Varda the Message

The audience for the film did exactly what Todd had hoped – no it didn't turn every gay person straight and every straight person gay - we're not referring to that 'modest' goal, but this one:

I hoped it would be like those trippy movies you'd go to and then analyze with your friends; buy the record and play it over and over again and ponder its meaning.

After the film's release internet lists and websites sprung up. Quotes and Quizzes were compiled and Purity Tests were established. References were scoured and shared. Fans old enough to have seen Bowie as Ziggy found themselves in a dialogue with new fans who knew nothing of glam. Believe it or not, Miramax, let alone Christine and Todd, had no idea that the main audience for the film would end up being adolescent girls and young women. After all, that is Brian's (and Bowie's) main audience, but the idea somehow was so basic as to not be a consideration. (and unfortunately, the powers that be try to appeal to the male 18-35 demographic when marketing films) And Todd was unaware of the slash phenomenon at the time - but when asked at screenings, he declared he loved it.

Here's a gauge of the film's impact. ( Read more )

After the New York premiere, the film opened in major U.S. cities on October 26th and then went on to wider release to 85 screens by November 6th. It garnered some glowing reviews but mostly a mixed reception. Todd's quote was apt, "All my films have divided audiences intensely. The most interesting films that have ever been made have always done this." The film's budget was $7 million and it grossed just over a million dollars in box office receipts. The VHS went on sale on May 18, 1999 (at a list price of $129! - at that time VHS releases were aimed at video rental outlets) and later was released on DVD.

The film made its U.K. Premiere at the Edinburgh International Film Festival on
August 16, 1998. Todd won the Channel 4 Director's Award. Todd on the festival:

"Edinburgh was great. We had such a good time. Lizzie Frankie [the director of the Edinburgh Film Festival] really played up the film. They showed Poison and Safe. Lectures? I did one, Christine Vachon and Sandy Powell did one. They also showed films that inspired Velvet Goldmine. It was really an amazing tribute. I feel like I'm really young in my career to have that. It was really sweet. And there was a great party after the premiere.

It was also sort of Ewan's big premiere, cause he couldn't be at Cannes. He wore a kilt. He was so sweet and he was really sort of nervous about it. His parents were seeing it for the first time. He was kind of nervous. It was like forcing these straight guys to have their coming out experience in a way.

Lizzie Frankie, covered herself in glitter for opening night and got some in her eye. So from the second night of the festival on she had to wear a huge pirate eye-patch. It was the first casualty of Velvet Goldmine."

As to whether there were other injuries on the shoot Todd said, "Well, the kids were falling down off their platform heels and spraining their ankles, but no."

Here are Todd, Christian and Ewan looking handsome at the premiere.

We love Todd's crushed velvet suit and iridescent shirt and Christian finally gets to look cooler than Arthur in pinstripes. Ewan's adorable, as always, but what's with Scottish men ~ first they wear skirts kilts, then add dainty laced-up ghillies and then they pin a sprig of heather to their sweaters. Is that gay or what?

Miramax head Harvey Weinstein added to the promotional buzz by being quoted in Variety that Velvet Goldmine "makes Boogie Nights look like Mary Poppins." [tsk tsk, we know better...] Miramax's involvement with the picture raised expectations. From indywire:
With Miramax already behind the film, the Cannes competition is the perfect launch pad. Harvey must be proud. Deeply entrenched in the 70's glam rock days of taffeta and platform shoes, Haynes swims in the times, incorporating awkward 70's zooms, early MTV-like sequences, feathers, flowers and all the accoutrements of the era to investigate the rise and disappearance of a fictional superstar named Brian Slade. ... The film combines memory, fantasy, past and a mid-1980's present in some hallucinatory moments and a fluid feel which might just be a hit with the kids.

Miramax was supportive despite rumors to the contrary. In a later indywire article: "Answering claims that Miramax's reputed homophobia got in the way of the production, Christine Vachon said at a New York Film Festival press conference, "Miramax got involved very early on and I have to say, never at any point, whatever horror stories we've heard aside, we were never pressured whatsoever by Miramax to make cuts in the film around its gay content, to cut out anything specifically because it was gay. We never experienced that homophobia."

Johnny was allowed a break from filming Ride with the Devil to go to Cannes. He didn't have as much fun as he might have as star of the picture, the long hair he was sporting for his role as Pitt Mackeson slowed him down: The Nice customs didn't like the look of him and go through his luggage with a fine-tooth comb. It's bad enough that he's carrying a guitar and has a sleeve-pocket stuffed with penny whistles, but there's another image problem. In the Ang Lee film Johnny plays a hillbilly psychopath; he's been given hair attachments that extend halfway down his back, and he seems quite convincingly in character. The flight problems mean that Johnny has missed his morning interviews in Cannes... There's an especially large throng outside the Martinez, and a big contingent of security guards and police to hold them back. They take one look at Johnny's hair and refuse to let him in. As we both try to telephone the people expecting us inside, the police start to push us away. "This is disgusting!" fumes Johnny. "They're judging me by the way I look!" Johnny vows he is going to leave Cannes immediately. A girl dashes out through the guards, throws someone's security pass around Johnny's neck, and we're whisked past the dumbfounded guards.

Two years later the bad memories lingered for Johnny according to a Vogue UK article:
At the time, Rhys Meyers was going out with Toni Collette, who played his girlfriend in the film. He vividly remembers the entrance they made at the premiere in Cannes. "I felt lower then than I did when I was 13 years old," he says gravely. "I remember getting out of the limo with Toni and Christian Bale and walking towards all these photographers, and they were going, 'Hey! Toni! Look over here! Hey, Christian, here!' And I just walked on because nobody had an idea who I was. It was a horrible experience."