue as a weekly publication in the United States. When he died in 1909, Condé Montrose Nast picked up the magazine and slowly began...
refuses to hire her; editor Diana Vreeland (Ileana Douglas) explaining that Edie is considered "vulgar". Interrupting a luncheon of Andy and his friends, she demands to be paid and accuses him of ruining her.
When Sid sees her again, she has become a prostitute. In a taxi, he shows Edie, who is very depressed, a photo of herself when they were art students. He says that he fell in love with her then, and tells her that she can still be an artist. She says that she cannot bear her loneliness but interrupts him, asking the driver, "Can we go?" When the driver says that they are stuck in a traffic jam, she leaves the cab and runs frantically down the street. The scene changes to a hospital, years in the future. She tells an interviewer that she is overcoming her addiction and is glad to be home in Santa Barbara. The closing caption explain the last few years, her struggle to control drug abuse and her marriage to another patient, which ended in less than four months when she died of an overdose
Drug overdose
The term drug overdose describes the ingestion or application of a drug or other substance in quantities greater than are recommended or generally practiced...
.
Cast
- Sienna MillerSienna MillerSienna Rose Diana Miller is a British-American actress, model, and fashion designer, best known for her roles in Layer Cake, Alfie, Factory Girl, The Edge of Love and G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra. In 2007, the London Film Criticsnamed her British Actress of the Year for Interview...
as Edie SedgwickEdie SedgwickEdith Minturn "Edie" Sedgwick was an American actress, socialite, model and heiress. She is best known for being one of Andy Warhol's superstars. Sedgwick became known as "The Girl of the Year" in 1965 after starring in several of Warhol's short films in the 1960s... - Guy PearceGuy PearceGuy Edward Pearce is an English-born Australian actor and musician, known for his roles as Leonard Shelby in Christopher Nolan's Memento, Lieutenant Ed Exley in L.A...
as Andy WarholAndy WarholAndrew Warhola , known as Andy Warhol, was an American painter, printmaker, and filmmaker who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art... - Hayden ChristensenHayden ChristensenHayden Christensen is a Canadian actor. He appeared in Canadian television programs when he was young, then diversified into American television in the late 1990s. He moved on to minor acting roles before being praised for his role of Sam in Life as a House, for which he was nominated for a Golden...
as Bob DylanBob DylanBob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
(credited in the film simply as "Musician") - Jimmy FallonJimmy FallonJames Thomas "Jimmy" Fallon, Jr. is an American actor, comedian, singer, musician and television host. He currently hosts Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, a late-night talk show that airs Monday through Friday on NBC...
as Chuck WeinChuck WeinChuck Wein was an American promoter and manager of entertainment acts whose celebrity stemmed from his five-year association with Andy Warhol and from his discovery of Edie Sedgwick who became Warhol Superstar of 1965.Wein graduated from Pittsburgh's Taylor Allderdice High School in 1957 and... - Jack HustonJack HustonJack Alexander Huston is an English actor. Huston had a starring role in Neighborhood Watch and filmed Outlander with James Caviezel and Sophia Myles...
as Gerard MalangaGerard MalangaGerard Joseph Malanga is an American poet, photographer, filmmaker, curator and archivist.-Early life:Born in the Bronx, New York, Malanga graduated from the School of Industrial Art in Manhattan and attended Wagner College on Staten Island... - Tara SummersTara SummersTara Summers is an English actress.The granddaughter of bridge player Fritzi Gordon, Summers was educated at Heathfield St Mary's School, in Berkshire. A graduate of Brown University Tara Summers (born December 19, 1979) is an English actress.The granddaughter of bridge player Fritzi Gordon,...
as Brigid Polk - Mena SuvariMena SuvariMena Alexandra Suvari is an American actress, fashion designer, and model. Shortly after beginning her career as a model, she appeared in guest roles on 1990's television shows such as Boy Meets World and High Incident...
as Richie Berlin - Shawn HatosyShawn HatosyShawn Wayne Hatosy is an actor with over 40 film and television credits to his name.-Personal life:Hatosy was born in Frederick, Maryland, the son of Carol , a loan officer, and Wayne Hatosy, a graphic designer and event planning director...
as Syd Pepperman - Beth GrantBeth GrantBeth Grant is an American actress. She is known for often playing characters who are conservatives, religious zealots or sticklers for rules....
as Julia WarholaJulia WarholaJúlia Varcholová, born Júlia Justína Zavacká, was the mother of the American artist Andy Warhol.-Life:... - James NaughtonJames NaughtonJames Naughton is an American director, theater, film and television actor.-Early life:Naughton was born in Middletown, Connecticut, the son of Rosemary and Joseph Naughton, both of whom were teachers He is the brother of actor David Naughton.-Career:Naughton graduated from Brown University and...
