Today I wanted to celebrate a nearly forgotten skinema director. His career in movies lasted for 25 years and featured some seriously sexy nude scenes with major stars. Let's explore the weird and wild movies of Donald Cammell.
Who was Donald Cammell?
Great question! Donald was a Scottish Renaissance man. He could do it all when it came to artistic pursuits. He was a painter, writer, and director who co-wrote the cult classic Performance with the great Nicolas Roeg.
He grew up in an artsy environment and his father was a fan of the occult and a friend of Aleister Crowley. This meant that Donald was always surrounded by weirdos and this inspired a lot of his work. Cammell even appeared in one of Kenneth Anger's films, Lucifer Rising. He went into painting and moved to New York City to live with a model and continue his career, but after the relationship fell apart he moved to Paris and started writing screenplays.
He tended to collaborate with people in high places from Anita Pallenberg to William Burroughs to Marlon Brando. These people inspired him to write scripts - although, to Cammell's frustration, a lot of his drafts never came to fruition. But let's talk about the ones that did!
Performance
Thanks to his friendship with Anita, Donald Cammell was able to hang out with The Rolling Stones and even collaborate with Mick Jagger on a film. Cammell heavily relied on cross-cutting techniques in the editing of this film which adds to the already trippy nature of the 70s hippie classic.
The film is a cautionary tale of fame, like many before and after it. Drugs, sex, and rock-n-roll are met with depression as star Mick Jagger leads an unlucky life that only makes him more of an icon to the groupies who want to get naked with him. It's a bizarre movie, but Rolling Stones girlfriend Anita Pallenberg is everyone's pal with her numerous nude scenes.
Demon Seed
1977's Demon Seed was an adaptation of Cammell's favorite sci-fi book by Dean R. Koontz. Julie Christie plays a scientist's wife after a super-computer takes over the house and tries to impregnate her. It's like a sci-fi Rosemary's Baby. Here we see what would become Cammell's staple: the power of female sexuality.
The great Julie Christie was notoriously choosey with her film roles - she was offered A TON of famous roles that she turned down in favor of projects that she was more attracted to. That is all to say that it must have meant something big that Julie took on this sexy thriller!
Wild Side
This was his final film and it may have led to Donald's tragic end. This 1995 film was produced by an exploitation production company, but it was communicated to Cammell that he could make an art film. That is what he intended with this film that starred Anne Heche and Joan Chen as super sexy babes who wind up hooking up.
Anne plays a banker who moonlights as a call girl. She hooks up with a money laundering scammer who asks her to set up an account for his wife, Joan. This is when the two of them start catching feelings for one another - and copping feels! An incredibly long and steamy lesbian sex scene between the two features topless Anne in all of her glory.
He took his life after this film was taken from his creative decisions and recut by a production company. According to legend, he asked his wife to bring him a mirror so that he could witness his own death (a nod to his film Performance). Whether or not that is true, it is true that his passing was far too soon as he had just hit his stride with Wild Side. You can see what I mean by watching this scene here:
