Andy Warhol’s Ridiculous Screenplays

Andy Warhol’s Ridiculous Screenplays is a fascinating first-person account of writer Ronald Tavel’s experiences collaborating with the artist on his films from the winter of 1964 through the summer of 1967. During this period, Tavel wrote seventeen screenplays for Warhol, including some of the most significant works in the artist’s filmography and in American underground film more broadly: “Screen Test #2,” “The Life of Juanita Castro,” “Horse,” “Vinyl,” “Kitchen” (all 1965), “Hedy,” and two sections of “The Chelsea Girls” (both 1966). The nature of filmmaking in Warhol’s Silver Factory of the mid-1960s meant that Tavel’s role as screenwriter was not restricted to a film’s pre-production. In most cases, he was responsible as well for directing, performing, and facilitating the performance of the screenplays during filming itself. -from the introduction by Marc Siegel Includes Tavel’s essay “The Roots of the Theatre of The Ridiculous in the Scripted Films of Andy Warhol”