as Fuzzy Sedgwick - Edward HerrmannEdward HerrmannEdward Kirk Herrmann is a U.S. television and film actor. He is best known for his Emmy-nominated portrayals of Franklin D...
as James Townsend - Illeana DouglasIlleana DouglasIlleana Douglas is an American actress, director, screenwriter, and producer.-Background:Douglas is a granddaughter of the actor Melvyn Douglas and his first wife, artist Rosalind Hightower, and has said that her grandfather's performance in Being There, in particular, was influential on her own...
as Diana VreelandDiana VreelandDiana Vreeland was a noted columnist and editor in the field of fashion. She worked for the fashion magazines Harper's Bazaar and Vogue and the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.Born as Diana Dalziel, Vreeland was the eldest daughter of American socialite mother Emily Key Hoffman... - Mary Elizabeth WinsteadMary Elizabeth WinsteadMary Elizabeth Winstead is an American actress. She is best known for her scream queen roles in the horror films Final Destination 3, Black Christmas, Death Proof, and The Thing...
as Ingrid Superstar - Don NovelloDon NovelloDon Novello is an American writer, film director, producer, actor, singer, and comedian. Novello is best known for his work on NBC's Saturday Night Live, from 1977 until 1980, and then 1985 until 1986, often as the character "Father Guido Sarducci". Novello has appeared as "Sarducci" on many...
as Mort Silvers - Johnny WhitworthJohnny WhitworthJohnny Whitworth is an American actor.His early years were spent in his birth place of Charleston, South Carolina, with his mother. When he grew older, he moved to Dallas, Texas with his father . At age 15/16 in 1991, he won the 1st Young and Modern Man Contest...
as Silver George - Brian BellBrian Bell (musician)Brian Bell is an American guitarist and songwriter. Active since 1989, he is best known as the rhythm guitarist and backing vocalist for the American alternative rock band Weezer. Bell joined Weezer in 1993 following the departure of founding member Jason Cropper...
as Lou ReedLou ReedLewis Allan "Lou" Reed is an American rock musician, songwriter, and photographer. He is best known as guitarist, vocalist, and principal songwriter of The Velvet Underground, and for his successful solo career, which has spanned several decades... - Patrick WilsonPatrick Wilson (musician)Patrick "Pat" George Wilson is an American musician, best known as the drummer for the alternative rock band Weezer. He joined the band in 1992. In addition to his work in Weezer, he also fronts his own band, The Special Goodness....
as John CaleJohn CaleJohn Davies Cale, OBE is a Welsh musician, composer, singer-songwriter and record producer who was a founding member of the experimental rock band The Velvet Underground.... - Samantha MaloneySamantha MaloneySamantha Maloney is an American musician best known for playing in the bands Hole, Mötley Crüe, Eagles of Death Metal and in Peaches' live band "The Herms".-Early career:...
as Maureen TuckerMaureen TuckerMaureen Ann "Moe" Tucker is a musician best known for having been the drummer for the rock group The Velvet Underground.- The Velvet Underground :... - Meredith OstromMeredith OstromMeredith Joy Ostrom is an actress/model/Painter.From Swedish, German, English and Lithuanian descent. A graduate of New York University, Tisch school of the arts. She has emerged as an artist since 2007...
as NicoNicoNico was a German singer, lyricist, composer, musician, fashion model, and actress, who initially rose to fame as a Warhol Superstar in the 1960s... - Mary-Kate OlsenMary-Kate OlsenMary-Kate Olsen is an American actress, producer, author and fashion designer. She made her career debut in 1987 alongside her twin sister Ashley Olsen in the television series Full House...
as Molly Spence - Michael Post as Taxi Driver (Michael Post was Sedgwick's husband)
Controversy
Lou ReedLou Reed
Lewis Allan "Lou" Reed is an American rock musician, songwriter, and photographer. He is best known as guitarist, vocalist, and principal songwriter of The Velvet Underground, and for his successful solo career, which has spanned several decades...
, singer/songwriter of the Velvet Underground
The Velvet Underground
The Velvet Underground was an American rock band formed in New York City. First active from 1964 to 1973, their best-known members were Lou Reed and John Cale, who both went on to find success as solo artists. Although experiencing little commercial success while together, the band is often cited...
and one of the Factory people who knew Sedgwick, hated the film. He told the New York Daily News
New York Daily News
The Daily News of New York City is the fourth most widely circulated daily newspaper in the United States with a daily circulation of 605,677, as of November 1, 2011....
, "I read that script. It's one of the most disgusting, foul things I've seen – by any illiterate retard – in a long time. There's no limit to how low some people will go to write something to make money... They're all a bunch of whores."
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
threatened to sue, saying through his lawyers that the script insinuated his responsibility in Sedgwick's drug abuse and death. Jonathan Sedgwick claimed that an affair his sister Edie had with Dylan resulted in a pregnancy that ended with an abortion
Abortion
Abortion is defined as the termination of pregnancy by the removal or expulsion from the uterus of a fetus or embryo prior to viability. An abortion can occur spontaneously, in which case it is usually called a miscarriage, or it can be purposely induced...
. To date no lawsuit has been filed.
The film was set back by numerous delays, including a lawsuit by Sony Pictures, as well as the schedules of Miller and Pearce, so additional shooting was delayed until mid November 2006. Consequently, producer Harvey Weinstein
Harvey Weinstein
Harvey Weinstein, CBE is an American film producer and movie studio chairman. He is best known as co-founder of Miramax Films. He and his brother Bob have been co-chairmen of The Weinstein Company, their film production company, since 2005...
had to postpone the release date. Director George Hickenlooper helmed the additional shoots and mixed the final cut of the film in New York City, where he worked in close collaboration with Weinstein. Weinstein released the picture on December 29, 2006, in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
. The film was released nationwide on February 2, 2007.
At the time of release, there were rumors that at least one sex scene between Christensen and Miller was actual sexual intercourse
Sexual intercourse
Sexual intercourse, also known as copulation or coitus, commonly refers to the act in which a male's penis enters a female's vagina for the purposes of sexual pleasure or reproduction. The entities may be of opposite sexes, or they may be hermaphroditic, as is the case with snails...
, and not a simulated scene.
Edie: Factory Girl by Dalton and Finkelstein
Edie: Factory Girl author David Dalton is a former assistant of Warhol. He wrote 15 books before this, including A Year in the Life of Andy Warhol. (Nat FinkelsteinNat Finkelstein
Nathan “Nat” Louis Finkelstein was an American photographer and photojournalist. Finkelstein studied photography under Alexey Brodovitch, the art director of Harper’s Bazaar and worked as a photojournalist for the Black Star and PIX photo agencies, reporting primarily on the political developments...
is credited as a photojournalist of Edie.)
Whereas the similarity in titles might suggest that the film is based on the book, there are considerable differences. The film is about Sedgwick’s relationships with two people, Andy and Billy, a character who resembles Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
. The book is about Sedgwick as part of the circle associated with Warhol known as the Warholites. Dylan is not described as her lover in the book, although he is said to be a significant figure in her story.
The film-makers did not develop characters based on her friends among the Warholites.
The book describes the Warholites as originally welcoming her into the fold, sympathetic about her problems and charmed by her beauty and personality. Those interviewed for the book generally remember her as likable when she first made friends at the Factory, amiable and fun at parties, if something of a scene stealer
Scene stealer
A scene stealer is a character in a film or dramatic performance that dominates the audience's attention, often through charisma, humour or powerful acting, thus "stealing the scene" or "stealing the show". The term usually applies to a supporting character, such a sidekick, best friend,...
.
The film’s Sedgwick seems carefree when she is about to leave for New York, whereas the book says that she was troubled at the time, impulsive and reckless, having seen a psychiatrist on a three visits per week basis while living in Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
.
Although the book rejects the idea that Warhol was to blame for her use of methamphetamine
Methamphetamine
Methamphetamine is a psychostimulant of the phenethylamine and amphetamine class of psychoactive drugs...
, it is candid about an ugly side: his “morbid fascinations” and his tendency to observe the miseries of people he knew without showing emotion. Author and former Warhol screenwriter Robert Heide relates the widely-circulated story of Warhol reacting to the suicide of an acquaintance by saying, "Why didn’t he tell us? We could’ve filmed it." According to Heide, as the two of them stood on the sidewalk where the acquaintance had recently died, Warhol said to him, "I wonder when Edie will commit suicide. I hope she lets us know so we can film it.”
Like the film, the book tells of her being persuaded to leave Warhol by a singer/songwriter, but the book does not support the film’s love story. Rather, it says that she had a relationship with Dylan’s friend Bob Neuwirth
Bob Neuwirth
Bob Neuwirth is an American singer, songwriter, record producer and visual artist. A mainstay of the early 1960s Cambridge, Massachusetts, folk scene, he subsequently became a friend and associate of Bob Dylan alongside whom he appears in D.A...
. Her story of a pregnancy aborted when she was injured in Dylan’s 1966 motorcycle accident was, the book says, one of the fantasies she conceived while mentally ill and delusional.
Casting
Katie HolmesKatie Holmes
Katherine Noelle "Katie" Holmes is an American actress who first achieved fame for her role as Joey Potter on The WB television teen drama Dawson's Creek from 1998 to 2003. Her movie roles have included the blockbuster Batman Begins along with art house films such as The Ice Storm and thrillers...
was set to star as Sedgwick, but it was reported Tom Cruise
Tom Cruise
Thomas Cruise Mapother IV , better known as Tom Cruise, is an American film actor and producer. He has been nominated for three Academy Awards and he has won three Golden Globe Awards....
convinced Holmes not to do it because it would be bad for her image. Regarding the rumors, Holmes said, "I declined the role in Factory Girl based on my own decisions about the movie." The role then went back to Miller. However, Holmes had also stated that even if she did take the part, she would have had to drop out because she was pregnant when the movie was set to begin filming.
