Donald Cammell
Birthday:
17 January 1934, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK
Birth Name:
Donald Seton Cammell
British director Donald Cammell, born in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1934, came from a wealthy shipbuilding family. He began his career as a painter and by the mid-'60s was celebrated among the "Swinging London" crowd. He made his foray into the film industry when he wrote the script for The Touchables (1968), a painfully pretentious--an...
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British director Donald Cammell, born in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1934, came from a wealthy shipbuilding family. He began his career as a painter and by the mid-'60s was celebrated among the "Swinging London" crowd. He made his foray into the film industry when he wrote the script for The Touchables (1968), a painfully pretentious--and, seen today, terribly dated--tale of a rock singer kidnapped by four beautiful female fans. He followed that up with Duffy (1968), about an aging hippie who helps two brothers rob their rich father. His directorial debut came with Performance (1970), about a London gangster who hides out in the house of a strange rock star. The now cult-classic film starred Mick Jagger in one of his earliest dramatic performances. Cammell's Demon Seed (1977) was intended to be a comedy, but the studio for some reason decided to turn it into a bizarre sci-fi thriller, which didn't really satisfy anyone, Cammell least of all.He didn't make a film for ten years after "Demon Seed", when he directed the atmospheric White of the Eye (1987), about a serial killer. His final film as director, Wild Side (1995), was a thriller that was extensively re-edited by the producers. Cammell was so incensed with the result that he had his name taken off the credits, and it was credited to the non-existent "Frank Brauner".In April 1996 a despondent Cammell committed suicide by shooting himself in the head. Show less «
[about White of the Eye (1987)] I painted it as best I can, and if art is to be involved at all, you hope that some kind of energy or sincer...Show more »
[about White of the Eye (1987)] I painted it as best I can, and if art is to be involved at all, you hope that some kind of energy or sincerity will result in some kind of revelation. Show less «
I am a painter who happens to make films.
I am a painter who happens to make films.
One of the reasons I think Warners hated the film [Performance (1970)] so much is because it forces an audience to consider the construction...Show more »
One of the reasons I think Warners hated the film [Performance (1970)] so much is because it forces an audience to consider the construction of their own fragmented selves, the various aspects of sexuality, which is something people never question. Show less «
Performance (1970) is a landmark and a swan song for the era of swinging London.
Performance (1970) is a landmark and a swan song for the era of swinging London.
[about his unrealized project "Jericho", which was set to star Marlon Brando] The overall image of the film is a man living with his own gui...Show more »
[about his unrealized project "Jericho", which was set to star Marlon Brando] The overall image of the film is a man living with his own guilt over all the horror he's perpetrated . . . I felt I knew [Brando] as a performer and I could help orchestrate that performance, to see him bare his soul for once. Show less «