Because the post production schedule was so delayed, Hickenlooper continued to sound edit the film after its initial release in Los Angeles on December 29, 2006.
According to Hickenlooper, the budget, once expected to be $8 million, was less than $7 million.
Filming locations
New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
, Stamford, Connecticut
Stamford, Connecticut
Stamford is a city in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. According to the 2010 census, the population of the city is 122,643, making it the fourth largest city in the state and the eighth largest city in New England...
, and Shreveport, Louisiana
Shreveport, Louisiana
Shreveport is the third largest city in Louisiana. It is the principal city of the fourth largest metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana and is the 109th-largest city in the United States....
served as the filming locations.
Popular culture
The film is referenced by AustraliaAustralia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n comedian Ed Kavalee
Ed Kavalee
Edward Robert Kavalee is an Australian actor and radio host. He is currently co-host of a comedy program on the Nine Network, The Joy of Sets, with Tony Martin....
on his radio show Get This
Get This
Get This was an Australian radio comedy show which aired on Triple M and was hosted by Tony Martin and Ed Kavalee, with contributions from panel operator, the late Richard Marsland...
in an ill-fated segment "Sienna Miller movie or prison tattoo?" The segment was birthed after Kavalee put forward the argument that Sienna Miller was famous for nothing and that nobody would know her movies. Factory Girl was the only movie or prison tattoo correctly labeled during the segment.
Critical reception
The film received generally mixed reviews, but Sienna Miller's performance as Edie Sedgwick was met with critical acclaim. Johnny Vaughan from Sun Online concluded that "It’s Sienna Miller’s star that shines brightest in this heartbreaking cautionary tale." Empire magazine described Factory Girl as "A brave bid to recreate a modern American tragedy, with a revelatory turn by its lead actress." Richard RoeperRichard Roeper
Richard E. Roeper is an American columnist and film critic for The Chicago Sun-Times and now a co-host on The Roe Conn Show on WLS-AM...
said "I think Sienna Miller does a really nice job of capturing Edie Sedgwick, who really was the fore-runner to Paris Hilton
Paris Hilton
Paris Whitney Hilton is an American businesswoman, heiress, and socialite. She is a great-granddaughter of Conrad Hilton . Hilton is known for her controversial participation in a sex tape in 2003, and appearance on the television series The Simple Life alongside fellow socialite and childhood...
and a lot of other people who are just famous for being famous." Mick LaSalle
Mick LaSalle
Mick LaSalle is an American Mick LaSalle is an [[United States|American]] Mick LaSalle is an [[United States|American]] [[film reviewer] and the author of two books on pre-[[Motion Picture Production Code|Hays Code]] Hollywood...
from San Francisco Chronicle
San Francisco Chronicle
thumb|right|upright|The Chronicle Building following the [[1906 San Francisco earthquake|1906 earthquake]] and fireThe San Francisco Chronicle is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California, but distributed throughout Northern and Central California,...
said "Miller gets old and used up before our eyes, and we not only see it, we see what it means to experience it. This is a movie about power, and its spectacle is that of a woman losing all of it." However Stella Papamichael wrote for the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
"In all it's an unconvincing portrait, and as the Dylan clone says, "Empty, like one of those cans of soup..."
Trevor Johnston for Time Out
Time Out
Time Out is a publishing company based in London, England. The company's best known product is the Time Out weekly listings magazine.The Time Out Group Limited conducts most of its business from London and New York City.-Publications:...
wrote "One wonders whether the documentary format would have better served the material than this ill-focused drama. Since real-life family and observers chime in over the end credits, perhaps the filmmakers were thinking the same thing."
Peter Bradshaw in the Guardian gave the film two out of five stars and said; "Edie Sedgwick's story is sad, but never appears important or interesting." The film currently holds 19% "rotten" rating at Rotten Tomatoes and a 6.1 from IMDb.
External links
- Slate article - How Factory Girl Insults Andy Warhol
- Factory Man: A Night Out With George Hickenlooper, The New York Times
- FOXNews.com article - "Sienna Miller: A Movie Star Is Born"
- A.V. Club Review by Nathan Rabin, Feb. 9, 2007
- Junket Report: Factory Girl, Posted Jan 31st 2007 1:01PM by Ryan Stewart
- Boxoffice.com Review by Wade Major, Feb. 2, 2007
- Seattle Post-Intelligencer Review by William Arnold, Feb. 9, 2007
- Cinematic Happenings Under Development, "Factual Girl," Devin Faraci, Feb. 7, 2007